Publications

November 2013 (Revised November 2014)
Case

Infection Control at Massachusetts General Hospital

By: Robert S. Huckman and Nikolaos Trichakis

The case explores the challenges facing Massachusetts General Hospital concerning the adoption of a new infection control policy, which promises to improve operational performance, patient safety, and profitability. The new policy requires coordination between... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Integration; Health Care and Treatment; Policy; Health Industry; Boston

January 1985 (Revised November 1985)
Background Note

Note on the Microcomputer Software Industry--January 1982

By: William A. Sahlman

Contains a history of the microcomputer software industry from the mid-1970s through early 1982. During that period growth was explosive. Many new companies were formed. However, the eventual structure of the industry was not yet clear. No truly dominant firms had... View Details

Keywords: Industry Growth; Business Strategy; Software; Computer Industry

Summer 2021
Article

The Origin and Development of Firm Management

By: Michela Giorcelli

This paper examines the historical origin and diffusion of management practices. Despite their centrality in the modern world, the concepts of ‘management’ developed fairly recently. Only with the Industrial Revolution, due to the increased firm size, owners needed a... View Details

Keywords: Productivity; Kaizen; Management; Management Practices and Processes; History; Performance Productivity; Technology

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Research Summary

Integrated Care for Total Knee Replacement: Quality of Life, Quality of Movement, User Acceptability

This study provides an opportunity to focus on the challenge of cross-organizational coordination in the healthcare setting. It is structured as a randomized clinical trial involving seven European hospitals (in seven different countries). It is focused specifically... View Details

February 18, 2022
Article

Transparency as a Solution for COVID-19 Related Hospital Capacity Issues

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Richard Boxer

In the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, many U.S. hospitals could not provide an adequate supply of beds to meet demand. Solving the problem of hospital bed capacity is of great importance in the “new normal,” which requires recognizing that SARS-CoV-2 is but... View Details

Keywords: COVID; COVID-19 Pandemic; Health Care; Health Care Demand; Health Care Delivery; Health Care Industry; Health Care Operations; Health Care Policy; Transparency; Hospital; Hospital Management; Hospitals; Health Pandemics; Health Care and Treatment; Service Delivery; Operations; Performance Capacity; Policy; Health Industry

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November 2021 (Revised December 2021)
Supplement

PittaRosso (B): Human and Machine Learning

By: Ayelet Israeli

This case supplements the "PittaRosso: Artificial Intelligence-Driven Pricing and Promotion" case, and provides major highlights on what happened at the company since the first case. View Details

2017
Working Paper

Empowering Bureaucracy: Achieving Non-Hierarchical Control and Employee Autonomy Through Dynamic Formal Roles

By: Michael Lee

Hierarchy and formal structure are conventionally viewed as two tightly coupled dimensions of organization design. As organizations move from more hierarchical to less hierarchical authority structures, they also tend to reduce formal structure. However, organic... View Details

Keywords: Organization Design; Autonomy; Decentralization; Self-Managed Organizations; Formalization; Roles; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Management Systems

September 2017 (Revised April 2022)
Supplement

Tempur Sealy International (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty

This case explores the long-term relationship between Tempur Sealy (TPX, a mattress manufacturer) and Mattress Firm (MFRM, a bedding retailer and TPX's largest customer). For almost 20 years, the firms enjoyed a mutually beneficial and commercially prosperous... View Details

April 2022
Teaching Note

Tempur Sealy International (A, B & C)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 718-422, 718-423, and 718-424. The cases explore the long-term relationship between Tempur Sealy (TPX, a mattress manufacturer) and Mattress Firm (MFRM, a bedding retailer and TPX's largest customer). For almost 20 years, the firms... View Details

October 2015
Article

How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Companies

By: Michael E. Porter and James E. Heppelmann

The evolution of products into intelligent, connected devices is revolutionizing business. In a November 2014 article, "How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Competition," Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter and PTC president and CEO James... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Organizational Structure; Operations; Business Strategy

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June 2001
Case

Competitive Dynamics in Home Video Games (F): The Fall of 3DO

Outlines the events leading up to 3DO's exit from the home video game licensing business. 3DO's business model is considered flawed because of its incompatibility with industry structure and economics. View Details

Keywords: Competition; Market Entry and Exit; Video Game Industry

Research Summary

Overview

Professor Myers studies the ways people learn from their own—and others’—experiences at work, with a particular emphasis on learning in health care organizations and emergency medical contexts. Though his interest is in individual-level learning, he focuses in... View Details

Keywords: Learning And Development; Learning Organizations; Learning By Doing; Health Care Industry; Innovation; Identity Construction; Medical Error; Knowledge Development; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Work; Learning; Leadership Development; Knowledge Management; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Health Industry; United States; Singapore; Asia

November 1997
Case

National Pork Producers Council

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Tom Clay

Al Tank, CEO of the National Pork Products Council, is facing an environmental and structural crisis in the U.S. pork industry. Can he resolve the environmental and image problems of his industry in time? Can he receive the support of both his growers and the... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Situation or Environment; Crisis Management; Environmental Sustainability; Business and Community Relations; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Industry Structures; Reputation; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

2012
Chapter

Problem Solving and Search in Networks

By: David Lazer and Ethan Bernstein

This chapter examines the role that networks play in facilitating or inhibiting search for solutions to problems at both the individual and collective levels. At the individual level, search in networks enables individuals to transport themselves to a very different... View Details

Keywords: Network Organizations; Search; Problem Solving; Individual; Individuals And Teams; Collective; Cognitive Search; Network Search; Search Typology; Networks; Social and Collaborative Networks; Theory; Knowledge Sharing

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January–February 2017
Article

The Truth about Blockchain

By: Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani

Contracts, transactions, and records of them provide critical structure in our economic system, but they haven’t kept up with the world’s digital transformation. They’re like rush-hour gridlock trapping a Formula 1 race car. Blockchain promises to solve this problem.... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Technology Adoption; Information Management; Information Technology Industry

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September 2022 (Revised November 2022)
Teaching Note

PittaRosso: Artificial Intelligence-Driven Pricing and Promotion

By: Ayelet Israeli

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 522-046. View Details

15 Nov 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Do Fire Sales Create Externalities?

Keywords: by Sergey Chernenko and Adi Sunderam; Financial Services; Banking

August 1999 (Revised July 2009)
Case

Tricon Restaurants International: Globalization Re-examined

By: Pankaj Ghemawat and Tarun Khanna

Describes a leading fast food operator/franchiser trying to consolidate and standardize its operations worldwide and focus its efforts on a few key markets. Lends itself to a discussion of how global the fast food industry is, whether Tricon's new international... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Global Strategy; Markets; Operations; Competition; Consolidation; Food and Beverage Industry