Publications

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

March 2022 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Nexleaf Analytics: Saving the World Using the Internet of Things

By: Frank Nagle

In 2019, a decade after co-founding Nexleaf Analytics, CEO Nithya Ramanathan faced an important decision that would impact the ability of the small, but growing, not-for-profit organization to thrive for another decade. Their sensor technologies and big data analytics... View Details

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

Article

Drivers of the Variation in Prosthetic Implant Purchase Prices for Total Knee and Total Hip Arthroplasties

By: Derek A. Haas, Kevin J Bozic, Anthony M. DiGioia, Zirui Song and Robert S. Kaplan

Previous studies have documented wide variation in health-care spending and prices; however, the causes for the variation in supply purchase prices across providers are not well understood. The purpose of this study was to determine the drivers of variation in... View Details

Keywords: Costing; Cost Variation; Total Knee Arthroplasty; Total Hip Arthroplasty; Prosthetic Implant Cost; Health Care and Treatment; Cost Management; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

Read Now

April 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Supplement

Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (B)

By: V.G. Narayanan and Lisa Brem

The epilogue to Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (A), the B case details the outcome of the issues discussed in Case A; namely that Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor did implement the TSCC contract. Virginia Mason also kept the suture contract... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Supply Chain Management; Partners and Partnerships; Measurement and Metrics; Contracts; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

October 2008
Case

Diagnostic Genomics

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Mark P. Allyn

Should this gene detection firm enter the business of providing tests for the detection of genetic diseases? If so, how should it prioritize the tests it could develop? View Details

Keywords: Health Testing and Trials; Market Entry and Exit; Product Development; Genetics; Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

April 1994 (Revised March 1995)
Teaching Note

Kevin Simpson TN

By: Linda A. Hill and Katherine Seger Weber

Teaching Note for (9-492-041). View Details

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

January 2001 (Revised July 2003)
Case

Pharmacyclics: Financing Research & Development

By: Malcolm P. Baker, Richard S. Ruback and Aldo Sesia

Pharmacyclics (NASDAQ: PCYC), a pharmaceutical company that manufactures products that will improve existing therapeutic treatments for cancer, arteriosclerosis, and retinal disease, was considering a $60 million private placement in February 2000. The company had more... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Cash Flow; Financing and Loans; Business Startups; Financial Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

17 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 17, 2018

for harms caused by defective products may also affect innovation incentives. This paper examines this issue, exploiting a major quasi-exogenous increase in liability risk faced by U.S. suppliers of polymers used to manufacture medical... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

09 Jul 2018
Research & Ideas

Overcoming the Challenges of Selling Brand New Technology (Hey, Need a 3-D Printer?)

things like making machine parts and medical implantations. Still, the printers were large, unreliable, and expensive. Starting around 2011 the revolution began. 3-D printers began to shrink, grow in quality, and become considerably less... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Medical Devices & Supplies; Medical Devices & Supplies; Medical Devices & Supplies; Medical Devices & Supplies; Medical Devices & Supplies; Medical Devices & Supplies; Medical Devices & Supplies; Medical Devices & Supplies

23 Jan 2008
First Look

First Look: January 23, 2008

hourly wage. The entrepreneurial venture's donors were, however, significantly younger, more likely to be from a minority group, and more likely to have died from cancer. For-profit organizations, continuing medical training... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

July 2000 (Revised August 2000)
Case

AllHerb.com: Evolution of an E-tailer

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Christina L. Darwall

Serial entrepreneur Ken Hakuta, in the second year of his latest venture, reconsiders his original strategy of maintaining an independent, self-funded, self-led company. His Internet herbal remedy company, AllHerb.com, has already enjoyed considerable success with its... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Strategic Planning; Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

Find at Harvard

25 Apr 2005
Research & Ideas

New Learning at American Home Products

accounted for 13 percent. In the early 1980s American Home Products decided to enlarge its higher-value-added healthcare business by attaching medical equipment to its portfolio and by divesting itself of the lower-margin non-healthcare... View Details

Keywords: by Alfred D. Chandler Jr.; Chemical; Health; Manufacturing; Pharmaceutical

09 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

What Really Drives Your Strategy?

budgeting, but in the operating levels of the firm. Bower: Other examples in our book are very different. The field of medical devices is one in which successful companies have their sales technicians... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

24 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

The FDA: What Will the Next 100 Years Bring?

stars. Announced actions against an Iowa dairy after illegal drug residues were found in the dairy's cows; a Tennessee company for selling a substance billed as both a preventative against skin cancer and a tanning agent; and a medical... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Biotechnology; Consumer Products; Food & Beverage; Health

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

March 1994 (Revised January 1995)
Case

Cardinal Health, Inc.

By: Jay W. Lorsch

Robert D. Walter, chairman and CEO of Cardinal Health, Inc., responds to questions regarding Cardinal's board and its influence on the acquisition of and merger with Whitmire Distribution. View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Governing and Advisory Boards; Power and Influence; Management Teams; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry