Publications

Forthcoming
Article

From Bupkis to Sechel in Health Care

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Richard Boxer

Fifty years ago, famed economist Milton Friedman declared that “The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits.” This free market manifesto was adopted by the healthcare industry as well. But transactional has evolved into transformational with the... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Accountability; Customer Focus and Relationships; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Health Industry

2019
Working Paper

Thinking Outside the Box (12): The Benefits of Increased Transparency in Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance for the 180 Million Insured

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Barak D. Richman

Economists have long noted that the tax exclusion of employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) caused workers to purchase health plans that differ in price and other characteristics from those they would otherwise choose for themselves. We explore the short-term and long-term... View Details

Keywords: After-tax Income; Consumer-driven Health Care; Health Care Costs; Health Insurance; Income Inequality; Tax Policy; Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Insurance; Income; Equality and Inequality; Taxation; Policy; United States

Article

Ten Year Sunset Rule for Healthcare Regulation Is a Nonstarter and Discouragement to Post-COVID-19 Investment

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Eugene Schneller

U.S. healthcare delivery has not benefitted from the same productivity growth as many other service industries, such as bricks and mortar retailing, a loss that has gravely diminished cost control and access. Regulatory capture, which creates barriers to venture... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; COVID-19; Regulation; Health Care and Treatment; Health Pandemics; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Investment

2014
Book

Can China Lead? Reaching the Limits of Power and Growth

By: Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby and F. Warren McFarlan

At the time of the American Revolution, China was the strongest, richest, and most powerful civilization in the world. The Great Qing Empire ruled China and dominated East Asia by a combination of power and cultural prestige. China's economy was the world's largest.... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Leadership; Power and Influence; China

Find at Harvard

11 Feb 2014
First Look

First Look: February 11

its effect was quantitatively dominated by inequality-raising effects of population growth. The land distribution program lowered landlessness, but this was partly offset by targeting failures and induced... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Feb 1997
News

New Releases

explore the dynamics of the rapidly evolving digital environment. Market Driven Health Care by Regina E. Herzlinger (Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.) Informed and... View Details

March 2023 (Revised June 2025)
Case

Close Concerns: Diabetes Research and Advocacy

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Brian L. Walker

Diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 18, Kelly Close understood the importance of balancing consistency and iteration. This principle had also informed her professional work, which started with a rapid promotion from financial analyst at Goldman Sachs to an analyst... View Details

Keywords: Diabetes; Health; Health Care; Health Care And Treatment; Health Care Outcomes; Health Care Industry; Knowledge Dissemination; Outcome or Result; Equality and Inequality; Business Model; Entrepreneurship

Article

The Harmonization of Lending Standards within Banks through Mandated Loan-Level Transparency

By: Jung Koo Kang, Maria Loumioti and Regina Wittenberg-Moerman

We explore whether the introduction of transparent reporting rules increases credit standard harmonization within a bank. We exploit the new loan-level reporting rules imposed on banks that borrow from the European Central Bank using repurchase agreements... View Details

Keywords: Transparency; External And Internal Reporting; Credit Term Harmonization; Regulatory Scrutiny; Banks and Banking; Credit; Financial Reporting; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Learning

Find at Harvard

January 2024
Background Note

Evaluating Innovations in the Organization of Primary Care: What Type of Innovation Is It and How Well Does It Align with the Six Factors?

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and James Wallace

How can we evaluate if innovative health care ventures can do good—benefit society—and do well—become financially viable? This question is the topic of the first module in the Innovating in Health Care course book.

This note and "Health Stop (A): What Type... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Health Care and Treatment; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Mission and Purpose; Alignment; Health Industry

September 2, 2020
Article

How to Pay for Public Option Without Tax Hike

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Richard Boxer

A bipartisan combination of the two parties’ most popular initiatives can expand health care coverage, significantly reduce costs, and enable freedom of choice, without raising taxes. Along the way, we can revitalize competition between public and private plans. Our... View Details

Keywords: Health Insurance; Public Option; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Cost Management; United States

16 Feb 2023
News

HBS Announces Spring 2023 Cohort of Executive Fellows

May 2015
Case

Acıbadem Healthcare Group

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Esel Çekin, Natalie Kindred and Gamze Yucaoglu

Acıbadem Healthcare Group is Turkey's only premium nationwide hospital network. This case focuses on Acıbadem’s potential expansion strategy after it was acquired by International Healthcare Holdings Berhad (IHH) in 2011, the world's second-largest publicly listed... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Turkey; Hospital; Health Care and Treatment; Health; Health Industry; Turkey

29 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 29

will adopt the change. By contrast, strong ties to potentially influential organization members who disapprove of a change outright (resistors) are an effective means of affective cooptation only when a change diverges little from... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

04 Mar 2014
First Look

First Look: March 4

Publisher's link: http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1118788435.html August 2013 Harvard Business Review Why China Can't Innovate By: Abrami, Regina M., William C. Kirby, and F. Warren McFarlan Abstract—A look at how... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

11 Sep 2012
First Look

First Look: September 11

they made by history, or do they make it? In Indispensable, Harvard Business School professor Gautam Mukunda offers an enticingly fresh look at how and when individual leaders really can make a difference. View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Apr 2010
First Look

First Look: April 6

overview of the bankruptcy of General Motors Corp. Purchase this case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/210056-PDF-ENG Note on Telemedicine Regina E. Herzlinger and Jillian Peres CopelandHarvard Business... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Article

Transparency as a Solution for the Hospital Capacity Problem

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

COVID dramatically clarified a shortcoming in our great healthcare system, but like everything in the world, it has its shortcomings. What we see through the apex of COVID is that many hospitals in hotspot areas cannot provide an adequate supply of beds. Although the... View Details

Keywords: Hospital Capacity; Health Care and Treatment; Performance Capacity; Planning; Cooperation

December 2009 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Phreesia: The Patient Intake Company

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Sunaina Yarlagadda and Brian L. Walker

How should the co-founders of an organization that provides patient sign-in and billing services scale their company after five years of successfully targeting small private physician practices? Phreesia had deployed a direct mail and sales force strategy that resulted... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Social Entrepreneurship; Revenue; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

October 2024
Case

Parexel: Scaling Up and Industry Dynamics

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Ben Creo

Through the lens of biopharmaceutical contract research organization (CRO) PAREXEL, this case traces the evolution of the firm as it reinvents itself in response to the transformation of the CRO sector from a small, secondary cluster of firms into a major player with... View Details

Keywords: Research; Innovation and Invention; Business Model; Transformation; Globalization; Information Technology; Competitive Advantage; Pharmaceutical Industry