Case Studies

Lord Nelson Can Teach Us Lots About Strategy

This is an extended case example of strategic thinking. This example comes from a military victory in the 1800s. The Battle of Trafalgar is an excellent illustration of strategy principles applied to organizations. As you read this case example, think about how Lord Nelson did external analysis, analyzed his own organization and capabilities, set a…

Cattle Can Help Fight Climate Change

Cattle get a bad rap when it comes to environmental and health outcomes. They are blamed for consuming lots of water (some say as high as 2500 gallons of water for one pound of beef), for being unhealthy, for contributing to global climate change through their bovine burps, flatulence and even bad breadth, and their…

The Struggle Over Cape Wind

Cape Wind is nearing construction to become America’s first offshore wind farm. Cape Wind will consist of 130 Siemens 3.6-megawatt offshore wind turbines with a capacity of 468 megawatts. The project will be located in Federal waters off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound off the coast of the…

E+Co Tries Impact Investing

Adapted from Daniel S. Fogel (2016). Strategic Sustainability: A Natural Environmental Lens in Organizations and Management. New York, New York: Routledge: 30,48. Phil LaRocca and Christine Eibs-Singer, E+Co founders, were convinced that small and medium-sized energy enterprises held tremendous potential to simultaneously address energy power and waste. So, when this duo founded E+Co (pronounced…

Strategic Analysis of a University

Client: Community CollegeLocation: Southeast USAIssue: Develop a comprehensive sustainability plan. This work followed the Baseline Assessment for Sustainable Environments™. The project lasted four months. The work included: (1) An analysis of environmental sustainability plans. We will review any existing plans (as indicated in BASE™) and provide a recommendation for completing non-existing plans; (2) Focus on…

Sustainability and Green Rating System Dimensions for Products

Client: Medium Sized Brick ManufacturerLocation: Southeast USAIssue: Establish Ways to Position Products for Contributing to LEED Standards The major purpose of this analysis was to offer the company a benchmarking analysis of its competitors in the commercial and residential markets in relation to the following four specific dimensions: (1) analysis of the dynamics of the…

Service Innovation

Client: Large BankLocation: Northeast (home office); National footprintIssue: Need to establish a process for innovation including using environmental sustainability as a lens for service innovation This six month assignment had several goals: Develop a visual model of the innovation to scale project at the bank. Create a specific ramp-up process including timelines and project outcomes…

Environmental Preferable Purchasing

Client: MunicipalityLocation: Southeast USAIssue: Establish an Environmental Preferable Purchasing Process (EPP) This work was completed within four months. The major areas of work were: Policies and procedures review including the city’s guidelines, work done at the county level, and EPA guidelines which contain extensive information on EPP. The purpose of this review was to assess…

Coca-Cola Watches over Troubled Waters

Coca-Cola Watches over Troubled Waters As a non-diversified, beverage business, water has always been critical to Coke’s business: in their products, in manufacturing, and for their mostly agricultural ingredient supply base. When Greg Koch, Director, Global Water Stewardship, Environment & Water Resources, of the Coca-Cola Company, joined Coca Cola 1996, the company had already developed a strong…

A Bright Future

A Bright Future[i] BrightSource Energy, based out of Oakland, California, is also showing how it’s done. The firm leverages the sun’s incoming energy by focusing the sunlight onto mirrors which then reflect the light onto 2,200-ton boilers built 339 feet in the air.[ii] The extremely hot steam then powers turbines to generate electricity. In 2013, the…