Publications

Read Now

April 1992 (Revised June 1994)
Case

Grappling with Garbage: The Bandung Municipal Cleansing Enterprise, P.D. Kerbersihan

By: James E. Austin

Keywords: Wastes and Waste Processing; Business and Government Relations; Developing Countries and Economies; Environmental Sustainability; Indonesia

Find at Harvard

March 1998 (Revised June 1998)
Case

BCI Growth III: November 1993

By: Josh Lerner

Supplements BCI Growth III: May 1993. View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Business Growth and Maturation; Consolidation; Acquisition; Wastes and Waste Processing; Service Industry; United States

March 1998 (Revised December 1998)
Case

BCI Growth III: May 1993

By: Josh Lerner

A Vermont solid-waste company seeks mezzanine financing to finance its strategy of acquiring and consolidating local competitors. The mezzanine private equity group must decide whether this investment offers an attractive risk-return tradeoff. View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Business Growth and Maturation; Consolidation; Wastes and Waste Processing; Acquisition; Service Industry; Vermont

May 2009 (Revised October 2009)
Case

Verne Global: Building a Green Data Center in Iceland

Verne Global, a pioneering startup created to build the first large-scale data center in Iceland, faces critical challenges regarding its green strategy. Verne Co-Founder Isaac Kato is tasked with evaluating how the company can most successfully market and sell the... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Business Startups; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Sales; Environmental Sustainability; Pollutants; Green Technology Industry; Service Industry; Iceland

01 Mar 2018
What Do You Think?

Two Decades Later, is the 'New Economy' Finally Here?

joined this train of thought as he commented, “A new economy has not arrived, if we define it as one that will sustain humanity on the planet for eternity ” The reasons it has not arrived are many, he continued. “(Unsustainable) global population terror weapons of mass... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

11 Jun 2007
Lessons from the Classroom

Teaching the Next Generation of Energy Executives

You may think that being an energy executive—especially a manager in a leading oil company—might be the easiest job around. Just flip the production switch, and watch gas prices head toward $4 a gallon. But students enrolled in Harvard Business School professor Forest... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Energy; Utilities

26 Aug 2024
Research & Ideas

Can AI Match Human Ingenuity in Creative Problem-Solving?

When ChatGPT and other large language models began entering the mainstream two years ago, it quickly became apparent the technology could excel at certain business functions, yet it was less clear how well artificial intelligence could handle more creative tasks. Sure,... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Information Technology; Information; Technology

17 Sep 2024
HBS Case

The Climate Targets Leaders Need to Know as Regulations Loom

quite comprehensive. They include not just GHGs, but other environmental resources like water requirements and other pollutants you might care about as well,” Toffel says. The researchers outline how some software programs and data work... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

November 2019
Supplement

Hapag-Lloyd AG: Complying with IMO 2020

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej and Emer Moloney

A new environmental regulation known as IMO 2020 was creating what one industry analyst called “the biggest shakeup for the oil and shipping industries in decades.” According to the new regulation, all ocean-going ships would have to limit their sulfur emissions by... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Ship Transportation; Strategic Planning; Game Theory; Pollutants; Supply Chain; Corporate Accountability; Capital Budgeting; Environmental Sustainability; Shipping Industry; Transportation Industry; Germany

February 2010 (Revised October 2010)
Case

Re-THINK-ing THINK: The Electric Car Company

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and David Kiron

On January 5, 2010, 48-year-old Richard Canny was on his way to meet the governor of Indiana. He was reading his newly issued press release announcing that THINK planned to start automobile production in Elkhart County, Indiana to launch its THINK City battery-operated... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Global Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Product Development; Production; Pollutants; Environmental Sustainability; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Norway; Indiana

October 2007 (Revised April 2009)
Case

TH!NK: The Norwegian Electric Car Company

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and David Kiron

On August 1, 2007, 61-year-old Jan-Olaf Willums' plane was flying along the Greenland coastline on his way back to Norway after intense discussions with several prominent U.S. venture capital investors, among them Kleiner Perkins and Rockport Capital Partners, about... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Innovation and Invention; Product Launch; Market Entry and Exit; Environmental Sustainability; Pollutants; Auto Industry; Green Technology Industry; Europe; Norway

06 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

Renewable Energy: Winds at Our Back?

When American energy entrepreneur Jim Gordon envisioned the first offshore wind farm lining the horizon a few miles off the coast of the eastern United States, he perhaps did not factor in blowback from almost every angle. Gordon's nearly 10-year battle to gain... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Energy; Utilities

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Porter’s Perspective: Competing in the Global Economy

Productivity is also consistent with a clean environment. Environmental pollution normally is a sign of inefficient and unproductive use of resources and is almost always a reflection of inadequate technology. Countries with toughening... View Details

Keywords: Re: Michael E. Porter

20 Mar 2000
Research & Ideas

No Place Like Home: America’s Housing Crisis and Its Impact on Business

exacerbating urban sprawl, clogged highways, and polluted air. Says Bart Harvey, "The Chamber of Commerce of Orange County, California, one of the wealthier areas in the United States, has approached the Enterprise Foundation for... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons; Construction; Real Estate

August 2010 (Revised June 2020)
Teaching Note

Generation Investment Management (TN)

By: Sandra J. Sucher

Teaching Note for 613-002. The case and/or its teaching note includes references to case supplement videos that are intended for students to view, along with the written case, before class. As a reminder, the (A) video supplement is intended for students to view... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Development Economics; Environmental Sustainability; Energy Generation; Rural Scope; Non-Renewable Energy; Pollutants; Financial Services Industry; India

April 2011 (Revised January 2019)
Case

Talismark

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Talismark, which helped its customers manage their waste, was considering re-engineering its business fundamentals to dramatically increase profitability by changing its sales and information processes. Implementing the changes would be expensive and would interrupt... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Business Processes; Information Management; Sales; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Wastes and Waste Processing

12 Mar 2018
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: Why BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Is Not a Socialist

argued that businessmen who “take seriously their responsibilities for providing employment, eliminating discrimination, avoiding pollution or whatever else. . . are preaching pure and unadulterated socialism.” Does this make Larry Fink a... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Banking

November 2015
Case

Rubicon Global

By: William A. Sahlman and Hunter Ashmore

The case describes Rubicon Global, a startup that aimed to disrupt the waste management industry. The company started with a bold idea: create a cloud-based, full-service waste management company providing low-cost, highly efficient, and environmentally friendly... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Rubicon; Rubicon Global; Waste Management; Startups; Disruptive Technology; Technological Innovation; Disruptive Innovation; Market Entry and Exit; Entrepreneurship; Wastes and Waste Processing; Business Startups; Corporate Finance; Service Industry