Publications

August 2004 (Revised July 2006)
Case

PROPECIA TM: Helping Make Hair Loss History

By: Marta Wosinska and Youngme E. Moon

In late 1997, Tom Casola, brand manager for Propecia, debates the best approach to market this breakthrough one-a-day pill for hair loss. This launch would be atypical for a prescription drug because of the key position of the consumer. As a result, the team's... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Communication Strategy; Customers; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Product; Performance Effectiveness; Problems and Challenges; Quality; Pharmaceutical Industry

19 Sep 2024
Blog Post

A Day at Royal FloraHolland: The Epicenter of the Global Flower Market

from growers to buyers. They receive precise, automated instructions via their headsets, detailing the specific types and quantities of flowers and plants each buyer requires.... View Details

March 2002 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Metalcraft Supplier Scorecard

By: Susan L. Kulp, V.G. Narayanan and Ronald L. Verkleeren

An automotive components company uses a supplier scorecard to make sourcing decisions and review its supplier performance. View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain Management; Quality; Performance Evaluation; Decision Making; Service Operations; Motivation and Incentives; Supply and Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry

14 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 14

Collegiate Athletics By: Chung, Doug J. Abstract—I measure the spillover effect of intercollegiate athletics on the quantity and quality of applicants to institutions of higher... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 1999 (Revised February 2000)
Case

GE...We bring good things to life. (A)

By: James L. Heskett

Jack Welch and the Corporate Executive Council of General Electric are faced with a decision about whether and how to implement a six-sigma quality-improvement effort in the context of many other initiatives already undertaken at GE in recent years. View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Leadership Style; Six Sigma; Quality; Organizational Change and Adaptation

09 Sep 2014
First Look

First Look: September 9

quantities of vaccines for the developing world. Purchase this case: http://hbr.org/product/vaxess-technologies-inc/an/514107-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 714-034 Sasol: U.S. Growth Program Sasol, the world's largest producer of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

Competition the Cure for Healthcare

healthcare is not high quality. Indeed, there is every possible quality problem you can imagine: incorrect diagnoses, drug errors, unnecessary complications, and failed treatments. Also, there are huge... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Health

18 Feb 2009
First Look

First Look: February 18, 2009

volume. The distinguishing operational characteristic of by-product synergy is that quantities of the primary product and by-product are linked, with production of the primary product defining the upper... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

06 May 2014
First Look

First Look: May 6

examine how the quantity of information generated about firm prospects can be improved by splitting a firm's cash flow into a "safe" claim (debt) and a "risky" claim (equity). The former,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

13 Mar 2018
First Look

March 13, 2018

organizations’ impact on society are effective at improving disclosure quantity and quality as well as corporate value. Publisher's link:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2019 (Revised April 2021)
Background Note

Managing Talent Pipelines in the Future of Work

By: William R. Kerr, Joseph B. Fuller, Manjari Raman and Carl Kreitzberg

In the face of a rapidly-changing economy, organizations that wish to compete in the future of work must develop strategies for acquiring, retaining, and developing talent for their organizations. This primer reviews the major trends shaping jobs, workplaces, and... View Details

Keywords: Future Of Work; Talent and Talent Management; Experience and Expertise; Demographics; Labor; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty; Quality; Supply Chain

17 Jun 2019
Research & Ideas

What Hospitals Must Learn to Compete

is even harder to measure than price. But there’s a great amount of price variation that doesn’t seem to be correlated to quality (at least to quality that we can measure). Which brings us to the question of... View Details

Keywords: by Alumni Bulletin Staff; Health

03 May 2004
What Do You Think?

How Much Is Enough?

Summing Up The concept of "just enough" triggered the sensitivities of many of us, judging from the quantity of responses to this month's column. Respondents divided themselves not into the usual pro View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

13 Jan 2015
First Look

First Look: January 13

Online Sales By: Teixeira, Thales S. Abstract—Consumers have become avid media multitaskers, moving seamlessly between their TVs and digital devices. Shorter TV commercials have reduced both the quantity... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2010 (Revised August 2016)
Case

On Weldon's Watch: Recalls at Johnson & Johnson from 2009 to 2010

By: Clayton S. Rose, Sandra J. Sucher, Rachel Gordon and Matthew Preble

In October of 2010, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) was unable to extricate itself from a year long recall crisis that had subjected the firm to criticism from Congress and regulators, resulted in the resignation of one of the firm's most senior officers, and cost hundreds of... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Values and Beliefs; Leadership; Crisis Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Quality; Pharmaceutical Industry

09 Sep 2013
Lessons from the Classroom

Teaching Climate Change to Skeptics

A few years ago, Joseph B. Lassiter traveled to San Francisco, Houston, and New York to hold discussions with Harvard alumni on the topic of business and the environment. Each time, he surveyed the audience... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

22 Aug 2012
Working Paper Summaries

A Randomized Field Study of a Leadership WalkRounds™-Based Intervention

departments, intensive care units, and medical/surgical units. We collected survey data from nurses in those work areas. Measures: To measure the program's impact, we collected pre and post survey data on... View Details

Keywords: by Anita L. Tucker & Sara J. Singer; Health

February 1991
Case

Burlington Northern: The ARES Decision (A)

By: Julie H. Hertenstein and Robert S. Kaplan

Burlington Northern's decision whether to invest in ARES, an automated train control system, is a ($350 million) strategic investment in information technology. Although set in a service industry (railroad) the issues around this decision arise in many organizations... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Rail Transportation; Information Technology; Competitive Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Performance Effectiveness; Cost vs Benefits; Technology Adoption; Technological Innovation; Customers; Quality; Rail Industry