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01 Sep 2008
News

Is Market Capitalism Headed for Trouble?

contract, and they know this can breed violence and terrorism. Their democracies seem unable to adopt appropriate remedies. In Asia, they are mostly sanguine about economic growth. But there is concern about the environment, particularly the View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

August 2010 (Revised June 2020)
Teaching Note

Generation Investment Management (TN)

By: Sandra J. Sucher

Teaching Note for 613-002. The case and/or its teaching note includes references to case supplement videos that are intended for students to view, along with the written case, before class. As a reminder, the (A) video supplement is intended for students to view... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Development Economics; Environmental Sustainability; Energy Generation; Rural Scope; Non-Renewable Energy; Pollutants; Financial Services Industry; India

01 Dec 2013
News

Climate Change as Must-See TV

ABBASI: With the participation of HBS alumni and Hollywood heavyweights, bringing climate change drama into US living rooms. Related Link Preview: Years of Living Dangerously (video) by Garry Emmons Last spring, when a Hawaiian observatory reported that carbon dioxide... View Details

Keywords: videos; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services; Broadcasting (except Internet); Information; Arts, Entertainment

August 2011 (Revised February 2012)
Background Note

A Note on Water

By: Robert G. Eccles, Amy C. Edmondson, George Serafeim and Sarah E. Farrell

This note provides background on the complex issues regarding the supply and consumption of water and how this natural resource is at increasing risk, resulting in significant economic, political and environmental issues. View Details

Keywords: Economics; Government and Politics; Demand and Consumers; Supply and Industry; Risk and Uncertainty; Natural Environment; Pollutants; Environmental Sustainability

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

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

June 2010 (Revised February 2013)
Background Note

The Precautionary Principle

By: Michael W. Toffel and Nazli Z. Uludere Aragon

This note describes the precautionary principle and its key tenets, highlights challenges associated with its use, and includes many examples of its application, primarily within the realm of regulating activities based on the risk of harm to human health and the... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Health Disorders; Business and Government Relations; Safety; Natural Environment; Pollutants; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Chemical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

2003
Article

Closing the Loop: Product Take-back Requirements and their Strategic Implications

By: Michael W. Toffel

In Asia, Europe, and North America, regulators are seeking to reduce waste disposal and develop recycling markets by requiring manufacturers to manage the end-of-life disposition of products they produce. Such policies attempt to "close the loop" for products ranging... View Details

Keywords: Wastes and Waste Processing; Energy Conservation; Product Development; Strategy; Policy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Manufacturing Industry; Asia; Europe; North and Central America

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Research Summary

Overview

By: Michael W. Toffel

My research examines how companies manage environmental issues, occupational safety, and working conditions in global supply chains. More recently, I have also begun researching the drivers and implications of CEO activism, where organizational leaders speak out on... View Details

15 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

Funding the Design of Livable Cities

emissions, restructuring the urban environment can have an enormous positive impact on the global climate. Within a relatively contained geographic space, a city's "inputs" of water, transportation infrastructure, energy and breathable air and "outputs" of waste, air... View Details

Keywords: by Lisa Chase; Construction; Real Estate; Energy; Utilities

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

26 Mar 2008
First Look

First Look: March 26, 2008

levels of related expertise; (ii) subsidiaries exhibit significant heterogeneity in this expertise; and (iii) the subsidiaries are more diversified and less concentrated. We examine the efforts to diffuse pollution prevent practices... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

July 2009 (Revised January 2014)
Case

Sustainability at Millipore

By: Michael W. Toffel and Katharine Lee

This case describes Millipore Corporation's approach to becoming a more environmentally sustainable company. As he prepared for his quarterly meeting with the CEO, the Director of Sustainability needed to develop positions on several issues. Tactically, he needed to... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Corporate Disclosure; Operations; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Structure; Natural Environment; Environmental Sustainability; Pollutants

06 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

Renewable Energy: Winds at Our Back?

reduce global warming pollution and transition to a clean energy economy." This bill even has a renewable production standard for the United States. Q: What prevents renewables from going mainstream? A: In the United States there are... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Energy; Utilities

2010
Working Paper

Accelerating Energy Innovation: Insights from Multiple Sectors

By: Rebecca Henderson and Richard G. Newell

A combination of concerns about climate change and energy security has recently led to significant increases in public funding for energy R&D. Some commentators are suggesting that these increases need to be sustained, and are advocating for increases of as much as... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Technological Innovation; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Research and Development; Pollutants; Climate Change; Energy Industry

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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