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- April 2021
- Teaching Note
GreenFire Energy, 2020: Geothermal Innovation
By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock
In June 2020, after ten years of effort, GreenFire Energy Inc. (GreenFire) demonstrated its new geothermal electricity generation technology, ECO2G™. While conventional geothermal electricity only supplied 0.5% of US demand, the new technology promised to increase this...
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- March 2021 (Revised May 2021)
- Case
M-KOPA: Empowering Lives
By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Wale Lawal and Pippa Tubman Armerding
The Pay As You Go solar power company in East Africa had sales of $71 million in 2019. It wished to grow to $300 million by 2025. M-KOPA, founded by three entrepreneurs in 2011, had grown nicely in Kenya and Uganda to reach nearly 750,000 households with an...
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- February 2021
- Case
Yellow Digital Retailers, Ltd.: 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...
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- November 2020
- Case
Holaluz: Taking on the Spanish Energy Market
By: Elie Ofek, Marco Bertini, Oded Koenigsberg, Elena Corsi and Emer Moloney
In 2020, the three cofounders of Holaluz, a newcomer to Spain’s electricity retail market, are preparing to launch a new offering: installing and managing solar panels on households' roofs at no extra cost for the consumer, who would still benefit from the energy...
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- September 2020 (Revised November 2020)
- Case
d.light
By: Michael Chu, Krishna G. Palepu and Dilyana Karadzhova Botha
Kenyan off-grid-solar pioneer d.light can power entire homes in rural Africa but must now decide how to fund the growth of its asset-heavy business model. Ned Tozun and Sam Goldman founded d.light in 2006 to transform lives through solar solutions enabling access to...
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- August 2020 (Revised November 2020)
- Case
Gogoro: From Electric Scooter to Energy Platform
By: Tarun Khanna and Billy Chan
The founder of Gogoro had always wanted to revolutionize the energy market from day one since he started the electric scooter business that featured an innovative battery swapping technology. Over the course of five years, he had developed a premium line of electric...
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- May 2020
- Case
Big Boom Beverages: Fight or Flight?
By: Stephen A. Greyser and William Ellet
Four college friends market a beverage that combines ingredients like those in a drink they consumed in college bars. It includes a caffeinated energy drink, malt liquor, and a soft drink flavoring. They launch the business, Big Boom Beverages (BBB), with their own...
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- March 2020
- Case
Voi Technology
By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Olivia Hull
Voi Technology, a fast-growing start-up out of Sweden, is competing in the highly contested European e-scooter sharing market. With a presence in nearly 40 cities in Europe by February 2020, the firm is working hard to improve its unit economics to reach profitability....
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Keywords:
Entrepreneurship;
Business Strategy;
Technology Adoption;
Innovation Strategy;
Technological Innovation;
Marketing Strategy;
Business Plan;
Product Marketing;
Product Launch;
Product Positioning;
Energy Conservation;
Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues;
Global Strategy;
Globalized Economies and Regions;
Innovation Leadership;
Human Capital;
Laws and Statutes;
Growth Management;
Operations;
Logistics;
Service Operations;
Supply Chain Management;
Organizational Culture;
Hardware;
Transportation;
Transportation Industry;
Technology Industry;
Europe
- February 2020 (Revised March 2020)
- Case
Prime Coalition: Catalytic Capital for Climate Innovation
By: Ramana Nanda, Benjamin N. Roth and Olivia Hull
With long development timelines and high risk, new energy technologies were often left to languish in the “valley of death,” unable to raise enough funds to bring a product to market. In 2014, Sarah Kearney founded the nonprofit Prime Coalition to solve this problem....
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Keywords:
Energy Conservation;
Renewable Energy;
Social Entrepreneurship;
Venture Capital;
Investment;
Innovation and Invention;
Technological Innovation;
Mission and Purpose;
Science-Based Business;
Nonprofit Organizations;
Social Enterprise;
Energy Industry;
Technology Industry;
Green Technology Industry;
United States
- November 2019 (Revised April 2021)
- Technical Note
Rechargeable Batteries, 2017: Gigafactory Wars in the Offing?
By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock
In 2017, the global market for rechargeable lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries was 126 gigawatt-hours (GWh) valued at $37 billion, growing by $10 billion in two years. Once confined largely to consumer electronics and appliances, the rapid increase in demand was spurred by...
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Keywords:
Batteries;
Rechargeable Batteries;
Lithium-ion;
Lithium-ion Batteries;
Electric Vehicle;
Electric Vehicles;
Energy Entrepreneurship;
Energy Markets;
Energy Storage;
Battery;
Demand Uncertainty;
Demand Forecasting;
Supply ＆ Demand;
Supply And Demand;
Capacity Planning;
Tesla;
Technological And Scientific Innovation;
Technological Change;
Technology Change;
Technology Commercialization;
Policy Change;
Subsidies;
Power/Energy;
Power Grid;
Energy Policy;
Developing Markets;
Alevo;
Samsung;
LG Chem;
CATL;
Northvolt;
General Motors;
Energy;
Entrepreneurship;
Technological Innovation;
Commercialization;
Policy;
Demand and Consumers;
Forecasting and Prediction;
Supply and Industry;
Emerging Markets;
Competitive Strategy;
China
- October 2019 (Revised April 2020)
- Background Note
Note on Funding Deep Tech Startups
By: Karim Lakhani, Peter Barrett and Noubar Afeyan
This Background Note provides essential information on funding deep technologies—those technologies that were inherently capital intensive, time consuming, risky, and potentially disruptive. Both dilutive and non-dilutive sources of investment are highlighted, along...
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Keywords:
Entrepreneurship;
Energy;
Venture Capital;
Corporate Finance;
Initial Public Offering;
Investment;
Health Testing and Trials;
Innovation and Invention;
Technological Innovation;
Intellectual Property;
Product Design;
Product Development;
Technology;
Research and Development;
Risk and Uncertainty;
Technology Industry;
Biotechnology Industry;
United States;
North America;
Europe;
Asia
- August 2019
- Case
The United States and Russia: Gas Rivals in Europe?
By: Rawi Abdelal, Galit Goldstein and Paul Apostolicas
Though the shale revolution transformed the U.S. into the largest producer of petroleum products, it was unclear how much success American exporters would find selling liquefied natural gas on the European energy market. Gazprom, the state-controlled Russian energy...
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Keywords:
Gas Pipelines;
Natural Gas;
LNG;
Strategic Analysis;
Strategic Behavior;
Energy Markets;
Entrepreneurial Financing;
Entrepreneurial Risk;
Entrepreneurial Ventures;
Entrepreneurial Selling;
Energy;
Energy Sources;
Entrepreneurship;
Market Entry and Exit;
Marketing Strategy;
Price;
Energy Industry;
Russia;
United States;
Europe;
European Union
- December 2018 (Revised January 2020)
- Case
Husk Power: Scaling the Venture
In January 2018, Husk Power had just raised $20 million to scale operations for a second time. From 2007 through 2013, Husk built 80 biomass waste (primarily rice husk from rice mills) plants that provided electricity to 250,000 villagers and shop owners spread across...
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Keywords:
Scaling;
Energy;
Entrepreneurship;
Emerging Markets;
Growth and Development;
Energy Industry;
India
- October 2018
- Case
Safecast: Bootstrapping Human Capital to Big Data
By: Ethan Bernstein and Stephanie Marton
On March 11, 2011 at 2:46pm, a 9.1-on-the-Richter-scale, six-minute long earthquake unleashed a tsunami that ravaged the Tohoku region of Japan, damaging the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power facility and releasing sufficient radioactive material into the air and ocean...
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Keywords:
Citizen Science;
Creative Commons;
Open Data;
Open Architecture;
Volunteer-based Organization;
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Facility;
311;
Nuclear;
Radiation;
Crowdsourcing;
Bgeigie;
Geiger Counters;
Kickstarter;
Sustainability;
Sustainable Business And Innovation;
Design;
Energy Generation;
Social Entrepreneurship;
Human Capital;
Innovation and Invention;
Crisis Management;
Organizational Structure;
Organizational Design;
Technology;
Business Model;
Energy Industry;
Technology Industry;
Japan;
North and Central America;
Europe
- 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;
Technology;
Technology Platform;
Transportation;
Auto Industry;
Energy Industry;
Green Technology Industry;
Manufacturing Industry;
Technology Industry;
Transportation Industry;
California
- February 2018 (Revised August 2018)
- Case
Blue Haven Initiative: The PEGAfrica Investment
By: Vikram S. Gandhi, Caitlin Reimers Brumme and Amram Migdal
This case examines Blue Haven Initiative (BHI), an impact investing fund and family office, and one of its investments, PEGAfrica (PEG). BHI founder Liesel Pritzker Simmons’ motivations for using her family wealth to start a family office focused on impact investing,...
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Keywords:
Impact Investing;
Family Office;
Development;
International Development;
International Development Investing;
Development Fund;
Sustainability;
Solar Energy;
Solar;
Pay As You Go;
PAYG;
MFI;
Social Venture;
Business Ventures;
Acquisition;
Business Growth and Maturation;
Business Startups;
Economics;
Development Economics;
Energy;
Energy Conservation;
Energy Sources;
Renewable Energy;
Social Entrepreneurship;
Finance;
Assets;
Asset Pricing;
Capital;
Capital Budgeting;
Capital Structure;
Venture Capital;
Cash;
Cash Flow;
Currency;
Currency Exchange Rate;
Equity;
Private Equity;
Financial Instruments;
Debt Securities;
Stock Shares;
Financing and Loans;
Microfinance;
International Finance;
Investment;
Investment Return;
Investment Activism;
Investment Funds;
Investment Portfolio;
Price;
Geography;
Geographic Location;
Emerging Markets;
Ownership;
Ownership Stake;
Private Ownership;
Social Enterprise;
Value;
Valuation;
Value Creation;
Energy Industry;
Financial Services Industry;
Green Technology Industry;
Africa;
United States
- 2017
- Book
Profits and Sustainability: A History of Green Entrepreneurship
By: G. Jones
This book explores whether profits and environmental sustainability are compatible through the lens of a global history of green entrepreneurship between the nineteenth century and today. It tells the story of the extraordinary and often eccentric men and women who...
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Keywords:
Environmental Entrepreneurship;
Green Business;
Sustainability;
Entrepreneurship;
Ethics;
Business History;
Religion;
Environmental Sustainability;
Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry;
Banking Industry;
Beauty and Cosmetics Industry;
Consumer Products Industry;
Alternative Energy Industry;
Financial Services Industry;
Food and Beverage Industry;
Green Technology Industry;
Tourism Industry;
Africa;
Asia;
Europe;
Latin America;
North and Central America;
Oceania
- 2017
- Chapter
Entrepreneurship, Policy, and the Geography of Wind Energy
By: G. Jones
This study examines the geography of the global wind energy industry before 2000. Between 1980 and 2000, the global generating capacity of wind power grew from 13 megawatts to 17,400 megawatts, but two-thirds of that capacity was in Denmark, Germany, Spain, and the...
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- March 2016
- Teaching Note
Advanced Leadership Pathways: Richard Fahey and Robert Saudek – Lighting Liberia
By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Tessa Natanay Hamilton and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone
After successful careers as lawyers and Fellows in Harvard's Advanced Leadership Initiative, Richard Fahey and Robert Saudek set out to tackle a large-scale infrastructure challenge in a complex environment by ultimately using advanced leadership skills to increase...
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Keywords:
Energy
- 2016
- Teaching Note
Advanced Leadership Pathways: Richard Fahey and Robert Saudek—Lighting Liberia
By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Tessa Natanay Hamilton and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone
Teaching Note for Case 313-032. After successful careers as lawyers and Fellows in Harvard's Advanced Leadership Initiative, Richard Fahey and Robert Saudek set out to tackle a large-scale infrastructure challenge in a complex environment by ultimately using advanced...
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Keywords:
Solar;
Solar Power;
Electricity;
Clean Technology;
Scaling-up;
Economic Development;
Partnerships;
Sustainability;
Innovation;
Leadership Skills;
Renewable Energy;
Energy;
Infrastructure;
Technology;
Economy;
Partners and Partnerships;
Distribution;
Innovation Leadership;
Leadership;
Social Entrepreneurship;
Change Management;
Energy Industry;
Africa;
Liberia