Publications

May 2015 (Revised September 2015)
Case

AIP Healthcare Japan: Investing in Japan's Retirement Home Market

By: John A. Quelch and Qing Xia

The CEO of a health care-based REIT is considering alternative nursing home investment strategies. Students must consider macro-industry trends, scale and scope issues and consumer segmentation data in making their recommendations. View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Health Care Services; REIT; Marketing; Investment; Health Care and Treatment; Segmentation; Health Industry; Health Industry; Health Industry; Japan

July 2021
Article

Availability and Nutrient Composition of Vegetarian Items at U.S. Fast-Food Restaurants

By: Caroline G. Dunn, Mark J. Soto, Sophia V. Hua, Elizabeth A. Keenan, Lindsay M. Jaacks, Julia A. Wolfson and Sara N. Bleich

Research Questions: What are patterns in availability of vegetarian items in U.S. fast-food chains (2012 to 2018) and are there differences in nutrient composition between and within vegetarian and nonvegetarian items annually and over time?
Key Findings: In this... View Details

Keywords: Fast Food; Restaurants; Vegetarian; Consumer Health; Sodium; Food; Nutrition; Health; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

26 Jun 2000
Research & Ideas

What’s an Internet Business Model? Ask a Health Care Professional

of Information Technology at Harvard Medical School), noted that most health care marketing in the past was centered around physicians. The basis of competition in the near future, he predicted, would shift to one driven by View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Health

08 Mar 2017
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: Can the Proposed American Health Care Act Improve on 'Obamacare'?

an employer should not be able to require that I have an annual checkup. Individual consumers should have the right to decide whether they need these services. It is wrong to contend that fostering consumer... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch, Dr. Gordon Moore, and Emily Boudreau

Forthcoming
Article

From Bupkis to Sechel in Health Care

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Richard Boxer

Fifty years ago, famed economist Milton Friedman declared that “The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits.” This free market manifesto was adopted by the healthcare industry as well. But transactional has evolved into transformational with the... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Accountability; Customer Focus and Relationships; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Health Industry

12 Jul 2004
Research & Ideas

Michael Porter’s Prescription For the High Cost of Health Care

to give price estimates in advance of service. Such estimates would not only improve consumer choice but would also spur providers to learn about their real costs. [ ] Accessible Information. Under positive-sum competition, both the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter; Health

20 Jul 2020
Op-Ed

It's Time for a Bipartisan Health Plan for Employers and Employees

trillions of unfunded liabilities, our version of the Public Option would be pay-as-you-go. It would also broaden the risk pool and thus reduce Medicare’s expenses because non-seniors are healthier and consume fewer View Details

Keywords: by Regina E. Herzlinger and Richard J. Boxer; Health; Health

07 Aug 2009
What Do You Think?

Why Can’t Americans Get Health Care Right?

food and fuel; we're talking about health care, about which consumers and providers may be less rational. For example, behavioral economists would tell us, among other things, that in the world of View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Health

February 2015
Supplement

The Affordable Care Act (J): Healthcare.gov

By: Joseph L. Bower and Michael Norris

In the fall of 2013, Healthcare.gov launches as an insurance exchange for consumers to buy health insurance. The launch is filled with glitches, and some worry if it will imperil the fate of the entire ACA. View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Health Care Policy; Government And Politics; Health; Policy; Health Industry; United States

18 Oct 2016
Op-Ed

Why Business Should Invest in Community Health

“where people live, learn, work, and play.” Many firms acknowledge the importance of employee health to their bottom lines, and have also started taking steps to improve their consumer View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch, Howard Koh, and Pamela Yatsko; Health

January 2000 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network - The Primary Care Unit

By: V.G. Narayanan, Lisa Brem and Ryan Moore

The Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network needed to gain a better understanding of its unit-of-service costs, which had been rising at a rate of 10% per year. The network's step-down costing system gave only aggregate costing information, and there was some... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Health Care and Treatment; Cost Accounting; Cost; Network Effects; Health Industry; Health Industry; Massachusetts

21 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

What Health Care Managers Need to Know--and How to Teach Them

Global health care is entering its most challenging era, with increasing demand for services from consumers newly arrived in the middle class, under-served people, and rapidly aging populations, all the... View Details

Keywords: by Paul Guttry; Health; Health

2006
Chapter

Consumer-Driven Healthcare: Transforming the Delivery of Health Services

By: R. E. Herzlinger

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

29 Jun 2015
HBS Case

Consumer-centered Health Care Depends on Accessible Medical Records

can be used in powerful ways, ideally leading to better patient care, lower health care costs and, ultimately, healthier patients. “Trust on the part of both the consumer and doctor is hugely important in... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Health; Health

Article

Europe's Alternative to Medicare for All: Swiss and Dutch Private Insurance Provide Better Coverage Than Canada's Single-Payer System

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Bacchus Barua

An analysis of Canada’s single-payer healthcare system shows the dangers of the proposed Medicare for All model. In fact, the Canadian healthcare system is costly and drives poor outcomes when compared to objective performance measures. Alternatively, the Swiss and... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare Systems; Universal Health Coverage; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Canada; Switzerland; Netherlands

Register to Read

January–February 2014
Other Article

Barriers to Health Care Innovation: Regina Herzlinger Warns That Innovators Need to Know What Obstacles They Face and How to Overcome Them

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

Health care in the United States and in most other developed countries is ailing, says Regina E. Herzlinger. A chaired professor of business administration specializing in health care at Harvard Business School, Herzlinger says that although the world has witnessed... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Healthcare IT; Innovation; Health Care and Treatment; Health; Information Technology; Innovation and Invention; Health Industry; Health Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

June 2024
Article

Inflation with COVID Consumption Baskets

By: Alberto Cavallo

The Covid-19 pandemic led to changes in expenditure patterns that introduced significant bias in the measurement of Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation. Using publicly-available data on card transactions, I updated the official CPI weights and re-calculated inflation... View Details

Keywords: COVID; Consumer Expenditures; CPI; Inflation; Consumer Behavior; Inflation and Deflation; Health Pandemics

23 Apr 2014
HBS Case

Are Electronic Cigarettes a Public Good or Health Hazard?

health," one health advocate said. Consisting of a small barrel-shaped design that mimics an actual cigarette, the devices vaporize a liquid nicotine solution, which is then inhaled without the tar and carcinogens found in smoke.... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Food & Beverage; Advertising

November 2014
Case

Nestlé SA, 2014

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In 2014, Nestlé was the largest producer of packaged foods and beverages in the world. 2013 revenues were $103.7 billion and operating profits $16.1 billion (15.5% of sales). The company owned 29 mega brands, each generating more than Euro 1 billion ($1.25 billion).... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products; Acquisitions; Strategy; Goods and Commodities; Nutrition; Emerging Markets; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Europe