Publications

March 2017
Case

Cantel Medical

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Cantel Medical Corporation provided infection prevention and control products and services for patients, caregivers, and other healthcare providers. In 2016, Cantel generated sales of $665 million and net profits of $60 million, double the levels of five years earlier.... View Details

Keywords: Cantel; Charles Diker; Furniture Industry; Matrix Organization; Acquisition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Business Units; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Chemicals; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Business History; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Structure; Problems and Challenges; Research and Development; Opportunities; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Information Technology; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States; New Jersey

13 Jul 2023
News

The Network Effect

Karan Mathur (left) and Dina Model (Illustration by Gisela Goppel) Karan Mathur (left) and Dina Model (Illustration by Gisela Goppel) When Dina Model and Karan Mathur (both MBA 2015) met through mutual friends during their first year at HBS, neither was envisioning a... View Details

09 Oct 2020
Blog Post

4 Things To Know About the MS/MBA Biotech

and pharmaceutical management. I learned about value-based approaches to drug pricing and concluded that overseeing a mission-driven pharmaceutical company would provide me... View Details

Web

Academics - Health Care

care organization Redesigning urgent care triage for a major academic hospital Developing a China business model for a large pharmaceutical company Cross-Registration HBS students may take graduate-level... View Details

March 2015 (Revised September 2016)
Case

Terrapin Laboratory

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Joseph B. Fuller

Describes the formation and rapid growth of a drug testing company. The company needs to decide whether to enter the painkiller testing market, in addition to growing its drug treatment center business. The associated teaching materials provide students the opportunity... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth; Entrepreneurial Management; Entrepreneurship; Growth Strategy; Market Entry; Venture Capital; Growth Management; Expansion; Financing and Loans; Health Care and Treatment; Health Testing and Trials; Business Startups; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

September 1997 (Revised October 1997)
Case

Bayer AG (A)

By: John A. Quelch

Bayer's senior executives convene in Germany to consider submitting a $1 billion bid that would recover the Bayer brand name and trademark cross in North America, both of which were confiscated by the U.S. government after World War I. The group also sets out to assess... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Brands and Branding; War; Communication; Trademarks; Acquisition; Government and Politics; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Germany; North America; United States

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January 2006 (Revised July 2006)
Case

Drug Testing in Nigeria (A)

By: Debora L. Spar

In 1996, a meningitis epidemic swept across Nigeria. Thousands of children were struck and, lacking appropriate medicine, were liable to die from the disease. Doctors at Pfizer had an antibiotic that could probably save most of these children's lives. The drug was new,... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Health Pandemics; Health Testing and Trials; Developing Countries and Economies; Pharmaceutical Industry; Nigeria

January 2005 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Edwin W. Parkinson III

Molecular Insight has developed a novel biopharmaceutical to detect heart attacks. The company's unique approach to intellectual property protection uses the Hatch Waxman Act and the Orphan Drug Act. The company is struggling to raise $7 million in Series B financing.... View Details

Keywords: Intellectual Property; Health Care and Treatment; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

14 Jul 2023
Blog Post

Harvard Business School Announces Its 2023-2024 Blavatnik Fellows

Harvard Medical School; the Wyss Institute at the Harvard University; and the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES) at MIT, where she engineered drug delivery systems in collaboration with pharmaceutical View Details

12 Apr 2010
Research & Ideas

One Report: Better Strategy through Integrated Reporting

electronics company Philips; the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk; the Brazilian cosmetics company Natura; and the U.S.-based... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

June 2016
Teaching Plan

Terrapin Laboratory

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Andrew Otazo

This teaching plan accompanies the case "Terrapin Laboratory," HBS No. 315-098. That case describes the formation and rapid growth of a drug testing company. The company needs to decide whether to enter the painkiller testing market, in addition to growing its drug... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth; Entrepreneurial Management; Growth Strategy; Market Entry; Venture Capital; Market Entry and Exit; Entrepreneurship; Health Testing and Trials; Growth and Development Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry

03 Mar 2015
First Look

First Look: March 3

model, the company would sell sequencers at a higher price to those entities that already purchased sequencers, primarily major research labs and pharmaceutical firms, but position its machine as a faster... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Health Care - Faculty & Research

transformation of Takeda from a Japanese pharmaceutical company with a global footprint into a global company with a Japanese heritage. A 33-year veteran of Takeda,... View Details

January 2017 (Revised March 2017)
Case

Royal DSM: From Continuous Transformation to Organic Growth

By: William W. George, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Amram Migdal

Royal DSM CEO Feike Sijbesma was pondering the challenges of shifting DSM’s global organization from the constant transformations of the past 100 years to creating organic growth. When Sijbesma took the helm as CEO in 2007, he further pushed and completed the company’s... View Details

Keywords: Organic Growth; Organizational Change; M＆A; Mergers And Acquisitions; Divestment; Business Ventures; Business Divisions; Business Growth and Maturation; Restructuring; Change; Change Management; Transformation; Transition; Engineering; Chemicals; Mining; Ethics; Values and Beliefs; Finance; Capital Markets; Financial Markets; Food; Globalization; Global Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Health; Nutrition; History; Leadership; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Management; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Practices and Processes; Management Style; Organizations; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Ownership; Public Ownership; Performance; Strategy; Adaptation; Consolidation; Corporate Strategy; Value; Value Creation; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Europe; Netherlands

December 1999
Case

Agrochemicals at Ciba-Geigy AG (A)

By: Michael L. Tushman, Wendy Smith and Daniel Radov

After spending five years to develop a revolutionary product, the director of Ciba-Geigy's fungicide research department is handed an unfavorable market study. The case details the R&D process for the new product, including information on corporate partnerships,... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Research and Development; Innovation and Invention; Innovation Strategy; Product Launch; Marketing Channels; Change Management; Product Development; Business Processes; Organizational Structure; Corporate Accountability; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

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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; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

01 Jun 2009
Lessons from the Classroom

The Challenges of Investing in Science-Based Innovation

markets have tightened, it's the companies with highly differentiated products that will be able to not only weather this storm, but come out the other side" in a strong position, says Harvard Business School Professor of Management... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Pharmaceutical; Pharmaceutical; Pharmaceutical

February 2010
Background Note

Millipore Background Note

By: Elie Ofek and Natalie Kindred

This note provides background on Millipore Corporation, a global provider of products and services used primarily in the discovery, development and production of therapeutic drugs. With a track record of quickly adapting to the evolving needs of its customers,... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Customer Focus and Relationships; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry