General
Why America Beat Iraq but Loses to Japan
This paper compares superiority of the Japanese over the U.S. in competitive business strategy to the U.S. win over Iraq in the first Gulf War. The author argues that America won the military war against Iraq for the same reason the Japanese are winning the high-technology trade war against the…
Greenhouse Warming: Efficient Solution or Nuclear Nemisis
In this paper from 1988, Bill Keepin compares the environmental and economic costs of nuclear power and energy efficiency in order to determine which option can create the most energy with the least impact. The analysis shows that while nuclear energy is an energy option with little carbon impact, it…
If Customers Save Electricity, Must Rates Rise?
In this paper from 1988, Amory Lovins uses examples to show that if utility customers take measures to save electricity, utilities can still make profits without raising electricity rates.
Energy: The Avoidable Oil Crisis
This article, published after the oil shocks of the 1970s, details strategies for reducing oil shortages and keeping costs low, thereby preventing another oil crisis. The authors see three possible strategies for responding to oil shocks: protectionism, trade, and substitution. While they explain how each of these strategies could help…
Nuclear Follies
This unpublished letter to Forbes responded to James Cook’s famous cover-story article of the same name about what the magazine called “the largest managerial disaster in business history.” A quarter-century later, the disaster continues to unfold just as the letter foresaw.”…
