Publications

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September 2012
Case

SCMS: Battling HIV/AIDS in Africa

By: Ananth Raman, Noel Watson, Santiago Kraiselburd and Emmanuel Akili

In 2005, USAID and the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), created the Supply Chain Management System (SCMS) to procure and distribute essential medicines and supplies; provide technical assistance to transform existing supply chains; and... View Details

January 2024
Background Note

Evaluating Innovations in the Organization of Primary Care: What Type of Innovation Is It and How Well Does It Align with the Six Factors?

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and James Wallace

How can we evaluate if innovative health care ventures can do good—benefit society—and do well—become financially viable? This question is the topic of the first module in the Innovating in Health Care course book.

This note and "Health Stop (A): What Type... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Health Care and Treatment; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Mission and Purpose; Alignment; Health Industry

July 2003 (Revised August 2003)
Case

Global Healthcare Exchange

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Jamie Ladge

Founded in March 2000 at the height of the dot-com bubble, Global Healthcare Exchange (GHX) was one of 90 online marketplaces in the health care industry. The company's founders were among the largest suppliers in the industry, including Johnson & Johnson, GE Medical,... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Entrepreneurship; Price; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Supply and Industry; Organizational Design; Expansion; Internet and the Web; Valuation; Health Industry

August 2016 (Revised August 2016)
Teaching Note

Intrapreneurship at DaVita Healthcare Partners

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Matthew Preble

DaVita Healthcare Partners Inc. (DaVita) is one of the U.S.'s leading dialysis providers, a process whereby persons with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) are connected to a machine that performs the functions of a healthy kidney. Kent Thiry, DaVita's CEO, has expanded... 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

August 2014 (Revised February 2021)
Case

Hospital for Special Surgery (A)

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Stacy Schwartz

Hospital for Special Surgery, a focused factory for orthopedics and joint disease, is contemplating various growth options: further growth in the United Kingdom's National Health Services, management of hospitals in the United States, and/or hospital consulting.... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Nonprofit Organizations; Growth and Development Strategy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Expansion; Health Industry; United Kingdom; United States

February 1999 (Revised November 1999)
Case

HealthPartners

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Nancy Dean Beaulieu

Presents the efforts by HealthPartners to create competition among health care providers in Minnesota on the basis of both quality and price. Also provides some insight into the strategies for changing physician behavior. View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Service Delivery; Behavior; Competition; Health Industry; Minnesota

June 2020
Supplement

TransDigm in 2017: Congressional Hearing on the DoD Inspector General’s Report (5/15/19)

By: Benjamin C. Esty

This video accompanies the case, “TransDigm in 2017: The Beginning of the End or the End of the Beginning?” View Details

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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August 2017
Article

Should Governments Invest More in Nudging?

By: Shlomo Benartzi, John Beshears, Katherine L. Milkman, Cass R. Sunstein, Richard H. Thaler, Maya Shankar, Will Tucker-Ray, William J. Congdon and Steven Galing

Governments are increasingly adopting behavioral science techniques for changing individual behavior in pursuit of policy objectives. The types of “nudge” interventions that governments are now adopting alter people’s decisions without coercion or significant changes... View Details

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October 1996 (Revised January 1997)
Case

Mt. Auburn Hospital

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Jaan Elias

In December of 1993, two of Boston's largest and best known hospitals, Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's, announced that they were setting aside their historic rivalry to form an alliance and build a regional health network. The announcement set off a wave... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Negotiation Offer; Alliances; Networks; Social Enterprise; Horizontal Integration; Health Industry; Boston

Research Summary

Overview of Research

My research examines approaches to improving the performance of our health care delivery system with a primary focus on health information technology. Reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of my program, my dissertation draws upon theories and insights from... View Details

28 Mar 2018
News

Hospital Budget Systems Are Holding Back Innovation

March 2000
Case

Medscape

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Lisa Shapiro Strovink

Medscape is a health care Web site that focuses on delivering high-quality information to health providers and consumers. This case describes Medscape's formation and business model and asks, How is this model unique and is it sustainable? View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Customer Focus and Relationships; Service Delivery; Web Sites; Information Industry

16 Apr 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 16, 2019

all become consumers of the health care industry. Indeed, health care affects everyone and encompasses a diverse set of services from childbirth,... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

April 1, 2020
Article

Coronavirus Is Putting Corporate Social Responsibility to the Test

By: Mark R. Kramer

A great many large companies talk about their values, or about how much they care for their employees and other stakeholders. The coronavirus crisis is the time for them to make good on that commitment. The author offers some things that corporations can do to help... View Details

Keywords: Health Pandemics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

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Research Summary

Overview

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

Winner of the Harvard Business School outstanding teacher award and research awards from U.S. and international health care and accounting organizations: 2016 “60 of the Most Powerful People in Healthcare in 2016,” Becker’s Hospital Review, January 3, 2017 ; 2014 ... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Insurance; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Information Technology

02 Feb 2016
News

HBS Launches Clinical Trials Contest

May 2, 2024
Article

Require Hospitals to Disclose Their Pandemic Plans Now

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Richard J. Boxer and Ben Creo

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that U.S. hospital and health care systems were ill-prepared for the surge of patients who overwhelmed available health care resources. An overlooked resource deserves more attention: the availability of intensive care unit (ICU)... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Crisis Management; Knowledge Sharing; Governance Compliance; Planning; Health Industry; United States