Professor: Sanjay Patnaik
Department: Strategic Management and Public Policy
Title: Business strategy, climate change and corporate political activities
Description: Climate change is expected to be one of the greatest challenges
for mankind in the coming century. It is therefore imperative to study
possible solutions to address this important issue, both from a public policy
and a business perspective. For my research project, we will analyze newly
introduced climate change regulations (such as the European Union and the
Californian cap-and-trade programs) to study how effective these programs
are, how they affect firm strategy and performance and how they can be
improved to achieve the best results. This research effort is a complex
project that will include work on a variety of topics related to climate
change and is therefore ideally suited for any student who wants to learn
more about this essential issue. Students will have the chance to participate
in cutting edge research in an area of study that is increasingly becoming
important all over the world.
Duties: The duties for students will involve a range of tasks, including
collecting, reformatting and preparing data, conducting background research
(i.e. literature searches, scanning newspaper articles, web searches etc.),
basic data analysis (mostly excel), (possibly) some basic statistical
analyses (which I will train students in if needed) and exploring new data
sources. The projects will include working on company data on international
and US firms, on greenhouse gas emissions and on data from international
organizations such as the United Nations. Students will also be working with
standard databases commonly used in business and finance (e.g. Orbis,
Amadeus, etc.).
Note: There are 3 openings!
Time commitment: 7-9 hours per week (average)
Credit hour option*: 3
Submit Cover Letter/Resume to: spatnaik@gwu.edu
*If credit is sought, all registration deadlines and requirements must be
met. Students selected to be research assistants should contact Brianna
Crayton (bcrayton@gwu.edu) whether they intend to pursue credit or not.
