solar power - Publications - Faculty & Research

July – August 2009
Article

Restoring American Competitiveness

For decades, U.S. companies have been outsourcing manufacturing in the belief that it held no competitive advantage. That's been a disaster, maintain Harvard professors Pisano and Shih, because today's low-value manufacturing operations hold the seeds of tomorrow's... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Value; Production; Innovation and Invention; Product Development; Government and Politics; Social Issues; Management Practices and Processes; Investment; Research and Development; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Competency and Skills; Service Industry; United States

Citation

Find at Harvard

2024
Working Paper

When Batteries Meet Hydrogen: Dual-Storage Investments for Load-Shifting Purposes

By: Christian Kaps and Simone Marinesi

Power systems account for nearly 40% of global emissions. As the world tries to reduce emissions by increasing renewable penetration, storage technologies are playing an increasingly important role in matching variable renewable supply with demand. Batteries have... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Renewable Energy; Transition; Utilities Industry; Battery Industry

Citation

SSRN

09 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

Could Clean Hydrogen Become Affordable at Scale by 2030?

Hydrogen is poised to move from the sidelines of global clean energy as the industry learns to produce it more efficiently and at lower cost, according to newly published research led by Gunther Glenk, a climate fellow with Harvard Business School's Institute for the... View Details

Keywords: by Desmond Dodd; Energy; Green Technology

18 Mar 2024
Research & Ideas

When It Comes to Climate Regulation, Energy Companies Take a More Nuanced View

Common wisdom holds that oil and gas companies, electric utilities, and other industries known for their large carbon emissions generally oppose clean energy policies. Now, a study of corporate advocacy spanning 30 years reveals that many companies are more flexible... View Details

Keywords: by Desmond Dodd; Energy; Utilities

19 Apr 2011
First Look

First Look: April 19

Power Richard H.K. VietorHarvard Business School Case 710-013 Suntech, a Chinese manufacturer of photovoltaic cells and solar panels, is the third largest solar company in the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Apr 2023
Research & Ideas

What Happens When Banks Ditch Coal: The Impact Is 'More Than Anyone Thought'

Consumers who are eager to mitigate climate change can take many actions, such as reducing the number of airline flights they take or installing solar panels on their homes. But the planet is in a race against time, and individual action alone won’t help most countries... View Details

Keywords: by Barbara DeLollis; Financial Services; Mining

10 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

John Kotter’s Plan to Accelerate Your Business

toppled—in fact, he calls it "one of the most amazing innovations of the twentieth century." Instead, he wants executives to consider how their own companies formed and developed at a young age. "All organizations start with a structure that looks like a dynamic View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard

02 Aug 2022
Research & Ideas

6 Strategies for Building Socially Responsible—and Profitable—Companies

A dozen years ago, Harvard Business School Professor George Serafeim wondered why some companies operated with an eye toward the greater good, while most did not. Back then, he always got the same response: Corporate leaders thought social and environmental practices... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

22 Mar 2013
Research & Ideas

Pulling Campbell’s Out of the Soup

were able to create a very powerful culture." Conant established two performance metrics to measure progress, one based on economic value, measured by shareholder returns compared to competitor companies; and the other based on... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage

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

22 Apr 2013
Research & Ideas

Earth Day: Recent Research on Sustainability

lie in research by Robert G. Eccles, Ioannis Ioannou, Shelley Xin Li, and George Serafeim. Power from Sunshine: A Business History of Solar EnergyThis paper by Geoffrey Jones and Loubna Bouamane provides a... View Details

08 Nov 2024
Op-Ed

How Private Investors Can Help Solve Africa's Climate Crisis

African people, businesses, and nations are becoming increasingly stressed by climate-related perils like droughts, river flooding, extreme heat, and rising sea levels. This is leading not only to the destruction of assets but also challenges to lives and... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber; Green Technology; Energy

06 Feb 2012
Research & Ideas

Kodak: A Parable of American Competitiveness

in the area of energy storage and green energy production, for example, including lithium ion batteries for cell phones and laptops, silicon solar cells, and power semiconductors for View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Manufacturing

09 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

How Social Entrepreneurs Can Increase Their Investment Impact

examined in an HBS case study, that provides prepaid power plans to poor urban and rural communities using energy derived from rice husks and solar power. Its model benefits both poor populations and the... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

12 Mar 2013
First Look

First Look: March 12

its second quarter financial numbers in 2009. The case provides students with background information on the solar power industry, First Solar, data from CFRA research, and First Solar's quarterly reports and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

10 Nov 2003
Research & Ideas

The Hard Numbers on Social Investments

electric systems—used in remote power and emerging grid-connected markets. The PV modules produced by Evergreen Solar incorporate proprietary crystalline silicon technology known as String Ribbon. In 1996,... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

08 Mar 2012
Research & Ideas

Unplugged: What Happened to the Smart Grid?

Replacing the antiquated electrical system in the United States with a super-efficient smart grid always seemed a surefire way to strengthen the economy, improve society, and provide endless opportunities for entrepreneurs. Big opportunities. But modernization of the... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Energy; Utilities

15 Feb 2017
Op-Ed

What Africa Can Teach the United States About Funding Infrastructure Projects

bridges, water, power and more? It’s not because they don’t aspire to. It’s because they lack the money and the expertise (in African cities) or because they can’t get to political consensus (in the United States)—or because there are... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber; Construction

17 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

America Needs a Manufacturing Renaissance

highly local. This means that industrial commons can have a local character as well. As a result, companies located in some places have advantages over others by virtue of their access to the appropriate set of workers, engineers, managerial talent, suppliers, and... View Details

Keywords: by Gary P. Pisano & Willy C. Shih; Manufacturing

10 Dec 2007
HBS Case

One Laptop per Child

collaborative tasks from writing assignments to playing digital instruments. At the same time it needed to address constraints such as the lack of electrical power in many remote rural areas—a problem it solves in several ways. Kids can... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Computer

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