Publications

March 2001 (Revised September 2002)
Case

Merck Latin America (A)

By: Michael Beer and James Weber

Introduces Grey Warner, the vice president of Merck's Latin America region, and his efforts to improve the organizational effectiveness of the region and to introduce a more global business culture and values. Discusses Merck's ethics and values, its Latin American... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Ethics; Business Processes; Strategic Planning; Change Management; Values and Beliefs; Globalized Firms and Management; Employee Relationship Management; Business Strategy; Government and Politics; Economy; Pharmaceutical Industry; Latin America

February 2000 (Revised June 2003)
Case

Pepcid AC: Racing to the OTC Market

By: Charles King III, Alvin J. Silk, Ernst R. Berndt and Lisa R. Klein

Pepcid management must decide whether to risk all in a race to be first in the over-the-counter market with a new heartburn remedy. View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Product Positioning; Markets; Research; Marketing Strategy; Product Development; Decision Choices and Conditions; Pharmaceutical Industry

June 1999 (Revised October 1999)
Case

Eli Lilly, 1998 (B): Emerging Global Organization

By: Michael Y. Yoshino and Thomas W. Malnight

Examines major issues faced by Eli Lilly as it evaluates the appropriateness of a focused matrix organization with extensive use of cross-functional teams. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Geography; Globalized Firms and Management; Growth and Development; Knowledge; Management Teams; Product; Organizations; Pharmaceutical Industry

October 1987 (Revised November 1994)
Case

Boston Fights Drugs (A): Designing Communications Research

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Describes in detail the research mounted by five individuals with a $20,000 budget to combat drug abuse among Boston's school-going population. Using the focus group methodology they discover that most of the current anti-drug advertising is useless. They create their... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Communication Intention and Meaning; Brands and Branding; Performance Evaluation; Research and Development; Segmentation; Pharmaceutical Industry; Boston

September 1983 (Revised October 1984)
Case

Syntex Laboratories (A)

A consulting project involving a mathematical model of the sales force indicates that Syntex Labs should nearly double the size of their sales force and drastically alter their allocation of sales effort to the product line and physician specialties. The questions are... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Salesforce Management; Pharmaceutical Industry

March 1980 (Revised February 1984)
Case

Kramer Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

The 12-year career of Mr. Bob Marsh is traced, from recruitment to termination. Data on Kramer's sales management, performance evaluation, compensation, and sales training systems are given. View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Pharmaceutical Industry

19 Sep 2012
Research & Ideas

Funding Innovation: Is Your Firm Doing it Wrong?

Nokia lowered its guidance for Q2 2012, explaining in a press release that "competitive industry dynamics are negatively affecting the Smart Devices business unit to a somewhat greater extent than previously expected.")... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

12 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

Entrepreneurship and Multinationals Drive Globalization

electricity and turned India into the world's largest tea producer during the nineteenth century. They built automobile industries in Latin America after World War II. And so on. Book Excerpt Entrepreneurship and Multinationals: Global... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Pharmaceutical; Pharmaceutical; Pharmaceutical; Pharmaceutical

01 Jan 2008
News

Jeffrey R. Immelt, MBA 1982

Jeff Immelt’s night table—Railway Age, Aviation Week, Broadcasting & Cable—represents just a few of the industries encompassed by General Electric, the company founded by Thomas Edison where Immelt is entering his ninth year as chairman... View Details

24 Sep 2020
News

The Race for a Vaccine

companies and has a financial stake in Moderna.) There was a dollars-and-cents logic to this, since the big rewards that can be had in the pharmaceutical industry come with big financial risks. “There’s... View Details

Keywords: April White; COVID-19; Scientific Research and Development Services

Web

Lessons from History - Creating Emerging Markets

watched a short video of Yusuf Hamied discussing the necessity of incremental innovation in the pharmaceuticals industry in the 2000s. Lively discussion then ensued, moderated by HBS Professors Tarun Khanna,... View Details

23 Aug 2018
News

Healthcare Alumni Keep Learning Through Virtual Programming

Clubs News Clubs News No matter where they are in the world, members of the HBS Healthcare Alumni Association (HBSHAA) can connect with each other, hear from business leaders, and catch up on industry trends without ever leaving their... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; Health, Social Assistance

13 Jun 2005
Research & Ideas

From Turf Wars to Learning Curves: How Hospitals Adopt New Technology

employed by the hospitals in which they work. The resulting social interactions between these individuals and groups within hospitals provide a fruitful setting for examining issues that are of relevance to organizations in a broader range of industries. The hospital... View Details

Keywords: by Sara Grant; Health

18 Aug 2017
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: Courageous Leader Triggers a Moral Revolt of CEOs Against Trump

actions was not without risk for the CEOs and their companies” While many CEOs prefer to stay under the radar and avoid public scrutiny, Ken Frazier led the way with his example. As the chair of PhRMA, the pharmaceutical manufacturers... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

April 1995
Teaching Note

Evolving Finance Function, The: Judy C. Lewent at Merck & Co., Inc. (TN)

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

Teaching Note for (9-294-014). View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceutical Industry

February 1990 (Revised January 1993)
Teaching Note

Merck-Banyu (TN)

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

Teaching Note for (9-287-061). View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceutical Industry

January–February 2023
Article

Data-Driven COVID-19 Vaccine Development for Janssen

By: Dimitris Bertsimas, Michael Lingzhi Li, Xinggang Liu, Jennings Xu and Najat Khan

The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred extensive vaccine research worldwide. One crucial part of vaccine development is the phase III clinical trial that assesses the vaccine for safety and efficacy in the prevention of COVID-19. In this work, we enumerate the first... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Health Testing and Trials; Forecasting and Prediction; AI and Machine Learning; Research; Pharmaceutical Industry

Find at Harvard

2023
Working Paper

Market Exclusivity and Innovation: Evidence From Antibiotics

By: Edward Kong and Olivia Zhao

The US incentivizes drug innovation via patents as well as market exclusivity periods awarded by the US Food and Drug Administration. We estimate the causal effects of extending market exclusivity for an important drug class: antibiotics. Using a... View Details

Keywords: Health Testing and Trials; Innovation and Invention; Motivation and Incentives; Government Administration; Government Legislation; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

SSRN

2024
Working Paper

Dusting Off the Old Ones: Drug Licensing to Startups, Innovation Success and Efficiency

By: Mosab Hammoudeh, Joshua Lev Krieger and Jiajie Xu

This paper investigates whether moving R&D from incumbents to startups can increase innovation. Using comprehensive drug development data, we examine the outcomes of drug projects licensed from large firms to startups. We find that these projects licensed to startups... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Innovation and Invention; Business Startups; Research and Development; Performance Efficiency; Pharmaceutical Industry