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• Case | HBS Case Collection | March 2019

  America's Budget Impasse, 2001–2020

  Richard H.K. Vietor

  America's Budget Impasse, 2001–2020, draws on recent government documents to explore America's economic performance since 2001, the ideology and effects of the Bush tax cuts, Obama's fiscal stimulus in 2009, the Trump tax cuts in 2017, and President Trump's budget proposal for FY2020.

  Keywords: Growth; fiscal deficits; unemployment; balance of payments; Competition; Government Legislation; Government Administration; Budgets and Budgeting; Macroeconomics; Taxation; Economy; Economic Growth; United States;

  Citation:

  Vietor, Richard H.K. "America's Budget Impasse, 2001–2020." Harvard Business School Case 719-072, March 2019.  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | March 2016 (Revised March 2019)

  South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow?

  Richard H.K. Vietor, Haviland Sheldahl-Thomason, Richard H.K. Vietor and Haviland Sheldahl-Thomason

  Twenty years after the end of Apartheid, South Africa's democracy persists, albeit with problems. A tripartite coalition—the African National Congress, the labor unions, and the Communist Party—still controls the political system but with diminishing economic results and authority. Since 2010, the economy has grown at 1.4% annually, with unemployment at 25%. Several national plans have been initiated but none with success. Most recently, the National Development Plan is the Zuma administration's approach. And then, at the end of 2015, cronyism sunk the stock market and the currency, causing a political crisis. Pravin Gordhan, an experienced bureaucrat, is once again Finance Minister but faces the tradeoff between growth and debt reduction. With the recent resignation of Zuma and the instatement of former deputy president and wealthy businessman Cyril Ramaphosa as President, it was still to be determined if a change in leadership would be enough to improve the country's economic and social situation.

  Keywords: labor; politics; Development; productivity; Performance Productivity; Labor Unions; Infrastructure; Government and Politics; Economic Growth; South Africa;

  Citation:

  Vietor, Richard H.K., and Haviland Sheldahl-Thomason. "South Africa: A Fractured Rainbow?" Harvard Business School Case 716-069, March 2016. (Revised March 2019.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | February 2016 (Revised March 2019)

  Suncor and the Future of Oil Sands

  Richard H.K. Vietor

  Suncor, Canada's largest producer of "oil sands," faces a host of issues involving prices, costs, and the environment. The Government of Canada recently put an explicit limit on carbon emissions from oil sands and a price on carbon. Suncor, which produces more than 400,000 barrels per day of bitumen and synthetic oil must reduce its emissions at the same time that crude oil prices have been dropping. Reduction of cash operating costs, therefore, becomes key. Yet environmental organizations in the U.S. remain adamantly opposed to the production of oil sands and its movement into the U.S. by either pipeline (e.g., Keystone XL) or railcar. The concrescence of these issues poses immense challenges to Suncor management.

  Keywords: Oil Sands; Energy; Price; Operations; Cost; Energy Industry; Canada;

  Citation:

  Vietor, Richard H.K. "Suncor and the Future of Oil Sands." Harvard Business School Case 716-065, February 2016. (Revised March 2019.)  View Details

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