Publications

Read Now

03 Feb 2020
News

How Sesame Street Survived the Decline of Broadcast Television

17 Nov 2003
Research & Ideas

Lessons from a Nasty Trade Dispute

to the World Trade Organization, the WTO later ruled that both Canada and Brazil needed to make changes to comply with international trade rules. Finally, in March 2003, the WTO gave Brazil permission to impose $248 million in trade... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

March 2014 (Revised November 2020)
Case

The Novartis Malaria Initiative

By: Michael Chu, Vincent Marie Dessain and Emilie Billaud

The Novartis Malaria Initiative was designed, as a result of a precedent–setting agreement with the World Health Organization in 2001, to provide a breakthrough treatment for malaria—"at no profit"—for public health systems. What had begun as an exemplary act of... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Product Marketing; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Enterprise; Pharmaceutical Industry; Switzerland; Africa; Nigeria

23 Oct 2013
News

Stop Relying On Experts For Innovation

August 2012 (Revised August 2014)
Case

Cancer Treatment Centers of America® (A)

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Natalie Kindred

Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA), a U.S. network of four privately owned oncology focused factory hospitals, was weighing options for growth. CTCA was entirely cancer focused and specialized in treating patients with complex and advanced-stage cancers, who... View Details

May 2014 (Revised November 2014)
Case

Houston We Have A Problem: NASA and Open Innovation (A)

By: Michael Tushman, Hila Lifshitz-Assaf and Kerry Herman

Jeff Davis, director of Space Life Sciences Directorate (SLSD) at NASA, has been working for several years to raise awareness amongst scientists and researchers in his organizations of the benefits of open innovation as a successful and efficient way to collaborate on... View Details

25 Jun 2020
News

Connecting the dots from detection to cure

Fall 2023
Article

Firms, Rules, and Global Capitalism

By: Rawi Abdelal

Every organization of the world economy has been unstable. Each system is necessarily composed of trade-offs. Opportunities emerge, and disappointments abound. Nothing lasts; nothing is finished; and nothing is perfect. View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Business History; Balance and Stability

Read Now

Toren Fronsdal is a doctoral student in the Business Economics program. His research interests are industrial organization and health economics, primarily focusing on hospital and insurer negotiations. He graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. in Economics in... View Details

October 2005 (Revised October 2008)
Case

Virginia Mason Medical Center

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Erika Ferlins

In 2000, Dr. Gary Kaplan became CEO of the Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. The hospital was facing significant challenges: It was losing money for the first time in its history, staff morale had plummeted, and area hospitals presented ardent... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Production; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Problems and Challenges; Quality; Competition; Seattle

07 Dec 2015
Video

Derek Newell, CEO of Jiff, describes his company

October 1997 (Revised April 2002)
Case

Planned Parenthood Federation of America (A)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Elaine V. Backman

Outlines the dynamic shifts in the external environment surrounding Planned Parenthood's operations in 1994. Health care reform was threatening some of its core customer base. The organization had to come up with a strategy and a process for adapting to the new... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; United States

05 Nov 2014
What Do You Think?

Are We Entering an Era of Neuromanagement?

strategy of the organization for talent management. At the end of the day, neuromanagement is a tool-it can never be an end." Some were repelled by the notion. This group included AIM: "As a human, I feel very belittled by such... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

July 2005 (Revised September 2016)
Case

24 Hour Fitness (A): The Rise, 1983–2004

By: John R. Wells, Elizabeth A. Raabe and Gabriel Ellsworth

In October 2004, Mark S. Mastrov, CEO of 24 Hour Fitness, reflected on how far his company had come in just over 20 years. From humble beginnings in 1983 in San Leandro, California, 24 Hour Fitness had grown to become the largest privately-owned health-club chain in... View Details

Keywords: 24 Hour Fitness; Mark Mastrov; Health Clubs; Fitness; Gyms; Chain; Weight Loss; Exercise; Personal Training; Retention; Sales Force Compensation; Incentive Systems; Buildings and Facilities; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customers; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Private Equity; Revenue; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Nutrition; Business History; Employees; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Human Capital; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing; Operations; Service Operations; Private Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Sales; Salesforce Management; Sports; Strategy; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Segmentation; Information Technology; Internet; Technology Platform; Web; Web Sites; Capital Structure; Performance; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Health Industry; United States; California; San Francisco

01 Mar 2021
Blog Post

Best Practices for Creating a Successful Virtual Internship

In the wake of COVID-19, organizations around the world quickly made changes to how they got work done, including managing summer internships. For many organizations, that meant creating remote internship... View Details

Keywords: All Industries

January 2013 (Revised September 2013)
Case

Royal DSM: Fighting Hidden Hunger

By: Rebecca Henderson, Noah Fisher and Mary Shelman

In 2007 Royal DSM, a leading life science and materials company, entered a partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP) to combat hidden hunger around the world by providing micronutrient solutions. The case investigates the unexpectedly large impact the partnership... View Details

Keywords: Conflict of Interests; Human Needs; Partners and Partnerships; Global Range; Nutrition; Science-Based Business; Non-Governmental Organizations; Health Industry; Health Industry

19 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

$15 Billion in Five Years: What Data Tells Us About MacKenzie Scott’s Philanthropy

of gifts over time. So many in the nonprofit and philanthropy world wondered how Scott’s nonconforming principles would be expressed in her actual giving. Scott, whose net worth has been estimated to top $40 billion, established the View Details

Keywords: by Matthew Lee, Brian Trelstad, and Ethan Tran

September – October 2008
Article

Care Platforms: A Basic Building Block for Care Delivery

By: Richard Bohmer and David Lawrence

Without significant operational reform within the nation's health care delivery organizations, new financing models, payment systems, or structures are unlikely to realize their promise. Adapting insights from high-performing companies in other high-risk, high-cost,... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Management Systems; Standards; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Business Processes; Organizational Design; Customization and Personalization; Health Industry