Publications

October 2007 (Revised October 2009)
Case

Global Climate Change and BP

By: Forest L. Reinhardt and Mikell Hyman

Following the sudden resignation of Sir John Browne, Tony Hayward, BP CEO, must decide how global climate change management will figure into BP's corporate strategy. Climate change management was a major part of BP's strategy under Browne: In 1997 Browne broke from his... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Climate Change; Corporate Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Management Teams; Environmental Sustainability; Government and Politics; Energy Sources; Global Strategy; Operations; Utilities Industry; Energy Industry; United Kingdom

March 1994 (Revised October 1994)
Case

Reading Energy

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

Reading Energy builds facilities that produce energy from nontraditional fuels. A privately held, entrepreneurial organization, it has spent six years developing a plan to build a waste-to-energy plant in the town of Robbins, Illinois. The plant would burn municipal... View Details

Keywords: Energy Generation; Wastes and Waste Processing; Business and Community Relations; Business Plan; Agreements and Arrangements; Contracts; Risk and Uncertainty; Government and Politics; Environmental Sustainability; Business Strategy; Utilities Industry; Utilities Industry; Illinois

Find at Harvard

December 1996
Case

Hydro-Quebec: In Pursuit of the Great Whale

By: Stephen A. Greyser and Norman Klein

Keywords: Utilities Industry; Utilities Industry; Canada

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September 2011 (Revised February 2014)
Case

Duke Energy and the Nuclear Renaissance

By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Forest L. Reinhardt

Duke Energy, an American investor-owned electric utility, confronts multibillion dollar decisions about its future fuel mix. In particular, its leaders are considering building new nuclear capacity. Whether this is sensible depends, among other things, on demand... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Expansion; Policy; Business Strategy; Energy Sources; Utilities Industry; Utilities Industry; United States

October 2015 (Revised January 2017)
Case

UPower Technologies Inc.

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

The UPower founders, Jake DeWitte and Caroline Cochran, were recent graduates from MIT's Nuclear Science and Engineering Department. They chose to attend Palo Alto–based Y Combinator's accelerator program to focus on building a "mini" nuclear reactor that would produce... View Details

Keywords: Nuclear; Nuclear Energy; Nuclear Power; Energy Markets; New Nuclear; Entrepreneurial Finance; Entrepreneurial Marketing; Business ＆ Government Relations; Off-grid; Energy; Renewable Energy; Energy Generation; Energy Sources; Entrepreneurship; Marketing; Business and Government Relations; Utilities Industry; Utilities Industry; United States

01 Mar 2009
News

Gazprom Goes Global

A Russian Giant Grows, Despite a Bad Rap THE BIG CHILL: Russia and Ukraine’s gas wars give Europe the shivers. In a virtual replay of events this past January, in 2006 Russia’s energy giant Gazprom cut off its supply of natural gas to Ukraine’s energy company in the... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Utilities; Utilities

April 1999 (Revised March 2001)
Case

Be Our Guest, Inc.

By: Dwight B. Crane and Penny Joseph

Be Our Guest is a rapidly growing equipment rental company with substantial seasonality in its revenues and profits. In the spring of 1998, the senior management team is reviewing its financial plans in preparation for a meeting with the company's bank. The case... View Details

Keywords: Financial Strategy; Borrowing and Debt; Banks and Banking; Revenue; Management Teams; Business Plan; Forecasting and Prediction; Utilities Industry; Utilities Industry

September 2000 (Revised March 2001)
Teaching Note

Be Our Guest, Inc. TN

By: Dwight B. Crane

Teaching Note for (9-299-001). View Details

Keywords: Utilities Industry; Utilities Industry

September 1992 (Revised October 1992)
Case

Acid Rain: The Southern Co. (B)

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

In addition to the issues of expected cost minimization elucidated in Acid Rain: The Southern Co. (A), problems involving regulatory uncertainty are critical to the firm's Clean Air Act compliance strategy. The regulatory uncertainty affects, and is affected by, the... View Details

Keywords: Energy Generation; Business Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Cost vs Benefits; Risk and Uncertainty; Strategic Planning; Investment Return; Government Legislation; Wastes and Waste Processing; Business and Government Relations; Utilities Industry; Utilities Industry; United States

February 1992 (Revised April 1993)
Case

Acid Rain: The Southern Co. (A)

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

The Southern Co., an electric utility, is planning its compliance with the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act. The Act established a system of tradeable permits for sulfur dioxide emissions. The company must decide whether to install pollution control equipment and... View Details

Keywords: Energy Generation; Business Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Cost vs Benefits; Financial Management; Strategic Planning; Investment Return; Government Legislation; Wastes and Waste Processing; Utilities Industry; Utilities Industry; United States

18 Oct 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

Venture Capital’s Disconnect with Clean Tech

MBA students often fall into one of two categories—those hungry to rush into careers as venture capitalists, and those eager to found a venture-funded start-up. For all of them, Harvard Business School professor Joseph Lassiter has some intriguing advice: Spend a few... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Utilities; Utilities; Utilities

19 Nov 2015
Blog Post

Why We Recruit: Education Pioneers

Tsveta Semova, Senior Director, Recruitment and Admissions Strategy, Education Pioneers Describe your organization in three to five sentences. Many people want to improve our education system, but if they don’t want to teach or be a principal, they need help finding a... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit / Government

Profile

Fola Folowosele

developing a business skill set. Given my interest in utilizing business to drive social impact, HBS stood out to me because it is an institution that focuses on multiple bottom lines. I was also drawn to HBS because I knew that I would... View Details

Keywords: Consulting; Consumer Products

Web

3.6 VA Benefits | MBA

Enrollment prior to term start. Covered individuals will see the amount anticipated from the VA on their student account in the form of Anticipated Aid for Chapter 33 or a third-party deferment for Chapter 31. Harvard University will not impose a late fee on students... View Details

01 Dec 1998
News

HBSAAAA Convenes in San Francisco

a panel of prominent African-American CEOs and executives. The conference included a session on navigating corporate environments, moderated by Associate Professor David A. Thomas, and a workshop led by Professor Linda A. Hill on techniques for building and View Details

Keywords: Mary Ellen Gardner

01 Jun 2020
News

Inside Out

was created and popularized by the global facilities management company JLL [Jones Lang Lasalle]. It’s intended to show a company’s relative per-square-foot costs across three factors—utilities, rent, and people. The rule goes like this: for every $3 a company spends... View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell; Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices; Management

08 Jan 2015
Blog Post

Job Search Days at HBS

Search Days” on the academic calendar. On Job Search Days students are free from academic obligations and can devote their time to interviewing, networking, and applying to jobs. As you plan for interviews during the spring semester, we encourage you to View Details

19 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

LEED-ing by Example

In the debate over whether to increase or decrease the stringency of environmental regulations, the possibility that government agencies might use purchasing to stimulate market demand for "green" products and services is often overlooked. Nevertheless, several recent... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Utilities; Utilities; Utilities; Utilities

December 1993 (Revised June 2000)
Case

Kochman, Reidt + Haigh, Inc.

By: Richard S. Ruback and Roy Burstin

A small company faces the dilemma of how to finance growth (i.e., internally generated cash flows vs. outside financing sources). An innovative concept positions the company in promoting a niche within the kitchen-cabinet industry and in looking for an optimal way of... View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Business Growth and Maturation; Entrepreneurship; Corporate Finance; Growth and Development Strategy; Utilities Industry; Utilities Industry