Weather - Publications - Faculty & Research

February 2024
Case

Can Cities Beat the Heat? (A): A Comparative Analysis of Climate Actions and Change Enablers in 14 U.S. Cities

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jacob A. Small

Throughout the early 2000's, emphasis was placed on initiatives to adapt to and mitigate climate action in cities. This series presents overviews (snapshots) of 14 U.S. metropolitan regions to help identify similarities, differences, and opportunities for developing... View Details

Citation

Educators

01 May 2020
In Practice

COVID-19’s Hard Lessons Might Prepare Business for Climate Change

The coronavirus pandemic caught the business world by surprise, but the catastrophe might force companies to face a crisis that has been unfolding in plain sight: climate change. We asked faculty members affiliated with the Business and Environment Initiative at... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

17 Sep 2024
HBS Case

The Climate Targets Leaders Need to Know as Regulations Loom

As investor pressure mounts on companies to show their environmental impacts, leaders are encountering an unwieldy tangle of terms and approaches. Climate accounting basics and a dictionary of sorts can help demystify the calculations and voluntary targets that... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

December 2015 (Revised January 2016)
Case

Woolf Farming and the California Water Crisis

By: Forest Reinhardt, David Bell, Natalie Kindred, Mary Shelman and Laura Winig

This case highlights the tough choices, competing interests, and decision-making mechanisms involved in California's management of its severe drought, entering its fifth year in 2015. Stuart Woolf, CEO of Woolf Farming, a grower and processor of almonds, tomatoes, and... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Natural Disasters; Climate Change; Resource Allocation; Environmental Sustainability; Government and Politics; Economics; Weather; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; California

Citation

Educators

Purchase

01 Mar 2010
Op-Ed

A Golden Opportunity for Ford and GM

Having weathered the 2008 crisis without U.S. government support, Ford has $23 billion in cash in the bank and a lineup of eco-friendly automobiles to which U.S. consumers are gravitating. GM only emerged from bankruptcy last July, when... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Auto

13 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

Small Businesses Are Worse Off Than We Thought

in-person operations, sinking demand to near zero. Professional services businesses have fared better, but they have not been spared—just 63 percent say they could weather a four-month public health lockdown. [div class=infogram-embed... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Financial Services

27 Jan 2014
Research & Ideas

Family CEOs Spend Less Time at Work

shocks." They focused on two potential shocks: bad weather and big sporting events. "We were lucky," Sadun says. "We happened to collect the data during monsoon season. At the same time, during the study period, India hosted the Indian... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

29 Jan 2019
Research & Ideas

'Green Bonds' May Be Our Best Bet for Environmental Damage Control

Municipalities have been selling bonds to pay for public works projects—fire stations, parking garages,sewage treatment systems—for 200 years. It’s only in the past decade or so, however, that they’ve been selling them with an extra perk: helping the environment. In... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Energy; Utilities; Construction; Green Technology; Public Administration

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

24 Dec 2013
First Look

First Look: December 24

environments and does not seem to be explained by measurement error. Third, difference in differences estimates with respect to the cost of effort, due to weather shocks and popular sport events, reveal that the observed difference... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

11 Sep 2006
Research & Ideas

Negotiating When the Rules Suddenly Change

quick, and (3) learn and adapt. Axiom #1: Make A Bump Plan Military strategist Carl von Clausewitz coined the term friction, "the force that makes the apparently easy so difficult." Friction doesn't just refer to adverse weather... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Wheeler; Sports

22 Apr 2020
Research Event

How Investors Are Sizing Up Climate Change’s Risks—and Opportunities

Until a few years ago, climate change’s potential impact seemed abstract for many investors. Now, as sea levels rise, hurricanes intensify, and droughts threaten food supplies, many investors are confronting its financial realities. But it’s not a simple calculation.... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Financial Services

16 Sep 2014
First Look

First Look: September 16

shocks and crime is similar to the observed relationship between rainfall shocks and crime. Our results thus identify a causal effect of poverty on crime. They also lend credence to a large literature on the effects of weather shocks on... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

14 Sep 2010
First Look

First Look: September 14, 2010

Supplement 411-027 To weather the 2009 financial crisis, Eden McCallum's cofounders must renegotiate partners' compensation, attract independent consultants to meet different client demands, and reassure their advisory board that their... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Aug 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, August 21, 2018

Done right, digital technology can be a tremendous opportunity for established players as demonstrated by Best Buy, New York Times, Weather Company, and others. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54862... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

02 Feb 2010
First Look

First Look: Feb. 2

Notre Dame had weathered the crisis relatively well, but there were several key questions Malpass had to address. Should Notre Dame continue to make illiquid investments in the context of rising unfunded commitments relative to liquid... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

09 Sep 2013
Lessons from the Classroom

Teaching Climate Change to Skeptics

A few years ago, Joseph B. Lassiter traveled to San Francisco, Houston, and New York to hold discussions with Harvard alumni on the topic of business and the environment. Each time, he surveyed the audience about the touchy subject of climate change and how society... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

08 Nov 2024
Op-Ed

How Private Investors Can Help Solve Africa's Climate Crisis

African people, businesses, and nations are becoming increasingly stressed by climate-related perils like droughts, river flooding, extreme heat, and rising sea levels. This is leading not only to the destruction of assets but also challenges to lives and... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber; Green Technology; Energy

09 Aug 2017
Sharpening Your Skills

Productivity Tips You Probably Haven't Considered Before

taking breaks help or hinder getting things done? The researchers also address questions you've likely never considered, such as how weather affects productivity and why collaboration may make you less able to solve problems. Hiding From... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

January 2024
Article

Helping Children Catch Up: Early Life Shocks and the PROGRESA Experiment

By: Achyuta Adhvaryu, Theresa Molina, Anant Nyshadham and Jorge Tamayo

Can investing in children who faced adverse events in early childhood help them catch up? We answer this question using two orthogonal sources of variation – resource availability at birth (local rainfall) and cash incentives for school enrollment – to identify the... View Details

Keywords: Children; Outcome or Result; Welfare; Early Childhood Education; Weather