Publications

September 2007 (Revised November 2007)
Case

Bunge: Food, Fuel, and World Markets

By: Tarun Khanna, Santiago Mingo and Jonathan West

In 2007, Bunge, an agribusiness company, had over $26 billion in worldwide sales and was considered, along with Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), one of three very integrated worldwide agribusiness companies. Headquartered in White Plains, NY, the company has... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Operations; Organizational Design; Situation or Environment; Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; White Plains; Brazil

August 2011 (Revised September 2011)
Supplement

Enman Oil, Inc. (G)

By: David F. Hawkins

Oil and gas company Enman Oil attempts to lower its total leverage value by switching from the successful efforts method to the full costs method. View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Energy Industry

May 2023 (Revised June 2023)
Case

Harvard University and Urban Mining Industries: Decarbonizing the Supply Chain

By: Shirley Lu and Robert S. Kaplan

The case describes Harvard University’s consideration to decarbonize its supply chain by replacing cement with a low-carbon substitute called Pozzotive®. Developed and produced by Urban Mining Industries, Pozzotive® is a ground-glass material made with post-consumer... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Emissions; Blockchain; Supply Chain; Green Technology; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability

January 23, 2020
Article

Sanctions and the End of Trans-Atlanticism: Iran, Russia, and the Unintended Division of the West

By: Rawi Abdelal and Aurélie Bros

Sanctions have become the dominant tool of statecraft in the United States and other Western states, especially the European Union, since the end of the Cold War. But the systematic use of this instrument may produce unintended and somewhat paradoxical geopolitical... View Details

Keywords: Geopolitics; Economic Sanctions; International Relations; United States; Russia; Iran; Europe

Read Now

07 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

The Case for Combating Climate Change with Nuclear Power and Fracking

If you ask any given environmentalist to identify the biggest threat to the planet, you may expect to hear about man-made climate change, consumerism, or overpopulation. But if you ask Harvard Business School's Joseph B. Lassiter, he'll toss in another: single-issue... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Energy; Utilities

September 2008 (Revised July 2012)
Case

Khosla Ventures: Biofuels Strategy

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, William A. Sahlman and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

By 2008, a number of the firm's early cleantech investments were showing promise, and the companies were starting to need significantly more money to create the massive scale required in the energy sector. As Khosla thought about the hundreds of millions of dollars... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Marketing; Entrepreneurial Finance; New Product Development; Partnerships; Entrepreneurial Management; Venture Capital; Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Renewable Energy; Entrepreneurship; Investment Funds; Environmental Sustainability; Product Development; Biotechnology Industry; Financial Services Industry

August 1997 (Revised February 1999)
Case

Argentina's YPF Sociedad Anonima (D): The International Platform

By: Michael Y. Yoshino and Carin-Isabel Knoop

In March 1995, YPF (the former Argentine state-owned oil and gas utility, privatized in late 1993) acquired the Dallas-based Maxus Energy Corp., one of the world's largest independent oil and gas exploration companies. YPF's first acquisition is nearly bankrupt, with... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Globalization; Borrowing and Debt; Privatization; Managerial Roles; Energy Industry; Argentina; Texas

09 Jul 2020
Video

Sylvia Escovar

Sylvia Escovar, the President of the Colombia-based oil and gas distribution company Terpel, discusses how the firm responded to the major cultural differences between countries in Latin America

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Mar 2016
Video

Video: Realizing America's Unconventional Energy Opportunity

Professor Michael E. Porter discusses the economic benefits from North America's unconventional oil and gas energy resources. Professor Porter discusses the unconstructive... View Details

Research Summary

Energy, IT, real estate, and sustainability

By: Rebecca M. Henderson

Professor Henderson’s current research focuses on the energy, information technology, and real estate sectors and the challenges firms encounter as they attempt to act in more sustainable ways. This work is an outgrowth of her decade-long examination of the... View Details

June 2023
Case

Royal Golden Eagle: Pursuing Cross-border Expansion with Bold Ambition

By: Kristin E. Fabbe, Dante Roscini, Adina Wong and Dawn H. Lau

About how Singapore-based natural resources firm Royal Golden Eagle, starting with a palm oil business in Indonesia, eventually expanded into a global conglomerate that also included the kraft pulp and paper, viscose, and natural gas industries. View Details

Keywords: Singapore; Indonesia; China; Canada; Cross Border; International Trade; Commodities; Expansion; Globalized Firms and Management; Business Conglomerates; Pulp and Paper Industry; Pulp and Paper Industry; Pulp and Paper Industry; Singapore; Indonesia; China; Canada

August 2008 (Revised July 2009)
Supplement

Gazprom (B): Energy and Strategy in a New Era

By: Rawi E. Abdelal, Sogomon Tarontsi and Alexander Jorov

President Putin publicly stated that Gazprom, the largest natural gas producer in the world, was a powerful political lever of the Russian state in the world and a keystone in the foundation of the country's energy security. Thus the top leadership of Russia has... View Details

Keywords: Non-Renewable Energy; Growth and Development Strategy; State Ownership; Business and Government Relations; Expansion; Energy Industry; Russia; Ukraine

12 Jun 2015
News

Report: In bitter energy debate, nobody wins

09 Jul 2020
Video

Sylvia Escovar

Sylvia Escovar, the President of the Colombia-based oil and gas distribution company Terpel, discusses how the firm met the challenge of creating a dynamic corporate culture after seven regional companies were... View Details

09 Jul 2020
Video

Sylvia Escovar

Sylvia Escovar, the President of the Colombia-based oil and gas distribution company Terpel, explains her company’s commitment to replacing the use of fossil fuels with electric cars, and the steps taken to... View Details

February 2014
Teaching Note

A.P. Møller–Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives

By: Boris Groysberg, Sarah L. Abbott and Robin Abrahams

This teaching note is an accompaniment to the case, A.P. Møller–Maersk Group: Evaluating Strategic Talent Management Initiatives. The case reviews the talent management issues being discussed at Maersk Group, a global conglomerate with large shipping and oil & gas... View Details

Keywords: Retention; Human Capital; Human Resources; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Management Practices and Processes; Shipping Industry; Energy Industry; Denmark

September 2012
Case

Castronics, LLC

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Patrick Dickinson (HBS '09) and Michael Weiner (MIT's Sloan '07) acquired Castronics, a firm that specialized in threading pipe used in the oil and natural gas industry, at the end of 2009. The partners overcame significant hurdles during the first two years of... View Details

Keywords: Small Business; Search Funds; Corporate Finance; Entrepreneurship; Financial Management; Energy Industry; Western United States