Publications

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

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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

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April 1998 (Revised May 2000)
Case

Guidant Corporation: Shaping Culture Through Systems

By: Robert L. Simons and Antonio Davila

Guidant is a successful IPO start-up selling pacemakers and defibrillators. The case describes how managers install systems to balance innovation and control. Three parts of a shareholder value strategy are described. Controls include incentive systems, beliefs... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Motivation and Incentives; Planning; Risk Management; Management Systems; Business Strategy; Value Creation; System; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

08 Aug 2017
First Look

First Look at Research and Ideas, August 8, 2017

trials at Boston Children’s Hospital. As the founders prepare to bring their new medical device to market, they struggle with two key decisions: Should Luminopia create its own salesforce to sell its product... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Jul 2015
First Look

First Look: July 21, 2015

counterweights, encouraging the preservation of some valued elements of the old institutional order alongside new elements that allow for change and survival. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=49377 Innovation under Regulatory... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

29 May 2007
First Look

First Look: May 29, 2007

the group is considering increasing its investment focus to include a broader range of technologies, including emerging technologies (for example, mobile and RFID technologies) and non-information technologies (including medical View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

11 Nov 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Public R&D Investments and Private-sector Patenting: Evidence from NIH Funding Rules

Keywords: by Danielle Li; Medical Devices & Supplies; Medical Devices & Supplies; Medical Devices & Supplies; Medical Devices & Supplies

March 2015 (Revised December 2016)
Case

Philips Healthcare Latin America

By: Sunil Gupta

On a beautiful sunny afternoon in October 2013, Daniel Mazon (GMP 15), decided to take some time out of his busy schedule of the General Management Program (GMP) at the Harvard Business School to reflect on his company's situation. Mazon was the Vice President and... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Latin America; Organizational Structure; Salesforce Management; Health Care and Treatment; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Latin America

August 2012 (Revised July 2025)
Module Note

Evaluating the Viability of Innovative Technology-Commercializing Ventures

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

This case enables evaluation of innovative health care technologies by those who are not an expert in the technology by introduction of a framework for evaluating technology - commercializing innovation. It is the introductory case for the first of four modules in a... View Details

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

January 1990 (Revised March 1991)
Case

American Red Cross Blood Services: Northeast Region

By: Robert L. Simons

Recounts the financial difficulties and management changes experienced by American Red Cross Blood Services: Northeast Region (NER) during the 1980s. After summarizing industry-wide changes in the collection, testing, and distribution of blood and blood products, the... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Budgets and Budgeting; Financial Management; Restructuring; Health; SWOT Analysis; Social Enterprise; Marketplace Matching; Management Style; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; North and Central America

September 2003 (Revised January 2004)
Case

PolyMedica Corporation (B)

By: David F. Hawkins and Jacob Cohen

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

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

November 1993 (Revised November 1994)
Case

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

By: Clayton M. Christensen

NYPRO, Inc., one of the world's leading manufacturers of plastic injection-molded products, is asked by the Vistakon Division of Johnson & Johnson to manufacture molds that Vistakon will use to produce disposable contact lenses. The required dimensional tolerances for... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Engineering; Management Practices and Processes; Product Development; Production; Groups and Teams; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

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