Publications

March 2000
Teaching Note

Disruptive Technology a Heartbeat Away: Ecton, Inc. TN

By: Clayton M. Christensen and Tara Donovan

Teaching Note for (9-699-018). View Details

Keywords: Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

May 1999 (Revised September 2003)
Case

Advanced Inhalation Research, Inc.

This case presents a look at the early start-up phase and development of Advanced Inhalation Research (AIR), a company engaged in the development of a new drug-delivery technology. Focuses on the risks, the steps taken to manage it, and the manner in which the company... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Risk Management; Valuation; Financing and Loans; Health Care and Treatment; Acquisition; Business Startups; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

January 1993 (Revised October 1993)
Case

Medtronic, Inc.

In 1991, Bill George, CEO of Medtronic, the world's largest manufacturer of pacemakers, was evaluating his strategic options in light of the changing economic environment. In the United States, Europe, and Japan, governments were considering regulatory changes to... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Corporate Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Policy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

October 1993 (Revised July 1994)
Supplement

A Brush with AIDS (B)

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Jerry Useem

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

22 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

The ‘Mother of Fair Trade’ was an Unabashed Price Protectionist

“She also offered medical advice, delivery services, and prescription compounding—services not offered by department stores,” writes Sawyer. “Gleason also cultivated a reputation for providing indigent community members with View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail; Health; Legal Services

September 2023
Teaching Note

Nexleaf Analytics: Saving the World Using the Internet of Things

By: Frank Nagle

Teaching Note for HBS Case 722-414. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Nonprofit Organizations; Competitive Strategy; Patents; Expansion; Information Technology; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

07 Mar 2000
Research & Ideas

Putting Health Care Consumers in the Driver’s Seat

employees, rapidly rising health-care costs, and the likely loss of existing protection against lawsuits for pain and suffering from medical events. She then disclosed the results of a 1999 KPMG survey of CEOs and consumers about... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Health

April 1993 (Revised October 1995)
Case

ALZA and Bio-Electro Systems (A): Technological and Financial Innovation

By: Josh Lerner and Peter Tufano

To develop the next generation of risky products, ALZA, a mature and profitable biotechnology firm specializing in drug delivery systems, must raise $40 million. Organizational constraints and competitive concerns demand that the work be done inside the firm. However,... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Technological Innovation; Business Subsidiaries; Decision Choices and Conditions; Corporate Finance; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

July 2014
Case

BMVSS: Changing Lives through Innovation One Jaipur Limb at a Time (Abridged)

By: Srikant Datar, Saloni Chaturvedi and Caitlin Bowler

Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS) is an Indian not-for-profit organization engaged in assisting differently-abled persons by providing them with the legendary low-cost prosthesis, the Jaipur Foot, and other mobility-assisting devices, free of cost. Known... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Financial Condition; Health Care and Treatment; Diversity; Growth and Development Strategy; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; India

October 2013 (Revised April 2015)
Case

Myomo: Getting Sales in Motion

By: Frank V. Cespedes, Shikhar Ghosh and Matthew Preble

In late 2012, the management team of Myomo, a startup which had designed a unique myoelectric arm brace for patients with dysfunctional arms, was deciding which of the three sales models the company had tested to pursue as its sales strategy going forward. Each model... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Marketing Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Health Care and Treatment; Business Startups; Sales; Growth and Development Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

May 1991
Teaching Note

American Red Cross Blood Services: Northeast Region, Teaching Note

By: Robert L. Simons

Teaching Note for (9-190-078). View Details

Keywords: Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; North and Central America

October 2004 (Revised July 2005)
Case

Kinetic Concepts, Inc.

By: Jay W. Lorsch, Dwight B. Crane and Ashley Robertson

Raises issues about how the nature and function of a board changes as a company moves from ownership by its employees, including the founder, to ownership by a private equity firm, Fremont Partners, culminating in a highly successful IPO. Gives students the opportunity... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Governing and Advisory Boards; Initial Public Offering; Behavior; Organizations; Employee Ownership; Health Care and Treatment; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

August 2003
Teaching Note

Pharmacyclics: Financing Research and Development (TN)

By: Malcolm P. Baker and Richard S. Ruback

Teaching Note for (9-201-056). View Details

Keywords: Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

June 1994 (Revised March 1998)
Teaching Note

Molding the Impossible: the NYPRO/Vistakon Disposable Contact Lens Project TN

By: Clayton M. Christensen

Teaching Note for (9-694-062). View Details

Keywords: Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

September 1993
Supplement

Manufacturing at ALZA: The Right Prescription? (B)

By: Dorothy A. Leonard

ALZA, a drug delivery company, must decide what and for whom to manufacture. In the past, it has licensed to pharmaceutical companies its patented system for the slow release of drugs into the human system. Therefore the company has little experience in choice of drug... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Decision Choices and Conditions; Patents; Production; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry