Publications

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December 2014 (Revised November 2016)
Case

Dylan Pierce at Peninsula Industries

By: Karthik Ramanna

Peninsula Industries' U.S. country manager, Peter Lee, has a problem—his star hire, Dylan Pierce, is threatening to quit. Peninsula is a large Korean conglomerate multinational that has been keen to attract foreigners. Dylan was hired by Peter to work in Peninsula's... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Corporation; Multicultural Teams; Leadership; Diversity; Electronics Industry; Korean Peninsula; United States

26 Oct 2021
Research & Ideas

What Companies Want Most in a CEO: A Good Listener

For a better shot at landing the top job at today’s companies, aspiring CEOs should set aside their slide presentations and work on their listening skills instead, new research suggests. Companies are increasingly seeking socially adept... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

January 2013
Case

Zappos.com 2009: Clothing, Customer Service, and Company Culture (MM)

By: Frances X. Frei and Robin J. Ely

On July 17, 2009, Zappos.com, a privately-held online retailer of shoes, clothing, and other soft-line retail categories, learned that Amazon.com, a $19 billion multinational online retailer, had won its Board of Directors' approval to offer to merge the two companies.... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Internet and the Web; Mergers and Acquisitions; Organizational Culture; Growth and Development Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry

01 Feb 2022
Book

Innovation Isn’t Just for Startups: How Big Companies Can Succeed

What if more managers at big corporations channeled some of the same magic that helped Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos lead their startups to great success? Large companies are actually fertile ground for innovation;... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

14 Dec 2010
Op-Ed

Tax US Companies to Spur Spending

holdings--estimates of the amount held by US public corporations easily exceed $1 trillion; several technology companies alone are sitting on cash balances in excess of $20 billion--are thought to result from the absence of investment... View Details

Keywords: by Mihir A. Desai

Teaching Interest

Why is There No Cure for Health Care?

Teaching Fellow for Professor David Cutler - Harvard College Course EMREAS 20

View Details

Keywords: Health; Health Policy; Health Care; HIV; Pharmaceutical Companies; Health Care Reform; Health Economics

June 2004
Case

Aventis SA (B): A Company is Born

By: Joshua D. Margolis and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Mergers and Acquisitions; Horizontal Integration; Organizational Design; Organizational Culture; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

February 2019 (Revised July 2019)
Case

Sales Force Management at Nobel Ilac

By: Doug J. Chung and Gamze Yucaoglu

Nobel Ilac was a Turkish generic pharmaceutical company marketing more than 100 drugs in 20 countries and, as of 2017, had over 2,500 employees worldwide. Nobel had implemented a transformation strategy—more specifically, a customer segmentation plan—whereby the sales... View Details

Keywords: Sales Strategy; Compensation; Employee Retention; Recruiting; Pharmaceuticals; Salesforce Management; Strategy; Organizational Design; Human Resources; Compensation and Benefits; Employees; Retention; Recruitment; Pharmaceutical Industry; Turkey

2019
Article

Industrie-Holding: Creating a Community of Interest among Swiss 'Multinationals'

By: Sabine Pitteloud

This article focuses on the genesis and evolution of Industrie-Holding, a federation of Swiss multinationals, from 1942 onwards. Thanks to recent donations from the Alusuisse and Hero archives, historians now have access to the minutes of the Industrie-Holding... View Details

Keywords: Business ＆ Government Relations; Multinationals; Lobbying; Business and Government Relations; Multinational Firms and Management; Switzerland

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26 Jan 2004
Research & Ideas

What Developing-World Companies Teach Us About Innovation

When most people think of innovation, they envision developed-world companies such as the U.S.A.'s IBM, Japan's Sony, South Korea's Samsung, Finland's Nokia, or Switzerland's Novartis, technology leaders that have stayed at the cutting... View Details

Keywords: by Donald N. Sull, Alejandro Ruelas-Gossi & Martin Escobari

May 2015
Case

Transforming Alkermes into a Global Biopharmaceutical Company

By: C. Fritz Foley and Nicholas Haas

In the summer of 2011, Jim Frates, CFO of Alkermes faced choices about how to finance the acquisition of Dublin, Ireland-based Elan Drug Technologies (EDT)—a deal that was expected to close in the fall. The case describes the history of Alkermes, provides information... View Details

Keywords: Financing; Debt; Merger; CFO; Financial Management; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States; Europe

April 2017
Case

Imprimis (A)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Karen Elterman and Marc Appel

This case examines the strategic choices and evolving business model of Imprimis Pharmaceuticals from the perspective of CEO Mark Baum. The (A) case provides a brief history of the company and of the compounding business, outlining the challenges faced by Imprimis in... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Healthcare; Drug Compounding; Pharmaceuticals; Compounding; Drug Development; Decision-making; Mark Baum; Imprimis; Small Business; Decisions; Cost vs Benefits; Business Strategy; Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

1986
Chapter

Competition Encountered by U.S. Companies That Manufacture Abroad

By: Robert B. Stobaugh

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Competition; Trade; Manufacturing Industry; United States

October 2014 (Revised April 2023)
Case

Gilead: Hepatitis C Access Strategy (A)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Vikram Rangan and David E. Bloom

Gilead had come up with an innovative drug for Hepatitis C, which affected 180 million people worldwide. The drug was priced at $1,000 a pill for the US market. Gilead had to decide how to price and market the pill in developing countries that bore the brunt of the... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Pharmaceuticals; Pricing; Access To Care; Emerging Markets; Health Care and Treatment; Price; Strategy; Ethics; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

01 Mar 2007
News

Pharma Suits a Farm Gal

GRAHAM: From rodeo to CEO. Amylin Pharmaceuticals CEO Ginger Graham (MBA ’86) had a good year in 2006, with Amylin stock up as much as 45 percent, with Byetta and Symlin, its two innovative diabetes drugs, performing well, and with the... View Details

Keywords: biopharmaceutical company; Health, Social Assistance; Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices; Management

January 2017 (Revised October 2018)
Case

Novartis: A Transformative Deal

By: David Collis and Ashley Hartman

When Joe Jimenez became CEO of Swiss-based Novartis in 2010, replacing longtime CEO Dan Vasella, he assumed control of one of the top pharmaceutical companies in the world. Vasella, an avowed advocate of diversification, had expanded the scope of the company and... View Details

Keywords: Novartis; GlaxoSmithKline; Asset Swap; Acquisitions; Divestiture; Strategy Alignment; Pharmaceuticals; Strategy; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Consolidation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Pharmaceutical Industry