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You may think that being an energy executive—especially a manager in a leading oil company—might be the easiest job around. Just flip the production...
You may think that being an energy executive—especially a manager in a leading oil company—might be the easiest job around. Just flip the production...
- 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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- September 2020
- Case
GreenFire Energy, 2020: Geothermal Innovation
By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock
In June 2020, GreenFire Energy Inc. (GreenFire) presented its report to the California Energy Commission indicating that its proof of concept project to demonstrate its new geothermal electricity generation technology, ECO2G™, had been a success. While conventional...
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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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- January 2020
- Background Note
Climate Change in 2020: Implications for Business
By: Rebecca M. Henderson, Sophus A. Reinert and Mariana Oseguera
This note provides general information about climate change and its implications for business. Included is an overview of climate change science and a number of its impacts, including rising sea levels, changing weather patterns and extreme weather, pressure on water...
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Keywords:
Climate Change;
Environmental Accounting;
Agribusiness;
Economic Growth;
Energy Conservation;
Energy Generation;
Renewable Energy;
Energy Sources;
Non-Renewable Energy;
Globalized Markets and Industries;
National Security;
Government Legislation;
Operations;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Problems and Challenges;
Risk and Uncertainty;
Natural Disasters;
Natural Environment;
Environmental Sustainability;
Pollutants;
Science-Based Business;
Weather;
Society;
Technology
- December 2019 (Revised January 2021)
- Supplement
The Leveraged Buyout of TXU: (B) Energy Future Holdings
By: Trevor Fetter, Erik Snowberg and Rebecca M. Henderson
This case is designed to support a lively discussion about the relative merits of shareholder vs. stakeholder perspectives in the context of a company that provides a vital public service that has important environmental implications. The 2007 purchase of TXU, the...
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- December 2019 (Revised January 2021)
- Case
TXU (A): Powering the Largest Leveraged Buyout in History
By: Trevor Fetter, Erik Snowberg and Rebecca M. Henderson
This case is designed to support a lively discussion about the relative merits of shareholder vs. stakeholder perspectives in the context of a company that provides a vital public service that has important environmental implications. The 2007 purchase of TXU, the...
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- July 2019 (Revised January 2021)
- Case
Acelerex
By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock
In early 2019, Randell Johnson, Founder and Chief Executive of Acelerex, was reflecting on the company’s first year of rapid growth and the challenges of scaling the business that lay ahead. Acelerex was riding the waves of change taking place in electrical power grids...
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- 2019
- Report
U.S. Nuclear Energy Leadership: Innovation and the Strategic Global Challenge
Throughout 2018, the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center convened a “Task Force on US Nuclear Energy Leadership,” which comprised civilian and military experts in foreign policy, defense, and nuclear energy. Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)...
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- May 2019
- Case
State of Charge: The Massachusetts Energy Storage Initiative
By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock
In early 2017, Judith Judson (Harvard Business School MBA, 2000), Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER), was reflecting on the results of the initiative she had led to identify the contribution advanced electricity storage could make...
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- February 2019 (Revised April 2019)
- Case
Electric Car Wars, 2018
By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock
Electric cars had long been championed by environmentalists as a superior solution to the internal combustion engine (ICE), but, despite large government incentives and strong pioneering efforts by a few automakers over the years, electric and hybrid cars and light...
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Keywords:
Electric Vehicle;
Electric Vehicles;
Electricity;
Electric Motors;
Electric Power Generation;
Electricity Usage;
Electricity Distribution;
Internal Combustion Vehicle;
Auto Manufacturing;
Automobile Manufacturing;
Automotive Industry;
Tesla;
General Motors;
History;
Nissan;
Innovation;
Batteries;
Battery;
Subsidies;
Government Initiatives;
Government Incentives;
Political Issues;
Energy Generation;
Production;
Infrastructure;
Innovation and Invention;
Government Legislation;
Global Range;
Business History;
Auto Industry;
China
- January 2019 (Revised December 2019)
- Case
CrossBoundary Energy
By: John Macomber
Almost 500 million people are without electricity in sub-Saharan Africa. Governments and public utilities are challenged to bring generation and distribution to most of them. Considerable promise exists in “off-grid” or “mini-grid” technologies, notably using renewable...
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Keywords:
Energy Investing;
Economic Development;
Renewable Energy;
Business Growth and Maturation;
Developing Countries and Economies;
Project Finance;
Emerging Markets;
Industry Structures;
Infrastructure;
Segmentation;
Private Equity;
Decision Choices and Conditions;
Energy Industry;
Utilities Industry;
Africa;
Tanzania;
Ghana
- January 2019 (Revised July 2019)
- Case
Jain Irrigation Systems Limited: Continuing a Legacy
By: Forest Reinhardt, Gunnar Trumbull and Mahima Rao-Kachroo
Founded in 1963 by Bhavarlal Jain (Bhau), who believed in “providing solutions for every problem,” Jain Irrigation in 2018 had a global footprint and $1.1 billion in revenue. Bhau had insisted that his business add value to farmers' lives and promote sustainable...
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- December 2018
- Case
Good Energy Group PLC
By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock
Founded at the end of 1999 by Juliet Davenport and Martin Edwards, Good Energy was the number-two renewable-energy seller in the United Kingdom at the end of 2016, supplying over 71,000 of the country’s 27 million households and small businesses with 100% renewable...
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Keywords:
Power/energy;
Green Energy;
Renewables;
Wind Power;
Electricity;
Power;
Strategy Development;
Electric Vehicles;
Customer Service;
Energy Policy;
Barriers To Entry;
Renewable Energy;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Competitive Strategy;
Business and Government Relations;
Problems and Challenges;
Strategy;
Energy Industry;
United Kingdom
- December 2018 (Revised January 2021)
- Supplement
Bulb 2017: Launch
By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock
This is the second case in a three-case series on Bulb Energy Ltd. It comes after “Bulb 2015: Foundation” (719-440) and is followed by “Bulb 2018: Rapid Growth” (719-442). It describes the launch of Bulb, a renewable energy supplier entering the highly competitive UK...
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Keywords:
Green Energy;
Start-up;
Launch;
Customer Acquisition;
Customer Churn;
Customer Engagement;
Electricity;
Resources;
Growth Strategy;
B-corp;
Renewable Energy;
Business Startups;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Business Model;
Working Capital;
Product Launch;
Customers;
Growth Management;
Business Plan;
Decision Making;
United Kingdom
- December 2018 (Revised January 2021)
- Supplement
Bulb 2018: Rapid Growth
By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock
This is the third case in a three-case series on Bulb Energy Ltd. It follows “Bulb 2015: Foundation” (719-440) and “Bulb 2017: Launch” (719-441). After a wild and volatile year, Bulb, a new entrant in the UK residential energy market, ended March 2018 with 329,127...
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Keywords:
Rapid Growth Stage;
Green Energy;
Start-up;
Customer Acquisition;
Customer Churn;
Customer Engagement;
Electricity;
Resources;
Growth Strategy;
B-corp;
Renewable Energy;
Business Startups;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Business Model;
Working Capital;
Customers;
Growth Management;
Finance;
Decision Making;
United Kingdom
- December 2018
- Background Note
Making UK Energy Smarter
By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock
This case describes the history of the United Kingdom's domestic energy industry and the country's efforts to create a more competitive, greener, and distributed power sector. On July 24, 2017, the United Kingdom government and the industry regulator, the Office of Gas...
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Keywords:
Energy Policy;
Regulation;
Energy Markets;
Subsidies;
Oligopolistic Competition;
Barriers To Entry;
Wholesale;
Electric Vehicle;
Batteries;
Energy Storage;
Competition Policy;
Energy;
Policy;
Renewable Energy;
Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms;
Vertical Integration;
Competition;
Market Entry and Exit;
Disruption;
Energy Industry;
United Kingdom
- 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
- November 2018 (Revised February 2019)
- Case
Israel at 70: Is it Possible to (re)Brand a Country?
By: Elie Ofek and Sarah Gulick
In the spring of 2018, Israel was set to celebrate its 70th anniversary. While there was much to rejoice in reaching this milestone, the country’s brand image internationally was far from ideal. Past efforts to impact perceptions of Israel, spearheaded by the Ministry...
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- 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
- Article
The Critical Role of Second-order Normative Beliefs in Predicting Energy Conservation
By: Jon M. Jachimowicz, Oliver P. Hauser, Julia D. O'Brien, Erin Sherman and Adam D. Galinsky
Sustaining large-scale public goods requires individuals to make environmentally friendly decisions today to benefit future generations. Recent research suggests that second-order normative beliefs are more powerful predictors of behaviour than first-order personal...
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