Publications

February 2019 (Revised November 2023)
Case

Rent-a-Center/Vintage Capital

By: Guhan Subramanian and Caeden Brynie

Christopher Korst, General Counsel for Rent-A-Center (RAC), looked at the time. It was late in the evening on December 17, 2018, yet no notice of extension had come from Vintage Capital. In June, Vintage had agreed to buy RAC for $15 per share in cash, amounting to... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Communication; Decision Making

14 Jul 2015
First Look

First Look: July 14, 2015

after the passage of health reform in the United States. The case explores in detail how the hospital CEO and staff designed and implemented new models of care delivery and built relationships across health care delivery settings in an... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 1978
Case

Sierra Log Homes, Inc. (A)

By: Michael E. Porter

Describes the history and evolution of the log home manufacturing industry, a rapidly growing embryonic industry capitalizing on the back-to-basics lifestyle changes in the United States. Focuses on one of the leading firms in the industry, but allows a discussion of... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Change Management; Industry Structures; Supply and Industry; Problems and Challenges; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; United States

November 2003 (Revised December 2003)
Background Note

Note on School Choice in U.S. Public Education

This note surveys school choice in the United States. School choice characterizes the school assignment of approximately 56% of U.S. school-aged children and, in order of popularity, can be categorized into seven types: residential choice, private schools, intra- and... View Details

Keywords: Education; United States

Find at Harvard

09 Sep 2015
News

Entrepreneurship: Increasingly, the Province of the Wealthy

February 1995 (Revised July 1995)
Case

Power Play (A): Nintendo in 8-bit Video Games

The home video-game industry began in 1972 with the founding of Atari. After riding a dramatic boom and bust in the early 1980s, most players left the business. Nintendo of Japan then rebuilt the industry--establishing a commanding worldwide position by the end of the... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Lawfulness; Competitive Advantage; Monopoly; Video Game Industry; Japan

August 2019 (Revised November 2021)
Case

Helena Divišová

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Helena Divišová (MBA, 2016) decided to return home to the Czech Republic after graduation to be near her father who became seriously ill soon after she started HBS. She had considered leaving HBS immediately to help run his business, but her father—who grew up in the... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Czech Republic

February 2020
Teaching Note

Essential Explorations at MUJI

By: Tomomichi Amano and Das Narayandas

Launched as a private brand in 1980 to counter the increasingly brand-conscious consumer in Japan, MUJI offered beautifully designed, fairly priced, no-frills quality goods. The once modest private label brand with 40 products had expanded significantly by 2019 to more... View Details

Keywords: Product Portfolio Management; Brands and Branding; Product; Management; Change Management; Mission and Purpose; Retail Industry; Japan

06 Oct 2017
News

Making Patients and Doctors Happier — The Potential of Patient-Reported Outcomes

08 Apr 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Multinational Strategies and Developing Countries in Historical Perspective

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones

August 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Essential Explorations at MUJI

By: Tomomichi Amano, Das Narayandas, Naoko Jinjo and Akiko Kanno

Launched as a private brand in 1980 to counter the increasingly brand-conscious consumer in Japan, MUJI offered beautifully designed, fairly priced, no-frills quality goods. The once modest private label brand with 40 products had expanded significantly by 2019 to more... View Details

Keywords: Product Portfolio Management; Brands and Branding; Product; Management; Change Management; Mission and Purpose; Retail Industry; Japan

2018
Working Paper

Two Hundred Years of Health and Medical Care: The Importance of Medical Care for Life Expectancy Gains

By: Maryaline Catillon, David Cutler and Thomas Getzen

Using two hundred years of national and Massachusetts data on medical care and health, we examine how central medical care is to life expectancy gains. While common theories about medical care cost growth stress growing demand, our analysis highlights the importance of... View Details

Keywords: Mortality; Life Expectancy; Medical Care; Productivity; Public Health; Healthcare Spending; Spending Per Year Of Life Gained; Personal Medicine; Technophysio Evolution; Health; Economics; Health Care and Treatment; Spending; Data and Data Sets; Health Industry

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2021
Working Paper

The Luck of the Draw: The Causal Effect of Physicians on Birth Outcomes

By: Arlen Guarin, Christian Posso, Estefania Saravia and Jorge Tamayo

Identifying the effect of physicians’ skills on health outcomes is a challenging task due to the nonrandom sorting between physicians and hospitals. We overcome this challenge by exploiting a Colombian government program that randomly assigned 2,126 physicians to 618... View Details

Keywords: Physicians' Health Skills; Health Birth Outcomes; Birthing Outcomes; Experimental Evidence; Health Care and Treatment; Competency and Skills; Outcome or Result; Health Industry; Colombia

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January 2013 (Revised May 2013)
Case

Kunshan, Incorporated: The Making of China's Richest Town

By: William C. Kirby, Nora Bynum, Tracy Yuen Manty and Erica M. Zendell

In 1980, the city of Kunshan was mere countryside, registering neither on the Chinese government's nor the international business community's radar. By 2010, Kunshan had become the richest city per capita in China and a global technology powerhouse, home to companies... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Investment; Entrepreneurship; Competition; Emerging Markets; FDI; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Innovation Leadership; Technology Industry; China; Taiwan Strait

Research Summary

Overview

The Information Age has introduced well recieved opportunities to track performance. Fitbits and Fuelbands show individuals their own performance; service companies including Uber and leading hospitals help pick from drivers or doctors based on how others rate them;... View Details

Keywords: Management Accounting; Performance Measurement; Incentives; Control; Healthcare Industry; Education; Education Industry; Health Industry; Transportation Industry; Energy Industry; Auto Industry; United States; Japan; India

03 Jan 2007
First Look

First Look: January 3, 2007

implications for the efficient targeting of social programs more generally. A key issue in this debate is whether higher purchase prices lead to more intensive product use and, therefore, greater health benefits. We present results from... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

25 Sep 2007
First Look

First Look: September 25, 2007

for Improving the Safety and Efficiency of Hospital Work Systems Authors:Anita L. Tucker, Sara J. Singer, Jennifer E. Hayes, and Alyson Falwell Abstract Objective. To link safety-related concerns raised by... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

September 2002 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Istituto Clinico Humanitas (A)

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer, Gary P. Pisano and Ning Tang

Istituto Clinico Humanitas is a newly built private hospital, south of Milan, Italy, that has attained unusual profitability while treating public system patients. The hospital was built and is managed by Techosp, a subsidiary of Techint, a global engineering and... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Systems; Infrastructure; Managerial Roles; Integration; Performance; Health Industry; Milan