Publications

November 2020 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Holaluz: Taking on the Spanish Energy Market

By: Elie Ofek, Marco Bertini, Oded Koenigsberg, Elena Corsi and Emer Moloney

In 2020, the three cofounders of Holaluz, a newcomer to Spain’s electricity retail market, are preparing to launch a new offering: installing and managing solar panels on households' roofs at no extra cost for the consumer, who would still benefit from the energy... View Details

Keywords: Electricity; Solar Power; Subscription Business; Renewable Energy; Entrepreneurship; Service Delivery; Business Model; Product Launch; Marketing; Energy Industry; Spain

August 2015
Article

Hospital Board and Management Practices Are Strongly Related to Hospital Performance on Clinical Quality Metrics

By: Thomas C Tsai, Ashish K. Jha, Atul A. Gawande, Robert S. Huckman, Nicholas Bloom and Raffaella Sadun

National policies to improve health care quality have largely focused on clinical provider outcomes and, more recently, payment reform. Yet the association between hospital leadership and quality, although crucial to driving quality improvement, has not been explored... View Details

Keywords: Hospitals; Quality; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Practices and Processes; Service Delivery; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

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Read Now

June 2010
Supplement

Chet Huber on OnStar, video

By: Willy C. Shih

Chet Huber, general manager of GM's OnStar unit, givbes an update on how OnStar is doing, talks about the job OnStar does for consumers, and reflects on assembling the OnStar team. The video is organized into three chapters so that instructors may use then... View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Product Development; Service Delivery; Performance Evaluation; Groups and Teams; Auto Industry; Telecommunications Industry

June 1977 (Revised September 1992)
Case

Sorenson Research Co. (Abridged)

By: Steven C. Wheelwright

Presents the issues facing a high volume, high margin (but lightweight) medical products business. The company is trying to improve its inventory control to reduce inventory investment and improve service. The present multi-site inventory system is described and major... View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Investment; Volume; Service Delivery; Supply Chain; Performance Improvement; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

14 May 2014
News

(Re)moving the Needle

You wouldn't think that the lowly, annoying mosquito would have anything to teach researchers working on the cutting edge of drug delivery methodology, but you would be wrong. Have you ever noticed that you don't become aware of a... View Details

Keywords: Robert S. Benchley; medical technology; Scientific Research and Development Services

October 2003 (Revised February 2010)
Case

The Duke Heart Failure Program

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Laura Feldman

Duke University Health System has for the past five years operated a specialized clinic for the management of congestive heart failure, a very common and costly condition in the surrounding community. Nurse practitioners, whose work is guided by highly specified... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Health Disorders; Medical Specialties; Time Management; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Outcome or Result; Health Industry

01 Sep 2011
News

Student Trio Advance Health Payment Reform

Related Links Read about other efforts in healthcare delivery Three HBS students spent much of the last academic year helping a leading Boston hospital answer one of the most important questions in health-care management: how to create a... View Details

Keywords: bundling; Health, Social Assistance

26 Jun 2000
Research & Ideas

Presentation Round-Up

creation, production, delivery and use of the Web, as well as toward a service delivery infrastructure. Panelist Katie Burke (HBS MBA '95) noted Web-based e-mail as a good... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace & Kenneth Liss; Technology; Communications; Telecommunications

02 Apr 2014
What Do You Think?

Has the Post-Capitalist Economy Finally Arrived?

entrepreneurship " Peter McCann pointed out that things are déjà vu all over again. "There will be increased productivity but the day of zero marginal cost for more than a small set of goods and services is not even on the... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Service

Web

Teaching Support for HBS Faculty | Baker Library

assignments, and learn how to cite their work. What we can help with Case Updates Classroom Presentations Course Materials (Course Reserves and Durable Links) Course Research Drop-Ins Custom Course Products Teach with Special Collections Purchase Requests & (HOLLIS)... View Details

September 2006 (Revised December 2006)
Case

Arizona Department of Public Health: The Challenges of Preparing for a Public Health Emergency

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Ajay Vinze, T. S. Raghu and Minu Ipe

In the post-9/11 era information technology enablement for emergency preparedness and response have taken on increased significance. Public health organizations like ADHS play a critical role in any statewide preparation for large scale emergencies. With issues like... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Information Technology; Health Care and Treatment; Business Processes; Service Delivery; National Security; Health Industry; Public Administration Industry; Arizona

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March 2019
Case

Mahindra Finance

By: V.G. Narayanan and Tanvi Deshpande

Mahindra Finance is a non-banking lender operating mainly in the rural and semi-urban areas of India. Set up in 1991, the company had grown to become a market leader with assets of $8.5 billion and a presence in 3,30,000 villages across India. Since most of Mahindra's... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Business Model; Volatility; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decisions; Credit; Financing and Loans; Service Delivery; Risk and Uncertainty; Financial Services Industry; India

02 Jan 2018
News

Reconsidering Retirement

store in New Jersey; the son accompanied him on buying trips to New York and watched him negotiate for the best merchandise and price. He had even launched his own successful business before arriving at HBS: a birthday cake delivery View Details

Keywords: April White; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Finance

July 2002 (Revised August 2014)
Case

WellSpace Treatment Centers for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (A)

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Jun HuangPu and Bing Lin

How should WellSpace, a venture capital-backed purveyor of alternative health services, expand? Although it was nearing breakeven in its first location, the right business model remained unclear. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Invention; Service Delivery; Health Industry

October 2000 (Revised May 2001)
Case

Editora Abril S.A.

By: Michael Y. Yoshino and Perry Fagan

Brazil's media conglomerate Editora Abril S.A. is Latin America's largest publishing and printing company; it publishes books, and comic books, videos, maps, travel guides, music, and textbooks. It also owns Brazil's largest database marketing company, its... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Communications; Market Design; Media; Service Delivery; Private Ownership; Expansion; Web Sites; Service Industry; Service Industry; Brazil

December 1980 (Revised June 2006)
Case

University Health Services: Walk-In Clinic

The walk-in clinic for general outpatient care at a major university experiences complaints about excessive waiting times. The system is changed to provide for initial screening of arriving patients in order to route them to appropriate health care providers. The... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Service Delivery; Health Care and Treatment; Performance Evaluation; Health Industry

01 Sep 2013
News

The New Rules of E-Commerce

Mikitani (MBA 1993) is not shy about pursuing the big idea, in this case a belief that English is the lingua franca of business and learning it would give his organization a competitive edge. Rakuten, founded in 1997, operates an online mall and related View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne; e-commerce; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services

24 May 2021
Op-Ed

Can Fabric Waste Become Fashion’s Resource?

COVID-19 has broken fashion’s supply chain. As a result, an already wasteful industry has become more wasteful. Even before the pandemic, the global apparel industry was producing about 92 million tons of textile waste a year. That’s about one garbage truck’s worth of... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones and Shelly Xu; Fashion

June 2009 (Revised April 2011)
Case

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

By: Anita L. Tucker and Amy C. Edmondson

The case describes an organization's use of the science of improvement to transform their process quality from below average to the top 10% in their industry. The case outlines the protagonist's strategy of developing internal experts who are trained in a common... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Experience and Expertise; Leading Change; Measurement and Metrics; Service Delivery; Performance Improvement; Health Industry; Ohio