Publications

02 Feb 2009
Research & Ideas

The Success of Persistent Entrepreneurs

property position. Within the study, the computer and Internet, telecommunications, and life sciences industries are disproportionately represented because they have those characteristics. When we look at the more recent years in our data, industries like View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

September 2023
Case

FoodCloud: Tackling Food Insecurity and Climate Change in One Bite

By: Brian Trelstad and Emer Moloney

In 2013, Aoibheann O’Brien and Iseult Ward founded FoodCloud, a non-profit social enterprise that aimed to address food waste and food insecurity issues. Through its technology platform, Foodiverse, FoodCloud connected surplus food from retailers with community groups... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Expansion; Technological Innovation; Environmental Sustainability; Social Issues; Growth and Development Strategy; Green Technology Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Republic of Ireland; Europe

October 2011 (Revised November 2011)
Case

Verengo Solar Plus!

By: William A. Sahlman, Joseph B. Lassiter III and Liz Kind

In the three years since Bishop and Button purchased Verengo in a leveraged buyout (LBO), the company had gone through dramatic changes. Initially a residential windows and insulation firm, after the economic recession of 2008 the company switched gears and began... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Private Equity; Growth Management; Restructuring; Renewable Energy; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Corporate Finance; Product Development; Energy Industry; California

January 2008 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Cape Wind: Offshore Wind Energy in the USA

By: Richard Vietor

Cape Wind is an extreme example of NIMBY--not in my backyard syndrome. This is the first offshore wind project planned for the United States, in Nantucket Sound, just south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Initially proposed six years ago, in 2001, the wind farm would be... View Details

Keywords: Renewable Energy; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Projects; Government and Politics; Environmental Sustainability; Business and Community Relations; Public Opinion; Power and Influence; Energy Industry; Massachusetts

September 2006 (Revised November 2008)
Case

Supergrid

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

Supergrid is a mammoth wind-power development scheme for Europe, recently proposed by Airtricity. This firm, founded in 1997, is a fast-growing power-development company focused on wind. Already having built about 600 megawatts of wind turbines in Scotland and Ireland,... View Details

Keywords: Energy Generation; Renewable Energy; Entrepreneurship; Performance Capacity; Business and Government Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Energy Industry; Europe; United States

19 Nov 2021
Blog Post

Alumni Spotlight: Career Advice from Alums Working in Climate

conversations with people at the company. Not every cleantech startup I talked to had opportunities that were a good fit for an early-career MBA like me; some were too far from commercialization and too focused on solving technical... View Details

01 Oct 2021
Blog Post

Alumni Spotlight: Career Advice from Alums Working in Climate

conversations with people at the company. Not every cleantech startup I talked to had opportunities that were a good fit for an early-career MBA like me; some were too far from commercialization and too focused on solving technical... View Details

June 2024
Teaching Note

Miami’s Climate Tech Potential (A): The State of Play

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 324-119. Miami-Dade County led the work to get South Florida designated a national climate resilience tech hub, the only one of 31 focused on climate change, an urgent major issue for the region in light of global warming and sea level... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Climate; Entrepreneur; Development; Startup; Climate Change; Venture Capital; Investment; Entrepreneurship; Green Technology; Government Administration; City; Miami

June 2010 (Revised June 2011)
Case

U.S. Department of Energy & Recovery Act Funding: Bridging the "Valley of Death"

By: Michael J. Roberts, Joseph B. Lassiter III and Ramana Nanda

The case focuses on the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the $38 billion of stimulus funding the DOE received to encourage clean tech. They focus on "bridging the valley of death" (i.e., helping young, innovative companies finance technically risky and very capital... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Government and Politics; Innovation and Invention; Programs; Business and Government Relations; Climate Change; Energy Industry; Green Technology Industry

October 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

1366 Technologies

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, Ramana Nanda and David Kiron

Just months after declaring their intent to become a solar cell equipment supplier, van Mierlo and Sachs were again revisiting the issue of what the company should be. Becoming a successful solar cell manufacturer would potentially be much more lucrative than becoming... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Energy Generation; Renewable Energy; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Commercialization; Corporate Strategy; Green Technology Industry

June 2011
Teaching Note

The Suzlon Edge (TN)

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

Teaching Note for 708051. View Details

Keywords: Price; Non-Renewable Energy; Investment; Problems and Challenges; Climate Change; Globalization; Renewable Energy; Inflation and Deflation; Production; Machinery and Machining; Family Ownership; Policy; Energy Industry

22 Nov 2022
Blog Post

Alumni Leaders on Decarbonization Strategies for Combatting Climate Change

history. This is 4x the clean energy investments ($90 billion) under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2008, which kickstarted the first wave of cleantech investing and accelerated companies with over $1 trillion in enterprise... View Details

02 Feb 2023
News

Can We Really Engineer a Climate Fix?

change. JM: Primarily all of my focus for the last 10 or 15 years has been in climate and sustainability and the impact that that technology can have as it scales to meet the size of the problem that we're facing in climate change. DM: In other words, he's had a... View Details

17 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 17, 2009

http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=709025&referral=2342 Khosla Ventures: Biofuels Strategy Harvard Business School Case 809-004 By 2008, a number of the firm's early cleantech investments... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

31 May 2011
First Look

First Look: May 31

performance of business units can be evaluated using measures of economic value creation. Purchase this case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/211061-PDF-ENG China Environment Fund: Doing Well by Doing Good Christopher Marquis and Nancy DaiHarvard Business School... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Apr 2023
Blog Post

Climate Stories Episode #14: Bonita Stewart (MBA 1983) – A Career Devoted to Creating the Future

purchase of electric vehicles (EVs). According to Kelly Blue Book, EV 2022 sales increased 65% versus 2021. I was particularly interested in the ChargerHelp! model with its focus on reskilling individuals, especially those from underrepresented communities, to... View Details

September 2009 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Suntech Power

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

Suntech, a Chinese manufacturer of photovoltaic cells and solar panels, is the third largest solar company in the world. About 90 percent of its sales have been in Europe—especially Germany and Spain. But with its new "pluto" technology, and with new governmental... View Details

Keywords: Solar Power; Renewable Energy; Globalized Markets and Industries; Competition; Market Entry and Exit; Business and Government Relations; Expansion; Strategy; Energy Industry; Green Technology Industry; China

October 2003 (Revised February 2004)
Case

Cape Wind

By: John T. Gourville and Kerry Herman

Cape Wind has proposed placing a 170-tower wind farm, with each tower more than 400-feet tall, in Nantucket Sound. Not surprisingly, public reaction is mixed. Some view the wind farm as clean, renewable energy. Others view it as an eyesore and a desecration of a valued... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Renewable Energy; Consumer Behavior; Problems and Challenges; Natural Environment; Behavior; United States