Publications

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2017
Working Paper

Creating the Market for Organic Wine: Sulfites, Certification, and Green Values

By: Geoffrey Jones and Emily Grandjean

This working paper examines the history of organic wine, which provides a case study of failed category creation. The modern organic wine industry emerged during the 1970s in the United States and Western Europe, but it struggled to gain traction compared to other... View Details

Keywords: Product Launch; Failure; Problems and Challenges; Complexity; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

SSRN

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09 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

Unilever—A Case Study

1950s, Unilever manufactured convenience foods, such as frozen foods and soup, ice cream, meat products, and tea and other drinks. It manufactured personal care products, including toothpaste, shampoo, hairsprays, and deodorants. The oils and fats business also led... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation; Food & Beverage; Manufacturing; Retail

9 May 2011 - 11 May 2011
Conference Presentation

How Firms Respond to Mandatory Information Disclosure

By: Anil Doshi, Michael Toffel and Glen W. S. Dowell

When new institutional pressures arise, which organizations are particularly likely to resist or acquiesce? When subjected to new information disclosure mandates, an increasingly popular form of market-based government regulation, which types of organizations are... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Disclosure; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Environmental Regulation; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Change and Adaptation

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June 1995 (Revised September 1996)
Case

Union Carbide's Bhopal Plant (A)

By: Debora L. Spar

In December 1984, a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, sprung a leak, releasing thousands of gallons of highly toxic gas into the atmosphere. By the time the leak was sealed, over 2,000 people had died. In a series of three excerpts from published accounts, the case... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Chemicals; Foreign Direct Investment; Chemical Industry; United States; India

01 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

How To Make Restructuring Work for Your Company

considered, including issuing tracking stock, doing a leveraged buyout, or repurchasing shares, would not have solved this underlying business problem. Chase Manhattan Bank and Chemical Bank used their merger as an opportunity to both... View Details

Keywords: by Stuart C. Gilson

December 2017 (Revised December 2018)
Case

OCP Group

By: Kristin Fabbe, Forest Reinhardt, Natalie Kindred and Alpana Thapar

This case explores the strategy of OCP Group, the 95% state-owned Moroccan firm charged with managing the North African country’s vast reserves of phosphate. Phosphate was one of the most vital macronutrients for plant health, along with nitrogen and potassium, and... View Details

Keywords: OCP; OCP Group; Casablanca; Chemicals; Operations; Transformation; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Chemical Industry; Morocco

2010
Chapter

The Paranoid Style in the Study of American Politics

By: David Moss and Mary Oey

What drives policy making in a democracy? The conventional view is that political actors, like economic actors, pursue their self interest, and that special interest groups dominate the policy making process by satisfying policy makers' need for money and other forms... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Government Legislation; Media; Interests; Power and Influence; Public Opinion; United States

2008
Other Unpublished Work

The Paranoid Style in the Study of American Politics

By: David Moss and Mary Oey

The conventional view is that political actors, like economic actors, pursue their self interest, and that special interest groups dominate the policy making process by satisfying policy makers' need for money and other forms of political support. Indeed, many... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Government Legislation; Media; Interests; Power and Influence; Public Opinion; United States

25 Jan 2021
Book

In a Nutshell, Why American Capitalism Succeeded

for clothing and chemicals that allowed for refrigeration. The company was involved in the construction of the atomic bomb and in the space program. While the vast majority of firms have either failed or been short-lived, some, like... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Manufacturing

March 2024
Case

From “BIG” Ideas to Sustainable Impact at ICL Group (A)

By: Linda A. Hill and Lydia Begag

In the summer of 2023, Eduard (“Eddie”) Croitoru, Vice President (VP) of ICL Group (“ICL”) Corporate Initiatives, was reflecting on ICL’s internal ideation program, the Business Innovation for Growth (BIG) Accelerator. When Raviv Zoller became the CEO of ICL in 2018,... View Details

5 Sep 2013
Conference Presentation

The Color of Taste: Selling Food in Clear Packages in the Early-Twentieth-Century United States

By: Ai Hisano

This paper examines the role of color in the marketing and retailing of food products by focusing on the increasingly popular presentation of food in clear packages in the early-twentieth-century United States. In the 1910s, a candy company began using cellophane to... View Details

Keywords: Food; Product Marketing; Food and Beverage Industry

19 Apr 2010
Research & Ideas

The History of Beauty

counterparts in other industries such as food and cleaning materials who talked about the dangers of chemical ingredients and the need for environmental sustainability, were often dismissed as crazy, or at best irrelevant. Today, many of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Beauty & Cosmetics

24 Apr 2023
HBS Case

What Does It Take to Build as Much Buzz as Booze? Inside the Epic Challenge of Cannabis-Infused Drinks

containing mind-altering chemicals THC and CBD commonly found in marijuana. But a new case study by Harvard Business School professor Ayelet Israeli about a new cannabis-infused beverage company reveals some of the significant and... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Consumer Products; Food & Beverage

18 Jun 2024
Research & Ideas

Industrial Decarbonization: Confronting the Hard Challenges of Cement

Cities like Cairo; Chongqing, China; Delhi; and Kinshasa, Congo are experiencing population explosions accompanied by unprecedented demand for homes, offices, factories, and infrastructure. In the United States, the Biden Administration’s policy-driven infrastructure... View Details

Keywords: by by Janelle Conaway; Green Technology; Energy; Industrial Products; Manufacturing

February 1992 (Revised September 2019)
Case

The House of Tata

By: James E. Austin and Ashish Nanda

The case traces the evolution of the Tata group, one of the largest and highly respected Indian business houses, from its 19th century founding and early growth in diverse industries, to its response to changes in government regulation in independent India, up to its... View Details

Keywords: Indian Economy; International Business; Government And Business; Government Regulation; Synergy; Conglomerates; Business Conglomerates; Developing Countries and Economies; Business and Government Relations; Business History; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; India

November 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Case

Votorantim: Uniting Family and Business Across Generations

By: Christina R. Wing, Carla Larangeira and Pedro Levindo

Over a 105-year span, the Ermírio de Moraes family built Votorantim, one of Latin America’s largest industrial conglomerates, and among Brazil’s topmost businesses, also credited for helping “build” the country over decades. By early 2023, Votorantim included... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Family Ownership; Business and Shareholder Relations; Family and Family Relationships; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Latin America

09 Apr 2007
Research & Ideas

Industry Self-Regulation: What’s Working (and What’s Not)?

coordination that resulted in their developing self-regulation programs were sparked by crises, including the chemical industry after the Bhopal accident and the nuclear power industry after the Three Mile Island incident. We also... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

January 2017
Case

The Six CEOs of Tyco International Ltd.

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

In September 2016, Johnson Controls, Inc. completed the acquisition of Tyco International PLC, a $9.9 billion business with operating profits of $884 million. The purchase consideration was $14.4 billion. Although the deal was billed as a merger, Ireland-based Tyco... View Details

Keywords: Tyco; Dennis Kozlowski; Edward Breen; Fire Safety; Fire Protection; Security; Packaging; Securities And Exchange Commission; Fraud; Accounting; Accounting Audits; Earnings Management; Financial Statements; Goodwill Accounting; Acquisition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Business Divisions; Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Headquarters; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Restructuring; Crime and Corruption; Engineering; Applied Optics; Chemicals; Construction; Metals and Minerals; Ethics; Finance; Cash Flow; Public Equity; Stock Options; Financing and Loans; Initial Public Offering; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Location; Geographic Scope; Global Range; Globalized Firms and Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Disclosure; Health Care and Treatment; Business History; Executive Compensation; Selection and Staffing; Courts and Trials; Lawfulness; Lawsuits and Litigation; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Strategy; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Consolidation; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Horizontal Integration; Value; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Republic of Ireland; Switzerland; Bermuda; United States; New Hampshire