Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(560)
- Faculty Publications (77)
- September 2012
- Background Note
Carbon Credits
By: Forest Reinhardt, Jost Hamschmidt and Mikell Hyman
- January 2012 (Revised September 2015)
- Case
Tough Decisions at Marks and Spencer
By: George Serafeim
In 2007, under the leadership of CEO Stuart Rose, the iconic British retailer Marks and Spencer, with great fanfare, announced its "Plan A" initiative. Based on the five essential pillars of climate change, waste, sustainable materials, fair partnership, and health,... View Details
- May 2011
- Article
Effective Managers Say the Same Thing Twice (or More)
By: Tsedal Neeley and Paul Leonardi
How do effective managers get employees to act promptly? New research suggests that it's by making their requests at least twice. Though you may think redundancy is unnecessary and even a waste of time, a new study indicates that it helps your message cut through... View Details
- April 2011 (Revised January 2019)
- Case
Talismark
By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff
Talismark, which helped its customers manage their waste, was considering re-engineering its business fundamentals to dramatically increase profitability by changing its sales and information processes. Implementing the changes would be expensive and would interrupt... View Details
- February 2011 (Revised September 2013)
- Case
Sound Group China: Urban Waste Entrepreneurs
By: John D. Macomber, Chad M. Carr and Fan Zhao
Private sector entrepreneur in China with advanced solid waste management capability competes with state owned enterprises and also government policies supporting a rival technology. Wen Yibo has used engineering expertise and political savvy to build a major privately... View Details
- 2010
- Simulation
Change Management Simulation: Power and Influence
By: Linda A. Hill and William Q. Judge
In this single-player simulation, students play one of two roles at a sunglass manufacturing firm and face the challenges associated with implementing an organization-wide environmental sustainability initiative. The initiative seeks to change raw material inputs in... View Details
- October 2010 (Revised July 2013)
- Case
AEP: Carbon Capture and Storage
By October 2010, American Electric Power, the largest coal-fired, electric utility in the United States, had been operating a carbon capture and sequestration pilot plant for one year. Using a proprietary, Alstom chilled ammonia technology, AEP was capturing and... View Details
- September 2010 (Revised November 2010)
- Case
Ze-gen: Commercializing Clean Tech
By: Lynda M. Applegate, Kaitlyn Lyons and Scott Prozeller
The Ze-gen case covers the first five years in the life of a clean-tech start-up. Ze-gen had developed an innovative technology that converted solid waste into synthesis gas (called syngas). This technology was in testing at the company's pilot plant, built next to the... View Details
- September 2010 (Revised April 2012)
- Case
Better World Books
By: Michael I. Norton, Fiona Wilson, Jill Avery and Thomas J. Steenburgh
Better World Books, a young start-up, provides a socially conscious alternative to Amazon, collecting and selling used books to keep them out of the waste stream, while donating a portion of their profits to support global literacy efforts. The case presents an... View Details
- March 2010 (Revised June 2010)
- Case
The Greening of DUMBO
By: Robert G. Eccles, Amy C. Edmondson and Abhijit Prabhu
The Brooklyn, New York, neighborhood Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass (DUMBO) has seen a revitalization since the late 1970s. The neighborhood's business improvement district (BID) is charged with supplementing New York City's efforts in several areas, including... View Details
- 2008
- Working Paper
Extending Producer Responsibility: An Evaluation Framework for Product Take-Back Policies
By: Michael W. Toffel, Antoinette Stein and Katharine Lee
Manufacturers are increasingly being required to adhere to product take-back regulations that require them to manage their products at the end of life. Such regulations seek to internalize products' entire life cycle costs into market prices, with the ultimate... View Details
- 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
- February 2007
- Case
South African Airways (A)
By: Joshua D. Margolis, Laura Morgan Roberts and Laura Winig
Amid efforts to engineer a turnaround at South African Airways (SAA), the CEO confronts an impending strike at the struggling company. How should the company address questions of distributive and procedural justice in post-Apartheid South Africa, and how should the CEO... View Details
- March 2006
- Case
The Whitesides Lab
By: H. Kent Bowen and Francesca Gino
A significant part of the long-term economic growth in developed economies depends on the translation of scientific research into new products and processes. Focuses on the front end of this value creation stream. The laboratory of George Whitesides has a 30-year... View Details
- 2005
- Chapter
Environmental Federalism in the European Union and the United States
By: David Vogel, Michael W. Toffel and Diahanna Post
The United States (US) and the European Union (EU) are federal systems in which the responsibility for environmental policy-making is divided or shared between the central government and the (member) states. The attribution of decision-making power has important policy... View Details
- October 2003 (Revised January 2005)
- Case
Microsoft: Launching the Smart Watch
By: John T. Gourville and Christina L. Darwall
Microsoft is on the verge of launching its Smart Watch technology, which will allow specially designed watches to receive up-to-date information on sports, business, traffic, news, etc. After several years of effort and millions of dollars spent, the questions now... View Details
- Article
The Growing Strategic Importance of End-of-Life Product Management
Requiring manufacturers to manage the their products when they become waste is an innovative form of regulation, one that has been adopted by countries in Asia, Europe, and North America on a variety of products that range from vehicles to appliances to batteries.... View Details
- 2003
- Article
Closing the Loop: Product Take-back Requirements and their Strategic Implications
In Asia, Europe, and North America, regulators are seeking to reduce waste disposal and develop recycling markets by requiring manufacturers to manage the end-of-life disposition of products they produce. Such policies attempt to "close the loop" for products ranging... View Details
- September 2002 (Revised March 2006)
- Case
Environmental Power Corporation: Changing Manure Into Gold?
By: Ray A. Goldberg and Laure Mougeot Stroock
In 2002, Environmental Power Corp. (EPC), a small company developing renewable energy projects, was attempting to commercialize its "digester," a facility that extracted methane from manure, reduced manure's environmental impact, and generated electricity. The company... View Details
- April 1997
- Case
Romeo Engine Plant (Abridged)
By: Robert S. Kaplan and Amy P. Hutton
A newly reopened automobile engine plant has been organized along total quality and teamwork principles. Employees now solve problems and ensure quality, rather than watch parts being produced. New operating and financial systems have been installed to promote... View Details