Publications

18 Jul 2022
Research & Ideas

After the 'Crypto Crash,' What's Next for Digital Currencies?

And so, there’s a lot of uncertainty around crypto; and in times of overall financial market uncertainty, people pull away from riskier assets. At the same time, a lot of the basic technology investment and entrepreneurship in crypto is... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Financial Services; Technology

17 Sep 2021
Research & Ideas

The Trial of Elizabeth Holmes: Visionary, Criminal, or Both?

and change the energy markets and made some progress in doing so. But they wanted to achieve that goal so much, so aggressively, that they weren’t willing to accept failure along the way. That’s characteristic of a lot of white-collar... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Biotechnology; Technology; Medical Devices & Supplies

March 2021 (Revised March 2024)
Case

M-KOPA: Empowering Lives

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Wale Lawal and Pippa Tubman Armerding

The Pay As You Go solar power company in East Africa had sales of $71 million in 2019. It wished to grow to $300 million by 2025. M-KOPA, founded by three entrepreneurs in 2011, had grown nicely in Kenya and Uganda to reach nearly 750,000 households with an innovative... View Details

Keywords: Mobile Payment; Go-to-market Strategy; Business At The Base Of The Pyramid; Business Growth; Social Entrepreneurship; Renewable Energy; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Expansion; Marketing Strategy; Developing Countries and Economies; Kenya; Uganda; Nigeria

October 2013 (Revised November 2016)
Case

Carbon Engineering

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and Sid Misra

Dr. David Keith, President of Carbon Engineering, a company based in Calgary, Alberta, is commercializing a technology to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. The company plans to market the captured CO2 to produce low carbon transportation fuels in... View Details

February 2007 (Revised March 2012)
Compilation

John D. Rockefeller and the Creation of Standard Oil

By: Nancy F. Koehn and Katherine Miller

Reconstructs the entrepreneurial journey of John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil and one of the most famous business figures in history. Traces his early career as a retailer in Cleveland through his decision to enter the oil industry in the early 1860s to his... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Business History; Innovation and Invention; Growth and Development Strategy; Personal Development and Career; Competitive Strategy; Energy Industry

06 Jan 2010
What Do You Think?

Is a Stringent Climate Change Agreement a Pot of Gold?

causing global warming and turn that energy and resources into actually improving our way of life with limited impact on our world." Tom Dolembo questioned whether agreements are necessary. He believes that change driven by... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Energy; Energy

June 2023 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Betting on Green Steel

By: George Serafeim and Sofoklis Melissovas

'Betting on Green Steel' traces the innovative journey embarked upon by a group of MBA students who have set out to conceive a novel steelmaker that pioneers the production of green steel. The ensemble is confronted with a series of critical choices that will shape the... View Details

Keywords: Decarbonization; Sustainability Management; Technology; Industrialization; Climate Risk; Energy; Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Technology Adoption; Climate Change; Innovation and Invention; Business Strategy; Family Business; Steel Industry; Middle East; India

07 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

The Case for Combating Climate Change with Nuclear Power and Fracking

meaningful and economically sustainable," he says. Lassiter's Market-based Proposal His proposed market-based solution? "I think each energy source—oil, natural gas, wind, nuclear, solar, etc.—should have a market price based not only on... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Energy; Energy

06 Sep 2004
What Do You Think?

How Do We Prepare for a World Without Cheap Oil?

if nothing else, has fostered a sense of entrepreneurship and opportunity in the renewable energy sectors." And Chip Levy suggests that "This is a great time to leap into a growth industry ...We... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

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 2001 (Revised January 2003)
Case

E-Hub Nigeria (A)

Explores the possibility of launching an e-procurement firm to serve the Nigerian oil and gas sector. Recent HBS graduate, Fola Ogunsiakan, has identified a potential entrepreneurial opportunity, but faces several significant obstacles to success. Considers market... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Energy Sources; Energy Industry; Nigeria

Find at Harvard

October 2014 (Revised June 2016)
Case

NuScale Power—the Future of Small Modular Reactors

By: Richard Vietor

NuScale Power, an entrepreneurial venture in Portland, Oregon, has designed the leading modular nuclear reactor in the United States. This Reactor will be the safest and simplest ever built. Started in 2007 as an entrepreneurial venture, the company is now two years... View Details

Keywords: Nuclear; Power; Technology; Risk; Energy; Information Technology; Entrepreneurship; Risk and Uncertainty; Energy Industry

14 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Water, Electricity, and Transportation: Preparing for the Population Boom

energy entrepreneurship and demand management, moderated by Professor Forest Reinhardt, experts focused on two main problems: buildings in general are far too inefficient, and people in general are clueless... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

2011
Other Unpublished Work

Innovation and Regulative Ambiguities in the U.S. Geothermal Power Sector

By: Shon R. Hiatt

While prior institutional research has focused on institutional ambiguity as an exogenous condition under which organizations exercise agency, this study examines the state's exercise of agency in making legal institutions more or less ambiguous and its impact on... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Policy; Energy Sources; Innovation and Invention; Energy Industry; United States

March 2018 (Revised April 2018)
Supplement

1366 Technologies: Scaling the Venture (B)

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and Ramana Nanda

It was March 2018. Should proposed U.S. solar tariffs keep U.S.-based 1366 CEO Frank van Mierlo from starting up his 1st full-scale manufacturing plant overseas? View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Finance; Intellectual Property; Trade; Energy Industry; Energy Industry; Energy Industry; United States; China; Korean Peninsula

February 2024
Supplement

ReNew (B): A New Direction

By: Gunnar Trumbull and Malini Sen

The global renewables sector was in a slump, but the Indian market was booming. India’s largest renewable electricity generator, ReNew, faced a dilemma: it traded on the Nasdaq in New York, but saw huge opportunity in the Indian market. In response, CEO Sumant Sinha... View Details

Keywords: Energy Generation; Renewable Energy; Entrepreneurship; Forecasting and Prediction; Trends; Transformation; Private Ownership; Environmental Sustainability; Mission and Purpose; Expansion; Market Entry and Exit; Energy Industry; Asia; India

06 Apr 2007
What Do You Think?

Will Market Forces Stop Global Warming?

residents ." More were skeptical of this view, suggesting that either subsidies or taxes or both will be required to: (1) raise market prices for carbon-based energy in developed countries, (2) encourage the development of new... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Energy; Energy

October 2018 (Revised August 2023)
Case

Safecast: Bootstrapping Human Capital to Big Data

By: Ethan Bernstein and Stephanie Marton

On March 11, 2011, at 2:46pm, a 9.1-on-the-Richter-scale, six-minute long earthquake unleashed a tsunami that ravaged the Tohoku region of Japan, damaging the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power facility and releasing sufficient radioactive material into the air and ocean... View Details