Publications

January 2017 (Revised October 2018)
Case

Novartis: A Transformative Deal

By: David Collis and Ashley Hartman

When Joe Jimenez became CEO of Swiss-based Novartis in 2010, replacing longtime CEO Dan Vasella, he assumed control of one of the top pharmaceutical companies in the world. Vasella, an avowed advocate of diversification, had expanded the scope of the company and... View Details

Keywords: Novartis; GlaxoSmithKline; Asset Swap; Acquisitions; Divestiture; Strategy Alignment; Pharmaceuticals; Strategy; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Consolidation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Pharmaceutical Industry

Article

A Feasibility Study Using Time-driven Activity-based Costing as a Management Tool for Provider Cost Estimation: Lessons from the National TB Control Program in Zimbabwe in 2018

By: J. Chirenda, B. Nhlema Simwaka, C. Sandy, K. Bodnar, S. Corbin, P. Desai, T. Mapako, S. Shamu, C. Timire, E. Antonio, A. Makone, A. Birikorang, T. Mapuranga, M. Ngwenya, T. Masunda, M. Dube, E. Wandwalo, L. Morrison and R. S. Kaplan

Background: This study used process maps and time-driven activity-based costing to document TB service delivery processes. The analysis identified the resources required to sustain TB services in Zimbabwe, as well as several opportunities for more effective and... View Details

Keywords: Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing; Provider Cost; Health Care and Treatment; Cost Management; Activity Based Costing and Management; Zimbabwe

February 2018
Article

Maintaining Beliefs in the Face of Negative News: The Moderating Role of Experience

By: Bradley R. Staats, Diwas S. KC and F. Gino

Many models in operations management involve dynamic decision making that assumes optimal updating in response to information revelation. However, behavioral theory suggests that rather than updating their beliefs, individuals may persevere in their prior beliefs. In... View Details

Keywords: Information; Announcements; Service Operations; Decision Making; Medical Specialties; Experience and Expertise; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

Find at Harvard

01 Dec 2023
News

Wide Horizon

IP rights for suramin, a century-old drug historically used to treat African sleeping sickness, a parasitic disease, and later tested as a treatment for metastatic cancer. N of One had supported a trial by researchers at the University of... View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell; Photos by Sarah Wilson

Research Summary

AIDS in Africa: Life, Death and Property Rights

By: Debora L. Spar

In the final years of the twentieth century, the world was hit by a plague of epidemic proportions--the plague of AIDS, a life-threatening disease that remained stubbornly immune to any cure or vaccine. In the developed nations of the West, AIDS was slowly brought... View Details

2023
Article

Dynamic HTA for Digital Health Solutions: Opportunities and Challenges for Patient-Centered Evaluation

By: Jan B. Brönneke, Annika Herr, Simon Reif and Ariel D. Stern

Germany’s 2019 Digital Healthcare Act (Digitale-Versorgung-Gesetz, or DVG) created a number of opportunities for the digital transformation of the health care delivery system. Key among these was the creation of a reimbursement pathway for patient-centered digital... View Details

Keywords: Digital Transformation; Applications and Software; Product Development; Insurance; Policy; Health Industry; Germany

May 2016 (Revised March 2020)
Teaching Note

Cyberdyne: A Leap to the Future

By: Doug J. Chung and Mayuka Yamazaki

Cyberdyne Inc. was a Japanese technology venture founded in 2004 by scientist Yoshiyuki Sankai to commercialize a hybrid assistive limb (HAL). HAL was a robotic exoskeleton system for people who had difficulty walking due to nervous system disabilities resulting from... View Details

Keywords: Health Disorders; Technological Innovation; Marketing Strategy; Decisions; Product Launch; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

2015
Working Paper

Blinded by Experience: Prior Experience, Negative News and Belief Updating

By: Bradley R. Staats, Diwas S. KC and Francesca Gino

Traditional models of operations management involve dynamic decision-making assuming optimal (Bayesian) updating. However, behavioral theory suggests that individuals exhibit bias in their beliefs and decisions. We conduct both a field study and two laboratory studies... View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Operations; Egocentric Bias; Experience; Healthcare Operations; Prejudice and Bias; Behavior; Operations; Decision Making; Health Care and Treatment

SSRN

2011
Working Paper

The Flexible Substitution Logit: Uncovering Category Expansion and Share Impacts of Marketing Instruments

By: Qiang Liu, Thomas J. Steenburgh and Sachin Gupta

Different instruments are relevant for different marketing objectives (category demand expansion or market share stealing). To help brand managers make informed marketing mix decisions, it is essential that marketing mix models appropriately measure the different... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Forecasting and Prediction; Investment; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Mathematical Methods

Research Summary

Professor Hiatt’s research is aimed at discovering how institutional factors can affect sector growth and technology development and adoption by mediating and moderating uncertainty. His work encompasses two related research questions:

1) How can... View Details

30 Jun 2022
HBS Case

Peloton Changed the Exercise Game. Can the Company Push Through the Pain?

got a lot of levers to pull.” Despite the risk, Dolan believes Peloton does appear to have a future. “It’s not like they’re a high-tech company, wondering if a drug will get FDA approval,” Dolan says. “No surprises are coming down the... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Media & Broadcasting; Health; Bicycle

2024
Article

Beyond the 510(k): The Regulation of Novel Moderate-Risk Medical Devices, Intellectual Property Considerations, and Innovation Incentives in the FDA’s De Novo Pathway

By: Mateo Aboy, Cristina Crespo and Ariel Stern

Moderate-risk medical devices constitute 99% of those that have been regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since it gained authority to regulate medical technology nearly five decades ago. This article presents an analysis of the interaction between... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Health Care and Treatment; Technology Adoption; Technological Innovation; Safety; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

September 2020
Case

Minerva 2020: Clinical Trials

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In March 2020, Dr. Cynthia Bamdad, founder and CEO of Minerva Biotechnologies Inc. (Minerva), was reviewing the first results of human clinical trials for the company’s novel CAR-T drug therapeutic, one of the first ever to target solid cancer tumors. The results... View Details

Keywords: Biotechnology; Strategic Decision Making; Entrepreneurship; Health Testing and Trials; Decision Choices and Conditions; Strategy

20 Nov 2007
First Look

First Look: November 20, 2007

Working PapersNone this week PublicationsFinancial Development, Bank Ownership, and Growth. Or, Does Quantity Imply Quality? Author:Shawn Cole Periodical:Review of Economics and Statistics (forthcoming) Abstract In 1980, India nationalized its large private banks.... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

March 2008
Case

Novartis AG: Science-Based Business

By: H. Kent Bowen and Courtney Purrington

Novartis is a science-based drug company, which has important implications for its business strategy. It is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world with over $38B in sales in 2007. Pharmaceuticals account for slightly over $24B of that total. In 2007,... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Resource Allocation; Product Development; Partners and Partnerships; Research and Development; Science-Based Business; Pharmaceutical Industry