Publications

28 Jun 2004
Research & Ideas

How to Avoid a Price Increase

When product companies see the cost of materials rise, the result for consumers is often a price increase (gasoline) or, less often, a smaller amount of product at the same price (potato chips). Which option... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

December 2012 (Revised January 2013)
Case

Pemex (A): In a Free Fall?

By: Noel Maurer and Aldo Musacchio

Keywords: Turnarounds; Oil Prices; State-owned Enterprises; Oil Companies; National Oil Companies; Energy; Privatization; State Ownership; Corporate Governance; Energy Industry; Mexico; North America

December 2012 (Revised March 2013)
Supplement

Pemex (B): The Rebound?

By: Aldo Musacchio, Noel Maurer and Regina Garcia-Cuellar

Keywords: Turnarounds; Oil Prices; Oil Companies; State-owned Enterprises; Energy; Corporate Governance; Energy Industry; Mexico; North America

16 Jun 2008
Research & Ideas

Seven Tips for Managing Price Increases

exclusive global luxury brands hold up pretty well regardless of price. Especially challenged are marketers of goods and services for which consumers don't necessarily understand the input costs: decorative candles, for example, are highly sensitive to View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

21 May 2018
HBS Case

How Would You Price One of the World's Great Watches?

watchmakers to put the most pristine parts, screws, and oil in the perfect locations. “When you think about capturing value from innovations, pricing is quite possibly the most important decision that you’ll... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Fashion

February 2017 (Revised June 2017)
Supplement

ExxonMobil: Business as Usual? (B)

By: George Serafeim, Shiva Rajgopal and David Freiberg

The case presents ExxonMobil's response to growing pressure to disclose how climate change will impact their business. This includes multiple asset impairments and losing a proxy vote to shareholders to increase climate change related reporting. Supplements the (B)... View Details

Keywords: Oil ＆ Gas; Oil Prices; Oil Companies; Asset Impairment; Predictive Analytics; Sustainability; Environmental Impact; Innovation; Disclosure; Accounting; Valuation; Energy Sources; Ethics; Corporate Disclosure; Governance Compliance; Climate Change; Financial Reporting; Energy Industry; United States

Winter 2012
Article

South Sudan: The Birth of an Economy

By: Eric D. Werker, Kelly Wyett and Shannon Ding

We discuss the birth of a new economy in a society that has only recently emerged from a 22-year-long civil war. The pace of growth so far has been fast but uneven. We find that aid and oil money are flowing rapidly into certain sectors, while other... View Details

Keywords: Sudan; Developing Markets; Foreign Aid; Conflict; Oil Prices; Private Sector Development; Emerging Markets; Policy; Developing Countries and Economies; Innovation and Invention; South Sudan

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May 2024
Case

Shell's Balancing Act: Resource Allocation and the Green Transition

By: David Collis and Haisley Wert

In mid-2023, amid pressure from climate change activists, shareholder activists, and confronting enormous uncertainty about the future demand for and price of fossil fuels, new Shell CEO Wael Sawan (Harvard MBA 2003) announced a change in strategy for the U.K. oil... View Details

Keywords: Portfolio Analysis; Climate; Oil; Oil And Gas; Oil Companies; Renewables; Petroleum; Investor Demand; Investors; Corporate Strategy; Resource Allocation; Climate Change; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Business and Shareholder Relations; Energy Industry; United Kingdom

01 Dec 2017
News

2017 in Energy: A Future of Lower Energy Prices

of healthy, albeit relatively slow, economic growth in the developed world and increasing urbanization in developing economies, we expected to see growing demand for oil and natural gas and a subsequent View Details

Keywords: Sarah Wright (MBA 1997), founder, Hull Street Energy

April 2017 (Revised August 2018)
Case

The U.S. Shale Revolution: Global Rebalancing?

By: Laura Alfaro and Richard H.K. Vietor

The American shale revolution has upended oil and gas markets for nearly a decade. Prices have risen then plunged, production has surged and then waned, LNG has boomed, and technology and productivity have improved. The U.S. energy policy, under the Obama... View Details

Keywords: Shale Oil; Shale Gas; LNG; Energy Policy; Drilling Technology; Energy; Trade; Economics; Macroeconomics; Policy; Energy Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States; Middle East

June 2019
Case

The Shale Revolution: America's Energy Independence?

By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Howaida Kamel

The shale revolution has upended oil and gas markets for nearly a decade and has positioned the U.S. to become a net energy exporter by 2020. Technological improvements pushed productivity forward which has had positive overall positive affects for the U.S. economy.... View Details

Keywords: Shale Oil; Shale Gas; LNG; Energy Policy; Drilling Technology; Energy; Trade; Economics; Macroeconomics; Policy; Energy Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States; Middle East

09 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

War in Ukraine: Soaring Gas Prices and the Return of Stagflation?

Ukrainian citizens are experiencing. "For Europeans, there will be huge price effects for both oil and natural gas." But on the business side, the effects are felt enormously by Russian citizens and... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Energy

July 2024 (Revised September 2024)
Case

Shell’s Balancing Act: Resource Allocation and the Green Transition (Abridged)

By: David Collis and Haisley Wert

In mid-2023, amid pressure from climate change activists, shareholder activists, and confronting enormous uncertainty about the future demand for and price of fossil fuels, new Shell CEO Wael Sawan (Harvard MBA 2003) announced a change in strategy for the U.K. oil... View Details

Keywords: Oil ＆ Gas; Renewables; Forecasting Demand; Strategy; Energy; Climate Change; Resource Allocation; Corporate Strategy; Investment Activism; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Energy Industry

May 2014
Case

Sasol: U.S. Growth Program

By: Richard H. K. Vietor

Sasol, the world's largest producer of synthetic oil from coal and gas, has announced plans to build a huge Catalytic cracker and gas-to-liquids plant in Lake Charles, Louisiana. This $21 billion venture will be the single largest foreign direct investment in US... View Details

Keywords: Oil ＆ Gas; Risk; Risk And Uncertainty; Petroleum; Synthesis; Diesel; Foreign Direct Investment; Chemicals; Strategy; Energy Industry; United States

May 2013 (Revised September 2013)
Case

The Kashagan Production Sharing Agreement (PSA)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Florian Bitsch

When discovered in the 1990s, the Kashagan oil field was the second largest oil field in the world. The project sponsors (equity investors) signed a 40-year production sharing agreement (PSA) with the Kazakh government in 1997, with the expectation the field would... View Details

2012
Working Paper

Unobserved State Fragility and the Political Transfer Problem

By: Faisal Z. Ahmed and Eric Werker

Autocrats experiencing a windfall in unearned income may find it optimal to donate to other countries some of the windfall in order to make the state a less attractive prize to potential insurgents. We put forward a model that makes that prediction, as well as the... View Details

Keywords: International Finance; Non-Renewable Energy; International Relations; Economics

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09 Oct 2015
Blog Post

Students, Alumni, and Colleagues Gather to Discuss Leadership in the Energy Industry

The energy industry has been shaken over the last year as oil prices have dropped from over $110 to below $50, with OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) promising no relief to the supply... View Details

January 2013 (Revised April 2017)
Supplement

Maxum Petroleum, Inc.

By: W. Carl Kester

Maxum seeks an oil-price hedging strategy that yields substantial cash during oil price spikes, is affordable under ordinary circumstances, and is easily managed. It is striving to avoid a repeat of the challenging situation encountered in 2008 when spiking oil prices... View Details

Keywords: Hedging; Options; Commodities; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Risk Management; Futures and Commodity Futures; Financial Strategy; Volatility