Publications

June 2010 (Revised February 2013)
Background Note

The Precautionary Principle

By: Michael W. Toffel and Nazli Z. Uludere Aragon

This note describes the precautionary principle and its key tenets, highlights challenges associated with its use, and includes many examples of its application, primarily within the realm of regulating activities based on the risk of harm to human health and the... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Health Disorders; Business and Government Relations; Safety; Natural Environment; Pollutants; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Chemical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

1993
Chapter

Regulating the International Trade in Hazardous Pesticides: Closing the Accountability Gap

By: L. S. Paine

Keywords: Trade; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Corporate Accountability; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry

2010
Working Paper

The New Face of Chinese Industrial Policy: Making Sense of Anti-Dumping Cases in the Petrochemical and Steel Industries

By: Regina Abrami and Yu Zheng

Why have China's petrochemical and steel industries behaved so differently in seeking trade protection through antidumping measures? We argue that the patterning of antidumping actions is best explained in terms of the political economy of economic restructuring in... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Price; Policy; Business and Government Relations; Competition; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; China

November 2015 (Revised March 2018)
Case

Air Products' Pursuit of Airgas (A)

By: Charles C.Y. Wang, Paul M. Healy, Penelope Rossano and Kyle Thomas

This case centers around the Air Products' hostile takeover attempt of Airgas in 2010. Air Products argued that its offer of a 38% premium is generous given Airgas' poor performance, which Air Products attributed to underperforming and entrenched managers at Airgas. On... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Business and Shareholder Relations; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry; Chemical Industry

02 Nov 2020
Blog Post

2+2 Where Are They Now Spotlight: Tyler Teykl (MBA 2017)

figure.left { float:left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; } figcaption.text { text-align: center; font-size: 12px; } What was your undergraduate university and major? I received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University prior to... View Details

29 Aug 2016
Blog Post

First Year at HBS: A Foundation for Business

As a chemical engineer considering an MBA, I wanted more to learn and gain mastery of business principles with both breadth and depth. Like nearly everything else in the modern world, the business landscape has become quite complex and... View Details

21 Dec 2010
First Look

First Look: December 21

This case analyzes Dow Chemical Company's proposed acquisition of Rohm and Haas in 2008. The $18.8 billion acquisition was part of Dow's strategic transformation from a slow-growth, low-margin, and cyclical producer of basic View Details

02 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 3, 2008

into bribery? How can CEOs manage and prevent outbreaks of corruption? These and other questions are raised by three short case studies of corruption in Germany: at the global engineering firm Siemens, the automaker VW, and the chemical... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

28 Aug 2017
Research & Ideas

Should Industry Competitors Cooperate More to Solve World Problems?

over-application and excess chemicals leaching into water systems. Wet processing is also particularly impactful. The World Bank estimates that 17–20 percent of industrial water pollution worldwide comes from textile coloration and... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services; Manufacturing; Agriculture & Agribusiness; Mining

Web

Fellows | MBA

Engineering (Sb), Secondary in Computer Science Mather 2021 Cohort 2 Angel Onuoha Economics, Secondary in Computer Science Winthrop 2021 Cohort 3 Moritz Pail Computer Science / Mathematics Quincy 2025 Cohort 6 Krisha Patel Chemical &... View Details

01 Dec 2020
Blog Post

Hiring a Career Switcher: The Value of the MS/MBA

successful product managers, general managers, startup founders, and CEOs of mature technology companies. Blending technical skills and business management knowledge Like all students in the MS/MBA program, Kaelyn and Adam had backgrounds in computer science or... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

30 Oct 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, October 30, 2018

napalm, it turned to several companies with experience in chemicals manufacturing. One in particular—The Dow Chemical Company—bore the brunt of the moral opprobrium associated with the production of napalm.... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

02 Apr 2019
Research Event

Women Pay a Higher Career Price in Today's Always-On Work Culture

Ely says. “In fact, there’s a lot of evidence to suggest that it’s going to undermine the quality of the work.” A chemical reaction When Ely’s team suggested to the consulting firm that its employees worked an unnecessary number of hours,... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Consulting; Service

06 Aug 2001
Research & Ideas

Go Global—or No? Can You Make the Case?

Remember, we don't yet have the capability to serve the chemical and pharmaceutical industries here. There are still only 38 of us, and I estimate that building the support infrastructure we need just for domestic expansion could cost as... View Details

Keywords: by Walter Kuemmerle

02 Nov 2015
News

Making Higher Ed Accessible to Africans

Ralph Lauren Home shop in Filene’s. That forced me to engage with people on a new level and to convince them to spend $50 on a towel,” he says. He ultimately finished Duke and moved to New York City in 1987 to work at Chemical Bank, first... View Details

Keywords: Jill Radsken

September 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

ReMo Energy: Sizing Up Investors

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Tom Quinn

In 2023, executives with ReMo Energy (founded 2020) were deciding which size ammonia plant to build as their first project. Their innovative model produced ammonia—useful for making fertilizer and for energy storage—from renewable energy, and they had received funding... View Details