Publications

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Article

Quantifying the Use of Connected Digital Products in Clinical Research

By: Caroline Marra, Jacqueline L. Chen, Andrea Coravos and Ariel D. Stern

Over recent years, the adoption of connected technologies has grown dramatically, with potential for improving health care delivery, research, and patient experience. Yet, little has been documented about the prevalence and use of connected digital products (e.g.,... View Details

Keywords: Connected Digital Products; Clinical Trials; Health Testing and Trials; Information Technology; Research

30 Jun 2024
News

Having a Woman Manager Can Improve Productivity With Mixed-Gender Teams, Harvard Study Finds

August 2018 (Revised July 2019)
Background Note

Conducting a Kaizen

By: Willy Shih

Kaizen, meaning change for the better in Japanese, is a set of activities directed at improving standardized work, equipment, and procedures for carrying out daily production or other business operations. It was popularized by Toyota as an integral part of its Toyota... View Details

Keywords: Best Practices; Continuous Improvement; Kaizen; Process Improvement; 5S; Muda; Toyota Production System; Production; Service Operations; Performance Improvement; North and Central America; Asia; Japan

8 May 2000 - 12 May 2000
Keynote Speech

The Essence of the Toyota Production System: Rules-in-Use for Designing and Improving Organizations

By: Steven Spear

2022
Working Paper

Responding Strategically to Competitors' Failures: Evidence from Medical Device Recalls & New Product Submissions

By: George P. Ball, Jeffrey T. Macher and Ariel Dora Stern

Medical device firms operate at the frontiers of innovation. When functioning properly, innovative medical devices can prolong and improve lives; when malfunctioning, the same devices may harm patients and lead to product recalls. Product recalls create significant... View Details

Keywords: New Product Development; Recalls; Product Failures; Medical Devices; FDA; Health Care; Product Development; Product; Failure; Competition; Opportunities; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

15 Jul 2013
Research & Ideas

Five Imperatives for Improving Health Care

innovation efforts traditionally have focused on new products such as drugs and devices, survey respondents ranked process improvements in care delivery as the most promising opportunity for View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

01 Oct 2000
News

New and Improved

say that, in the following pages, we introduce a product that over time has truly become "new and improved." Raymond A. Baxter Timothy G. Brier Edward D. Bullard Mario A. Corti Linda B. Kanner Lydia M. Marshall Carlos A. Saladrigas... View Details

Research Summary

Selection and Market Reallocation: Productivity Gains from Multinational Production

By: Laura Alfaro

Assessing the productivity gains from multinational production has been a vital topic of economic research and policy debate. Positive aggregate productivity gains are often attributed to within-firm productivity improvement; however, an alternative, less emphasized... View Details

2015
Working Paper

Online Word of Mouth and Product Review Disagreement

By: Frank Nagle and Christoph Riedl

Studies of online word of mouth have frequently posited―but never systematically conceptualized and explored―that the level of disagreement between existing product reviews can impact the volume and the valence of future reviews. In this study we develop a theoretical... View Details

Keywords: Online Word Of Mouth; Online Communities; Viral Marketing; Online Product Reviews; Quality; Internet and the Web; Consumer Behavior; Marketing Reference Programs; Social and Collaborative Networks; Digital Marketing; Analytics and Data Science

SSRN

Article

Improving the Rhythm of Your Collaboration

By: Ethan S. Bernstein, Jesse Shore and David Lazer

In this article, we summarize our research on the value of intermittency for complex problem solving at work and give practical advice on how organizations can improve the rhythm of their people's collaboration. Executives have been counseled to be collaborative... View Details

Keywords: Problem Solving; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Internet and the Web; Leadership

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Here is an in-depth guide to the most powerful available benchmarking technique for improving service organization performance — Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The book outlines DEA as a benchmarking technique, identifies high cost service units, isolates... View Details

01 Jun 2002
News

Ads Improve Consumer Decisions

advertising: the persuasive (building interest and awareness) and the informative (educating the consumer about product attributes). Separating these effects allowed Anand and Shachar to identify another, less-heartening reality for... View Details

Keywords: Laura Singleton (MBA 1988)

2016
Working Paper

Workplace Design: The Good, the Bad, and the Productive

By: Michael Housman and Dylan Minor

We study the effects of performance spillover in the workplace-both positive and negative-on several dimensions, and find that it is pervasive and decreasing in the physical distance between workers. We also find that workers have different strengths, and that while... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Human Resource Management; Peer Effects; Productivity; Spillovers; Toxic Worker; Strategy; Working Conditions; Performance Productivity; Human Resources

SSRN

March 1999 (Revised February 2001)
Background Note

New Product Development Imperative, The

By: Steven C. Wheelwright and Edward T Smith

Introduces students to the best practices for managing new product development projects. Includes concepts and tools related to structuring teams consistent with the project objectives as well as concepts and processes for improving project execution. View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Product Development; Performance Improvement; Problems and Challenges; Groups and Teams

June 1994 (Revised March 1995)
Background Note

New Product Commercialization: Common Mistakes

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Addresses the common mistakes made in new product development and launch. Many times customers' and suppliers' perceptions of the degree of product/market innovation do not match. One of them may view the innovations as a "breakthrough," but the other may view it only... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Product Launch; Problems and Challenges

23 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

How to Brand a Next-Generation Product

notice a new name.” Like Apple, most consumer-centric companies deal with the dilemma of how to brand the next- generation of an existing product. Product upgrades make up the majority of corporate research and development activity.... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

April 2017
Case

Luminopia: Improving Treatment for Visual Disorders

By: Doug J. Chung and Sarah Mehta

Luminopia—a start-up founded in January 2016 by three Harvard College freshmen—uses virtual reality technology to treat amblyopia (more commonly called “lazy eye”), the single biggest cause of visual disorders among children. By February 2017, the three founders had... View Details

Keywords: Pricing; Virtual Reality; Startup; Marketing; Marketing Channels; Product Marketing; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Business Startups; Price; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Cambridge; Massachusetts; United States

December 1987 (Revised August 1990)
Case

Florida Power & Light's Quality Improvement Program

Describes a major electric utility's highly successful effort to institute a comprehensive quality improvement program throughout the organization. Designed to be used in a comparative analysis of the quality improvement effort described in Paul Revere Insurance Co.... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Quality; Performance Productivity; Utilities Industry; Florida