Publications

September 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

ReMo Energy: Sizing Up Investors

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Tom Quinn

In 2023, executives with ReMo Energy (founded 2020) were deciding which size ammonia plant to build as their first project. Their innovative model produced ammonia—useful for making fertilizer and for energy storage—from renewable energy, and they had received funding... View Details

13 Aug 2018
Research & Ideas

Women Heart Patients Have Better Survival Odds with Women Doctors

for Disease Control. In the emergency room as a business, the customer lives or dies. "Here we find that who you are and who is advocating for you, who is treating you, is making a difference" “This is really like a View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Health

Willard H. Dow

Dow grew the company his father had founded through acquisitions and mergers. He acquired a 75% interest in Midland Ammonia in 1930, partnered with Ethyl Gas in 1933, joined with Cleveland-Cliffs Iron in 1935, View Details

Keywords: Chemicals & Industrial

Walter S. Carpenter, Jr.

Carpenter was only the second man not of the duPont name in the 145-year history of the company to have been elected president. Carpenter expanded duPont to include diversified chemical lines and grew sales... View Details

Keywords: Chemicals & Industrial

March 2017
Case

Cantel Medical

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Cantel Medical Corporation provided infection prevention and control products and services for patients, caregivers, and other healthcare providers. In 2016, Cantel generated sales of $665 million and net profits of $60 million, double the levels of five years earlier.... View Details

June 2024 (Revised August 2024)
Case

Climate Governance at Linde plc (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Suraj Srinivasan, Emilie Billaud and Vincent Dessain

In July 2023, the Linde plc board of directors' sustainability committee convened in London to review the company's environmental performance, with a focus on decarbonization and clean energy. Linde was the world's largest industrial gas supplier, with a workforce... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Green Technology; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Disclosure; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Compensation and Benefits; Innovation Strategy; Leading Change; Goals and Objectives; Business and Shareholder Relations; Chemical Industry; United States; Germany; Europe; North America; London

January 1994
Article

Foreign Multinationals in British Manufacturing, 1850-1962

By: G. Jones and Frances Bostock

This article draws on a new database to describe the dimensions and characteristics of 685 foreign companies which established British manufacturing subsidiaries between 1850 and 1962. The numbers of foreign companies grew from the 1890s, expanded rapidly in the... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Business Subsidiaries; Expansion; Chemicals; Metals and Minerals; Food; Mergers and Acquisitions; Market Entry and Exit; Research and Development; Trade; Investment; Production; United Kingdom; United States; Scotland; Wales

Find at Harvard

30 Jun 2016
Blog Post

4 Ways I've Changed at HBS

appreciate the immense opportunity for growth that comes about with failure. I love the quote, “Some people see the glass half empty, others half full but there are those that know the glass can be... View Details

William B. Bell

Bell diversified American Cyanamid, developing the company into the 5th largest producer of chemicals in the U.S., manufacturing over 5,000 products. Bell developed new processes for the commercial production of prussiate of soda,... View Details

Keywords: Chemicals & Industrial

J. Peter Grace

1950 to 55% in 1977 as the company became the fifth largest producer of chemicals in the U.S. Grace grew his company into a diversified industrial complex including restaurants, sporting good stores, and... View Details

Keywords: Chemicals & Industrial

January 1997 (Revised July 1998)
Case

Dendrite International (Condensed)

By: John A. Deighton

This version has been shortened to concentrate on the issue of managing a long selling process and long post-sale account relationship. The focus on the pharmaceutical industry in the United States, Europe, and Japan is preserved. Broader questions of expansion into... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Marketing Strategy; Product Development; Sales; Expansion; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Japan; Europe; United States

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10 Sep 2013
First Look

First Look: September 10

verbal communication, the complexity in the narrative impacts the market reaction to the disclosure. Download working paper: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2154948 Historical Origins of Environmental Sustainability in the German Chemical... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 1989 (Revised August 1994)
Supplement

Du Pont's Titanium Dioxide Business (D)

Provides students the opportunity to track industry evolution over time, to explore the role that signaling may play in such evolution, and to construct and validate industry scenarios. View Details

Keywords: Analysis; Supply and Industry; Chemical Industry

December 1996
Case

Du Pont's Titanium Dioxide Business (F)

Provides students with the opportunity to track industry evolution over time, to explore the role that signaling may play in such evolution, and to construct and validate industry scenarios. View Details

Keywords: Industry Growth; Chemical Industry

June 2024
Supplement

Climate Governance at Linde plc (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Suraj Srinivasan, Emilie Billaud and Vincent Dessain

In July 2023, the Linde plc board of directors' sustainability committee convened in London to review the company's environmental performance, with a focus on decarbonization and clean energy. Linde was the world's largest industrial gas supplier, with a workforce of... View Details

November 2000 (Revised February 2002)
Case

Resinas Sinteticas, S.A. (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Greg Rogers

A recent MBA graduate heads international marketing for his family's Mexico-based rosin supply business, he must decide how to respond to the aggressive tactics of his much larger American competitor. Among other things, the U.S. competitor is spreading false rumors... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Competition; Marketing Strategy; Business Strategy; Crime and Corruption; Trade; Chemical Industry; Mexico; United States; Europe

April 1995 (Revised July 1996)
Case

Governance at Metallgesellschaft (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Samanta Graff

MG Corp., a U.S. subsidiary of Germany's international conglomerate, Metallgesellschaft, engaged in a disastrous hedging strategy that nearly dragged the entire enterprise into bankruptcy. This case explores issues of responsibility and accountability among the... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Corporate Accountability; Business Conglomerates; Governing and Advisory Boards; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Corporate Governance; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Germany; United States