Publications

January 2009
Case

When Supply is of Public Interest: Roche & Tamiflu

The case focuses on the challenges of Roche maintaining a supply network for a global influenza pandemic response initiative based on its antiviral drug Tamiflu. The Roche group is a 40 billion CHF company consisting of a pharmaceutical division and a diagnostic... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Health Pandemics; Distribution; Logistics; Production; Supply Chain Management; Performance Capacity; Pharmaceutical Industry

May 1998 (Revised May 1999)
Case

Biopure Corp.

By: John T. Gourville

It is early 1998 and Biopure Corp., a small biopharmaceutical firm with no sales revenues in its ten-year history, has just received government approval to release Oxyglobin, a revolutionary new "blood substitute" designed to replace the need for donated animal blood... View Details

Keywords: Segmentation; Marketing Strategy; Engineering; Budgets and Budgeting; Sales; Transformation; Markets; Debates; Product Launch; Pharmaceutical Industry

28 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Making the Decision to Franchise (or not)

appears to be true when you get a new type of consumer for the same product." In the pharmaceutical industry, for example, selling medicine to both an independent general practitioner and a hospital will require a different organizational... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

12 Feb 2008
First Look

First Look: February 12, 2007

how personal taxes affect CEOs' decision to sell their vested equity and compare it against diversification, managerial overconfidence and other determinants of CEOs' sale of equity. While CEOs frequently sell large amounts of their... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

03 Apr 2007
First Look

First Look: April 3, 2007

Middle East: Measuring Sales Force Effectiveness Harvard Business School Case 106-063 Nutricia's Middle East and African region is transitioning from a trading to a customer focus. CEO Ernest Vandenbussche must decide how to market infant... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

04 Jun 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Prosocial Bonuses Increase Employee Satisfaction and Team Performance

Keywords: by Lalin Anik, Lara B. Aknin, Michael I. Norton, Elizabeth W. Dunn & Jordi Quoidbach

16 Jan 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, January 16, 2018

companies offer a direct stake in the company's performance through stock, a share in profits, or both. Companies with employee stock ownership plans report significantly higher sales growth and higher revenue per employee than do... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2017
Supplement

Medtronic: Making the Big Leap Forward (B)

By: William W. George and Monica Baraldi

On December 1, 2014, Medtronic announced that it had completed a $17 billion bond sale to finance the Covidien acquisition, officially completed on January 26, 2015. Medtronic’s legal headquarters moved to Ireland, while its operational headquarters remained in... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Medtronic; Covidien; Mission; Tax Inversion; Business Strategy; Leadership; Mergers and Acquisitions; Integration; Pharmaceutical Industry; Republic of Ireland; Europe; Minnesota; United States

December 2017 (Revised January 2018)
Case

Alltech

By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred

Alltech was a Lexington, Kentucky–based producer of supplements for animal feed, with revenues of over $2 billion (projected to reach $3 billion in 2018), sales in 120 countries, 5,000 employees, and 100 manufacturing plants worldwide. For nearly four decades, Alltech... View Details

14 Aug 2007
First Look

First Look: August 14, 2007

shareholders? In the Johns Manville bankruptcy, shareholder equity was wiped out entirely. Purchase this case: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=807090 WuXi PharmaTech Harvard Business School Case 806-003 WuXi Pharmatech has gone from zero... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

27 May 2009
First Look

First Look: May 27, 2009

($5): http://papers.nber.org/papers/w14699 Forced Sales and House Prices Authors:John Y. Campbell, Stefano Giglio, and Parag Pathak Abstract This paper uses data on house transactions in the state of Massachusetts over the last 20 years... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

15 Jan 2008
First Look

First Look: January 15, 2008

addition to its traditional investment management business. The private equity industry is rapidly institutionalizing, with firms raising funds over $10 billion and some considering public offerings. A sale of WL Ross & Co. could help... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

October 2010 (Revised August 2016)
Case

On Weldon's Watch: Recalls at Johnson & Johnson from 2009 to 2010

By: Clayton S. Rose, Sandra J. Sucher, Rachel Gordon and Matthew Preble

In October of 2010, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) was unable to extricate itself from a year long recall crisis that had subjected the firm to criticism from Congress and regulators, resulted in the resignation of one of the firm's most senior officers, and cost hundreds of... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Values and Beliefs; Leadership; Crisis Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Quality; Pharmaceutical Industry

25 Jul 2023
Research & Ideas

Could a Business Model Help Big Pharma Save Lives and Profit?

With a foothold in these markets, pharmaceutical companies will also sell branded drugs—at appropriately tiered prices—to higher income consumers and insurers who can afford them, even as the companies earn royalties from mass-market... View Details

Keywords: by Esther Schrader; Pharmaceutical; Pharmaceutical

21 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 21, 2009

participation decisions. Based on our experimental results, we suggest preliminary lessons for improving the design of household risk management contracts. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-116.pdf Where Is the Pharmacy to the World? International... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

August 2017 (Revised July 2018)
Case

MannKind Corporation: Take a Deep Breath, This Time Afrezza Will Work

By: Elie Ofek and Amanda Dai

In June 2014, MannKind Corporation announced that after years of development and billions of dollars in expenses, the FDA had finally approved its drug, Afrezza. MannKind would thus be the only company with an inhalable insulin on the market. As an alternative to... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Marketing Strategy; Adoption; Pharmaceutical Industry

April 1990 (Revised November 1992)
Case

Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged)

By: James E. Austin

Population Services International (PSI) was a not-for-profit agency founded to disseminate family planning information and to market birth control products, primarily in less developed countries seeking to curb their population explosions. In 1976, PSI concluded an... View Details

Keywords: Conferences; Developing Countries and Economies; Information Publishing; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing; Agreements and Arrangements; Product; Nonprofit Organizations; Pharmaceutical Industry; Bangladesh; Washington (state, US)

January 2009 (Revised July 2009)
Case

Targanta Therapeutics: Hitting a Moving Target

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich

This case explores regulatory, product testing, and business strategy at Targanta Therapeutics, a biotech company preparing its first new drug application to the FDA. In October 2007, Mark Leuchtenberger, president and CEO of Targanta—which has just held a successful... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Health Testing and Trials; Product Development; Business and Government Relations; Business Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry