Publications

March 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Hello Alfred: Come Home Happy

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Carin-Isabel Knoop

On a mission to "automate the on-demand economy," Harvard Business School classmates Marcela Sapone and Jessica Beck launched Hello Alfred in 2013 to provide subscribers with an "Alfred" to complete various chores for a monthly fee. In early 2016, the company has built... View Details

Keywords: On-demand Economy; Sharing Economy; Technology Startup; Technology; Growth Strategy; Business Startups; Business Growth and Maturation; Entrepreneurship; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Strategic Planning; Service Industry; United States; Boston; Cambridge; New York (city, NY); California

08 Nov 2012
HBS Seminar

Avi Goldfarb, University of Toronto

Program

Transforming Customer Experiences

understanding of how to serve your customer base Develop a customer experience strategy Respond nimbly to market shifts and emerging competition Ensure consistent, high-quality service delivery Improve the culture of service execution in... View Details

February 2018
Case

Infrastructure in Nigeria: Unlocking Pension Fund Investments

By: John Macomber and Pippa Tubman Armerding

The so-called “infrastructure finance gap” was a problem in Nigeria as in many parts of the world. Infrastructure projects like power plants and dams were very large capital investments that could generate long-term consistent cash flows, but their financing and... View Details

Keywords: Pension Fund Investing; Infrastucture; Power/Energy; Credit Enhancement; Infrastructure; Project Finance; Investment Funds; Emerging Markets; Nigeria; Africa

May 2016 (Revised April 2018)
Case

Building the Digital Manufacturing Enterprise of the Future at Siemens

By: Willy Shih

This case describes the motivation for and the development of Siemens' digital manufacturing enterprise vision, which became the foundation for its implementation of Industrie 4.0. While the effort started with a purely defensive move by Anton Huber, head of the... View Details

August 2006 (Revised March 2008)
Case

iPod vs. Cell Phone: A Mobile Music Revolution?

By: David B. Yoffie, Travis D. Merrill and Michael Slind

In 2006, a nascent market for music-enabled mobile phones was emerging to challenge Apple Computer's dominant position in the digital music industry. Through its iPod line of portable digital music devices and its iTunes Music Store, Apple controlled more than half of... View Details

Keywords: Music Entertainment; Emerging Markets; Brands and Branding; Sales; Opportunities; Price; Business Model; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Digital Platforms; Service Delivery; Communications Industry; Music Industry

Regina E. Herzlinger is the Nancy R. McPherson Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. She was the first woman to be tenured and chaired at Harvard Business School and serve on many established and start-up corporate health care/medical... View Details

Keywords: health care; insurance industry; medical devices; retailing; digital health

Article

Comparative Costs of Advanced Proton and Photon Radiation Therapies: Lessons from Time-driven Activity-based Costing in Head and Neck Cancer

By: Nikhil G. Thaker, Steven J. Frank and Thomas W. Feeley

Time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) is an innovative costing tool in healthcare that can be used to directly compare the true cost of competing technologies over the full care cycle. Rather than only comparing therapeutic effectiveness over a limited number of... View Details

Keywords: Head And Neck Cancer; IMRT; Proton Therapy; Time-Driven ABC; Information Technology; Activity Based Costing and Management; Medical Specialties

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February 1991
Case

Burlington Northern: The ARES Decision (A)

By: Julie H. Hertenstein and Robert S. Kaplan

Burlington Northern's decision whether to invest in ARES, an automated train control system, is a ($350 million) strategic investment in information technology. Although set in a service industry (railroad) the issues around this decision arise in many organizations... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Rail Transportation; Information Technology; Competitive Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Performance Effectiveness; Cost vs Benefits; Technology Adoption; Technological Innovation; Customers; Quality; Rail Industry

13 Mar 2007
First Look

First Look: March 13, 2007

Working PapersInitiating Divergent Organizational Change: The Enabling Role of Actors' Social Position Author:Julie Battilana Abstract This study addresses the paradox of embedded human agency, or the contradiction between actors' agency and institutional... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Teaching Interest

Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation

By: Brian L. Trelstad

Combining the tools of philanthropy, business and advocacy (or mission, margin and mandate), social entrepreneurs have tackled long-standing societal issues like teacher training, college access, global public health, renewable energy and sanitation. Social... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Organizations; Social Enterprise; Civil Society or Community; System

2023
Article

Digital Health Reimbursement Strategies of 8 European Countries and Israel: Scoping Review and Policy Mapping

By: Robin van Kessel, Divya Srivastava, Ilias Kyriopoulos, Giovanni Monti, David Novillo-Ortiz, Ran Milman, Wojciech Wilhelm Zhang-Czabanowski, Greta Nasi, Ariel Dora Stern, George Wharton and Elias Mossialos

Background: The adoption of digital health care within health systems is determined by various factors, including pricing and reimbursement. The reimbursement landscape for digital health in Europe remains underresearched. Although various emergency reimbursement... View Details

Keywords: Technology Adoption; Health Care and Treatment; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Price; Health Industry; Europe; Israel

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Web

About Michael Porter - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

Letter from Michael Porter Publications 20 May 2013 The Lancet Redefining Global Health-Care Delivery by Jim Yong Kim, Paul Farmer, & Michael E. Porter Oct 2012 FSG Measuring Shared Value: How to Unlock Value by Linking Business & Social... View Details

April 2012
Article

Addressing the Leadership Gap in Medicine: Residents' Need for Systematic Leadership Development Training

By: Daniel Mark Blumenthal, Kenneth Richard Lee Bernard, Jordan David Bohnen and Richard Bohmer

All clinicians take on leadership responsibilities when delivering care. Evidence suggests that effective clinical leadership yields superior clinical outcomes. However, few residency programs systematically teach all residents how to lead, and many clinicians are... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Service Delivery; Leadership Development; Training; Programs; Practice

2011
Case

The Secrets to Managing Business Analytics Projects

By: Thomas H. Davenport, Stijn Viaene and Annabel Van den Bunder

Managers have used business analytics to inform their decision making for years. And while few companies would qualify as being what management innovation and strategy expert Thomas H. Davenport has dubbed "analytic competitors," more and more businesses are moving in... View Details

Keywords: Analytics; Business or Company Management; Information Management

Program

Strategy for Health Care Delivery—Virtual

book Redefining Health Care—as a template for restructuring health care delivery around value. The process starts with providers and expands into strategies for health plans, employers, suppliers, and governmental entities. By exploring... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Health Care

April 2025
Article

Buying (Quality) Time Predicts Relationship Satisfaction

By: A.V. Whillans, Jessie Pow and Joe J. Gladstone

Seven studies examine the association between time-saving purchases (e.g., housecleaning and meal delivery services) and relationship satisfaction. Study 1 uses an eleven-year longitudinal panel survey to show that increases in time-saving purchases predict long-term... View Details

Keywords: Personal Finance; Family and Family Relationships; Satisfaction; Well-being

August 2022 (Revised December 2022)
Case

Iluméxico: For Every Family to Have Power

By: Brian Trelstad, Isa Oliveres and Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago

In 2022, Manuel Wiechers, the CEO of Iluméxico, a for-profit social enterprise that provided off-grid solar energy services in rural Mexico, was finalizing his presentation for the company’s upcoming board meeting. In the 12 years since Wiechers had co-founded... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Social Enterprise; Energy; Energy Policy; Energy Generation; Energy Sources; Growth Management; Business and Government Relations; Equity; Internet and the Web; Business Model; Energy Industry; Mexico; Latin America