Energy Markets and Environment
Dr. Cunningham is a leading expert in non-market strategy, with a focus on the role of business-government relations in shaping economic and policy outcomes. Specifically, his research is focused on energy markets, energy governance, and environmental policy, particularly in China and the Asia-Pacific region. With over 20 years of experience working on these issues, he has developed a deep understanding of the strategic challenges and opportunities facing multinational companies, governments, and non-profit organizations in the region.
His MIT doctoral dissertation titled "A Portfolio Approach to Energy Governance: State Management of China's Coal and Electric Power Supply Industries" utilized a combination of industry and government data, interviews, case studies, and surveys. This work revealed that the central state actively manages ownership of firms in these strategic industries as a dynamic portfolio of assets according to changing perceptions of supply risk, resulting in predictable fluctuations in asset nationalization and liberalization. Such work informed later surveys and projects focused on explaining adoption of environmental technology in China, executive training of corporate leaders in the energy and environmental sectors, and teaching.
Selected Publications:
Cunningham, E., Saich, A., & Turiel, J. (2020). Understanding CCP Resilience: Surveying Chinese Public Opinion Through Time. Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation.
Turiel, J., Cunningham, E., & Saich, A. (2019). To Serve the People: Income, Region and Citizen Attitudes towards Governance in China (2003–2016). The China Quarterly, 240, 906-935. doi:10.1017/S0305741019000377
Cunningham, E. (2013) “The Jinyuan Group: China’s Energy Boom and the Rise of Local Government Entrepreneurs”, Harvard Kennedy School Case Study.
Cunningham, E., & Matus, K. (2013) “Multinational Corporations and “Indigenous Innovation” in China’s Chemical Industry: The Case of Dow Chemical”, Harvard Kennedy School Case Study.
Cunningham, E. (2013) “Green Innovation in China”, Review of Green Innovation in China by Joanna Lewis, Columbia University Press, Review of Policy Research 30(6).
Cunningham, E., and Dr. Prof. Subroto (2011) “Beyond Reformasi: Rethinking Indonesia’s Energy Governance”, Strategic Review, 1(2).
Cunningham, E., “Fueling the Miracle: China’s Energy Governance and Reform,” in Joseph Fewsmith (ed.), China Today, China Tomorrow: Domestic Politics, Economy, and Society, (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2010).
Steinfeld, E., Lester, R., & Cunningham, E. (2009) “Greener Plants, Grayer Skies,” Energy Policy, 37(5).
Steinfeld, E., Lester, R., & Cunningham, E. (2008) “Power Plant Emissions: What the Sulfur Tells Us,” China Economic Quarterly.
Cunningham, E. (2007) “Zhongguo dianli hangye gaige yu fazhan,” [China’s Electric Power Industry Reform and Development] Gonggong Guanli Pinglun [Public Management Review] (Tsinghua University Press), 6.
Cunningham, E. (2007) “China’s Energy Governance: Perception and Reality,” Audits of the Conventional Wisdom, M.I.T. Center for International Studies.
Cunningham, E., Thun, E., & Lynch, T. “A Tale of Two Sectors: Diverging Paths in Taiwan’s Automotive Industry,” in Suzanne Berger and Richard Lester (eds.), Global Taiwan (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2005).
