Publications

2025
Working Paper

Gastrointestinal Endoscopy--Without Cutting In: Case Histories of Transformational Advances

By: Amar Bhidé, Srikant M. Datar and Katherine Stebbins

This case history describes how endoscopy transformed the diagnosis of ulcers, cancerous polyps, and other alimentary canal diseases and enabled “minimally invasive” surgeries to treat such diseases. Specifically, we chronicle how: 1) flexible glass fiber endoscopes... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Technology Adoption; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Invention; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

Read Now

02 Dec 2019
What Do You Think?

How Does a Company like Boeing Respond to Intense Competitive Pressure?

trying to avoid. It’s alleged that pressure was increasingly being applied by top management to meet cost and delivery targets. Sales had done a great job selling planes several years out at prices based on costs that it was thought would... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Air Transportation

March 2014
Teaching Note

Uptake of Rapid Diagnostic Tests: A Development Challenge

By: Nava Ashraf, Andrew Boozary and Kristin Johnson

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Health Pandemics; Technology; Health Care and Treatment; Policy; Behavior; Prejudice and Bias; Zambia

August 2021
Teaching Note

IBM Watson at MD Anderson Cancer Center

By: Shane Greenstein and Mel Martin

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 621-022. View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Knowledge Management; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Operations; Failure; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Health Care and Treatment; Product Development; Health Industry; Health Industry; Health Industry; United States; Houston; Texas

17 Oct 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, October 17, 2017

patient satisfaction, and problems with patient safety. Nearly all U.S. health care organizations have used similar evidence to justify their investments in safety and quality. Herein, we provide... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 Apr 2007
Research & Ideas

Are Great Teams Less Productive?

to help organizations better access, integrate, and leverage the talents and insights of their employees. An earlier career as an organizational change consultant led me to realize how many thoughtful, caring individuals were stymied in... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

September 2018
Article

Discretionary Task Ordering: Queue Management in Radiological Services

By: Maria Ibanez, Jonathan R. Clark, Robert S. Huckman and Bradley R. Staats

Work-scheduling research typically prescribes task sequences implemented by managers. Yet employees often have discretion to deviate from their prescribed sequence. Using data from 2.4 million radiological diagnoses, we find that doctors prioritize similar tasks... View Details

Keywords: Discretion; Scheduling; Queue; Healthcare; Learning; Experience; Decentralization; Operations; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Performance; Performance Effectiveness; Performance Efficiency; Performance Improvement; Performance Productivity; Decisions; Time Management; Cost vs Benefits; Health Industry

Find at Harvard

14 Feb 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: February 14

institutionalized in America over subsequent decades in a way that has been difficult to replicate in other countries. The role of history helps to explain why. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52209 December 8, 2016 Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2017
Working Paper

Discretionary Task Ordering: Queue Management in Radiological Services

By: Maria Ibanez, Jonathan R. Clark, Robert S. Huckman and Bradley R. Staats

Work scheduling research typically prescribes task sequences implemented by managers. Yet employees often have discretion to deviate from their prescribed sequence. Using data from 2.4 million radiological diagnoses, we find that doctors prioritize similar tasks... View Details

12 Jun 2006
Research & Ideas

The Promise of Channel Stewardship

But in most scenarios, distribution channels, taken as a whole, seem more like a repository of lost opportunities than an effective delivery system that appropriately serves and rewards all participants. Powerful channel members routinely... View Details

Keywords: by V. Kasturi Rangan & Marie Bell; Consumer Products

Article

Use of Crowd Innovation to Develop an Artificial Intelligence-Based Solution for Radiation Therapy Targeting

By: Raymond H. Mak, Michael G. Endres, Jin Hyun Paik, Rinat A. Sergeev, Hugo Aerts, Christopher L. Williams, Karim R. Lakhani and Eva C. Guinan

Importance: Radiation therapy (RT) is a critical cancer treatment, but the existing radiation oncologist work force does not meet growing global demand. One key physician task in RT planning involves tumor segmentation for targeting, which requires substantial... View Details

Keywords: Crowdsourcing; AI Algorithms; Health Care and Treatment; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; AI and Machine Learning

Find at Harvard

Read Now

August 2003 (Revised August 2006)
Case

I've Got Rhythm: Selling Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, William Lagor, Christopher Perry and Scott St. Germain

The head of sales and marketing in a large medical devices firm must decide how to assign his sales force. He compares selling in the pharma, specialty pharma, and device industries and analyzes the reasons for the differences. View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Marketing Strategy; Industry Structures; Sales; Salesforce Management; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

Educators

October 1992 (Revised September 1993)
Case

Nopane Advertising Strategy

By: David E. Bell

Nopane is a proprietary drug that sells in much of the United States. It faces substantial competition. The brand manager is undertaking an experiment to determine whether ad copy should be emotional-based or rational-based. The data and associated regression results... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Intellectual Property; Advertising; Health Care and Treatment; Brands and Branding; Product Marketing; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

Educators

January 2023
Case

The END Fund: To Eliminate Neglected Tropical Diseases

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Courtney Han

Founded in 2012, the END fund focused on eliminating five Neglected Tropical Diseases that accounted for 80% of the tropical diseases affecting nearly 1.5 billion people worldwide. Its roughly $25 million/year annual budget was fully committed when it got news that the... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Health Disorders; Health Care and Treatment; Resource Allocation; Global Range; Decisions; Investment Funds

Educators