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Pursuing Precision Medicine at Intermountain Healthcare Feb 26, 2019

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What happens when Intermountain Healthcare invests resources in an innovative precision medicine unit to provide life-extending, genetically targeted therapies to late-stage cancer patients? Harvard Business School professors Richard Hamermesh and Kathy Giusti discuss their case — entitled “Intermountain Healthcare: Pursuing Precision Medicine” — and its connections to their work with the Kraft Precision Medicine Accelerator.

The Delicious History of Hershey Chocolate Feb 13, 2019

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Have you ever wondered how Hershey chocolate came to be so popular? Harvard Business School professor Nancy Koehn discusses her case entitled “Candy Land, the Utopian Vision of Milton Hershey,” which explores the life and vision of Milton Hershey, the entrepreneur and philanthropist behind the Hershey chocolate bar, the town of Hershey, Pennsylvania, and the Milton Hershey School.

How Wegmans Became a Leader in Improving Food Safety Jan 29, 2019

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Harvard Business School professor Ray Goldberg discusses his case study, “Wegmans and Listeria: Developing a Proactive Food Safety System for Produce” — how Wegmans CEO faced a food safety issue and then helped the industry determine how it could become more proactive in the future.

Can Miguel McKelvey Build the “Culture Operating System” at WeWork? Jan 09, 2019

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How deeply does the culture of a startup matter? Can it be shaped? Harvard Business School professor Jeffrey Rayport discusses his case “WeWork” regarding cofounder Miguel McKelvey’s innovative role in building a company culture to support rapid growth.

Using Fintech to Disrupt Eastern Bank from Within Dec 18, 2018

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Was Eastern Labs a huge success or an expensive mistake? Eastern Bank CEO Bob Rivers innovates from within by partnering with fintech entrepreneur Dan O’Malley to launch a completely automated small business lending product. Harvard Business School professor Karen Mills discusses key questions from her case, “Eastern Bank; Innovating Through Eastern Labs”: Did Rivers have the right intrapreneurship model? Did he change the culture at Eastern? Did he make a mistake spinning off Numerated into a separate company?

Honda Created a Civic for Very Light Jets: How High Will it Fly? Dec 05, 2018

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After thirty years of research and development, the HondaJet is now the top selling jet in the very light jet segment of the market. Harvard Business School professor Gary Pisano discusses his case study entitled, “Flying into the Future: HondaJet” — how Honda Aircraft Corporation CEO Michimasa Fujino brings the jet to life, and must now decide on ways to grow the business.

Building a Nonprofit Marketplace System to Feed America Nov 19, 2018

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Feeding America is the third largest nonprofit in America, managing a network of more than 200 food banks nationwide. Harvard Business School professor Scott Duke Kominers and University of Chicago professor Canice Prendergast discuss Kominers’ case, “Feeding America (A)” — how the organization designed a marketplace that was efficient and fair for all participants.

Could Big Data Replace the Creative Director at the Gap? Nov 07, 2018

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Is it time to throw out the creative director and rely on big data to predict what consumers want to wear next? Harvard Business School professor Ayelet Israeli discusses her case study, “Predicting Consumer Tastes With Big Data at Gap” — how Gap CEO Art Peck considers this bold idea to boost sales.

Vodafone’s Innovative Approach to Advanced Technologies Oct 24, 2018

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Harvard Business School professor Bill Kerr discusses how Vodafone, one of the largest companies in the telecommunications space, incorporated technological advancements like big data, automation, and artificial intelligence to improve productivity while ensuring new opportunities were created for the next generation of workers. Kerr is the author of the case study, “Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence.”

Baseball’s Billy Beane Shows Companies the Power of Data Oct 10, 2018

Show notes

Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane brought a data driven and unconventional approach to winning baseball games. By setting strategy and articulating the metric to evaluate and acquire the players who would ultimately implement his strategy on the field, Beane’s sabermetrics approach brought about a cultural shift in baseball from the players and managers to coaches and scouts. Harvard Business School professor Srikant Datar discusses his case study entitled, “The Oakland Athletics: Strategy and Metrics for a Budget,” co-written with Caitlin N. Bowler about how strategy and metrics work hand-in-hand, and how Beane’s story provides companies with important lessons in data science.

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