Publications

February 1995
Case

Catalan Leather Industry, The

Antoni Subira, the Minister of Industry in Catalonia, Spain, must decide whether to impose strict European Union environmental guidelines on the local leather industry. Failure to impose new regulations would result in substantial fines. Imposition, on the other hand,... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Industry Structures; Environmental Sustainability; Spain

14 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Water, Electricity, and Transportation: Preparing for the Population Boom

By 2050, the Earth's population will likely exceed 9 billion people, up 30 percent from 6.9 billion today, according to projections from both the US Census Bureau and the United Nations. What's more, the population in the world's cities is expected to increase by 3... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

February 2020 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Sustainable Product Management at Solvay

By: George Serafeim, Vincent Dessain and Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej

In November 2019, Ilham Kadri, CEO of Solvay, a Belgian specialty chemicals and advanced materials group, with annual revenues of more than €10 billion in 2018, announced the group’s mid-term strategy, eight months after she took the helm as Solvay’s 11th CEO. The case... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Sustainable Business And Innovation; Sustainability Management; Sustainable Development; Management Accounting; Innovation; Carbon Emissions; Sustainability Reporting; Sustainability Targets; Target-setting; Product; Management; Transformation; Growth and Development Strategy; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Chemical Industry; Europe; Belgium

September 2011 (Revised May 2013)
Case

New Resource Bank: In Pursuit of Green

By: Christopher Marquis and Juan Almandoz

New Resource Bank was founded in San Francisco in 2006 with a mission focused on environmental sustainability. The case illustrates the opportunities and challenges of banking on values and the challenges of organizations defining a social and environmental commitment.... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Strategy; Business and Government Relations; Banking Industry; San Francisco

May 1990 (Revised December 1998)
Case

Technology Transfer at a Defense Contractor (Abridged)

By: Linda A. Hill

Covers the same material concerning the specific transfer of technology as described in the longer version but summarizes the environmental and organizational context of the transfer. Most appropriate when the instructor wishes to focus on the action questions. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Conflict Management; Managerial Roles; Management Teams; Employees; Competitive Strategy; Projects

17 Apr 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Diffusing Management Practices within the Firm: The Role of Information Provision

Keywords: by Michael J. Lenox & Michael W. Toffel; Technology

30 Jan 2024
Cold Call Podcast

Can Second-Generation Ethanol Production Help Decarbonize the World?

Keywords: Re: Gunnar Trumbull; Energy

October 2022 (Revised June 2024)
Case

Driving Decarbonization at BMW

By: Shirley Lu, George Serafeim and Michael W. Toffel

The case describes BMW’s electrification and decarbonization strategy, and how the company measured carbon emissions throughout the life cycle of its vehicles and used tools like carbon abatement cost curves to evaluate decarbonization opportunities. In mid-2022,... View Details

November 2017
Article

Overcoming Institutional Voids: A Reputation-Based View of Long Run Survival

By: Cheng Gao, Tiona Zuzul, Geoffrey Jones and Tarun Khanna

Emerging markets are characterized by underdeveloped institutions and frequent environmental shifts. Yet they also contain many firms that have survived over generations. How are firms in weak institutional environments able to persist over time? Motivated by 69... View Details

Keywords: Institutional Voids; Intangible Resources; Emerging Markets; Reputation; Business History

2016
Working Paper

Overcoming Institutional Voids: A Reputation-Based View of Long Run Survival

By: Cheng Gao, Tiona Zuzul, Geoffrey Jones and Tarun Khanna

Emerging markets are characterized by underdeveloped institutions and frequent environmental shifts. Yet they also contain many firms that have survived over generations. How are firms in weak institutional environments able to persist over time? Motivated by 69... View Details

Keywords: Institutional Voids; Intangible Resources; Business Ventures; Business or Company Management; Business History; Reputation; Emerging Markets

SSRN

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May 2008
Article

Coerced Confessions: Self-Policing in the Shadow of the Regulator

By: Jodi L. Short and Michael W. Toffel

As part of a recent trend toward more cooperative relations between regulators and industry, novel government programs are encouraging firms to monitor their own regulatory compliance and voluntarily report their own violations. In this study, we examine how regulatory... View Details

Keywords: Governance Compliance; Law Enforcement; Corporate Disclosure; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Environmental Sustainability; Programs; Power and Influence; Organizations; Decisions; Business and Government Relations; United States

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16 Jun 2015
News

Michael Porter on America's Historic Energy Opportunity

March 1994 (Revised October 1994)
Case

Reading Energy

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

Reading Energy builds facilities that produce energy from nontraditional fuels. A privately held, entrepreneurial organization, it has spent six years developing a plan to build a waste-to-energy plant in the town of Robbins, Illinois. The plant would burn municipal... View Details

Keywords: Energy Generation; Wastes and Waste Processing; Business and Community Relations; Business Plan; Agreements and Arrangements; Contracts; Risk and Uncertainty; Government and Politics; Environmental Sustainability; Business Strategy; Energy Industry; Utilities Industry; Illinois

March 2023 (Revised May 2025)
Case

On

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Karolin Frankenberger and Sascha Mader

Founded in 2010, in just one decade, the Swiss company On had established itself as a main player in global sports footwear and apparel. Based on an unconventional strategy which one of the founders labeled as “obsessively distinct,” On grew its sales with a compound... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Product Positioning; Business Model; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Europe

April 2021
Case

Coca-Cola: Preparing for the Next 100 Years

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery and James Weber

In early 2020, James Quincey, the 14th chair of the 133-year old The Coca-Cola Company, was in the midst of a years-long transformation of Coca-Cola from being the leading carbonated soft drink (CSD) beverage company into a total beverage company. The company’s... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Diversification; Change Management; Organizational Culture; Environmental Sustainability; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

16 Oct 2007
First Look

First Look: October 16, 2007

that information disclosure is particularly likely to spur responses from firms whose legitimacy is threatened (and thus are shamed) and face lower-cost opportunities to respond (and thus are particularly able). Testing this by examining how firms respond when their... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2005 (Revised August 2006)
Case

Investor Relations at TOTAL

By: Gregory S. Miller, Vincent Marie Dessain and Anders Sjoman

Examines investor relations and financial communications in a large company with a diverse group of financial stakeholders. Total is an "energy major" based in Paris, France. The importance of its product and its impact on economies and environments combine with the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Business and Shareholder Relations; Communication Strategy; Paris