Publications

December 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Manufacturing Moderna's Future

By: Satish Tadikonda and William Marks

In 2019, Moderna faced long odds of survival having failed to develop a successful clinical program out of the vast platform technology they had built around mRNA. Nearly overnight, the company skyrocketed to success with a vaccine for COVID-19, leading to an extremely... View Details

Keywords: Health Pandemics; Health Testing and Trials; Technological Innovation; Product Development; Production; Science-Based Business; Biotechnology Industry

Article

Germany's Digital Health Reforms in the COVID-19 Era: Lessons and Opportunities for Other Countries

By: Sara Gerke, Ariel D. Stern and Timo Minssen

Reimbursement is a key challenge for many new digital health solutions, whose importance and value have been highlighted and expanded by the current COVID-19 pandemic. Germany’s new Digital Healthcare Act (Digitale–Versorgung–Gesetz or DVG) entitles all individuals... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Reimbursement; Digital Health Reforms; Health Pandemics; Health Care and Treatment; Internet and the Web; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Germany

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15 May 2020
Research & Ideas

Find Your Pragmatic Path through Radical Uncertainty

Henri-Louis Bergson’s injunction: “Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought.” THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS More Business-Related Pandemic Coverage from Around Harvard and Beyond COVID-19 Business Impact Center (Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: by Howard Stevenson, Eugene B. Kogan, and Shirley Spence

November 24, 2020
Article

4 Strategies to Make Telehealth Work for Elderly Patients

By: Umar Ikram, Susanna Gallani, Jose F. Figueroa and Thomas W. Feeley

As providers have ramped up their use of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic, one group—the elderly—has experienced particular challenges in adopting the technologies. This article describes the strategies four innovative provider organizations have used to engage... View Details

Keywords: Telehealth; Health Pandemics; Health Care and Treatment; Internet and the Web; Age; Technology Adoption; Strategy

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2020
Working Paper

Consumers Punish Firms That Cut Employee Pay in Response to COVID-19

By: Bhavya Mohan, Serena Hagerty and Michael Norton

Two experiments, including one incentive compatible study, examine the impact of cutting pay for executives versus employees in response to COVID-19 on consumer behavior. Study 1 explores the effect of announcing cuts or no cuts to CEO and employee pay, and shows that... View Details

Keywords: Employee Furloughs; CEO Pay Cuts; Pay Ratios; Purchase Intention; Health Pandemics; Employees; Wages; Executive Compensation; Consumer Behavior

SSRN

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October 2022
Case

Afrigen Biologics: Vaccines for the Global South

By: Debora L. Spar and Julia Comeau

The majority of vaccines used on the continent of Africa (99%) are produced offshore. This makes African nations reliant on the West for major health care needs, a problem which was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Afrigen Biologics (in partnership with the WHO)... View Details

Keywords: Vaccination; Vaccine; mRNA; COVID; COVID-19; Inequity; Hub-and-spoke; Health Care and Treatment; Health Pandemics; Production; Social Issues; Business and Government Relations; South Africa; Africa

March 2014
Teaching Note

Uptake of Rapid Diagnostic Tests: A Development Challenge

By: Nava Ashraf, Andrew Boozary and Kristin Johnson

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Health Pandemics; Technology; Health Care and Treatment; Policy; Behavior; Prejudice and Bias; Zambia

21 Oct 2024
Research & Ideas

What Happens in Vegas Could Shape the Metaverse

focusing on the desert oasis of Las Vegas. Two researchers turn to Fortnite to quell pandemic boredom Wu and Clough share a few passions outside of scholarship, including the mass-multiplayer game Fortnite, which they began playing... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Nover; Computer; Information Technology

November 2019
Teaching Note

Hacking Heroin

By: Mitchell Weiss and Sarah Mehta

This teaching note pairs with a case that is used in a course on Public Entrepreneurship, for a first module on "ideas." The case is designed to help students work through the question: where do new ideas to stubborn problems come from? And, in particular, the question... View Details

Keywords: Public Entrepreneurship; Hackathon; Heroin; Opioids; Crowdsourcing; Public Sector; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Health Pandemics; Public Administration Industry; Health Industry; Ohio; Cincinnati

February 2022
Case

Leading The UK Vaccine Task Force

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Claudia Pienica

This case describes the first six months of the UK Vaccine Taskforce, under the leadership of Kate Bingham. With a career spent in the private sector as a biotech investor, Bingham’s appointment within the government was considered unusual. The overarching brief given... View Details

October 2024 (Revised May 2025)
Case

Southern California Industrial: Freezer Drive

By: Arthur I Segel, Dwight Angelini and W. Matt Kelly

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, a Boston based real estate private equity firm was seeking to make their very first West Coast investments in hopes of establishing their presence in the strategic region. An exciting property suddenly became available on the... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate Development; Acquisition; Health Pandemics; Risk and Uncertainty; Expansion; Cost vs Benefits; Investment Return; Real Estate Industry

January 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Case

iOpenEye: Theater and #MeToo in Nigeria

By: Caroline Elkins, Tarun Khanna and Joyce J. Kim

In 2014, Ifeoma Fafunwa, an award-winning playwright and director, founded iOpenEye, a commercial production company dedicated to driving social change through performance art. iOpenEye’s flagship theatrical production was called “Hear Word! Naija Woman Talk True,”... View Details

Keywords: Theatre; Social Change; Entrepreneurship; Social Enterprise; Arts; Entertainment; Social Issues; Health Pandemics; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Model; Nigeria

17 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

Many Small-Business Employees May Be Close to Losing Health Insurance

insurance coverage going forward,” the authors write. Small businesses, which account for more than 40 percent of economic activity in the United States, prioritized employee health insurance premiums as the COVID-19 pandemic hit,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Health

March 1993
Supplement

Burroughs Wellcome and AZT (B)

By: Willis M. Emmons III

Describes Burroughs Wellcome's response to protests over the pricing of its AIDS drug AZT in September 1989. Also presents short-term reactions by government officials, AIDS activists, and investors to Burroughs Wellcome's strategy. View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Health Pandemics; Multinational Firms and Management; Price; Crime and Corruption; Risk and Uncertainty; Business Strategy; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Business and Shareholder Relations; Pharmaceutical Industry

05 Jul 2022
Op-Ed

Hear Me Out: Introverts Can Be Loud and You Might Like Microsoft Teams

efforts, so adding Teams management to that regime is also one-stop shopping. In my information governance consulting practice, I adopted Zoom as the pandemic hit (moving away from older products like WebEx and GoToMeeting), but quickly... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

July 2022
Teaching Note

TraceTogether

By: Mitchell Weiss and Sarah Mehta

This Note provides guidance for teaching "TraceTogether," HBS Case No. 820-111. View Details

Keywords: Government Administration; Crisis Management; Health; Health Pandemics; Innovation and Invention; Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Social Issues; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Technology Adoption; Health Industry; Public Administration Industry; Singapore

21 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

7 Successful Battle Strategies to Beat COVID-19

practitioners admire in organizations like Tesla, Amazon, and Salesforce. THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS More Business-Related Pandemic Coverage from Around Harvard and Beyond COVID-19 Business Impact Center (Harvard Business School) How to... View Details

Keywords: by Euvin Naidoo

February 2024
Case

Innovation Strategy at Stanley Black & Decker: Setting the Direction for Growth

By: David L. Ager and Antonio Manuel Oftelie

On July 1, 2022, Don Allan was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Stanley Black & Decker (SBD). Although Allan had been with the firm for 23 years, most recently serving as President and Chief Financial Officer, he recognized that he was stepping into his new role as... View Details

Keywords: Health Pandemics; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation Leadership; Growth Management; Business and Stakeholder Relations