Publications

Leemore Dafny is the Bruce V. Rauner Professor of Business Administration and the Howard Cox Health Care Initiative Faculty Co-Chair at the Harvard Business School. She also serves as Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Dafny is an... View Details

Keywords: health care

June 2017
Case

Obesity Management at Kaiser Permanente: A New Mindset for Healthcare Delivery?

By: Kevin Schulman, Gregory Leya and Christina Beveridge

Kaiser Permanente (KP) is the largest managed care organization in the United States with over 10 million members. KP evolved from a prepayment or capitation model that focuses the organization around the efficiency of care and the health of the population it serves.... View Details

Keywords: Operations; Health Care and Treatment; Business Model; Strategy; Health Industry; United States

July 2010
Case

Metabical: Positioning and Communications Strategy for a New Weight Loss Drug

By: John A. Quelch and Heather Beckham

Cambridge Sciences Pharmaceuticals (CSP) expects final approval for its revolutionary weight loss drug, Metabical. Metabical will be the only weight loss drug with FDA approval that is also clinically proven to be effective for moderately overweight people. Barbara... View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Marketing Communications; Product Launch; Consumer Behavior; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

November 2020 (Revised March 2021)
Case

Sercomm: Operating in China Amid COVID-19 and Beyond

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Gary P. Pisano and Bonnie Yining Cao

The COVID-19 pandemic had forced a production cut in the factory of Sercomm, one of the world’s major telecom equipment producers, in China. The case explores and highlights the challenges that Chief Executive Officer James Wang faced: How could Sercomm recover and... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Information Technology; Operations; Management; Health Pandemics; Strategy; Telecommunications Industry; Manufacturing Industry; China

January 2018
Article

The Effect of Cost Sharing on an Employee Weight Loss Program: A Randomized Trial

By: Leslie K. John, Andrea Troxel, William Yancy, Joelle Y. Friedman, Jingsan Zhu, Lin Yang, Robert Galvin, Karen Miller-Kovach, Scott Halpern, George Loewenstein and Kevin Volpp

Purpose: We tested the effects of employer subsidies on employee enrollment, attendance, and weight loss in a nationally-available weight management program.
Design: A randomized trial tested the impact of employer subsidy: 100%; 80% 50% and a hybrid 50% subsidy... View Details

Keywords: Affordable Care Act (ACA); Subsidies; Weight Loss; Obesity; Incentives; Behavioral Economics; Motivation and Incentives; Behavior; Health Disorders; Health Care and Treatment; Compensation and Benefits; United States

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September 1974
Case

Max-Able Medical Clinic (A)

The issue concerns introduction of a new technology in health care delivery. The case requires the student to analyze the process for delivering health care via a new technology, the multiphasic testing facility. Analysis of patient flow, capacity, choice of tests, and... View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Technology Adoption; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; Health Industry

03 Sep 2015
News

Lahey, Beth Israel Deaconess in merger talk

November 2007 (Revised January 2010)
Case

ThedaCare: System Strategy

By: Michael E. Porter and Sachin H. Jain

Over the 1980s and 1990s, America's changing health care payer environment resulted in mergers of numerous community hospitals into hospital systems. Based in Appleton, Wisconsin, ThedaCare stood out among community hospital systems in its pursuit of service... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Health Care and Treatment; Problems and Challenges; Innovation and Invention; Health Industry; Wisconsin

August 2008 (Revised May 2009)
Background Note

Note on Generic Drugs in the European Union

By: Robert C. Pozen and Elizabeth M. Leonard

Rules governing the introduction of generic drugs in U.S. and EU have some similarities but significant differences because of the Hatch-Waxman Act in the U.S. View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government Legislation; Health Care and Treatment; Trademarks; Brands and Branding; Pharmaceutical Industry; European Union; United States

01 Jun 2009
Lessons from the Classroom

The Challenges of Investing in Science-Based Innovation

markets have tightened, it's the companies with highly differentiated products that will be able to not only weather this storm, but come out the other side" in a strong position, says Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Banking; Auto; Pharmaceutical

Forthcoming
Book

Innovating in Healthcare: Creating Breakthrough Tech, Services, Drugs, Products, and Business Models

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

Innovating in Healthcare offers effective approaches for designing, reworking, and implementing innovative healthcare services, products, and business models. It will help anyone working in healthcare service or product development, from hospitals to startups,... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Service Delivery; Product Development; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Health Industry

11 Dec 2014
News

Boston Medical Center, Tufts in merger talks

October 2009 (Revised January 2010)
Case

The Joslin Diabetes Center

By: Michael E. Porter, Elizabeth Olmsted Teisberg and Scott Wallace

The Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, Massachusetts is a leading center for diabetes care, clinician training, and research. The incidence of diabetes is rising precipitously worldwide, challenging quality of life with its complications and rapidly accelerating health... View Details

Keywords: Integration; Service Delivery; Medical Specialties; Health Care and Treatment; Outcome or Result; Corporate Finance; Health Industry; Boston

May 2011
Article

Nonsimultaneous Chains and Dominos in Kidney Paired Donation—Revisited

By: Itai Ashlagi, Duncan S. Gilchrist, Alvin E. Roth and Michael A. Rees

Since 2008 kidney exchange in America has grown in part from the incorporation of non-directed donors in transplant chains rather than simple exchanges. It is controversial whether these chains should be performed simultaneously ("domino paired donation," DPD) or... View Details

Keywords: ABO Incompatibility; Allosensitization; Paired Kidney Exchange; Regional Sharing; Simulation Models; Transplantation Policy; Health Care and Treatment; Supply Chain; Risk and Uncertainty; Logistics; United States

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June 2006 (Revised June 2007)
Background Note

The Challenge Facing the U.S. Healthcare Delivery System

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Discusses the challenges currently facing the U.S. health care delivery system. These challenges frame the problems managers of delivery organizations are currently facing. They include a burgeoning gap between demand and supply. Demand for health care services is... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; United States

June 2011 (Revised May 2012)
Case

L'Oréal: Global Brand, Local Knowledge

By: Rebecca M. Henderson and Ryan Johnson

Worldwide, and in the U.S. marketplace in particular, the French cachet of L'Oréal was one of its most powerful marketing tools. However, with the opening up of emerging markets, L'Oréal had to cater to a diverse customer base: an aging population in the West, ethnic... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Change Management; Sales; Emerging Markets; Segmentation; Innovation and Invention; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; France; United States