Publications

November 1984 (Revised March 1985)
Case

Restructuring European Petrochemicals: Industry Groups and the European Commission

By: Francis Aguilar, Joseph L. Bower and Benjamin Gomes-Casseres

Keywords: Restructuring; Corporate Strategy; Business and Government Relations; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Europe

November 1984 (Revised March 1985)
Case

Restructuring European Petrochemicals: French Companies and the French Government

By: Francis Aguilar, Joseph L. Bower and Benjamin Gomes-Casseres

Keywords: Restructuring; Corporate Strategy; Business and Government Relations; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; France

1988
Book

Innovation and Competition: The Global Management of Petrochemical Products

By: Robert B. Stobaugh

Keywords: Non-Renewable Energy; Globalized Markets and Industries; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry

September 2011 (Revised September 2013)
Case

The K-Dow Petrochemicals Joint Venture

By: Guhan Subramanian, James K. Sebenius, Phillip Andrews, Rhea Ghosh and Charlotte Krontiris

In 2007, the Dow Chemical Company and the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation announced plans to launch a multibillion-dollar joint venture. Later known as K-Dow Petrochemicals, it would be one of the largest manufacturers of chemicals and plastics in the world. Analysts... View Details

Keywords: Announcements; Joint Ventures; Chemical Industry; Kuwait; United States

04 Feb 2020
Video

Gülsüm Azeri

Gülsüm Azeri, head of Şişecam, an industrial group in Turkey that produces glass and chemicals, discusses the strategy of the glassware producer, Paşabahçe, to enter the Russian market. View Details

June 2013
Supplement

Novozymes/Henrik Meyer, V.P. of Marketing and Business Development, Novozymes

By: Krishna G. Palepu

Video Supplement to the case, "Novozymes: Cracking the Emerging Markets Code." View Details

Keywords: Business To Business Marketing; Emerging Markets; Strategy; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; China; Denmark

16 Jan 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, January 16, 2018

based on the chemical similarity between new drug candidates and existing drugs. We show that drug candidates that we identify as ex-ante novel are riskier investments, in the sense that they are... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 1995 (Revised May 1998)
Case

Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (A-1)

By: Michael A. Wheeler

Rhone-Poulenc wished to acquire a new permit, but local residents who were concerned about health issues threatened to block the permit. View Details

Keywords: Health; Rights; Negotiation; Conflict of Interests; Social Issues; Chemical Industry; United States

08 Apr 2022
News

A Four-Year Degree Isn’t Quite the Job Requirement It Used to Be

04 Feb 2020
Video

Gülsüm Azeri

Gülsüm Azeri, head of Şişecam, an industrial group in Turkey that produces glass and chemicals, describes how she chose to close down an outdated glassmaking factory because legal regulations prevented its modernization and her subsequent discussions with labor unions... View Details

May 1995
Supplement

Negotiating the Right to Know: Rhone-Poulenc and Manchester, Texas (B)

By: Michael A. Wheeler

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Chemical Industry; United States

02 Jan 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, January 3, 2018

product development, customer support, and “Eastern Labs”—a new office enclosed by glass walls and located in the middle of Eastern's main lobby. Rivers provides Labs with $4... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Dec 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, December 5, 2017

The U.S. energy policy, under the Obama administration, authorized a handful of gas exporters, despite pressure from domestic chemical and utility interests, and approved oil... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 1998 (Revised June 1999)
Case

Chemdex.com

By: William A. Sahlman, Michael J. Roberts and Laurence E. Katz

An Internet start-up company is developing an online marketplace for specialty chemicals and reagents. David Perry has been named a runner-up in the 1st annual HBS Business Plan contest and now faces seed-stage financing questions--how much money to raise, at what... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Internet and the Web; Chemicals; Business Startups; Capital; Chemical Industry

November 2014
Case

Napalm: From Soldiers Field to Trang Bang

By: Tom Nicholas and Jonas Peter Akins

Napalm is one of the most destructive weapons ever to be invented. Yet, at its original inception it was nothing more than a technical challenge, and it was never intended to be used in indiscriminate antipersonnel warfare. The pathway of its development by a Harvard... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; War; Chemicals; Research and Development; Chemical Industry; Viet Nam; Cambridge; United States