Publications

February 1997 (Revised April 1998)
Case

first direct (A)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Describes the operations and strategy of the world's largest, fastest growing branchless bank. Using a person-to-person interface over conventional phone lines, First Direct provides standard banking and related financial products to nearly 700,000 customers throughout... View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Customer Satisfaction; Banks and Banking; Innovation and Invention; Banking Industry; United Kingdom

19 Jan 2016
First Look

January 19, 2016

stages and later in its subsequent growth into a diversified business group. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50341 November 2015 Annual Review of Financial Economics Financing Innovation By: Kerr, William... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Rebuilding Puerto Rico

By: Laura Alfaro, Laura Phillips Sawyer and Haviland Sheldahl-Thomason

On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria swept over Puerto Rico, devastating the island’s infrastructure and agriculture. The natural disaster was layered atop years of mounting financial distress. Before the hurricane, Puerto Rico had accumulated $74 billion in debt and... View Details

Keywords: Natural Disasters; Financial Crisis; Infrastructure; Borrowing and Debt; Economy; Strategic Planning; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Puerto Rico

December 2009 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Woolf Farming and Processing

By: David E. Bell, Laura Winig and Mary Louise Shelman

Woolf Farming Company, a privately owned family farming business in California's Central Valley, found its business threatened by a lack of water, brought on by a combination of drought, poor quality well water and unavailability of surface water due to federally... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Resource Allocation; Quality; Business and Government Relations; Decision Choices and Conditions; Infrastructure; Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Climate Change; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; California

Web

Curriculum - MBA

include economic and technological principles underlying digital transformation, identifying and integrating diverse user needs, organizing and leading product and service innovation initiatives, harnessing crowdsourcing and distributed innovation networks. Read More... View Details

May 2000 (Revised April 2003)
Case

Contractual Innovation in the UK Energy Markets: Enron Europe, The Eastern Group, and the Sutton Bridge Project

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Peter Tufano

In December 1996, Enron Europe and The Eastern Group were on the verge of signing an innovative transaction in the utility industry. Eastern was going to buy a long-term option to convert natural gas into electricity from Enron, thereby giving it the economic right to... View Details

Keywords: Project Finance; Infrastructure; Supply and Industry; Corporate Finance; Utilities Industry; Energy Industry

Web

Podcast - Business & Environment

Resilient Cities and Infrastructure 27 MAR 2024 | Climate Rising This episode in our climate adaptation series features HBS Professor John Macomber. John discusses how companies and governments need to incorporate climate resilience as... View Details

Article

Surviving Radical Technological Change through Dynamic Capability: Evidence from the Typesetter Industry

Recent work in the field of management has focused on "dynamic capability," the ability of a firm to develop new capabilities in response to shifts in its external environment, as a significant source of competitive advantage. This paper enhances our understanding of... View Details

Keywords: Management; Technology; History; Competition; Competency and Skills; Investment; Technological Innovation; Business Ventures; Geographic Location; Knowledge Acquisition; Competitive Advantage; Change

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05 Mar 2007
Research & Ideas

Risky Business? Protecting Foreign Investments

which involve projects by foreign companies to develop and manage large infrastructure projects in Indonesia, the book details the ways such deals can go bad both for the companies and the countries they operate in. It also examines how... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Energy; Utilities

Web

Faculty & Research - Business & Environment

Allbirds is a publicly listed company. The (B) case provides a 2024 update on Allbirds including its initial public offering,... September 2024 Case Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners: Leading the Energy Transition By: John Macomber and... View Details

19 Jun 2007
First Look

First Look: June 19, 2007

and Infrastructure Finance—2006 Update Harvard Business School Note 207-107 Provides an introduction to the fields of project finance and infrastructure finance, and gives a... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

February 2021
Teaching Plan

Soofa: Displaying the Right Path?

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Amy Klopfenstein

This teaching plan serves as a supplement to the case “Soofa: Displaying the Right Path?” HBS 820-098. The case explores the tension between two different financing and expansion plans for a startup, and explores issues related to business model pivots and industry... View Details

Web

Named Fellowship Funds - Alumni

services firms and executing private real asset investments across infrastructure and alternative real estate. He serves on the boards of Vantage Data Centers, Suntex Marinas, Ridgebury Tankers V4 and VLII, GW Bulkers, and National... View Details

Web

About - Business & Environment

integrate climate in the core of the management curriculum, and drive new course development on a range of topics from climate finance to adaptation and resilience, to accelerating climate solutions. She leads an awesome team that... View Details

Web

The Founding of U.S. Steel and the Power of Public Opinion | Baker Library | Bloomberg Center | Harvard Business School

Steel, American Steel Hoop, American Tin Plate, American Bridge, and the Lake Superior Consolidated Iron Mines. In the following decades other companies came into the corporation’s fold. Some of the nation’s most influential leaders of View Details

January 2019 (Revised December 2019)
Case

CrossBoundary Energy

By: John Macomber

Almost 500 million people are without electricity in sub-Saharan Africa. Governments and public utilities are challenged to bring generation and distribution to most of them. Considerable promise exists in “off-grid” or “mini-grid” technologies, notably using renewable... View Details

Keywords: Energy Investing; Economic Development; Renewable Energy; Business Growth and Maturation; Developing Countries and Economies; Project Finance; Emerging Markets; Industry Structures; Infrastructure; Segmentation; Private Equity; Decision Choices and Conditions; Energy Industry; Utilities Industry; Africa; Tanzania; Ghana