Publications

April 2023 (Revised April 2025)
Case

Eike Batista: Making or Breaking Brazil

By: Geoffrey Jones, Pedro Magalhães, Daniel Tong and Marcel Anduiza

This case explores the meteoric rise and fall of Eike Batista, once Brazil’s richest person and the world’s seventh wealthiest in 2012. Batista began his career by investing in gold mining in the Amazon, using the network his father had built after years serving as... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Energy Industry; Energy Industry; Brazil

April 2015
Supplement

Cynthia Carroll at Anglo American Video Supplement

By: Gautam Mukunda

This is a video supplement for the Cynthia Carroll at Anglo American case series. The video features Cynthia Carroll reflecting on her implementation of organizational transformation at Anglo American in regards to the mining company's safety culture. View Details

Keywords: Leadership And Change Management; Leadership, Personal Strategy ＆ Style; Change Management; Change; Safety; Organizational Culture; Leadership; Leadership Style; Mining Industry; South Africa

October 2008 (Revised October 2008)
Case

Lehman Brothers and Peabody Coal

When Texas Utilities Company (TXU) wanted to acquire The Energy Group, the latter needed to spin-off its coal mining assets, Peabody Coal, to avoid running afoul of antitrust authorities. In this case, TXU's investment banker, Lehman Brothers, considers whether to... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Investment Banking; Monopoly; Conflict of Interests; Mining Industry; Mining Industry

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October 1997 (Revised May 1998)
Case

Busang (A): River of Gold

By: Debora L. Spar

In 1995, Bre-X Minerals, a tiny Canadian mining firm, struck gold. Deep in the heart of the Borneo jungle, it discovered what appeared to be one of the world's largest and most cost-effective gold deposits. Almost immediately, the firm's stock price shot upwards and... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Partners and Partnerships; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Mining; Mining Industry; Canada; Indonesia

October 2013 (Revised August 2015)
Supplement

Outotec (B): Action Plan

By: Robert J. Dolan and Doug J. Chung

Outotec was a market leader in providing mining solutions to large mining companies. The company’s specialization and proprietary technology created value for its customers and helped the firm differentiate from its competitors. Yet, Outotec was not pricing or... View Details

Keywords: Value-based Pricing; Bargaining Power Of Buyers; Marketing; Segmentation; Price; Policy; Sales; Management; Value Creation; Mining Industry

October 2013 (Revised August 2015)
Case

Outotec (A): Project Capture

By: Robert J. Dolan and Doug J. Chung

Outotec was a market leader in providing mining solutions to large mining companies. The company’s specialization and proprietary technology created value for its customers and helped the firm differentiate from its competitors. Yet, Outotec was not pricing or... View Details

Keywords: Value-based Pricing; Bargaining Power Of Buyers; Marketing; Segmentation; Price; Policy; Sales; Management; Value Creation; Mining Industry

January 1986 (Revised August 1986)
Case

Bougainville Copper Ltd. (Condensed)

Describes a mine operated by Bougainville Copper Ltd. in Papua New Guinea and the pressures negotiating the mineral contract between PNG and Bougainville Copper. Condensed from Bougainville Copper Ltd. (B), (C), and (D) by J.S. Hammond and G.B. Allan. View Details

Keywords: International Finance; Contracts; Negotiation; Mining Industry; Oceania

February 1974 (Revised August 1985)
Case

Bougainville Copper Ltd. (B)

Provides details of the mining agreement between Bougainville Copper and the government of Papua New Guinea; some historical, cultural, social, political, and economic information on Papua New Guinea; and historical and financial information on Bougainville Copper.... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Preparation; Agreements and Arrangements; Mining; Business and Government Relations; Mining Industry; Oceania

October 2020 (Revised November 2020)
Case

Digging for Gold: Paulson & Co.'s Activism in the Gold Sector

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Jonah S. Goldberg

The case describes the efforts of hedge fund Paulson & Co to influence corporate governance and improve performance in the gold industry. In an innovative move, the hedge fund led the creation of the Shareholder Gold Council, a consortium of large investors in gold... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Hedge Funds; Shareholder Activism; Gold; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Investment Funds; Investment Activism; Performance Improvement; Corporate Accountability; Mining Industry; Canada; United States

December 1984 (Revised July 2005)
Case

Burnet vs. Logan

By: Henry B. Reiling

The taxpayer sold mining company stocks and was to be paid royalty as ore was extracted from the corporation's mine. Because the factual issues of whether ore would be extracted and, if so, how much and when were so indeterminate, the court held that the contract right... View Details

Keywords: Taxation; Law Enforcement; Asset Management; Valuation; Policy; Mining Industry

December 1999 (Revised January 2002)
Background Note

Overview of the Project Finance Market, An

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Suzanne I. Harris and Kathleen G. Krueger

This case introduces the field of project finance and supplies a statistical overview of the project finance market as of the mid=to late 1990s. It consists of four sections. The first section defines project finance and contrasts it with other well-known forms of... View Details

Keywords: Markets; Investment; Projects; Project Finance

13 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 13

Publication:MIS Quarterly Executive 11, no. 1 (March 2012) Abstract The Chinese management software and IT services industry has grown dramatically over the past two decades and today is about the size of the Indian View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2013
Supplement

Cynthia Carroll at Anglo American (C)

By: Gautam Mukunda, Lisa Mazzanti and Aldo Sesia

When Cynthia Carroll, chief executive of Anglo American, ordered the shutdown of the company's Rustenburg, South Africa mines in the summer of 2007, it was just the first of many steps the company would take under her leadership to achieve zero harm. The case describes... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Organizational Culture; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Change; Mining Industry; South Africa

2014
Book

Reinventing State Capitalism: Leviathan in Business, Brazil and Beyond

By: Aldo Musacchio and Sergio G. Lazzarini

In this book we describe the transformation of state capitalism from a model in which governments owned and ran corporations and broadly controlled the allocation of financial resources into two new varieties of state capitalism: Leviathan as a majority and as a... View Details

December 2017 (Revised December 2018)
Case

OCP Group

By: Kristin Fabbe, Forest Reinhardt, Natalie Kindred and Alpana Thapar

This case explores the strategy of OCP Group, the 95% state-owned Moroccan firm charged with managing the North African country’s vast reserves of phosphate. Phosphate was one of the most vital macronutrients for plant health, along with nitrogen and potassium, and... View Details

Keywords: OCP; OCP Group; Casablanca; Chemicals; Operations; Transformation; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Chemical Industry; Morocco

06 Aug 2024
Op-Ed

What the World Could Learn from America's Immigration Backlash—100 Years Ago

immigrants favored the increase in industrialization as well as the establishment of more and larger firms, and then grew over time. “After 1880, parts of the US West that were more impacted by the Chinese Exclusion Act grew at... View Details

Keywords: by Marco Tabellini

February 2003 (Revised October 2004)
Background Note

Antamini Simulation Model

By: Peter Tufano

Antamini is a simulation of the value of an investment project whose outcome is uncertain. This case describes the situation facing a natural resource firm as it contemplates bidding on a copper mine in Peru. The bidder faces uncertainties about the ore deposit size... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Auctions; Investment; Mining; Mining Industry; Peru

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February 2018 (Revised March 2018)
Case

ArcelorMittal and the Ebola Outbreak in Liberia

By: Sophus A. Reinert, Sarah Nam, Sisi Pan and Eric Werker

During the summer of 2014, Alan Knight, general manager of corporate responsibility at the integrated steel and mining company ArcelorMittal, observed the unfolding of an Ebola epidemic in Liberia and other countries in West Africa with great concern. On the one hand... View Details