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The Dubious Logic of Global Megamergers
Economics Magazine ArticleIt pays to be big in a global economy, right? Wrong. The rush toward huge cross-border mergers is based on a faulty understanding of economics. There are better ways to address globalization than relentless expansion. -
Crap Circles
Analytics and data science Magazine ArticleThe most dubious business plan can look solid—even smart—if it’s cast as a virtuous circle. “See, we invest our profits in innovation to create delightful products that customers buy—which generate profits that we invest in innovation!” Who could argue with that? Indeed, the merit of self-reinforcing systems seems so obvious that businesspeople instinctively describe their […] -
Accounting for Climate Change
Accounting Magazine ArticleThe first rigorous approach to ESG reporting -
What If All U.S. Coal Workers Were Retrained to Work in Solar?
Sustainable business practices Digital ArticleA study quantifies the costs and identifies four ways to pay for it. -
Cutting the Cost of HIV
Finance and investing Magazine ArticleCompanies doing business in the developing world have to contend with the staggering human and financial costs of HIV infection—and most would agree that conventional approaches to controlling the epidemic aren’t working. In our experience in the labor-intensive mining industries of Russia, South Africa, and Botswana, we’ve seen infection rates among workers exceeding 90% in […] -
How the Natural Resources Business Is Turning into a Technology Industry
Technology and analytics ResearchDemand is flattening out (except for copper). -
Solar Is Being Held Back by Regulations, Not Technology
Global Business ResearchThe $70 billion opportunity in the U.S. market. -
Coal Cleans Up Its Act
Sustainable business practices Magazine ArticleAre the energy markets shifting back toward coal? In some ways, they never left—coal generates more than 50% of U.S. electricity, for example. Yet since the 1950s, coal’s share of that market has declined against natural gas and other fuels, largely because emissions from coal-fired plants have hurt the environment and stirred up not-in-my-backyard sentiments. […] -
Accountants Will Save the World
Global Business Digital ArticleFactor social benefits and the use of resources into a company's value. -
Coastal Cities Are Increasingly Vulnerable, and So Is the Economy that Relies on Them
Organizational Development Digital ArticleMiami is a perfect example. -
How the Water Industry Learned to Embrace Data
Technology & Operations Digital ArticleAnalytics won't help without people and processes. -
Why Mining — Yes, Mining — Cares About Sustainability
Sustainable business practices Digital ArticleA look at the past, present, and future of a critical industry. -
The Founder of UBI Group on Leading a Transition to Renewable Energy in Africa
Innovation & Leadership Magazine ArticleAfter building the oil and gas distribution company UBI Group in her native Ghana and then selling a majority stake to an international investor, Salma... -
How Utilities Are Using Blockchain to Modernize the Grid
Technology and analytics Digital ArticleWelcome to a new era of decentralized power. -
Light Fantastic
Technology & Operations Magazine ArticleSolid-state is the first new lighting technology in 100 years. Soon it may drastically reduce your costs. -
Tony Hayward Is a Scapegoat
Leadership Digital ArticleIn psychology, the term “identified patient” refers to a family member — often a child or a teenager — who gets scapegoated for behavior that is actually just a predictable response to dealing with an unhealthy family. Tony Hayward is BP’s identified patient. He did want his privileged, aristocratic life back and he said so. […] -
Energy-Credit Buyers Beware
Organizational Development Magazine ArticleCompanies are buying millions of dollars' worth of renewable energy credits (RECs) to offset the carbon produced by the electricity they use. But RECs... -
Are You Ready for a Blackout?
Risk management Magazine ArticleEvery corporate executive needs to learn five lessons from California’s electricity crisis. -
What Low Oil Prices Really Mean
Economics Digital ArticleSome countries are in big trouble. -
How the Other Fukushima Plant Survived
Crisis management Magazine ArticleWhen we hear the words “Fukushima disaster,” most of us think of Fukushima Daiichi, the nuclear power plant wracked by three core meltdowns and three reactor building explosions following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Without electricity to run the plant’s cooling systems, managers and workers couldn’t avert catastrophe: People around the world […]
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Enterprise Risk Management at Hydro One (A)
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details An early adopter of Enterprise Risk Management, energy giant Hydro One anticipated new threats and opportunities in an industry that faced climate change... -
The Baminica Power Plant Project: What Went Wrong and What Can Be Learned
Global Business Case Study11.95View Details This case describes a series of events over an eight-year period involving a power plant project in the Caribbean. An executive from the project developer,... -
Eskom of South Africa's Death Spiral
Global Business Case Study11.95View Details In January 2020 South Africa was once again suffering an electrical power crisis as a series of rolling blackouts, load-shedding, crippled the people... -
Rivian Charging Ahead
Management Case Study11.95View Details In fall 2021, start-up Rivian was poised to begin delivery of its first electrical vehicles (EVs) to external customers after several delays. The company... -
Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details This case describes the innovative business model of Better Place Inc., an electric vehicle company. The key challenges in operating the business model... -
Air Products' Pursuit of Airgas (A)
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details This case centers around the Air Products' hostile takeover attempt of Airgas in 2010. Air Products argued that its offer of a 38% premium is generous... -
Feed Resource Recovery
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details Shane Eten is passionate about being an entrepreneur and finds an opportunity in managing food waste; a Clean Technology startup. Shane develops a plan... -
Kerr-McGee
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details Activist investors Carl Icahn and Barry Rosenstein acquire a stake in Oklahoma-based company Kerr-McGee. They demand two board seats and ask the company... -
Jupiter Bach: Committing to Sustainability (Abridged)
Strategy & Execution Case Study11.95View Details The case documents the efforts by Lone Stubberup, Global Director of Quality, Health, Safety and Environment (QHSE), to convert her employer to the highest... -
Yale Investments Office: November 2020
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details David Swensen and the Investments Office staff must decide whether to continue to allocate the bulk of the university's endowment to illiquid investments-hedge... -
Haiti: Energizing Socio-Economic Reform
Strategy & Execution Case Study11.95View Details The minister of Haiti's Department of Energy Security needed to prepare a presentation for the country's prime minister that proposed a solution for transforming... -
The Leveraged Buyout of TXU (B): Energy Future Holdings
Leadership & Managing People Case Study5.00View Details This case is designed to support a lively discussion about the relative merits of shareholder vs. stakeholder perspectives in the context of a company... -
Henry Silva: Aspiring Change Agent for a Start-up Company
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details Henry Silva, a soon-to-be Columbia MBA graduate and aspiring change agent, wrestled with the decision about whether to join New Power LLC, an innovative... -
First Energy
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details In September 2011, the CEO of First Energy Private Ltd, a startup enterprise in the alternative energy industry in India, is facing a flashpoint. The... -
LOGSTOR'S Rebirth: Leading Through Crisis
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details LOGSTOR is a Danish company that is a global supplier of pre-insulated pipe systems. This case focuses on the leadership of Kim Christensen, a former... -
Sykue Bioenergya
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details Sykue Bioenergya (Sykue) was formed in April 2006 with the goal of building four 30 megawatt (MW) bioelectricity power plants in Brazil's Bahia province,... -
Enron Development Corp.: The Dabhol Power Project in Maharashtra, India (B) (Abridged)
Global Business Case Study5.00View Details A new administration takes power in a state in India and cancels a power project agreed upon by the previous state government and a U.S.-based energy... -
EMco and SolarT
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details The EMco and SolarT case is presented in a series of four short vignettes involved two women, Carrie and Marguerite, who have a twenty-year friendship.... -
Amanco: Developing the Sustainability Scorecard
Strategy & Execution Case Study11.95View Details Describes the challenges of using the Balanced Scorecard to implement a triple-bottom-line strategy for delivering excellent economic, environmental,... -
Executive Remuneration at Royal Dutch Shell (A)
Organizational Development Case Study11.95View Details The remuneration committee at Shell decided to exercise their discretionary power to award five top executives a bonus for 2008, even though they had...
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Strategic Decisions in Turbulent Times: Lessons from the Energy Industry
Strategy & Execution Digital ArticleMost of the firms currently in the S&P 500 probably will not make the list in 15 years. In times of great uncertainty, managers are called upon to make... -
Enterprise Risk Management at Hydro One (A)
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details An early adopter of Enterprise Risk Management, energy giant Hydro One anticipated new threats and opportunities in an industry that faced climate change... -
The Baminica Power Plant Project: What Went Wrong and What Can Be Learned
Global Business Case Study11.95View Details This case describes a series of events over an eight-year period involving a power plant project in the Caribbean. An executive from the project developer,... -
Eskom of South Africa's Death Spiral
Global Business Case Study11.95View Details In January 2020 South Africa was once again suffering an electrical power crisis as a series of rolling blackouts, load-shedding, crippled the people... -
The Dubious Logic of Global Megamergers
Economics Magazine ArticleIt pays to be big in a global economy, right? Wrong. The rush toward huge cross-border mergers is based on a faulty understanding of economics. There are better ways to address globalization than relentless expansion. -
Rivian Charging Ahead
Management Case Study11.95View Details In fall 2021, start-up Rivian was poised to begin delivery of its first electrical vehicles (EVs) to external customers after several delays. The company... -
Crap Circles
Analytics and data science Magazine ArticleThe most dubious business plan can look solid—even smart—if it’s cast as a virtuous circle. “See, we invest our profits in innovation to create delightful products that customers buy—which generate profits that we invest in innovation!” Who could argue with that? Indeed, the merit of self-reinforcing systems seems so obvious that businesspeople instinctively describe their […] -
Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details This case describes the innovative business model of Better Place Inc., an electric vehicle company. The key challenges in operating the business model... -
Accounting for Climate Change
Accounting Magazine ArticleThe first rigorous approach to ESG reporting -
Air Products' Pursuit of Airgas (A)
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details This case centers around the Air Products' hostile takeover attempt of Airgas in 2010. Air Products argued that its offer of a 38% premium is generous...