Publications

September 2022
Case

HPP: Tapping the Netherlands’ Potential

By: Brian Trelstad and Idelès Kaandorp

Stichting Het Potentieel Pakken (HPP) was launched to solve a systemic problem in the Dutch Labor Market: gender inequity that was leading to a large number of women to work part-time in fields that were in desperately short supply of labor, like health care, child... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Grants; Scaling And Growth; Nonprofit Organizations; Opportunities; Gender; Income; Employment; Health Care and Treatment; Human Capital; Mission and Purpose; Motivation and Incentives; Growth and Development Strategy; Employment Industry; Health Industry; Education Industry; Consulting Industry; Europe; Netherlands

July 2000 (Revised September 2005)
Case

Guidant: Radiation Therapy

Describes a potential new approach to treating cardiac disease--radiation therapy. Guidant, a leading medical device maker, faces a choice about whether to pursue this new and risky technology and, if so with what strategy. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Decisions; Innovation Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Product Design; Corporate Strategy; Medical Specialties; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

February 2000 (Revised March 2000)
Case

Owens & Minor, Inc. (B)

By: V.G. Narayanan and Lisa Brem

After a manager at Owens & Minor, a national medical and surgical distribution company, proposes and develops a formalized activity-based pricing and activity-based management approach to sales and service provision, this case explore the outcome. View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Logistics; Distribution; Price; Supply Chain Management; Sales; Outcome or Result; Management Style; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

October 1993 (Revised July 1994)
Case

A Brush with AIDS (A)

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Jerry Useem

A product manager at a health products company is responsible for marketing sharps containers, which hospitals use to store used needles in order to protect medical workers from being pricked with AIDS-contaminated needles. After hospitals report repeated instances of... View Details

Keywords: Health; Cost vs Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Safety; Values and Beliefs; Profit; Goals and Objectives; Compensation and Benefits; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

April 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Background Note

Note on Healthcare in Ghana

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Ben Creo

This note provides an overview of the healthcare system in Ghana. It discusses the public and private sector as well as traditional medical practice. It also discusses the country’s pharmaceutical industry. It is recommended as a companion to Professor Regina... View Details

Keywords: Africa; Pharmaceutical Companies; Pharmacy Benefit Manager; Health Care; Health Care Costs; Health Care Delivery; Health Care Entrepreneurship; Telehealth; Health Equity; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Health Care and Treatment; Business and Government Relations; Health Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Ghana

September 2008 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Examining the Adoption of Drug-Eluting Stents

By: Elie Ofek

Marketers are often tasked with exploring the factors that impact the long-run adoption of a new product or technology. The new product under consideration here is the drug-eluting stent: a device which props open a clogged artery to the heart and then releases... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning; Consumer Behavior; Adoption; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

05 Nov 2009
Research & Ideas

A Market for Human Cadavers in All but Name?

for cadavers. Anteby's current research examines the morality of markets by focusing on the U.S. supply and demand of cadavers for medical research and education.) Anyone who has been trained as a... View Details

Keywords: by Michel Anteby; Health

January 2017
Case

Kada Orthopedics: A Bone of Contention

By: Kevin Schulman and Matt Strickland

Kada Orthopedics is a small implantable orthopedic device manufacturer founded by industry veterans trying to sell stable-technology products to an increasingly cost-conscious healthcare market. Although they have marginally successful product in early 2016, the... View Details

Keywords: Market Design; Growth And Development Strategy; Health Care; Business Startup; Growth and Development; Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Business Startups; Supply and Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

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

August 1998 (Revised July 2002)
Case

Innovation at 3M Corporation (A)

By: Stefan H. Thomke and Ashok Nimgade

Describes how 3M Corp. introduces and learns a new and innovative methodology called Lead User research to understand future customer and market needs. A team from 3M's Medical-Surgical Markets Division applies the Lead User methodology to the field of surgical... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Managerial Roles; Marketing Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Market Timing; Product Development; Problems and Challenges; Business Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

June 1983 (Revised November 2001)
Case

EMI and the CT Scanner (A)

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Describes the development of the first CT Scanner by EMI, a company new to the medical industry, and EMI's entry into the U.S. market. The company's early success is threatened by the entry of a dozen competitors (some very large and experienced), by government... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Technological Innovation; Market Entry and Exit; Industry Structures; Product Development; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

June 1996
Case

Becton Dickinson: Managing the Global Enterprise, 1996

Becton Dickinson, a U.S.-based maker of medical and diagnostic devices, has been organized into a mixed structure of U.S.-based divisions and country/region organizations. In 1995, three businesses shifted to become worldwide divisions, forcing a reexamination of the... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business or Company Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Organizational Structure; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

August 2012 (Revised August 2024)
Module Note

Evaluating the Viability of Innovative Technology-Commercializing Ventures

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

A guide for how a person who is not an expert in either technology nor business can, nevertheless, exaluate whether two promising innovative medical technologies are technically and/or financially feasible. Hint: I would not invest in either. View Details

Keywords: Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

November 2022 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Martine Rothblatt and United Therapeutics: A Series of Implausible Dreams

By: Debora L. Spar and Julia M. Comeau

In 1990, satellite expert and Sirius XM founder Martine Rothblatt was determined to save the life of her seven-year-old daughter, Jenesis, who was diagnosed with a terminal illness called Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH). At the time, there was little medication... View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceutical Companies; Technological And Scientific Innovation; Organ Donation; Health Care and Treatment; Health Disorders; Innovation and Invention; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States; District of Columbia

January 2014 (Revised January 2014)
Case

Henry Schein: Doing Well by Doing Good?

By: Rebecca Henderson, Raffaella Sadun, Aldo Sesia and Russell Eisenstat

Henry Schein Inc., a distributor of supplies to dentist, physician, and veterinary practices, had sales approaching $9 billion and employed nearly 16,000 people. The company had experienced impressive growth under the leadership of Stanley Bergman and his executive... View Details

January 2007 (Revised January 2007)
Background Note

Note on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration

By: Robert F. Higgins, Richard G. Hamermesh and Virginia Fuller

Describes the U.S. FDA with particular emphasis on its role in the development of new drugs, biologic products, and medical devices today. Provides context for the drug approval process by describing the FDA's history and organizational structure. View Details

Keywords: Health; Governance Compliance; Policy; Product Development; Government and Politics; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

March 1994
Supplement

Kevin Simpson at Haemonetics, Video

By: Linda A. Hill

Contains excerpts from an interview with Kevin Simpson (HBS 1990) about his decision to join Haemonetics, a medical equipment company, after receiving his MBA. Simpson discusses his experiences on the job during the first three months while he was the assistant to the... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Experience and Expertise; Decisions; Recruitment; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

February 2015 (Revised June 2017)
Case

Intrapreneurship at DaVita HealthCare Partners

By: Joseph B. Fuller, David J. Collis and Matthew G. Preble

Josh Golomb, president and general manager of DaVita Rx (Rx), was about to meet with Kent Thiry, CEO of Rx's corporate parent, DaVita Healthcare Partners Inc. (DaVita), in August 2013. The two would discuss whether Golomb should lead a new DaVita venture, Paladina... View Details

Keywords: Intrapreneurship; Entrepreneurial Organizations; Startup Management; Startup; Strategic Positioning; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Corporate Strategy; Business Startups; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Health Industry; United States

December 1997 (Revised December 1998)
Case

ArthroCare

A young company in the medical devices area, ArthroCare, has been public for six months, and its stock--after initially performing very well--is now dropping. At the same time, the company is confronted with several tactical decisions that could impact near-term... View Details

Keywords: Public Ownership; Decisions; Equity; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry