Publications

January 2007
Supplement

Chad-Cameroon Petroleum Development and Pipeline Project (D)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Aldo Sesia

Keywords: Energy; Projects; Growth and Development; Energy Industry

01 Dec 2016
News

Ask the Expert: Energy’s Next Era

© d20/ZUMA © d20/ZUMA Governments across the globe are getting serious about weaning themselves off of fossil fuels. Denmark has pledged to be powered solely by renewable energy by 2050; Sweden pledged to reach the goal by 2040. Hawaii... View Details

December 2012 (Revised January 2013)
Case

Pemex (A): In a Free Fall?

By: Noel Maurer and Aldo Musacchio

Keywords: Turnarounds; Oil Prices; State-owned Enterprises; Oil Companies; National Oil Companies; Energy; Privatization; State Ownership; Corporate Governance; Energy Industry; Mexico; North America

Nichols and his father formed Devon Energy in 1971 to tap into the expanding need for new oil and energy sources. Through a series of acquisitions and investments, the business grew to be the fourth largest... View Details

Keywords: Utilities & Energy

24 Sep 2014
Op-Ed

Take a Trim Tab Approach to Climate Change

The "bully pulpit"—a term coined by Theodore Roosevelt back when the word "bully" meant terrific—originally referred to the US presidency and its tremendous potential for speaking out and influencing public opinion. Nowadays, the term describes any position with the... View Details

Keywords: by Amy C. Edmondson; Energy; Utilities

2011
Other Unpublished Work

From Farms to Fuel Tanks: Collective Actors and New-Venture Innovation in the U.S. Biodiesel Fuel Sector

By: Shon R. Hiatt

Little is known about the influence of collective actors on innovative technological recombinations by new ventures. Using data from U.S. biodiesel producers, I examine how the efforts of multiple collective actors (farm associations) to promote varying types of... View Details

Keywords: Alliances; Agribusiness; Energy Sources; Innovation and Invention; Energy Industry; Energy Industry; Energy Industry; United States

Assuming leadership of his father’s company at the age of 50, Keck focused his energies on growing the independent oil firm. He invested heavily in energy exploration and production, allowing Superior to... View Details

Keywords: Utilities & Energy

30 Nov 2018
What Do You Think?

What’s the Best Administrative Approach to Climate Change?

Summing Up: Should a 'Montreal Protocol' for Administering Global Warming Be Pursued? Climate change and how to manage it is a daunting subject. Nevertheless, several readers of this month’s column were willing to venture a model or two for administering a system... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Energy

October 1989
Case

Exxon Corp.: Trouble at Valdez

Discusses the events leading to and repercussions following the 11 million gallon oil spill in Prince William Sound off the Alaskan coast. This was the largest spill in U.S. history. Examines the response to the spill by Exxon management, government agencies, and... View Details

Keywords: Natural Environment; Crisis Management; Energy Sources; Energy Industry; Energy Industry; Alaska

September 2007 (Revised August 2008)
Case

Suncor in the Oil Sands Industry

By: Forest L. Reinhardt and Nazli Uludere

Describes the economics, technology, and politics of the oil sands industry, focusing on one of the industry's leading firms. Oil sands deposits in Alberta represent a potentially vast reserve of hydrocarbons, but the extraction, refining, and transportation challenges... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Non-Renewable Energy; Government and Politics; Supply and Industry; Natural Environment; Competitive Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Energy Industry; Alberta

Using his Ford automobile as collateral, Wyatt entered the gas distribution and energy pipeline business with $800 in 1955. His tenacity and determination quickly secured gas contracts throughout Texas, and in short order, Wyatt had built... View Details

Keywords: Utilities & Energy

March 2024 (Revised September 2024)
Case

Norway: An Embarrassment of Riches

By: Sophus A. Reinert, Forest Reinhardt and Jens-Henrik Munthe-Kaas

Keywords: Sovereign Wealth Funds; Welfare State; Internationalization; Dutch Disease; Macroeconomics; Energy Sources; Values and Beliefs; Sovereign Finance; Immigration; Welfare; Natural Resources; Happiness; Energy Industry; Norway

July 1993
Case

ABB Deutschland (Abridged)

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Focuses in detail on implementing a corporate restructuring program in ABB's German subsidiary. Special attention is given to Germany's unique form of industrial governance. Two major problem areas--power plants and power transformers--are described in detail. ABB's... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Energy Generation; Corporate Governance; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Salesforce Management; Policy; Organizational Culture; Energy Industry; Germany

Research Summary

Overview

By: Jorge Tamayo

Professor Tamayo’s research focuses on theoretical modeling and structural estimation of firm decision-making and productivity.

Professor Tamayo studies dynamic competition for customer membership. Generally, firms that implement a membership model charge a... View Details

Keywords: Industrial Organization, Industrial Development; Management Practices and Processes; Management Skills; Management Style; Energy Generation; Performance Efficiency; Market Design; Crime and Corruption; Energy Industry; Energy Industry

06 Nov 2019
Op-Ed

Torched Planet: The Business Case to Reinvent Almost Everything

The world is. on. fire. The Earth is burning. We only have a little time to arrest climate change, and if we fail to do so the consequences will be both dire and irreversible. We have the technology and the resources to fix things, if we want to. We even have a... View Details

Keywords: by Rebecca Henderson; Energy

September 2009 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Suntech Power

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

Suntech, a Chinese manufacturer of photovoltaic cells and solar panels, is the third largest solar company in the world. About 90 percent of its sales have been in Europe—especially Germany and Spain. But with its new "pluto" technology, and with new governmental... View Details

Keywords: Solar Power; Renewable Energy; Globalized Markets and Industries; Competition; Market Entry and Exit; Business and Government Relations; Expansion; Strategy; Energy Industry; Energy Industry; China

April 2011 (Revised April 2011)
Supplement

Fleet Oil Company: An Exercise

The exercise, which adapts a famous experiment by experimental psychologist Thomas Gilovich, is designed to show both the ubiquity of analogy or associative thinking more generally and its potential perils. Students are presented with a scenario in which an oil company... View Details

Keywords: Business Headquarters; Crime and Corruption; Decisions; Non-Renewable Energy; Cost; Production; Performance Productivity; Research and Development; Energy Industry; Atlanta; Houston

Find at Harvard

November 1984 (Revised December 1988)
Case

Gulf Oil Corp.--Takeover

Gulf Oil was pressured into liquidation while under attack by Boone Pickens of Mesa Petroleum Co. Gulf management was unsure whether to sell out or take the firm private. A suitor, Standard Oil of California, tries to decide how much, if anything, to bid for the... View Details

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Bids and Bidding; Acquisition; Energy Sources; Energy Industry; United States