Publications

March 2016 (Revised March 2022)
Teaching Note

Express Scripts: Promoting Prescription Drug Home Delivery (A) and (B)

By: John Beshears

The pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) sector processes prescription drug claims on behalf of companies that offer a prescription drug benefit to their employees. The case associated with this teaching note follows Bob Nease, chief scientist at Express Scripts, as he... View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceuticals; Prescription Drugs; Pharmacy Benefit Manager; PBM; Healthcare; Behavioral Economics; Choice Architecture; Active Choice; Service Delivery; Decision Choices and Conditions; Consumer Behavior; Distribution Channels; Health Care and Treatment; Service Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

06 Oct 2014
News

Why Tesco’s Strengths Are No Longer Good Enough

Web

2024 Reunion Presentations - Alumni

strategy and risk-analysis along the way. How Investors Think about Climate Adaptation Senior Lecturer John Macomber (MBA 1983) 10:00–11:15 a.m. EDT + More Info – Less Info Participants will leave this session with a framework for how to... View Details

February 1995 (Revised September 1995)
Case

The Bourland Companies

By: William J. Poorvu and John H. Vogel Jr.

Michael Bourland, the president of the Bourland Companies, needs to refinance two properties, an office building in southern New Hampshire and a retail property in Massachusetts. He is considering three alternatives: a renewal of a bank mini-perm, a 15-year mortgage... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Property; Mortgages; Family Business; Financial Management; Family Ownership; Real Estate Industry; Massachusetts; North and Central America

07 Aug 2007
First Look

First Look: August 7, 2007

commencing approximately two years down the road. In the new hiring regime for federal judicial law clerks, by contrast, judges are exhorted to follow a set of start dates for considering and hiring applicants during the fall of the third... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

May 2012
Article

Adding Bricks to Clicks: Predicting the Patterns of Cross-Channel Elasticities over Time

By: Jill Avery, Thomas J. Steenburgh, John Deighton and Mary Caravella

The authors propose a conceptual framework to explain whether and when the introduction of a new retail store channel helps or hurts sales in existing direct channels. A conceptual framework separates short- and long-term effects by analyzing the capabilities of a... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Channels; Channels Of Distribution; Distribution; Retailing; Channel Management; Channel Migration; Multichannel Retailing; Framework; Customers; Marketing Channels; Sales; Internet and the Web; Demand and Consumers; Competency and Skills; Distribution Channels; E-commerce; Retail Industry; United States

SSRN

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August 23, 2018
Article

Using a New EHR System to Increase Patient Engagement, Improve Efficiency, and Decrease Cost

By: Katy French, Barbra Bryce Speer, Alexis B. Guzman, Tayab Andrabi, Iris Recinos, Keith A. Shook, James R. Incalcaterra, John C. Frenzel and Thomas W. Feeley

Patients and providers are frustrated with seemingly endless data entry. We used our patients’ vested interest in their own health care by actively engaging them in the entry of their own medical information into the EHR. Prior to the implementation of the new EHR we... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Analytics and Data Science; Performance Efficiency; Cost Management

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01 Dec 2003
News

Selling Digital Privacy

If regulation won’t stop privacy invasion, what will? HBS professor John Deighton has an answer that involves convincing companies to pay us consumers to use our private information. Instead of relying on... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

January 2009 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Disaster in April: The Obligations of Kelly Construction

By: John D. Macomber, Christopher M. Gordon and Ben Creo

A construction company experiences a crane accident with multiple fatalities. The CEO, a client, and an employee must make choices to meet the company's obligations. Set in 2006, the case looks at the choices faced by board members of a museum that is an important... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Family Business; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Governing and Advisory Boards; Compensation and Benefits; Contracts; Crisis Management; Construction Industry

16 Apr 2013
First Look

First Look: April 16

profitable investment decisions. During the last ten years, Wall Street research has been battered by a series of shocks. As concerns over conflicts of interest mounted, the integrity of research output was questioned, leading to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Benetton Group S.p.A., 2012

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

On May 31, 2012, after 36 years on the Milan Stock Exchange, Benetton was officially delisted and taken private by Edizione, the Benetton family's holding company. Since 2000, Benetton shareholders had seen its market value fall from $4.3 billion to $720 million at the... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Fashion; Retail; Privatization; Family Ownership; Performance Improvement; Problems and Challenges; Management Teams; Globalized Firms and Management; Change Management; Restructuring; Competitive Strategy; Retail Industry; Fashion Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Italy

July 2020
Article

Healthy Business? Managerial Education and Management in Healthcare

By: Nicholas Bloom, Renata Lemos, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen

We investigate the link between hospital performance and managerial education by collecting a large database of management practices and skills in hospitals across nine countries. We find that hospitals that are closer to universities offering both medical education... View Details

Keywords: Management; Hospitals; Mortality; Education; Health Care and Treatment; Performance Improvement; Business Education; Management Practices and Processes

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February 2007
Tutorial

Measuring Marketing Performance

By: John A. Quelch

In many organizations, marketing exists far from the executive suite and the boardroom. This tutorial instructs students how to improve the link between high level corporate strategy and the marketing function. First, students are exposed to three companies in which... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Performance Evaluation

October 2003 (Revised January 2005)
Case

Microsoft: Launching the Smart Watch

By: John T. Gourville and Christina L. Darwall

Microsoft is on the verge of launching its Smart Watch technology, which will allow specially designed watches to receive up-to-date information on sports, business, traffic, news, etc. After several years of effort and millions of dollars spent, the questions now... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Information Management; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Product Design; Product Development; Performance Effectiveness; Partners and Partnerships; Information Technology Industry

October 1999
Case

Overhead Reduction Task Force, The

By: J. Richard Hackman, Ruth Wageman and John J. Gabarro

A middle manager is about to meet with his boss to discuss her request that he head up a task force to determine how overhead can be reduced by 20%. He must decide what to address in that meeting and how the task force should be launched and led. The focus is on team... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Leadership Style; Management Teams; Management Style; Groups and Teams

January 2009 (Revised June 2014)
Supplement

CityCenter (B): Economics and Delivery

By: A. Eugene Kohn, John D. Macomber and Ben Creo

Bill Smith is informed by his general contractor that a key component of the Aria Resort is going to be delayed. Aria is the centerpiece of CityCenter: a $9 billion complex and a bet-the-firm decision for MGM Mirage. Smith must make a decision as to whether to force... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Decision Choices and Conditions; Construction; Finance; Organizational Structure; Projects; Complexity

June 2014 (Revised May 2020)
Supplement

Busse Place (B): Hannah's Dilemma

By: Arthur I. Segel and John H. Vogel, Jr.

Marisa Sanchez, a new Associate at Douglas Private Equity Advisors, confronts a dilemma when she is asked by a Senior Vice President (SVP) to do due diligence on a deal he wants to bring before the investment committee which will include the SVP, Douglas' owner and... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Financial Analysis; Property; Finance; Analysis; Ethics; Real Estate Industry; United States

26 Feb 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, February 26, 2019

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55749 forthcoming Review of Economics and Statistics Healthy Business? Managerial Education and Management in Healthcare By: Bloom, Nicholas, Raffaella Sadun, Renata Lemos, and John Van... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

March 2025
Case

Boom, Bust, or Bullseye? Navigating the Short-Term Rental Market

By: John Macomber, Juan Pablo Heusser Killing, Siddhant Pardeshi and Sally Su

Short-term rentals listed via apps like AirBnB and VRBO are increaslingly interesting investments for small scale real estate investors. However, they have substantial operating costs, vacancy risk, and regulatory exposure compared to traditional long term leases... View Details

Keywords: Housing; Real Estate Industry