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Article

The Anatomy of a Hospital System Merger: The Patient Did Not Respond Well to Treatment

By: Raffaella Sadun, Martin Gaynor, Adam Sacarny, Chad Syverson and Shruthi Venkatesh

Despite the continuing US hospital merger wave, it remains unclear how mergers change, or fail to change, hospital behavior and performance. We open the “black box” of hospital practices through a mega-merger between two for-profit chains. Benchmarking the merger's... View Details

Keywords: Performance Improvement; Mergers and Acquisitions; Health Industry

01 Sep 2005
News

Service Leadership Fellows Named

Valerie Bockstette, New Sector Alliance, Boston; Glen Brenner, Mayor’s Office, City of Boston; Juan Fernandez, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle; Jennifer Houston, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York; Monisha Kapila,... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training

14 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

Pay-for-Performance Doesn’t Always Pay Off

their ability to reach if not surpass the goals, start banking on the extra money. In practice, however, the process of connecting pay to performance may be far trickier that it at first appears, according to HBS professor Michael Beer.... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

01 Jun 2001
News

Up Side Story: HBS Show a Sold-Out Success

in love while entertaining the sold-out audience with humor, song, and dance. Each year since 1974, a group of hardworking students has pooled its writing, acting, and production skills to stage a Broadway-style performance that takes... View Details

Keywords: HBS Show; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries

January 2008 (Revised December 2008)
Case

Codman Academy: Beyond the Start-up Phase

By: Stacey Childress and Tiffany K. Cheng

As it entered its seventh academic year, Codman Academy, an expeditionary learning charter school located in Dorchester, Massachusetts, was reflecting on its successes and challenges. The school had succeeded in placing every member of its most recent graduating class... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Leadership; Performance Improvement; Partners and Partnerships; Education Industry; Boston

01 Mar 2017
Research & Ideas

A Good Thing Happens When Doctors Start Talking to Their Patients

performing costly medical procedures. And that’s a problem, argues Senior Fellow Robert S. Kaplan, the Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development, Emeritus, at Harvard Business School. “It becomes... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health

04 Jun 2008
News

Whistle While You Work

bought into that, too, until one day he had a transformational insight. “The conductor’s power depends on his ability to make other people powerful. I started paying attention to how I was enabling my musicians to be the best performers... View Details

Keywords: Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries

November 1987 (Revised March 1990)
Case

Ethyl Corp. in 1979

Describes the competitive situation facing the market leader in antiknock additives, the Ethyl Corp. Demand is declining rapidly and Ethyl has to decide whether to close capacity, and if so, how. Raises issues of corporate as well as SBU strategy because antiknock... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Corporate Strategy; Performance Capacity; Auto Industry; Chemical Industry

01 Jun 2006
News

Faculty Books

Questions of Character by Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. (HBS Press) Professor Badaracco argues that serious fiction provides us with memorable characters facing challenges similar to those that confront business leaders. Through analysis of the... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training

April 1984 (Revised November 1988)
Background Note

Statistical Quality Control for Process Improvement

Describes systematic methods for process debugging and improvement, based on statistical quality control. Examples are from manufacturing settings, but techniques are also useful for services and sales, and to quantity improvement as well as quality improvement. View Details

Keywords: Quality; Performance Improvement; Business Processes

December 2005 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Pharmacy Service Improvement at CVS (A)

CVS's retail pharmacy operations are functioning poorly and dissatisfying customers. Many customers are defecting as a result. A pharmacy service improvement team has documented the current prescription fulfillment process, its exception rates, and the problems... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Performance Improvement; Business Processes; Retail Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

November 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Supplement

GE's Talent Machine: The Making of a CEO

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

CEO Jeff Immelt, ex-CEO Jack Welch, and HR Chief Bill Conaty discuss how GE has made talent development a source of sustainable competitive advantage. Immelt describes GE's deeply embedded philosophy around its people and how it has allowed the company to add value... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Talent and Talent Management; Human Resources; Business or Company Management; Performance Capacity; Performance Effectiveness; Competitive Advantage; System; Value