Publications

04 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

Is Health Care Making You Better—or Dead?

think in any of these cases I launched a revolution, but I think I was helpful. But the pace was so slow, and people were saying that these high deductibles represented consumer-driven health care. It's ridiculous. View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Health

November 2024
Article

The Health Costs of Cost Sharing

By: Amitabh Chandra, Evan Flack and Ziad Obermeyer

What happens when patients suddenly stop their medications? We study the health consequences of drug interruptions caused by large, abrupt, and arbitrary changes in price. Medicare’s prescription drug benefit as-if-randomly assigns 65-year-olds a drug budget as a... View Details

Keywords: Outcome or Result; Health Care and Treatment; Budgets and Budgeting; Cost

Read Now

March 2024 (Revised July 2024)
Case

WeightWatchers: Promoting Weight Health

By: Ranjay Gulati, Cynthia A. Montgomery, Ashley Whillans, Allison Ciechanover and Emily Grandjean

In December 2023, the 60-year-old weight management industry stalwart WeightWatchers announced the launch of WeightWatchers Clinic, which incorporated GLP-1s , a new class of prescription weight-loss medications, into the company’s portfolio of products and mobile app... View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Resource Allocation; Diversification; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Industry; Health Industry; Health Industry; United States; New York (city, NY)

May 2008
Teaching Note

Disney Consumer Products: Marketing Nutrition to Children (TN)

By: David E. Bell and Mary L. Shelman

Teaching Note for [507-006]. View Details

Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Food; Age; Health Pandemics; Nutrition; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

September 1988 (Revised November 1988)
Supplement

Watt Group: Consumer Product and Retailing Doctors (B)

By: Ray A. Goldberg

Keywords: Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

Find at Harvard

July 2012
Case

Performance Management at Vitality Health Enterprises, Inc.

By: John Bingham and Michael Beer

Vitality Health Enterprises, a medium-sized firm that manufactures health and personal care products, has experienced six straight quarters of strong revenue growth. James Hoffman, the new Senior Vice President of Human Resources, fears that the chain of success is... View Details

Keywords: Performance Evaluation; Motivation and Incentives; Compensation and Benefits; Talent and Talent Management; Health Industry; Health Industry; Health Industry; United States

13 Jan 2003
Research & Ideas

The Subconscious Mind of the Consumer (And How To Reach It)

about consumer behavior and in using that knowledge to benefit consumers. These firms include McNeil Consumer Health Care, McCann-Erickson, Procter & Gamble, Hallmark, Bank... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Mahoney

10 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

Technology and COVID Upended Tipping Norms. Will Consumers Keep Paying?

percent or less for bad service. That was the expectation up until COVID.” However, “post-COVID,” as businesses came back from pandemic-induced lockdowns, consumer behavior shifted. “Consumers started to realize the value of waitstaff... View Details

Keywords: by Anna Lamb, Harvard Gazette

2012
Chapter

Consumer-Driven Health Care: Conquering Health Care Cost and Quality Demons

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Cost Management; Quality; Demand and Consumers; Health Industry

February 2018 (Revised April 2018)
Case

Yunnan Baiyao: Transforming a Chinese State-Owned Enterprise

By: Michael Chu, William C. Kirby, Nancy Hua Dai and Yuanzhuo Wang

This case tells the story of how Wang Minghui, Chairman of Yunnan Baiyao Group since 1999, transformed a single-product traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) state-owned enterprise (SOE) into a major diversified consumer health player in China's highly competitive... View Details

Keywords: State-owned Enterprise (SOE); Traditional Chinese Medicine; Yunnan; Yunnan Baiyao; Consumer Health; Enterprise Transformation; Transformation; Health; Business History; State Ownership; Private Ownership; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Competition; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; China

September 1988
Supplement

Watt Group: Consumer Product and Retailing Doctors (C)

By: Ray A. Goldberg

Keywords: Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

Find at Harvard

02 Mar 2007
What Do You Think?

What Is the Government’s Role in US Health Care?

consumers (Hakan Hillerstrom). In addition to these issues, Elizabeth Benbrooks reminds us that (healthcare) "comes freighted with a host of fundamental moral, ethical, and emotional issues that simply don't exist for other industries."... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Health

October 1981 (Revised August 1985)
Case

Vicks Health Care Division: Project Scorpio (C)

Reveals that the new products executives have decided to recommend national expansion. They have to develop a justification and preliminary marketing plan. Emphasizes consumer and trade promotion options. Students have to complete a five-year projected P&L statement. View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Health Care and Treatment; Product Launch; Health Industry

03 Sep 2020
Op-Ed

Why American Health Care Needs Its Own SEC

Employers, insurers, taxpayers, and individual consumers pay widely varying prices for treatments, medical technology, and for digital information of fluctuating quality. One patient may receive a small charge for a treatment, while... View Details

Keywords: by Regina E. Herzlinger; Health

September 2003 (Revised January 2005)
Case

Bridges to Excellence: Bringing Quality Health Care to Life

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer, Ingrid Marie Nembhard and Robert Galvin

General Electric launched Bridges to Excellence Diabetes Care Link, a program through which enrolled physicians receive bonuses of up to 10% of their salary for delivering quality care to diabetic patients covered by a participating employer or health plan. A day... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Motivation and Incentives; Programs; Ethics; Quality; Moral Sensibility; Service Delivery; Compensation and Benefits; Health Industry

2004
Chapter

Consumer-Driven Health Care: Management Matters

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer, Amy C. Edmondson and Gary P. Pisano

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Demand and Consumers; Management; Health Industry

27 Feb 2020
Sharpening Your Skills

How Following Best Business Practices Can Improve Health Care

for customers? Consumers Blame Business for Global Health Problems. Can Business Become the Solution? Millions of people have been harmed by cigarettes, defective merchandise, pollution, addiction and other... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Health; Health

22 May 2020
In Practice

Post-COVID Health Care: More Screens, Less Red Tape?

The coronavirus crisis forced health care providers to mobilize in ways few could have predicted six months ago, revealing not only the system’s weaknesses but its profound ingenuity. Within weeks, providers worldwide set up drive-through... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

Article

Inviting Consumers to Downsize Fast-Food Portions Significantly Reduces Calorie Consumption

By: Janet Schwartz, Jason Riis, Brian Elbel and Dan Ariely

Policies that mandate calorie labeling in fast-food and chain restaurants have had little or no observable impact on calorie consumption to date. In three field experiments, we tested an alternative approach: activating consumers' self-control by having servers ask... View Details

Keywords: Food; Labels; Consumer Behavior; Interpersonal Communication; Motivation and Incentives; Health Industry; Health Industry