Publications

Blog

Inside the Learning: The Impact of a Personal Case

In this video, she discusses how her work during and after AMP enabled her organization to take advantage of a new market opportunity, create a more sustainable business model—and potentially impact the carbon footprint of the entire View Details

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

August 2014 (Revised March 2015)
Case

Molycorp: Issuing the 'Happy Meal' Securities (B)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield

Molycorp, the Western hemisphere's only producer of rare earth minerals, was in the middle of a $1 billion capital expansion in its effort to become a vertically integrated supplier of rare earth minerals, oxides, and metals. After reporting lower than expected... View Details

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

Drone Policy | About

persons or property. The aircraft must not exceed a weight (including fuel) greater than 55 lbs. Aircraft cannot have metal blade-propellers, gaseous boosts, or be turbine powered. Under no circumstances may a pilot or other person touch... View Details

October 2015
Teaching Note

Molycorp: Financing the Production of Rare Earth Minerals (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield

Molycorp, the western hemisphere's only producer of rare earth minerals, was in the middle of a $1 billion capital expenditure project in its effort to become a vertically integrated supplier of rare earth minerals, oxides, and metals. Yet it had just reported lower... View Details

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

10 Oct 2005
Research & Ideas

Homers: Secrets on the Factory Floor

alongside the official engine productions. Many craft industries, specifically metal industries, have traditions of homer making. In a recent survey conducted in France, 28 percent of male factory workers reported that on the job they... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Manufacturing

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

20 Apr 2020
Book

Why COVID-19 Raises the Stakes for Healthy Buildings

what they are physically carrying, but also what they might be carrying internally. In addition to metal detectors, infrared scanners at building entrances will take visitors’ temperatures, to help prevent the spread of viruses and other... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Real Estate; Health

Web

Post-war PR Campaigns Reaching Wide Audiences | Baker Library | Bloomberg Center | Harvard Business School

serving every man, woman, and child in America.” 42 Photographs captured symbols of the corporation’s industrial power—from expansive views of mining and transporting iron ore, limestone, and coal to detailed shots of employees operating massive machines that converted... View Details

03 Nov 2009
First Look

First Look: Nov. 3

Mining for Growth in an Economic Crisis Gary P. Pisano, Elena Corsi, and Elisa FarriHarvard Business School Case 610-021 In December 2008, Gianluigi Nova, CEO of Tenova SpA, a technology and equipment supplier to the metals and mining... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

15 Jan 2013
First Look

First Look: January 15

coming directly to GUC. Purchase this case:http://hbr.org/search/613049-PDF-ENG CSIRO: The Light Metals Flagship Decision Shih, Willy, Margaret P. Pierson, and Dawn LauHarvard Business School Case 613-029 This case explores the challenge... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

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

Web

Financing New Ideas - Georges F. Doriot : Educating Leaders, Building Companies, Baker Library, Harvard Business School

continued to invest in innovative startups. ARD portfolio companies included Textron Electronics (aerospace, industrial, and metal products); Cordis Corporation (therapeutic medical equipment including angiography injectors, catheters,... View Details

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