Publications

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

Web

Frost & Sullivan | Baker Library

Business & Financial Services Chemicals, Materials & Nutrition Electronics & Security Energy & Power Environment & Sustainability Healthcare Industrial Automation Information & Communication Technologies Measurement & Instrumentation View Details

May 2011 (Revised August 2011)
Case

The Offshore Drilling Industry in 2011

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Kenneth Corts and Joseph McElroy

After booming in 2007 and early 2008, the offshore drilling industry slumps in 2009. Lower oil prices lead oil companies to reduce drilling budgets, and rig utilization falls from essentially 100% to 70% in some markets. Day rates--the prices paid for a rig's... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Metals and Minerals; Demand and Consumers; Price; Industry Structures; Supply and Industry; Mining; Mining Industry; Energy Industry

Fast Answer

Commodities

yields and prices for agricultural commodities throughout the world. See also USDA Foreign Agricultural Service PSD Online. Consult the Baker Library Research Guide on Agribusiness Consult the Guide to Food View Details

March 2011
Supplement

Gold in 2011 (CW)

By: Robin Greenwood

Courseware for case 211095. View Details

Keywords: Price; Price Bubble; Metals and Minerals; Data and Data Sets

December 2003 (Revised October 2014)
Case

Alusaf Hillside Project

By: Kenneth S. Corts and John R. Wells

The aluminum industry has suffered from long periods of depressed prices and profits interspersed with relatively short-lived price and profit peaks. The case investigates why this has occured, focusing on the decision Alusaf must make on whether to invest in a major... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Business Cycles; Financial Crisis; Metals and Minerals; Financial Strategy; Investment; Price; Profit; Demand and Consumers; Industry Structures

06 Apr 2017
News

From Lobster Traps to Border Fencing

an expanded metal wall,” says Jim Knott Sr. (OPM 17, 1991), president and CEO of Riverdale Mills Corporation. In a recent interview with the Voice of America News, Knott noted that Riverdale’s security... View Details

Keywords: Donald Trump; homeland security; Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing; Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing

April 2011
Case

Shell Nigeria: The WikiLeaks Cables

By: Sandra J. Sucher, Rebecca M. Henderson and Matthew Preble

In November 2010, WikiLeaks began releasing the first of hundreds of thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables that it had obtained. Among the thousands of cables published by early 2011, were several that shed light on Royal Dutch Shell's operations in Nigeria and its... View Details

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; Energy Generation; Operations; Communication Technology; Crime and Corruption; Metals and Minerals; Ethics; Energy Industry; Nigeria

Find at Harvard

April 2008 (Revised May 2012)
Case

Ti-Tech (A)

By: Benson P. Shapiro, John T. Gourville and Craig E. Cline

This case concerns the selection and scheduling of orders by a small industrial titanium fabricator that recently has been plagued by poor deliveries and a lack of capacity. At the time of the case, Ti-Tech must decide which of four orders to accept, with capacity... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Metals and Minerals; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Supply Chain Management; Performance Capacity; Industrial Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry

1993
Chapter

Minerals: Eroding Oligopolies

By: L. T. Wells Jr.

Keywords: Metals and Minerals; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Mining Industry

29 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 29

strategist to develop the optimal strategy without a comprehensive optimization. And it derives some broader organizational implications. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/12-102.pdf Cases & Course MaterialsHeavy... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 1980 (Revised September 1985)
Case

British Steel Corporation: The Korf Contract

By: John P. Kotter and John M. Stengrevics

Traces a complex resource allocation decision facing British Steel in 1975. Students study the influences on the various managers involved in making the decision. View Details

Keywords: Resource Allocation; Decision Making; Management Teams; Metals and Minerals; Steel Industry; United Kingdom

01 Jun 2007
News

Saving the Steel Industry

Ron Bloom (MBA ’85) played a key role in helping to save the U.S. steel industry in the 1990s, writes the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (March 4, 2007). Bloom spent five years at Lazard Freres before starting a firm that advised unions about buyouts View Details

Keywords: Primary Metal Manufacturing; Primary Metal Manufacturing

01 Dec 2013
News

A Safer, Smarter Future for Tech Trash

being the cost of it. That was the inspiration." Since its founding, BlueOak has been developing plans for mini-refineries that use proven, capital-efficient refining processes to extract precious metals and... View Details

Keywords: Constantine von Hoffman; recycling; Mining (except Oil and Gas); Mining (except Oil and Gas); Mining (except Oil and Gas); Mining (except Oil and Gas)

March 2010 (Revised May 2013)
Case

Chile's Copper Surplus: The Road Not Taken (A)

By: Laura Alfaro, Dante Roscini and Renee Kim

In 2008, Andres Velasco, Chile's Finance Minister, was under mounting criticisms over his fiscal policy. As the world's largest copper producer, Chile was benefiting from the rise in copper prices, which had more than tripled since 2003. Copper revenues translated into... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Economic Growth; Metals and Minerals; Investment Funds; Policy; State Ownership; Wealth; Chile

2010
Case

Vander Mining Partners, IPADE

By: Roberto Charvel

In 2010 Vander Mining was trying to raise one of the few private equity funds specialized in mining. This was difficult among other things because institutional investors did not have a private equity team specialized in mining and emerging markets. View Details

Keywords: Real Assets; Business Startups; Business Plan; Economics; Metals and Minerals; Mining; Assets; Private Equity; Public Equity; Goods and Commodities; Emerging Markets; Market Participation; Mining Industry; Financial Services Industry; North and Central America