Publications

June 2023
Case

Verve Therapeutics: Taking DNA Editing to Heart

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

Verve Therapeutics, a public biotech company based in Boston, created a novel approach to addressing cardiovascular disease (CVD) - a leading cause of deaths globally. The company's approach was a single shot treatment to permanently lower cholesterol, thus reducing... View Details

Keywords: AI; Genetic Engineering; Medicine; Health Care and Treatment; Genetics; Innovation Strategy; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Medical Specialties; Innovation and Invention; Entrepreneurship; Biotechnology Industry

June 2021
Case

uBiome

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Olivia Graham

uBiome provided clinical tests that sequenced the DNA of human microbiome samples, providing data on health conditions directly to consumers or to prescribing physicians. Founded in 2012, the San Francisco-based startup raised $105 million from top-tier venture capital... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Crime and Corruption; Insolvency and Bankruptcy

17 Aug 2021
Research & Ideas

Can Autonomous Vehicles Drive with Common Sense?

Julian De Freitas. “We expect that they will make roads truly much safer.” In fact, De Freitas and colleagues recently argued in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that adopting driverless vehicles on a broad scale could... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Auto

01 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

The Slow, Steady Battle to Fix Cancer Care

with insurance provider UnitedHealthcare to test a fixed-payment structure for a select group of head and neck cancer patients. Rather than receiving separate charges for every test, treatment, View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

December 2016 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Nutrition Science Initiative: Are All Calories Created Equal?

By: Kevin Schulman and Matan Dabora

In 2012, Gary Taubes lunched the Nutrition Science Initiative (NuSI), a not-for-profit organization aiming to question the mainstream scientific paradigm regarding obesity and dietary recommendations. This case provides a brief scientific background on obesity and its... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Nutrition

Profile

Arjun Goyal

Trust Centre for Human Genetics, a new door opened for Arjun. “It was my first exposure to research,” he says. “It fascinated me that the test tube in my hand could hold a new cure or the next new therapy for controlling a disease.”... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Health Care

04 Jun 2019
News

Finding The Sweet Spot: Why Industry, Nonprofits Should (Or Can) Collaborate On Master Protocols

July 2023
Case

DayTwo: Going to Market with Gut Microbiome (Abridged)

By: Ayelet Israeli

DayTwo is a young Israeli startup that applies research on the gut microbiome and machine learning algorithms to deliver personalized nutritional recommendations to its users in order to minimize blood sugar spikes after meals. After a first year of trial rollout in... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; AI and Machine Learning; Nutrition; Market Entry and Exit; Product Marketing; Distribution Channels

January 2022
Article

Rational Habit Formation: Experimental Evidence from Handwashing in India

By: Reshmaan Hussam, Atonu Rabbani, Giovanni Reggiani and Natalia Rigol

We test the predictions of the rational addiction model, reconceptualized as rational habit formation, in the context of handwashing in rural India. To track handwashing, we design soap dispensers with timed sensors. We test for rational habit formation by informing... View Details

Keywords: Handwashing; Habit; Monitoring; Behavior; Health; Motivation and Incentives

Find at Harvard

Read Now

Research Summary

Overview

The Information Age has introduced well recieved opportunities to track performance. Fitbits and Fuelbands show individuals their own performance; service companies including Uber and leading hospitals help pick from drivers or doctors based on how others rate them;... View Details

Keywords: Management Accounting; Performance Measurement; Incentives; Control; Healthcare Industry; Education; Health Industry; Health Industry; Health Industry; Health Industry; Health Industry; United States; Japan; India

September 2020 (Revised July 2021)
Case

Moderna (A)

By: Marco Iansiti, Karim R. Lakhani, Hannah Mayer and Kerry Herman

In summer 2020, Stephane Bancel, CEO of biotech firm Moderna, faces several challenges as his company races to develop a vaccine for COVID-19. The case explores how a company builds a digital organization, and leverages artificial intelligence and other digital... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Vaccine; Digital Organizations; Organizational Structure; Operations; Management; Health Pandemics; Research and Development; Goals and Objectives

April 1993 (Revised November 1994)
Case

Chiron Corp.

By: Steven C. Wheelwright

Pablo Valenzuela, vice president of R&D at Chiron Corp., faces several choices for how to allocate scarce resources across several promising projects. These choices will determine Chiron's position in several emerging biotechnology and diagnostic markets, including... View Details

Keywords: Health Testing and Trials; Research and Development; Failure; Business Strategy; Joint Ventures; Strategic Planning; Opportunities; Product Development; Biotechnology Industry; California

Find at Harvard

18 Aug 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

Business Plan Contest: 15 Years of Building Better Entrepreneurs

cause of blindness. In October 2009 the company entered into licensing and purchase option agreements with Alcon, which is now taking Potentia's drug candidate through Clinical 2 trials with a to-market goal... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Education

July 2013
Case

Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate?

By: John A. Quelch and Diane Badame

Andrea Torres, director of new product development at a high-end chocolate confectionery company, leads her team through a carefully sequenced program of market research to support the development and launch of a new product, healthy dark chocolate with fruit. This is... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Food; Consumer Behavior; Nutrition; Product Launch; Product Development; Food and Beverage Industry; Switzerland; United States

February 2008
Case

SPECIALISTERNE: Sense & Details

Three-quarters of Specialisterne's expert software testing staff are diagnosed with some form of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Usually a handicap, ASD conveys talents especially suited to software testing and other highly repetitive tasks that require very high... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Health Disorders; Employees; Performance Evaluation; Quality; Software; Information Technology Industry

October 1976 (Revised February 1987)
Case

Cramer Electronics, Inc.

By: Michael E. Porter

Designed to be the second day of a two-day series on the electronic component distribution industry, following a day spent discussing Note on the Electronic Component Distribution Industry and Raytheon Co.: Diversification. The important teaching themes which this case... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Innovation Strategy; Management Style; Resource Allocation; Opportunities; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry

30 Mar 2020
News

Why Is the U.S. Behind on Coronavirus Testing?

January 2020
Article

The Market Reacts Quickly: Changes in Paclitaxel Vascular Device Purchasing Within the Ascension Healthcare System

By: Peter P. Monteleone, Subhash Banerjee, Priya Kothapalli, Ariel Dora Stern, Daniel Fehder, Ron Ginor, Dominic Vollmar, Edward T. A. Fry and Mark J. Pirwitz

Background. A meta-analysis of trials in endovascular therapy suggested an increased mortality associated with treatment exposure to paclitaxel. Multiple publications and corrections of prior data were performed, and the United States Food and Drug Administration has... View Details

Keywords: Medical Devices; Health Testing and Trials; Analysis; Sales