Publications

February 1992 (Revised April 1993)
Case

Acid Rain: The Southern Co. (A)

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

The Southern Co., an electric utility, is planning its compliance with the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act. The Act established a system of tradeable permits for sulfur dioxide emissions. The company must decide whether to install pollution control equipment and... View Details

Keywords: Energy Generation; Business Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Cost vs Benefits; Financial Management; Strategic Planning; Investment Return; Government Legislation; Wastes and Waste Processing; Utilities Industry; Energy Industry; United States

20 May 2022
Blog Post

Nucleate Eco: Connecting Aspiring MBA Entrepreneurs with Cutting Edge Climate Research

resistant plants, novel biofuels processes, and alternative meat production. This year we’ve further expanded and even have a few non-life sciences teams in our cohort, working on industrial View Details

10 Jan 2022
Research & Ideas

How to Get Companies to Make Investments That Benefit Everyone

Regulators often punish companies for bad behavior—for instance, by fining them if they pollute the environment. But instead of focusing on what business leaders are doing wrong and constantly slapping their hands, government officials... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

23 Mar 2023
Blog Post

Arla Foods: How Sustainable Can A Dairy Company Be?

In January 2023, Professors Willy Shih and Mike Toffel led more than 40 HBS MBA students on site visits to witness the energy transition and innovative sustainable production activities throughout Denmark... View Details

08 Sep 2008
HBS Case

The Value of Environmental Activists

There are many methods, most financial, to measure the success of companies in meeting goals. But the question becomes a lot harder at Harvard Business School when MBAs are challenged to measure the efforts of environmental organizations like Greenpeace and the World... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Energy; Utilities

04 May 2021
Blog Post

Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month at HBS

2021 I’m a vegetarian. I love escaping into the woods to live off the grid, sleep on the dirt, and eat over an open fire. I’m obsessive about minimizing waste and buying second... View Details

01 Jun 2022
News

A Sustainable Solution for Fashion

emissions are produced by the industry, and the amount of textile waste generated each year could fill 20,000 football stadiums, Theuerkauf explains, adding that, “even in 2022, excess inventory is still put... View Details

Keywords: April White

03 Oct 2005
Research & Ideas

The Box Office Power of Stars

We all understand at some level that stars in the worlds of film, sports, and even business create results. If you want big box office for Pirates of the Caribbean, it probably pays to sign Johnny Depp to play the lead. But Harvard... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Entertainment & Recreation; Motion Pictures & Video

01 Oct 2002
News

Michael F. Cronin

hoses and egg cartons), Tweeter Home Entertainment, and Casella Waste Systems. To keep diversified, there's also the start-up airline, JetBlue, View Details

September 1992 (Revised October 1992)
Case

Acid Rain: The Southern Co. (B)

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

In addition to the issues of expected cost minimization elucidated in Acid Rain: The Southern Co. (A), problems involving regulatory uncertainty are critical to the firm's Clean Air Act compliance strategy. The regulatory uncertainty affects, and is affected by, the... View Details

Keywords: Energy Generation; Business Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Cost vs Benefits; Risk and Uncertainty; Strategic Planning; Investment Return; Government Legislation; Wastes and Waste Processing; Business and Government Relations; Utilities Industry; Energy Industry; United States

01 Nov 2018
Blog Post

Finding the Confidence to Apply to HBS

us her fears about applying and how she overcame them. I was so close to not even applying to HBS. Being admitted seemed so unlikely that I thought it was a waste of time to even try. Before I even... View Details

August 1974 (Revised November 1974)
Case

Reynolds Construction Company

By: Paul W. Marshall

Deals with the use of critical path method for the construction of remote control building, which is part of a water purification system. Discusses the necessity of determining the shortest possible time in which a job could be done without spending more money. Case... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Construction; Cost Management; Time Management; Wastes and Waste Processing; System; Construction Industry