General Information
Promotional Video
Unavailable
Instructor Bio
Kenneth S. Corts is the Marcel Desautels Chair in Entrepreneurship, Professor of Business Economics, and Vice-Dean, Research, Strategy, and Resources at the Rotman School. Before joining Rotman, he was an Associate Professor in the Competition and Strategy area at Harvard Business School. He received his PhD in Economics from Princeton University.
Target Audience
This course will be of interest to students interested in working in, consulting for, investing in, or founding low-carbon energy and related cleantech businesses. It will also be of interest to students with a general interest in following ongoing developments in technology, policy, and news around the global response to climate change.
Course Mission
At the end of this course, students will have a broad familiarity with the functioning of a variety of energy markets and be able to assess the business prospects of a firm in an energy-related field with a deepened understanding of how the policy and regulatory environments create business opportunities and shape the competitive landscape.
Course Scope
We will discuss a variety of energy markets and businesses. I will bring an economics and strategy perspective to the analysis, and nearly every day an executive from a firm in these markets will join us to bring practical and topical experience to bear on the subject. The course includes overviews of the economics of policy interventions, the energy policy landscape, and the institutional environment of modern quasi-deregulated energy markets. We then consider different business models for commercialization of specific energy technologies, examining specifically the businesses of our guest speakers, who will span sectors including electricity, transportation, waste, and buildings as well as technologies including wind, solar, biogas, hydrogen, energy storage, electric vehicles, and others.
Evaluation and Grade Breakdown
| Component | Format | Due Date | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class Participation | In-class | Ongoing | 20% |
| Quiz 1 | In-Class | Approx. 4th week | 20% |
| Quiz 2 | In-Class | Approx. 8th week | 20% |
| Group Project | Written project + in-class presentation | Final Class | 40% |
Required Resources
Case studies, annual reports, policy documents, and readings from the press will be distributed electronically. A small number of cases will likely be in a coursepack that students buy directly from Harvard Business Publishing.