Publications

April 2003
Background Note

Sunk Costs: The Plan to Dump the Brent Spar (E)

This case summarizes the technical evaluation methodology Shell employed to evaluate the alternative proposals submitted to its engineering competition for disposing of the Brent Spar. It also details the results of the evaluation process. View Details

Keywords: Natural Environment; Business and Community Relations; Projects; Energy Sources; Energy Industry

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October 2018
Case

BreezoMeter: Making Air Pollution Data Actionable

By: Frank V. Cespedes, Allison M. Ciechanover and Margot Eiran

The case focuses on an Israeli startup that provides actionable air pollution data and forecasts. The company has over 50 enterprise customers and its tool reached a million people daily in 67 countries. The co-founders wrestle with which markets and customers to focus... View Details

Keywords: Startups; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Pollutants; Analytics and Data Science; Sales; Marketing; Decision Choices and Conditions; Technology Industry; Israel; United States

08 Dec 2003
Research & Ideas

Why Europe Lags in Pharmaceuticals and Biotech

Governmental, academic, and cultural differences are hurting Europe's chances of creating more competitive pharmaceutical and biotech industries—and not much hope is on the horizon, according to a panel of experts at the 2003 HBS European View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Biotechnology; Health; Pharmaceutical; Technology

March 2002
Case

2002 Global Coffee Summit: Searching for Solutions

By: Ray A. Goldberg and James M Beagle

Global coffee leaders gathered in 2002 to develop alternative market-based approaches that would ensure a sustainable supply of coffee and address the social and ecological issues confronted by a global depression in coffee prices. View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Social Issues; Natural Environment; Price; Food and Beverage Industry

01 Jul 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Entrepreneurs and the Co-Creation of Ecotourism in Costa Rica

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones and Andrew Spadafora; Tourism

May 2003 (Revised June 2003)
Case

Revitalizing Philips (A)

Philips is a major science-based multinational that has been restructuring since the early 1970s. This case provides an historical perspective on earlier efforts as well as a detailed description of the one pursued under Cor Boonstra, CEO from 1996 to 2001, that... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Restructuring; Science-Based Business

21 Oct 2008
First Look

First Look: October 21, 2008

plus city and industry fixed effects explain between sixty and eighty percent of manufacturing entry. We use spatial distributions of natural cost advantages to address partially endogeneity concerns. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-055.pdf The... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

November 2021 (Revised May 2022)
Case

QuantumScape's Mission to Revolutionize Energy Storage for a Sustainable Future

By: William A. Sahlman, Allison M. Ciechanover and Jeff Huizinga

QuantumScape CEO Jagdeep Singh juggles the many activities required to lead the next-generation battery pioneer. Founded in 2010, QuantumScape’s mission was to develop new “solid-state” car batteries that would improve upon traditional lithium-ion batteries in key... View Details

Keywords: Batteries; Electric Vehicles; SPACs; Innovation and Management; Technological Innovation; Science-Based Business; Environmental Sustainability; Auto Industry; Energy Industry; California; San Jose

February 2013
Case

Recorded Future: Analyzing Internet Ideas About What Comes Next

Recorded Future is a "big data" startup company that uses Internet data to make predictions about events, people, and entities. The company primarily serves government intelligence agencies, but has some private sector clients and is considering taking on more. The... View Details

Keywords: Big Data; Analytics; Internet; Analytics and Data Science; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Forecasting and Prediction; Business Startups; Information Technology Industry

June 1997 (Revised September 1997)
Case

Genset Initial Public Offering (B)

By: Paul A. Gompers and Jeffrey M. Anapolsky

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Initial Public Offering; Genetics; Going Public; Management Teams; Biotechnology Industry; France; United States

19 Nov 2010
Research & Ideas

The Landscape of Integrated Reporting: An E-Book

Editor's note: Harvard Business School in mid-October played host to the 2010 Workshop on Integrated Reporting: Frameworks and Action Plan. Under direction of conference organizer Robert G. Eccles, participants recently published an... View Details

Keywords: by Nitin Nohria; Accounting

May 1992 (Revised August 1993)
Case

Forest Policy in Malaysia

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

The governments of Malaysia and the Malaysian State of Sarawak need to assess possible changes in forest policy. Environmentalist pressure threatens traditional market relationships and patterns of business-government interaction. Harvest regulations, subsidies, trade... View Details

Keywords: Natural Environment; Policy; Government and Politics; Environmental Sustainability; Trade; Business and Government Relations; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Forestry Industry; Forest Products Industry; Malaysia

24 Sep 2014
Op-Ed

We Need a Miracle. New Nuclear Might Provide it.

least in the short run. But with that increase of fossil fuel burning comes an ever-escalating cloud of CO2 emissions destined to linger in our atmosphere and oceans for hundreds, even thousands of years. OP-ED COLLECTION The Business of... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph Lassiter; Energy; Utilities

02 Feb 2009
Research & Ideas

The Success of Persistent Entrepreneurs

When it comes to entrepreneurship, nothing says success like a track record of previous wins. Entrepreneurs with a history of success are much more likely to succeed in new ventures than first-timers or those who failed previously, new research from Harvard View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

17 Sep 2024
HBS Case

The Climate Targets Leaders Need to Know as Regulations Loom

Michael Toffel, the Senator John Heinz Professor of Environmental Management at Harvard Business School. Roughly 42 percent of Fortune 500 companies said they’d reached an environmental target or committed to reaching one by 2030, an 11... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

March 1996 (Revised January 2002)
Case

Freeport Indonesia

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

In 1996, PT Freeport Indonesia, the mining subsidiary of Freeport McMoRan, had just completed an expansion of its copper and gold mine in the western half of New Guinea. The mine, which had dealt with numerous environmental and sociocultural problems over the past... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Mining; Environmental Sustainability; Business Strategy; Expansion; Social Issues; Mining Industry; Indonesia

2002
Chapter

Bridging the Gap: How Improved Information Can Help Companies Integrate Shareholder Value and Environmental Quality

By: Forest Reinhardt

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Shareholder Relations; Information; Environmental Sustainability

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March 1994 (Revised October 1994)
Case

Reading Energy

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

Reading Energy builds facilities that produce energy from nontraditional fuels. A privately held, entrepreneurial organization, it has spent six years developing a plan to build a waste-to-energy plant in the town of Robbins, Illinois. The plant would burn municipal... View Details

Keywords: Energy Generation; Wastes and Waste Processing; Business and Community Relations; Business Plan; Agreements and Arrangements; Contracts; Risk and Uncertainty; Government and Politics; Environmental Sustainability; Business Strategy; Energy Industry; Utilities Industry; Illinois