Publications

February 2021
Case

Yellow Digital Retailers: Providing Solar Electricity to Transform Rural Africa

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Frank V. Cespedes and Michael Norris

In 2020, Mike Heyink and Maya Stewart, co-founders of the Pay-as-you-Go Solar company Yellow were considering how to grow their startup. They had achieved some success in their first market, Malawi, and had recently entered Uganda, where business was slower. What did... View Details

Keywords: Solar Energy; Business Model; Business Startups; Developing Countries and Economies; Alternative Energy; Renewable Energy; Social Entrepreneurship; Green Technology; Salesforce Management; Diversification; Expansion; Energy Industry; Africa; South Africa; Malawi; Uganda

02 Dec 2019
News

Increasing Solar Power

February 2015 (Revised June 2016)
Case

Solar Geoengineering

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and Stephanie Puzio

On December 8th 2013, as Dr. David Keith was leaving the set of the Colbert Show, he couldn't help but replay the interview over and over in his mind. Did he actually get his point of view on solar geoengineering across or had he just added to the stereotype that he... View Details

Keywords: Geoengineering; Carbon; Carbon Emissions; Energy; Nuclear; Nuclear Energy; De-extinction; Climate Change; Engineering; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Energy Sources; Green Technology Industry; Energy Industry

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

02 Dec 2019
Podcast

Increasing Solar Power

Is increasing solar power the answer? Abby Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, and Professor Joe Lassiter discuss how to deliver reliable, clean, low cost power for people everywhere. View Details

July 2012
Teaching Plan

Verengo Solar Plus! (TP)

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III

14 Jun 2012
Working Paper Summaries

“Power from Sunshine”: A Business History of Solar Energy

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones & Loubna Bouamane; Energy; Utilities

2012
Working Paper

'Power from Sunshine': A Business History of Solar Energy

By: Geoffrey Jones and Loubna Bouamane

This working paper provides a longitudinal perspective on the business history of solar energy between the nineteenth century and the present day. It covers early attempts to develop solar energy, the use of passive solar in architecture before World War 2, and the... View Details

Keywords: Renewable Energy; Business History; Policy; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Business Model; Energy Industry

Read Now

01 Jun 2011
News

Rust Belt Turns ‘Sun Belt’ with Solar

true for the “green economy” movement: aged or unused factories in the Midwest being refurbished and turned into solar energy manufacturing plants. But Tom Tiller (MBA ’91) is really making it happen, the Indianapolis Star reported... View Details

Keywords: Electrical Equipment, Appliance, and Component Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Electric Power Generation, Transmission, Distribution; Utilities

April, 2023
Article

Reducing Information Barriers to Solar Adoption: Experimental Evidence from India

By: Meera Mahadevan, Robyn C. Meeks and Takashi Yamano

Off-grid solar technologies hold promise for unelectrified and low-quality electricity settings; however, their adoption remains low. Important barriers to adoption, such as incomplete information remain relatively unexplored in developing countries. In collaboration... View Details

Keywords: Technology Adoption; Renewable Energy; Knowledge Sharing; Developing Countries and Economies; India

Read Now

11 Sep 2019
News

Study says solar cheaper than TVA

18 Jun 2021
News

The Dark Side of Solar Power

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; Green Technology Industry; China

1981
Chapter

The Diffusion of Residential Solar Equipment in California

By: D. A. Leonard

Keywords: Technology Adoption; Renewable Energy; Energy Industry; California

2007
Case

Sun Power: Focused on the Future of the Solar Power Industry

By: Rebecca Henderson, J. Conkling and R. Nanda

Keywords: Projects; Strategic Planning; Green Technology Industry

February 2022
Teaching Note

Yellow Digital Retailers: Providing Solar Electricity to Transform Rural Africa

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Michael Norris

06 Aug 2018
Research & Ideas

Supersmart Manufacturing Tools are Lowering Prices on TVs, Bulbs, and Solar Panels

flat panel factory. We see the same phenomenon in energy-efficient LED lightbulbs, which keep getting cheaper. And solar panels. One way to think about what is driving this style of commoditization is economics. Most manufacturers gave up... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Manufacturing; Electronics

2014
Discussion Paper

Do High Feed-in Tariffs for Solar PV Panels Hinder Competition (Japanese)

By: Koji Nomura and Tomomichi Amano

In Japan, feed-in-tariffs (FIT) are a key policy tool that has been deployed to produce the mass diffusion of photovoltaices (PV). In this study, we argue that this policy is unlikely to induce sustainable economic growth, which some use as a justification for FIT. We... View Details