Publications

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2025
Working Paper

Global Harms, Local Profits: How the Uneven Costs of Natural Disasters Affect Support for Green Political Platforms

By: Silvia Pianta and Paula Rettl

Large-scale fires are becoming increasingly common due to climate change. While conventional wisdom suggests that firsthand experiences with natural disasters foster green coalitions by raising awareness of environmental degradation, we propose an alternative... View Details

Keywords: Climate Impact; Politics; Environmental Issues; Environmental Protection; Economic Analysis; Economic Behavior; Economic Geography; Economy; Economics; Climate Change; Environmental Management; Political Elections; Natural Disasters; Green Technology; Environmental Sustainability; Latin America; Brazil

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June 2017
Case

Veolia: Resourcing the World

By: Gautam Ahuja, Tarun Khanna, Kristina Maslauskaite and Vincent Dessain

In March 2016, Antoine Frérot, CEO of Veolia, a global environmental services provider, was undergoing an important transformation of the company. In 2013, Frérot presented a growth strategy that focused on increasing the share of industrial clients, enhancing growth... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Circular; Emerging Markets; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Growth and Development Strategy; Economy

July 2024
Supplement

Fail Safe Testing, Inc. (B)

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Pre-Abstract: Instructors should consider the timing of making videos available to students, as they may reveal key case details.
Abstract: Fail Safe Testing, Inc., founded in 1988, was the leading provider of fire hose pressure testing, ground ladder and pump... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Business Plan; Acquisition; Customers

2003
Book

The Monied Metropolis: New York City and the Consolidation of the American Bourgeoisie, 1850–1896

By: Sven Beckert

This book, first published in 2001, is a comprehensive history of the most powerful group in the nineteenth-century United States: New York City's economic elite. This small and diverse group of Americans accumulated unprecedented economic, social, and political power,... View Details

Keywords: Literacy; Income; Identity; Culture; Economics; Power and Influence

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2023
Working Paper

Words Can Hurt: How Political Communication Can Change the Pace of an Epidemic

By: Jessica Gagete-Miranda, Lucas Argentieri Mariani and Paula Rettl

While elite-cue effects on public opinion are well-documented, questions remain as to when and why voters use elite cues to inform their opinions and behaviors. Using experimental and observational data from Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic, we study how leader... View Details

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May 2019 (Revised June 2021)
Case

State of Charge: The Massachusetts Energy Storage Initiative

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In early 2017, Judith Judson (Harvard Business School MBA, 2000), Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER), was reflecting on the results of the initiative she had led to identify the contribution advanced electricity storage could make... View Details

Keywords: Energy Storage; Energy Generation; Programs; Policy; Strategy; Energy Industry; Utilities Industry; Massachusetts

June 2011 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Tough Choices for the Illinois Pension System

By: Robert C. Pozen and Brij S. Khurana

This case describes the precarious fiscal situation of the Illinois public pension system in the spring of 2009 and the accounting of pension plans by non-federal municipalities more generally. In February 2009, in the midst of a recession, recently-appointed Governor... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Financial Crisis; Financial Liquidity; Annuities; Financial Management; Financing and Loans; Taxation; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Illinois

December 2015 (Revised January 2016)
Case

Woolf Farming and the California Water Crisis

By: Forest Reinhardt, David Bell, Natalie Kindred, Mary Shelman and Laura Winig

This case highlights the tough choices, competing interests, and decision-making mechanisms involved in California's management of its severe drought, entering its fifth year in 2015. Stuart Woolf, CEO of Woolf Farming, a grower and processor of almonds, tomatoes, and... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Natural Disasters; Climate Change; Resource Allocation; Environmental Sustainability; Government and Politics; Economics; Weather; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; California

March 2021 (Revised December 2021)
Case

Cedar Environmental: Innovation vs. Corruption in Lebanon?

By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Youssef Abdel Aal

The case follows Ziad Abi Chaker, founder and CEO of Cedar Environmental, as he weighs options for how to grow the company in the face of growing economic and political instability in Lebanon in 2019.

Founded after the Lebanese civil war, Cedar... View Details

20 Mar 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Waste, Recycling and Entrepreneurship in Central and Northern Europe, 1870-1940

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones & Andrew Spadafora

2022
Article

Regulatory Treatment of Changes in Fair Value and the Composition of Banks' Investment Portfolios

By: Michael Iselin, Jung Koo Kang and Joshua Madsen

In their implementation of Basel III, U.S. bank regulators are again including changes in the fair value of available-for-sale (AFS) debt securities in Tier 1 capital, but only for the largest U.S. banks. This paper investigates a potential impact of expanding this... View Details

Keywords: Fair Value Accounting; SFAS 115; Basel III; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Banks and Banking; Debt Securities; Credit; Risk and Uncertainty; Investment Portfolio; Decision Making; Banking Industry; United States

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February 2020
Case

Rotoplas: Bringing More and Better Water

By: John D. Macomber and Carla Larangeira

Private companies were being turned to for potable water in the world’s megacities due to impacts of climate change including droughts and flooding. Mexico City had endured several water-related crises, with its population suffering from floods, droughts, water... View Details

Keywords: Water Supply; Water Management; Finance; Infrastructure; Urban Development; Business and Government Relations; Latin America; Mexico

December 2012 (Revised July 2013)
Case

The “Chongqing Model” and the Future of China

By: Meg Rithmire

Since opening to the global economy in 1979, but especially since entering the WTO in 2001, China's economy grew at rates around 10% annually by attracting FDI and promoting exports. After the financial crisis that began in 2008 and depressed demand in the United... View Details

Keywords: China; Public Sector; Private Sector; Developing Countries and Economies; Macroeconomics; Public Administration Industry; China

06 Apr 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Do Not Trash the Incentive! Monetary Incentives and Waste Sorting

Keywords: by Alessandro Bucciol, Natalia Montinari & Marco Piovesan

12 Oct 2011
First Look

First Look: October 12

municipalities more generally. In February 2009, in the midst of a recession, recently appointed Governor Quinn had to lay out his budget for the coming fiscal year and tackle the state's underfunded public pension, its largest liability.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2013 (Revised June 2016)
Case

Ensina!

By: John J-H Kim, Alejandra Meraz Velasco and Christine An

In 2011, a group of passionate social entrepreneurs in Rio de Janeiro, with the support and encouragement of several prominent philanthropists and members of government, launch Ensina!, seizing Brazil's unprecedented economic growth and national commitment to... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Teaching; Business and Government Relations; Education Industry; Brazil

29 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

Do Disasters Rally Support for Climate Action? It's Complicated.

Environmental disasters like wildfires can ignite awareness of climate change and boost eco-friendly politicians’ careers. But do voters perceive a tradeoff between environmental policies and local economic growth? In Brazil, home to a majority of the Amazon tropical... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

July 2019 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Acelerex

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In early 2019, Randell Johnson, Founder and Chief Executive of Acelerex, was reflecting on the company’s first year of rapid growth and the challenges of scaling the business that lay ahead. Acelerex was riding the waves of change taking place in electrical power grids... View Details

Keywords: Energy; Energy Sources; Growth Management; Expansion; Global Strategy; Cash Flow; Energy Industry; Web Services Industry; Consulting Industry