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- March 2023 (Revised March 2023)
- Teaching Note
Northvolt: Building Batteries to Fight Climate Change
By: Debora L. Spar, Georgios Serafeim and Julia Comeau
In 2016, Swedish entrepreneurs Carl-Erik Lagercrantz and Peter Carlsson founded an electric battery company called Northvolt with the dual goals of creating a company to address climate change and bringing battery manufacture to Europe. Northvolt, which succeeded in...
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- November 2022 (Revised April 2023)
- Case
Northvolt: Building Batteries to Fight Climate Change
By: George Serafeim, Debora L. Spar and Julia Comeau
In 2016, Swedish entrepreneurs Carl-Erik Lagercrantz and Peter Carlsson founded an electric battery company called Northvolt with the dual goals of creating a company to address climate change and bringing battery manufacture to Europe. Northvolt, which succeeded in...
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- October 2022
- Case
Driving Decarbonization at BMW
The case describes BMW’s electrification and decarbonization strategy, and how the company measured carbon emissions throughout the life cycle of its vehicles and used tools like carbon abatement cost curves to evaluate decarbonization opportunities. In mid-2022,...
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Keywords:
Decarbonization;
Climate Change;
Environment;
Sustainability;
Carbon Accounting;
Carbon;
Carbon Abatement;
Electric Vehicles;
Automobiles;
Transportation;
Environmental Accounting;
Environmental Management;
Environmental Sustainability;
Accounting;
Strategy;
Technological Innovation;
Supply Chain;
Business and Stakeholder Relations;
Transportation Industry;
Transportation Industry;
Transportation Industry;
Germany;
China;
United States;
Europe
- September–October 2022
- Article
Should Your Company Sell on Amazon?: Reach Comes at a Price
By: Ayelet Israeli, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Matt Higgins and Sabir Semerkant
Selling on Amazon allows brands to reach millions of consumers—but that exposure comes with costs. They include smaller margins, more competition, the risk of commoditization, and less knowledge about customers.
In this article, the authors present a scorecard to...
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Keywords:
Retail;
Retailing;
Online Business;
Ecommerce;
E-commerce;
E-Commerce Strategy;
Omnichannel Retail;
Omnichannel Retailing;
Amazon;
Amazon.com;
Sales;
Digital Marketing;
Internet and the Web;
Business Model;
Retail Industry;
Retail Industry;
Retail Industry;
Retail Industry;
Retail Industry;
Retail Industry;
Retail Industry;
Retail Industry;
Retail Industry;
Retail Industry;
United States
- March 2022 (Revised May 2022)
- Case
Doubling Down: Elon Musk's Big Bets in 2022
By: David Yoffie and Daniel Fisher
2021 was a banner year for Elon Musk. CEO of the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, the aerospace manufacturer SpaceX, and a few smaller startups, Musk became the richest person on Earth after Tesla reached a market capitalization of $1 trillion and SpaceX a private...
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Keywords:
Innovation and Management;
Competitive Advantage;
Competitive Strategy;
Information Infrastructure;
Applications and Software;
Transportation;
Strategic Planning;
Leadership Style;
Leading Change;
Goals and Objectives;
Aerospace Industry;
Aerospace Industry;
Aerospace Industry;
United States;
Europe;
China
- January 2022 (Revised February 2022)
- Case
Envision Group
By: Gunnar Trumbull, Bonnie Yining Cao and Dawn H. Lau
Based in China, Envision was one of the world’s leading Greentech companies. Chief Executive Officer Lei Zhang had set the goal of achieving carbon neutrality across the company’s global operations and supply chain by 2022 and 2028 respectively. As part of its...
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Keywords:
Green Technology;
Climate Change;
Emerging Markets;
Information Technology;
Strategy;
Management;
Renewable Energy;
Energy Policy;
Environmental Sustainability;
Manufacturing Industry;
Manufacturing Industry;
Manufacturing Industry;
Manufacturing Industry;
China;
United States;
Japan;
United Kingdom;
France
- January 2022 (Revised August 2022)
- Case
Geely SEA: New Electric Vehicle Platforms
By: Willy C. Shih and Shu Lin
Kent Bovellan, the Chief Engineer and Head of the Vehicle Architecture Center for Geely Holding, the Hangzhou, China headquartered global automotive group, was debating the platform choice for an upcoming "D" segment midsized battery electric vehicle (BEV). He had led...
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Keywords:
Product Innovation;
Product Architecture;
Product Engineering;
Platform Design;
Platform Strategy;
Information Infrastructure;
Digital Platforms;
Information Technology;
Product Design;
Product Development;
Cost Management;
Decision Making;
Competitive Strategy;
Industry Structures;
Auto Industry;
China;
Sweden
- November 2021 (Revised May 2022)
- Case
QuantumScape's Mission to Revolutionize Energy Storage for a Sustainable Future
By: William A. Sahlman, Allison M. Ciechanover and Jeff Huizinga
QuantumScape CEO Jagdeep Singh juggles the many activities required to lead the next-generation battery pioneer. Founded in 2010, QuantumScape’s mission was to develop new “solid-state” car batteries that would improve upon traditional lithium-ion batteries in key...
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- September 2021
- Case
Tesla Motors in 2021: Competition Revs Up
By: Eric J. Van den Steen, Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman
Over its 17 years in existence, Tesla had redefined people’s view of electric cars, and in 2020, the company saw its stock rise by more than 700% to became the most valuable carmaker in the world. In December 2020, Tesla celebrated its fifth consecutive quarter of...
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Keywords:
Barrier To Entry;
Competitive Advantage;
Innovation;
Tesla;
Automotive Industry;
Sustainable Competitive Advantage;
Values;
Vision;
Learning By Doing;
Economies Of Scale;
Electric Vehicle;
Scenario Planning;
Batteries;
Competitive Strategy;
Product Positioning;
Profit;
Competition;
Industry Growth;
Auto Industry
- October 2019
- Supplement
Airbus vs. Boeing (H): Wing Cracks and Battery Fires (2013)
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman
This case describes an issue with the batteries of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner planes overheating and sometimes catching fire in 2013. The planes were grounded for several months until Boeing introduced new safety measures. The case also discusses a problem with cracks on...
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- May 2019
- Case
Elon Musk's Big Bets Update, 2019
By: David B. Yoffie and Daniel Fisher
This short case provides an update to Elon Musk's strategy and tactical moves with Tesla, Solar City, and SpaceX from 2016-2019.
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Keywords:
Electric Vehicles;
Batteries;
Solar Power;
Execution;
Space Flight;
Tesla;
SolarCity;
SpaceX;
Elon Musk;
Information Technology;
Risk and Uncertainty;
Expansion;
Renewable Energy;
Strategy;
Investment;
Manufacturing Industry;
Manufacturing Industry;
Manufacturing Industry;
Manufacturing Industry;
Manufacturing Industry
- December 2018 (Revised January 2020)
- Case
Husk Power: Scaling the Venture
In January 2018, Manoj Sinha—founder and CEO of Husk Power—was contemplating raising $20 million to scale operations for a second time. From 2007 through 2013, Husk built 80 biomass waste plants that provided electricity to 250,000 villagers and shop owners spread...
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- February 2018
- Teaching Plan
Tesla in 2015
By: Lynda M. Applegate, Olivia Hull and Sarah Mehta
Teaching Note for HBS No. 817-081.
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Keywords:
Electric Vehicle;
Internal Combustion Vehicle;
Battery;
Product Distribution;
Platform Disruption;
Vertical Integration;
Patents;
Disruption;
Innovation and Invention;
Disruptive Innovation;
Innovation Leadership;
Innovation Strategy;
Technological Innovation;
Energy;
Entrepreneurship;
Leading Change;
Product Marketing;
Information Technology;
Digital Platforms;
Transportation;
Auto Industry;
Auto Industry;
Auto Industry;
Auto Industry;
Auto Industry;
Auto Industry;
California
- November 2016 (Revised September 2018)
- Case
Elon Musk's Big Bets
By: David B. Yoffie, Eric Baldwin and Brandon Kaufmann
Between late 2014 and late 2016, Tesla CEO Elon Musk undertook several major, and risky, initiatives that would dramatically expand the scale and scope of Tesla’s business. In late 2014, Tesla began construction on a $5 billion “gigafactory” that would manufacture...
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Keywords:
Electric Vehicles;
Batteries;
Solar Power;
Strategy;
Execution;
Technology;
Space Flight;
Tesla;
SolarCity;
SpaceX;
Elon Musk;
Information Technology;
Risk and Uncertainty;
Expansion;
Renewable Energy;
Investment;
Manufacturing Industry;
Manufacturing Industry;
Manufacturing Industry;
Manufacturing Industry;
Manufacturing Industry
- September 2013 (Revised August 2015)
- Background Note
Leadership and Teaming
By: Ethan Bernstein
Small differences in the leadership of teams can have large consequences for the success of their efforts. Many initiatives fail not because of a fatal error in judgment or insufficient ideas, knowledge, motivation, or capabilities to deliver a solution. They fail...
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Keywords:
Teams;
Teaming;
Leadership And Managing People;
Leadership;
Team Effectiveness;
Team Performance;
Team Design;
Team Leadership;
Teamwork;
Team Process;
Team Function;
Team Launch;
60/30/10 Rule;
Team Boundary;
Distribution Of Leadership Authority;
Self-Managed Teams;
Virtual Teams;
Unbounded Teams;
Acts Of Leadership;
Execution Teams;
Decision Making Teams;
Creativity Teams;
Team Size;
Task Design;
Team Timeline;
Team Roles;
Team Representation;
Diversity;
Team Familiarity;
Collective Intelligence;
Team Stages Of Development;
Team Coaching;
Performance Pressure;
X-Teams;
Team Focus;
Interaction;
Management Teams;
Managerial Roles;
Management Systems;
Management Style;
Management Skills;
Management Practices and Processes;
Organizational Design;
Organizational Structure;
Performance Effectiveness;
Performance Efficiency;
Performance Productivity;
Groups and Teams;
Networks;
Social Psychology;
Behavior;
Conflict and Resolution;
Creativity;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Satisfaction;
Prejudice and Bias;
Power and Influence;
Personal Characteristics;
Familiarity;
Cognition and Thinking;
Attitudes;
Projects;
Organizational Culture;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Leadership Development;
Leadership Style;
Leading Change;
Knowledge Use and Leverage;
Knowledge Sharing;
Collaborative Innovation and Invention;
Innovation and Management;
Innovation Leadership;
Design;
Interpersonal Communication;
Accommodations Industry;
Accommodations Industry;
Accommodations Industry;
Accommodations Industry;
Accommodations Industry;
Accommodations Industry;
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Accommodations Industry;
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Accommodations Industry;
Accommodations Industry;
Asia;
North and Central America;
South America;
Atlantic Ocean;
Central Asia;
Europe;
Latin America;
Middle East;
Oceania;
West Indies
- June 2012 (Revised February 2014)
- Case
Low-Carbon, Indigenous Innovation in China
For the past seven years or so, the Chinese government has been powering ahead with industrial policies to promote low-carbon energy technologies—wind, solar, electric batteries and vehicles, nuclear power, and even carbon capture and sequestration. In 2009, the...
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- February 2011 (Revised July 2013)
- Case
A123 Systems: Power. Safety. Life.
A123 Systems, the largest manufacturer of lithium ion batteries in North America, is producing and selling batteries for electric vehicles in China and electric buses in Europe and America. It just opened two plants in Michigan, partially funded by a grant from...
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- February 2011 (Revised November 2012)
- Case
Aquion Energy
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and David Kiron
Leaders at Aquion Energy, a Pittsburgh-based battery start-up, are deciding on a market entry strategy. Should they pursue the large but unproven grid utility market or a smaller, but higher margin market?
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- April 2010
- Teaching Note
BYD Company, Ltd. (TN)
Teaching Note for [606139].
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- July – August 2009
- Article
Restoring American Competitiveness
By: Gary P. Pisano and Willy C. Shih
For decades, U.S. companies have been outsourcing manufacturing in the belief that it held no competitive advantage. That's been a disaster, maintain Harvard professors Pisano and Shih, because today's low-value manufacturing operations hold the seeds of tomorrow's...
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