Publications

March 2004 (Revised June 2004)
Case

Blackout: August 14, 2003

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Ryland Matthew Willis

On August 14, 2003, an electricity blackout cascaded throughout the northeastern United States and Canada. Describes the structure, technology, and economics of the electric utility industry and how gradual deregulation beginning in the 1970s placed unprecedented, and... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Performance Improvement; Infrastructure; Energy Sources; Business and Government Relations; Networks; Emerging Markets; Failure; Economics; Utilities Industry; Canada; Northeastern United States

March 2024 (Revised April 2024)
Supplement

From "BIG" Ideas to Sustainable Impact at ICL Group (B)

By: Linda A. Hill and Lydia Begag

In August 2023, Raviv Zoller, CEO of ICL Group, discussed his upcoming business trip to St. Louis with Eduard Croitoru, VP of ICL Corporate Initiatives, to commemorate the construction of ICL's new $400 million advanced manufacturing facility. In preparation for the... View Details

February 2024
Supplement

Can Cities Beat the Heat? (B11): Salt Lake City Climate Action Snapshot

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Praveen Kumar and Jacob A. Small

Climate snapshots provide a summary of climate actions that occurred between 2018 and 2024, highlighting major green initiatives, innovations, carbon mitigation strategy, and action across multiple levels of government and the private sector. Snapshots also provide an... View Details

Keywords: Mitigation Policies; Carbon Footprint; Climate Finance; Mobility; Adaptation; Renewable Energy; Climate Change; Problems and Challenges; Sustainable Cities; City; Innovation Strategy; Investment; United States; Utah

February 2024
Supplement

Can Cities Beat the Heat? (B4): Columbus Climate Action Snapshot

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Coelin P. Scibetta and Jacob A. Small

Climate snapshots provide a summary of climate actions that occurred between 2018 and 2024, highlighting major green initiatives, innovations, carbon mitigation strategy, and action across multiple levels of government and the private sector. Snapshots also provide an... View Details

Keywords: Mitigation Policies; Carbon Footprint; Climate Finance; Mobility; Adaptation; Renewable Energy; Climate Change; Problems and Challenges; Sustainable Cities; City; Innovation Strategy; Investment; United States; Ohio

08 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 8, 2008

Offshore Wind Energy in the USA Harvard Business School Case 708-022 Cape Wind is an extreme example of NIMBY—not in my backyard syndrome. This is the first offshore wind project planned for the United States, in Nantucket Sound, just... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

August 2014 (Revised May 2016)
Case

Husk Power

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and Sid Misra

In late 2013, Husk Power Systems found itself falling further and further behind plan. The founding CEO had decided to resign. His co-founder is faced with the decision of quitting his corporate job in the US to head to India and help form a new management team. Husk... View Details

March 2024 (Revised July 2024)
Case

H2 Green Steel: A Clean-Tech Triple Play?

By: Debora L. Spar, Gunnar Trumbull, Henry Tao and Julia Comeau

At the end of 2023, the Swedish startup H2 Green Steel was mid-way through construction on an integrated steel plant in Northern Sweden that would use abundant local hydro power to create Europe’s first commercial-scale green steel. Their goal was to help European... View Details

Keywords: Steel; Green Business; Green Technology; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Business Startups; Climate Change; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Renewable Energy; Steel Industry; Sweden

September 2004 (Revised April 2005)
Case

U.S. Market Framework for Gasoline, The: Individual Incentives and Societal Goals in Global Markets

By: Bruce R. Scott and Edward Murphy

Traces the role of gasoline taxes in financing U.S. highways and the use of regulations to increase fuel economy to show how and why the U.S. market framework for gasoline is so different from that in Europe. Focuses on whether the U.S. tax should be raised, as... View Details

Keywords: Taxation; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Energy Sources; Digital Platforms; Sovereign Finance; Growth and Development Strategy; United States; Europe

03 Jun 2008
First Look

First Look: June 3, 2008

http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=508102 The Energy Foundation Harvard Business School Case 308-078 The Energy Foundation, a philanthropic foundation established through a... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

13 Oct 2015
Research & Ideas

Does Business Get Done the Same Way in Emerging and Developed Countries?

men led during terrific growth phases are similar in some ways, but very different in others. With $30 billion in revenue, The Koç Group is the largest conglomerate in Turkey, with more than 100 companies and 73,000 employees operating in the consumer products,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

16 Feb 2004
Research & Ideas

European Private Equity—Still a Teenager?

make companies more efficient when public markets are largely flat, they said. According to Nikos Stathopoulos (HBS MBA '95), a partner in Apax Partners, which was founded thirty years ago, "If you look at what drives the sources of... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

14 Jul 2009
First Look

First Look: July 14

Working PapersIndustry Equilibrium with Open Source and Proprietary Firms Authors:Gastón Llanes and Ramiro de Elejalde Abstract We present a model of industry equilibrium to study the coexistence of Open View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

18 Jul 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, July 18, 2017

broker, such imitation does not occur. Similarly, we show that the clients of the broker employed by activist investors to execute their trades tend to buy the same stocks just before the filing of the 13D. This evidence also suggests that an important View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Jul 2008
First Look

First Look: July 1, 2008

of potential funding sources to solve social problems, much of it stemming from an intergenerational transfer of wealth and new wealth from financial and high-tech entrepreneurs. Download the paper:... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

08 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 8

individual partners' ability to IPO, achieve outsized exits, or fail, and to what extent that performance is attributable to the firm or the partner. Shedding light on the sources of performance in venture capital firms will help us make... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

28 Apr 2010
Research & Ideas

Earth Day Reflections

company's commitment to sustainability mean that firms that ignore this do so at their own risk. BMW Group has been a leader in recognizing this. Several years ago, it issued a Sustainable Value Report detailing energy consumed, water... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

January 2013
Supplement

Cabot Corporation: The Fuel Cell Decision (B)

By: Willy Shih and Ying Zhou

Managers at Cabot Corporation are faced with deciding the future of its fuel cell program. The (A) case recounts the view of the business manager and the technical project lead, and the (B) case describes the perspective of a senior manager who is the head of the New... View Details

30 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 30, 2008

assumptions. The first is that people are more altruistic towards individuals that agree with them and the second is that people's well-being rises when other people share their personal opinions. The act of voting is then a source of... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2013
Case

Cabot Corporation: The Fuel Cell Decision (A)

By: Willy Shih and Ying Zhou

Managers at Cabot Corporation are faced with deciding the future of its fuel cell program. The (A) case recounts the view of the business manager and the technical project lead, and the (B) case describes the perspective of a senior manager who is the head of the New... View Details