Publications

June 1988 (Revised February 1989)
Case

Amalgamated Aluminum Pigments Division: The Technical Service Conundrum

By: Benson P. Shapiro

Keywords: Metals and Minerals; Manufacturing Industry

April 1991 (Revised October 1991)
Background Note

Note on the Aluminum Industry in 1983

By: Michael E. Porter

Keywords: Metals and Minerals

Believing that aluminum was the metal of the future, R. S. Reynolds devoted his metal company’s efforts to its production, despite slow growth of the product in the 1910s. However, because of Reynolds’... View Details

Keywords: Metals

Web

Connell House | About

its shipyard and manufacturing companies in 1985, Connell became the new entity’s CEO, betting against the emerging consensus that US manufacturing was dead. Over the next 14 years, Connell, the son of Irish immigrants, grew his View Details

12 Sep 2023
Blog Post

Harvard Climate Entrepreneurs Circle: Taking Climate Solutions from Idea to Action, Faster

containing a small black nugget of rare earth minerals. He is focused on decarbonizing and on-shoring the production of minerals just like this. Part of that work uses waste from mines, called mine tailings.... View Details

March 1987 (Revised May 1987)
Supplement

Inland Steel Co. Product Policy (R): Darnall's Thoughts

By: Benson P. Shapiro and Lawrence B. Levine

Keywords: Metals and Minerals; Steel Industry

April 1987 (Revised May 1987)
Supplement

Inland Steel Co. Product Policy (M): Humidity-Controlled Inventory Storage in No. 3 Cold Mill

By: Benson P. Shapiro and Lawrence B. Levine

Keywords: Metals and Minerals; Steel Industry

December 2011
Supplement

Aluar: Aluminio Argentino S.A. (B) Spreadsheet Supplement

By: David F. Hawkins, Hernan Etiennot, Gustavo A. Herrero and Hugo Pentenero

Keywords: Metals and Minerals; Argentina

10 Oct 2023
Blog Post

Policy Drivers for Environmental Justice: What Businesses Need to Know

In the summer of 2023, Initiatives intern Skye Bluestein conducted important research with the BEI on the intersection of environmental justice (EJ), policy, and business. The resulting paper posted below provides an interesting View Details

October 2013 (Revised December 2015)
Case

Alcoa's Bid for Alcan (A)

By: Paul Healy and Penelope Rossano

In spring 2007, Alcoa CEO Alain Belda was concerned about the company's market position in light of increased competition from developing markets. China's recent entry into the aluminum market was affecting both supply and demand. Furthermore, downstream and upstream... View Details

Keywords: Acquisitions; Strategy; Aluminum; Accounting; Financials; Alcoa; Rio Tinto; Alcan; Metals and Minerals; Competition; Consolidation; Emerging Markets; Acquisition; Financial Statements; Manufacturing Industry; Canada; China; Russia

Educators

April 1999 (Revised March 2002)
Case

Aluminum Smelting in South Africa: Alusaf's Hillside Project

With prices at all-time lows at the beginning of 1994, South Africa's sole primary aluminum producer--Alusaf--is considering building the world's largest greenfield smelter. Using cost estimates in this case, students can evaluate the relative cost position of this... View Details

Keywords: Metals and Minerals; Analysis; Markets; Profit; Capital; Industrial Products Industry; South Africa

Educators

January 2020
Teaching Note

Chile: Unrest in the Copper Nation

By: Laura Alfaro and Sarah Jeong

For decades, Chile enjoyed the stability of being the world’s largest producer of copper. Keynes would have advised that this period of growth would have been the time for the government to save, that “the boom, not the slump, is the right time for austerity at the... View Details

Keywords: Copper Production; Protests; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Metals and Minerals; Production; Economy; Emerging Markets; Chile