Publications

06 Sep 2004
What Do You Think?

How Do We Prepare for a World Without Cheap Oil?

government incentives to bolster their arguments. This view was characterized by Mark Townsend Cox, who commented, "I can count almost twenty methods of creating electricity without burning something, every one of which is essentially an infinite resource that... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

01 Jun 2023
News

Action Plan: Net Proceeds

supply chain and certification company, to address the plastic pollution he saw in Haiti and other communities around the world. Goodwin had originally traveled to Haiti under the auspices of Executives Without Borders, which he helped... View Details

Keywords: April White; recycling; corporate social responsibility; waste management; water; Waste Management and Remediation Services; Corporate Services

2005
Chapter

Environmental Federalism in the European Union and the United States

By: David Vogel, Michael W. Toffel and Diahanna Post

The United States (US) and the European Union (EU) are federal systems in which the responsibility for environmental policy-making is divided or shared between the central government and the (member) states. The attribution of decision-making power has important policy... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Government Legislation; Natural Environment; Pollutants; Climate Change; European Union; United States

Read Now

15 Jul 2002
Research & Ideas

Going Green Makes Good Business Sense

to the belief, now firmly lodged in public consciousness, that high environmental standards are not just desirable but their birthright. To set the stage, Reinhardt reminded the group that pollution is not a new phenomenon in human... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

July 2012
Case

Generation Investment Management

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Matthew Preble

Examines the investment process of Generation Investment Management, a "sustainable" investing firm established in 2004 by David Blood and U.S. Vice President Al Gore. Places students in the position of David Lowish, director of global industrials, who must decide... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Energy Generation; Investment; Environmental Sustainability; Pollutants; Welfare; Financial Services Industry; India; United Kingdom

01 Mar 2018
What Do You Think?

Two Decades Later, is the 'New Economy' Finally Here?

joined this train of thought as he commented, “A new economy has not arrived, if we define it as one that will sustain humanity on the planet for eternity ” The reasons it has not arrived are many, he continued. “(Unsustainable) global population terror weapons of mass... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

11 Jun 2007
Lessons from the Classroom

Teaching the Next Generation of Energy Executives

You may think that being an energy executive—especially a manager in a leading oil company—might be the easiest job around. Just flip the production switch, and watch gas prices head toward $4 a gallon. But students enrolled in Harvard Business School professor Forest... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Energy; Utilities

26 Aug 2024
Research & Ideas

Can AI Match Human Ingenuity in Creative Problem-Solving?

When ChatGPT and other large language models began entering the mainstream two years ago, it quickly became apparent the technology could excel at certain business functions, yet it was less clear how well artificial intelligence could handle more creative tasks. Sure,... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Information Technology; Information; Technology

17 Sep 2024
HBS Case

The Climate Targets Leaders Need to Know as Regulations Loom

quite comprehensive. They include not just GHGs, but other environmental resources like water requirements and other pollutants you might care about as well,” Toffel says. The researchers outline how some software programs and data work... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

March 1998 (Revised June 1998)
Case

BCI Growth III: November 1993

By: Josh Lerner

Supplements BCI Growth III: May 1993. View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Business Growth and Maturation; Consolidation; Acquisition; Wastes and Waste Processing; Service Industry; United States

March 1998 (Revised December 1998)
Case

BCI Growth III: May 1993

By: Josh Lerner

A Vermont solid-waste company seeks mezzanine financing to finance its strategy of acquiring and consolidating local competitors. The mezzanine private equity group must decide whether this investment offers an attractive risk-return tradeoff. View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Business Growth and Maturation; Consolidation; Wastes and Waste Processing; Acquisition; Service Industry; Vermont

01 Dec 2019
News

Making Eco Easy

Blueland cofounders, Sarah Paiji Yoo, John Mascari (MBA 2012), and Gina Pak (MBA 2015) (photo by Chris Taggart) As new mom Sarah Paiji Yoo contemplated the switch from nursing her infant son to making him formula, she was horrified to discover that drinking water... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie

01 Apr 1996
News

Stewards of the Seventh Generation

widely used would reduce the amount of fossil fuel we ultimately burn. Taken together, these developments perhaps serve as a snapshot of the environmental landscape today. On the one hand, scientific indicators continue to warn of the long-term effects of air, water,... View Details

Keywords: Marguerite Rigoglioso, Garry Emmons, Linda Goodspeed, and Elaine Gottlieb

November 2019
Supplement

Hapag-Lloyd AG: Complying with IMO 2020

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej and Emer Moloney

A new environmental regulation known as IMO 2020 was creating what one industry analyst called “the biggest shakeup for the oil and shipping industries in decades.” According to the new regulation, all ocean-going ships would have to limit their sulfur emissions by... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Ship Transportation; Strategic Planning; Game Theory; Pollutants; Supply Chain; Corporate Accountability; Capital Budgeting; Environmental Sustainability; Shipping Industry; Transportation Industry; Germany

February 2010 (Revised October 2010)
Case

Re-THINK-ing THINK: The Electric Car Company

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and David Kiron

On January 5, 2010, 48-year-old Richard Canny was on his way to meet the governor of Indiana. He was reading his newly issued press release announcing that THINK planned to start automobile production in Elkhart County, Indiana to launch its THINK City battery-operated... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Global Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Product Development; Production; Pollutants; Environmental Sustainability; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Norway; Indiana

October 2007 (Revised April 2009)
Case

TH!NK: The Norwegian Electric Car Company

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and David Kiron

On August 1, 2007, 61-year-old Jan-Olaf Willums' plane was flying along the Greenland coastline on his way back to Norway after intense discussions with several prominent U.S. venture capital investors, among them Kleiner Perkins and Rockport Capital Partners, about... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Innovation and Invention; Product Launch; Market Entry and Exit; Environmental Sustainability; Pollutants; Auto Industry; Green Technology Industry; Europe; Norway