Publications

Find at Harvard

February 1994 (Revised November 1994)
Case

Brinkerhoff International, Inc. (A)

Presents a study of two oil rigs and their team relationships within a context of dissension in lower management ranks and a president who is trying to expand the business in a changing economy. View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Conflict and Resolution; Energy Sources; Mining Industry; Mining Industry

Keywords: Mining

September 1996 (Revised September 1999)
Case

Mobil USM&R (A): Linking the Balanced Scorecard

By: Robert S. Kaplan

The CEO of the marketing and refining division of a major oil company is in the midst of implementing a profit turnaround. He transforms the strongly centralized, functionally-organized division into 17 independent business units and 14 internal service companies. The... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Measurement and Metrics; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Design; Balanced Scorecard; Corporate Strategy; Mining Industry; Mining Industry

01 Jun 2009
News

Can’t Forget the Motor City

many admirers is distressed-assets financier Wilbur Ross (MBA ’61), who got to know Bloom from across the bargaining table when Ross was trying to buy up steel companies that Bloom represented. Observed Ross, “He’s very, very pragmatic,... View Details

Keywords: Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers; Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers; Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers; Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers; Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers

August 2014 (Revised March 2015)
Case

Molycorp: Morgan Brothers' Reverse Convertible Notes (C)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield

In August 2011, Morgan Brothers Bank was issuing a $2.5 million reverse convertible note with payoffs linked to the price of Molycorp's common stock. These financially engineered securities were just one of many kinds of structured notes available in the retail market.... View Details

Keywords: Structured Products; Reverse Convertible Notes; Replication; Option Pricing; Bond Pricing; Financial Engineering; Valuation; Metals and Minerals; Debt Securities; Finance; Investment; Mining Industry; Mining Industry; Canada; California

April 2003
Case

Sunk Costs: The Plan to Dump the Brent Spar (A)

This case explores the conflict between Shell Oil and Greenpeace over Shell's plans to sink the aging Brent Spar oil platform in the North Atlantic. It details the tactics Greenpeace employed and examines Shell's responses. View Details

Keywords: Alliances; Crisis Management; Environmental Sustainability; Mining Industry; Mining Industry; North America

July 1987 (Revised October 1995)
Case

Phillips 66: Controlling a Company Through Crisis

By: Lynda M. Applegate

The downstream operations subsidiary of a major U.S. petroleum company is faced with major restructuring decisions and responds by developing an Executive Information System (EIS) which allows for increased responsiveness, wider span of control, and higher levels of... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Information Management; Governance Controls; Organizational Design; Crisis Management; Communication; Management Teams; Growth Management; Mining Industry; Mining Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

January 1982 (Revised June 1983)
Case

International Drilling Corp. (A)

Details the moral conflict experienced by Don Taylor, a new high-level executive in an oil drilling firm, when he discovered that the firm was deceiving its investors. What should he do and how should he go about it? Presents the emergence of Taylor's suspicions about... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Business and Shareholder Relations; Mining Industry

03 Nov 2009
First Look

First Look: Nov. 3

Mining for Growth in an Economic Crisis Gary P. Pisano, Elena Corsi, and Elisa FarriHarvard Business School Case 610-021 In December 2008, Gianluigi Nova, CEO of Tenova SpA, a technology View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Teaching Interest

Overview

Globalization and Emerging Markets (Elective Course) The world order has changed significantly in the last two decades. The influence of western-style varieties of capitalism has been challenged by new forms of capitalism that rely less on private enterprise and on the... View Details

October 1997
Teaching Note

Mobil USM&R Series TN

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Teaching Note for (9-197-025), (9-197-120), (9-197-121), (9-197-026), (9-197-027), and (9-197-028). View Details

Keywords: Mining Industry; Mining Industry; United States

05 Dec 2017
Research & Ideas

What We've Learned from 101 Entrepreneurs in Emerging Markets

Azmi, famous actress and political activist; Shinta Kamdani, CEO of Indonesia’s Sintesa Group; and Dr. Manu Chandaria, chair and CEO of the Kenyan-based View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

01 Mar 2015
News

A Boomtown's Echo

shuttered for the season in late October. Not only were they not shuttered, every single parking spot had an oil truck in it. “I ran into this high school classmate of mine who—like a lot of my classmates in my little class of 34—stayed... View Details

Keywords: Oil and Gas Extraction; Oil and Gas Extraction

18 Feb 2014
First Look

First Look: February 18

many were watching her closely. Should she go so far as to make the unprecedented move of shutting down the mines? What message would that send to the company and to the mining industry? The lives of others,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2006 (Revised February 2007)
Case

De Beers at the Millennium

At the time of the millennium, diamond demand was threatened by an increasing awareness among jewelry customers that diamond production and trading in some countries was being linked to growing inequities and human rights violations. This, in turn, had an impact on De... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Value Creation; Strategic Planning; Social Issues; Luxury; Mining Industry; Mining Industry; Africa

January 2001 (Revised May 2010)
Case

BP Amoco (B): Financing Development of the Caspian Oil Fields

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Michael Kane

British Petroleum and Amoco were the two largest members of the Azerbaijan International Oil Consortium (AIOC), an 11-firm consortium that was spending $10 billion to develop oil fields in the Caspian Sea. As of March 1999, AIOC had completed a $1.9 billion development... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Policy; Capital Budgeting; Project Finance; Emerging Markets; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financing and Loans; Financial Strategy; Mining Industry; Mining Industry; United Kingdom; Europe