Publications

September 2011 (Revised February 2013)
Case

Trucost: Valuing Corporate Environmental Impacts

By: Michael W. Toffel and Stephanie van Sice

Trucost provided corporate environmental performance data and analysis to institutional investors and corporate managers, but after operating for a decade had yet to achieve profitability. Trucost was struggling to effectively differentiate its high quality products... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Distribution Channels; Investment; Measurement and Metrics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Information; Value; Environmental Sustainability; Financial Services Industry

June 2008 (Revised May 2017)
Case

Cook Composites and Polymers Co.

By: Deishin Lee, Michael W. Toffel and Rachel Gordon

This case describes how a company improves resource efficiency and process quality in its manufacturing process by developing a waste by-product into a new product. The case describes how CCP cleans production equipment between batches using styrene, which becomes a... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Product Development; Business Processes; Performance Efficiency; Natural Environment; Wastes and Waste Processing; Pollutants; Environmental Sustainability; Chemical Industry; Manufacturing Industry

June 2011 (Revised December 2013)
Case

FIJI Water: Carbon Negative?

By: Francesca Gino, Michael W. Toffel and Stephanie van Sice

Seeking to go beyond global best practices in reducing environmental impacts, FIJI Water, a premium artesian bottled water company in the United States, launched a Carbon Negative campaign that would offset more greenhouse gas emissions than were released by the... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Footprint; Carbon Offsetting; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Brands and Branding; Negotiation Tactics; Business and Government Relations; Corporate Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Fiji

Article

Toward Resource Independence—Why State-Owned Entities Become Multinationals: An Empirical Study of India's Public R&D Laboratories

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury and Tarun Khanna

In this paper, we build on the standard resource dependence theory and its departure suggested by Vernon to offer a novel explanation for why state-owned entities (SOEs) might seek a global footprint and global cash flows: to achieve resource independence from... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Resource Allocation; Supply Chain; State Ownership; Growth and Development Strategy; India

Find at Harvard

February 2010
Teaching Note

Fabindia Overseas Pvt. Ltd. (TN)

By: Mukti Khaire

Teaching Note for [807113]. View Details

Keywords: For-Profit Firms; Expansion; Mission and Purpose; Problems and Challenges; Employment; Rural Scope; Supply Chain; Profit; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; India

April 2003
Case

Energis (A)

By: John R. Wells

Describes the history of Energis, one of the United Kingdom's major alternative telecommunications network service providers (altnets). Tracks the company from its birth as a diversification move by the National Grid, the U.K.'s leading electricity distributor, through... View Details

Keywords: History; Change Management; Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Growth and Maturation; Organizational Structure; Industry Structures; Telecommunications Industry; United Kingdom

December 1982 (Revised September 2015)
Case

Halloran Metals

By: Roy Shapiro

Two competitors in the Northeast steel service center industry have made very different choices with regards to logistics and operating strategy. One distributes from a large central location; the other operates seven widely scattered warehouses. Students can diagnose... View Details

Keywords: Logistics; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Business Cycles; Decision Choices and Conditions; Metals and Minerals; Supply Chain; Steel Industry; United States

12 Mar 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, March 12, 2019

Clinic’s warfarin anticoagulation clinic. The study measured the personnel and supplies costs to monitor and manage anticoagulation therapy for 5,526 patients. Results: The cost of warfarin management for patients who display unstable... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

02 Aug 2010
Research & Ideas

Modern Indian Art: The Birth of a Market

had had to be actively created. Supply alone did not generate demand. Second, this was a case in which actors other than the producers (that is, the artists) interpreted the product to explain and construct its value to consumers,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

01 May 2006
What Do You Think?

Who Will Cast a Longer Shadow on the 21st Century: Friedman or Galbraith?

Schwartz, The Monetary History of the United States, he had earlier argued, however, for a significant government role in managing monetary policy to guard against the booms and busts that characterized the early part of the twentieth century. According to this thesis,... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

23 Mar 2021
Blog Post

A Lifelong Friendship: From Classmates in Cameroon to Roommates at HBS

from parents at the age of 10, waking up at 5am every day, ice cold showers, managing our time, money and food supplies over a semester with very little access to the outside world lots of fun! For seven years we built our friendship... View Details

17 Jan 2012
First Look

First Look: January 17

products survive in equilibrium, even with competition. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/12-055.pdf Got Local Food? Authors:Baris Ata, Deishin Lee, and Mustafa H. Tongarlak Abstract We study the operational tradeoffs of a retailer and farmers in a... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

22 May 2020
Blog Post

Reflections on Service - Armed Forces Alumni Association Student Profiles

I continue to be exceedingly proud, grateful, and humbled to have had the opportunity to serve my country. REFLECTION ON SERVICE: Flying through the dark Afghanistan night to rescue two downed pilots. Delivering vital medical supplies to... View Details

05 Sep 2024
Blog Post

District Heating in Denmark: How Fjernvarme Fyn fuels an integrated and sustainable future

one of the largest district heating grids in the world, supplying 97% of residential heating needs in the Odense and Otterup areas. Fjernvarme Fyn site visit. Image Source: Bonnie Chen At Fjernvarme Fyn, we toured the central production... View Details

Web

Collection Highlights | Baker Library

collection includes his lecture and seminar notes and almost the entire body of his professional correspondence. Wartime Schools Collection During World War II, the U.S. military was facing an increased need for officers trained in statistics and View Details

01 Dec 2013
News

A Safer, Smarter Future for Tech Trash

recycled. There is literally gold in those trash hills. "You have these massive, growing piles of e-scrap, which are immensely rich in resources," says Bradoo. "About 10–15 percent of the world's gold supply goes into electronics."... View Details

Keywords: Constantine von Hoffman; recycling; Mining (except Oil and Gas); Mining; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

01 Sep 2004
News

Home Sweet (Modular) Home

on supplying 580 multifamily affordable-housing units for low- and moderate-income residents of Boston. But finding a factory site in the city proved impossible, and the deal died. Searches in Providence, Rhode Island, and Hartford,... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

January 1980 (Revised August 1986)
Case

General Electric vs. Westinghouse in Large Turbine Generators (A)

By: Michael E. Porter

Describes the U.S. large turbine generator industry in early 1963, a period of severe price cutting and depressed industry conditions. Presents data to allow a structural analysis of the industry and an analysis of the strategies of the major players since 1946. The... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Customer Focus and Relationships; Machinery and Machining; Cost Management; Price; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Marketing Strategy; Industry Structures; Competition; Manufacturing Industry; United States