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- May 2021
- Simulation
Customer Compatibility Exercise Application
By: Ryan W. Buell
Customers impose considerable variability on the operating systems of service organizations. They show up when they wish (arrival variability), they ask for different things (request variability), they vary in their willingness and ability to help themselves (effort... View Details
- February 2025
- Article
Improving Customer Compatibility with Tradeoff Transparency
By: Ryan W. Buell and MoonSoo Choi
Through a large-scale field experiment with 393,036 customers considering opening a credit card account with a nationwide retail bank, we investigate how providing transparency into an offering’s tradeoffs affects subsequent rates of customer acquisition and long-run... View Details
Keywords: Transparency; Customer Selection; Customer Compatibility; Retention; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Marketing Strategy; Marketing Communications; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Banking Industry; Australia
Buell, Ryan W., and MoonSoo Choi. "Improving Customer Compatibility with Tradeoff Transparency." Management Science 71, no. 2 (February 2025): 1335–1355.
- June 2020
- Article
Frenemies in Platform Markets: Heterogeneous Profit Foci as Drivers of Compatibility Decisions
By: Ron Adner, Jianqing Chen and Feng Zhu
We study compatibility decisions of two competing platform owners that generate profits through both hardware sales and royalties from content sales. We consider a game-theoretic model in which two platforms offer different standalone utilities to users. We find that... View Details
Keywords: Compatibility; Platform Competition; Profit Foci; Digital Platforms; Competition; Profit; Decision Making
Adner, Ron, Jianqing Chen, and Feng Zhu. "Frenemies in Platform Markets: Heterogeneous Profit Foci as Drivers of Compatibility Decisions." Management Science 66, no. 6 (June 2020): 2432–2451.
- 2019
- Working Paper
The Customer May Not Always Be Right: Customer Compatibility and Service Performance
This paper investigates the impact of customer compatibility – the degree of fit between the needs of customers and the capabilities of the operations serving them – on customer experiences and firm performance. We use a variance decomposition analysis to quantify the... View Details
Keywords: Customer Compatibility; Satisfaction; Profitability; Customer Relationship Management; Service Operations; Customer Satisfaction; Banking Industry; Retail Industry
Buell, Ryan W., Dennis Campbell, and Frances X. Frei. "The Customer May Not Always Be Right: Customer Compatibility and Service Performance." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 16-091, February 2016. (Revised December 2019.)
- March 2021
- Article
The Customer May Not Always Be Right: Customer Compatibility and Service Performance
This paper investigates the impact of customer compatibility – the degree of fit between the needs of customers and the capabilities of the operations serving them – on customer experiences and firm performance. We use a variance decomposition analysis to quantify the... View Details
Keywords: Customer Compatibility; Satisfaction; Profitability; Service Operations; Customer Relationship Management; Customer Satisfaction; Performance
Buell, Ryan W., Dennis Campbell, and Frances X. Frei. "The Customer May Not Always Be Right: Customer Compatibility and Service Performance." Management Science 67, no. 3 (March 2021): 1468–1488.
- 30 Jan 2020
- Research & Ideas
The Upside of Highlighting a Product's Downsides
When booking an international flight, the choice often comes down to “expensive but direct” or “cheap with connections.” But what if an airline warned customers that the direct flight was frequently delayed? Would customers appreciate knowing that they might spend more... View Details
Keywords: by Danielle Kost
- December 2015 (Revised October 2018)
- Exercise
Customer Compatibility Exercise
By: Ryan W. Buell
Buell, Ryan W. "Customer Compatibility Exercise." Harvard Business School Exercise 616-043, December 2015. (Revised October 2018.)
- Article
On Coalition Incentive Compatibility
By: Jerry R. Green and Jean-Jacques Laffont
Green, Jerry R., and Jean-Jacques Laffont. "On Coalition Incentive Compatibility." Review of Economic Studies 46, no. 2 (April 1979): 243–254.
- 1987
- Chapter
Limited Communication and Incentive Compatibility
By: Jerry R. Green and Jean-Jacques Laffont
Green, Jerry R., and Jean-Jacques Laffont. "Limited Communication and Incentive Compatibility." In Information, Incentives and Economic Mechanisms: Essays in Honor of Leonid Hurwicz, edited by Theodore Groves, Roy Radner, and Stanley Reiter. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1987.
- 21 Aug 2019
- Working Paper Summaries
Improving Customer Compatibility with Operational Transparency
- 1985
- Chapter
Differential Information, the Market and Incentive Compatibility
By: Jerry Green
Green, Jerry. "Differential Information, the Market and Incentive Compatibility." Chap. 3 in Frontiers of Economics, by Kenneth J. Arrow and Seppo Honkapohja, 178–226. Basil Blackwell, 1985.
Frenemies in Platform Markets: Heterogeneous Profit Foci as Drivers of Compatibility Decisions
We study compatibility decisions of two competing platform owners that generate profits through both hardware sales and royalties from content sales. We consider a game-theoretic model in which two platforms offer different standalone utilities to users. We find that... View Details
- 1978
- Article
An Incentive Compatible Planning Procedure for Public Good Production
By: Jerry R. Green and Jean-Jacques Laffont
It is only recently that economic theorists have faced the fact that the proposed allocation mechanisms in economies with public goods might have bad incentive properties. In this paper we introduce a new planning procedure such that truthful revelation of the marginal... View Details
Green, Jerry R., and Jean-Jacques Laffont. "An Incentive Compatible Planning Procedure for Public Good Production." Scandinavian Journal of Economics 80, no. 1 (1978): 20–33.
- 1982
- Article
Incentive Compatibility in a Market with Indivisible Goods
By: A. E. Roth
Roth, A. E. "Incentive Compatibility in a Market with Indivisible Goods." Economics Letters 9, no. 2 (1982): 127–132.
- 2019
- Working Paper
Collusive Investments in Technological Compatibility: Lessons from U.S. Railroads in the Late 19th Century
By: Daniel P. Gross
Collusion is widely condemned for its negative effects on consumer welfare and market efficiency. In this paper, I show that collusion may also in some cases facilitate the creation of unexpected new sources of value. I bring this possibility into focus through the... View Details
Keywords: Collusion; Compatibility; Railroads; Rail Transportation; Standards; Integration; Trade; History; United States
Gross, Daniel P. "Collusive Investments in Technological Compatibility: Lessons from U.S. Railroads in the Late 19th Century." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 17-044, December 2016. (Accepted at Management Science.)
- 1979
- Article
An Incentive Compatible Planning Procedure for Public Good Production: A Corrigendum
By: Jerry R. Green and Jean-Jacques Laffont
Green, Jerry R., and Jean-Jacques Laffont. "An Incentive Compatible Planning Procedure for Public Good Production: A Corrigendum." Scandinavian Journal of Economics 81, no. 3 (1979): 443–444.
- December 2014 (Revised February 2020)
- Case
Compass Group: The Ascension Health Decision
By: Ryan W. Buell
In 2012, Compass Group (Compass) was on the verge of closing a $2 billion deal with Ascension Health (Ascension), one of the largest healthcare systems in the United States. Under the deal, Compass would provide foodservice management and cleaning services for 86 of... View Details
Keywords: Operations Strategy; Sectorization; Operational Focus; Customer Compatibility; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Operations; Strategy; Customer Focus and Relationships; Service Industry; Health Industry; United States
Buell, Ryan W. "Compass Group: The Ascension Health Decision." Harvard Business School Case 615-026, December 2014. (Revised February 2020.)
- March 2016
- Supplement
Compass Group: The Ascension Health Decision
By: Ryan W. Buell
In 2012, Compass Group (Compass) was on the verge of closing a $2 billion deal with Ascension Health (Ascension), one of the largest healthcare systems in the United States. Under the deal, Compass would provide foodservice management and cleaning services for 86 of... View Details
Keywords: Operations Strategy; Sectorization; Operational Focus; Customer Compatibility; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Operations; Customer Focus and Relationships; Service Industry; Health Industry; United States
Buell, Ryan W. "Compass Group: The Ascension Health Decision." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Supplement 616-705, March 2016.