About John

John A. Mathews is Professor of Strategic Management at Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Macquarie University in Sydney, where he has taught graduate MBA classes for the past decade and more.

From 2009 to 2012 he was concurrently Eni Chair of Competitive Dynamics and Global Strategy at LUISS Guido Carli University, in Rome, where he taught Masters’ and doctoral level courses in the Economics and Management of the Energy Business. He was the first appointment to this new Chair.

He is the author of several books including Strategizing, Disequilibrium and Profit (Stanford University Press, 2006), Dragon Multinational: A New Model of Global Growth (Oxford University Press, 2002), and Tiger Technology: The Creation of a Semiconductor Industry in East Asia (Cambridge University Press, 2000); the latter appearing in a Chinese translation published by Peking University Press.

Professor Mathews’ research has increasingly focused for the past decade on the inter-related topics of the global transformation of energy systems and the shift to renewable energies, the move from a linear to a circular economy, and the role of green finance -- with China as a lead player in all three. He published a Commentary article on this topic with collaborator Dr Hao Tan in Nature, on Sep 11 2014: http://www.nature.com/news/economics-manufacture-renewables-to-build-energy-security-1.15847

His new book "Greening of Capitalism: How Asia is driving the Next Great Transformation" elaborates on these themes. It was published in November 2014 by Stanford University Press: http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=24288

Website: https://www.mgsm.edu.au/research-and-faculty/mgsm-faculty/professor-john-mathews/

The Tesla battery heralds the beginning of the end for fossil fuels

While wind and solar power have made great strides in recent years, with renewables now accounting for 22% of electric energy generated, the issue that has held them back has been their transience. The sun doesn’t shine at night and the wind doesn’t blow year-round – these are the mantras of all those opposed to the progress of renewables.

Now the renewable power billionaire Elon Musk has just blown away that final defence. Last Thursday in California he introduced to the world his sleek new Powerwall – a wall-mounted energy storage unit that can hold 10 kilowatt hours of electric energy, and deliver it at an average of 2 kilowatts, all for US$3,500.

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