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Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(3,946)
- People (11)
- News (1,208)
- Research (2,202)
- Events (3)
- Multimedia (5)
- Faculty Publications (1,439)
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- 20 Aug 2020
- Working Paper Summaries
Can Shared Service Delivery Increase Customer Engagement? A Study of Shared Medical Appointments
- April 1993 (Revised May 2009)
- Case
Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai, India: In Service for Sight, The
Starting as a modest 20-bed hospital, Aravind had grown into a 1,400-bed hospital complex by 1992. It had by then screened 3.65 million patients and performed 335,000 cataract surgeries, nearly 70% of them free of cost for the poorest of India's blind population.... View Details
Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Social Marketing; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Welfare; Expansion; Health Industry; India
Rangan, V. Kasturi. "Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai, India: In Service for Sight, The." Harvard Business School Case 593-098, April 1993. (Revised May 2009.)
- December 2011
- Article
Prices or Knowledge? What Drives Demand for Financial Services in Emerging Markets?
By: Shawn A. Cole, Thomas Sampson and Bilal Zia
Financial development is critical for growth, but its micro-determinants are not well understood. We test leading theories of low demand for financial services in emerging markets, combining novel survey evidence from Indonesia and India with a field experiment. We... View Details
Keywords: Price; Knowledge; Demand and Consumers; Emerging Markets; Banks and Banking; Education; Finance; Behavior; Service Operations; Financial Services Industry; India; Indonesia
Cole, Shawn A., Thomas Sampson, and Bilal Zia. "Prices or Knowledge? What Drives Demand for Financial Services in Emerging Markets?" Journal of Finance 66, no. 6 (December 2011): 1933–1967.
- April 1990 (Revised November 1992)
- Case
Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged)
By: James E. Austin
Population Services International (PSI) was a not-for-profit agency founded to disseminate family planning information and to market birth control products, primarily in less developed countries seeking to curb their population explosions. In 1976, PSI concluded an... View Details
Keywords: Conferences; Developing Countries and Economies; Information Publishing; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing; Agreements and Arrangements; Product; Nonprofit Organizations; Pharmaceutical Industry; Bangladesh; Washington (state, US)
Austin, James E. "Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 590-061, April 1990. (Revised November 1992.)
- May 28, 2018
- Article
How Companies Can Identify Racial and Gender Bias in Their Customer Service
By: Alexandra C. Feldberg and Tami Kim
Research shows that minority customers — blacks and Asians — regularly receive worse customer service than whites in ways that are not immediately obvious to onlookers (or even managers). These results prompt a couple of questions for executives and managers. One, does... View Details
Keywords: Internal Audit; Customers; Service Delivery; Prejudice and Bias; Race; Gender; Organizational Change and Adaptation
Feldberg, Alexandra C., and Tami Kim. "How Companies Can Identify Racial and Gender Bias in Their Customer Service." Harvard Business Review (website) (May 28, 2018).
- May 2016 (Revised September 2017)
- Case
Pal's Sudden Service—Scaling an Organizational Model to Drive Growth
By: Gary P. Pisano, Francesca Gino and Bradley R. Staats
Pal's Sudden Service has developed a unique operating model and organizational culture in the quick service restaurant business. With a deep emphasis on process control and improvement, zero defects, extensive training, and a high level of employee engagement, Pal's... View Details
Keywords: Growth Strategy; Corporate Culture; Operations Strategy; Motivation; Values; Motivation and Incentives; Strategy; Values and Beliefs; Service Operations; Organizational Culture; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Industry; Service Industry
Pisano, Gary P., Francesca Gino, and Bradley R. Staats. "Pal's Sudden Service—Scaling an Organizational Model to Drive Growth." Harvard Business School Case 916-052, May 2016. (Revised September 2017.)
- 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.
- October 2015 (Revised February 2020)
- Teaching Note
Trouble at Tessei
By: Ethan Bernstein and Ryan Buell
In 2005, Teruo Yabe is asked to revive Tessei, the 669-person JR-East subsidiary responsible for cleaning its Shinkansen ("bullet") trains. Operational mistakes, customer complaints, safety issues, and employee turnover are at or near all-time highs, even as the... View Details
Keywords: Service Management; Employee Engagement; Employee Motivation; Leadership And Managing People; Quality Improvement; Efficiency; Japan; Operational Transparency; Employee Coordination; Transparency; Leadership; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Employees; Quality; Transportation Industry; Japan
- January 2015 (Revised March 2015)
- Case
Oberoi Hotels: Train Whistle in the Tiger Reserve
By: Ryan W. Buell, Ananth Raman and Vidhya Muthuram
Celebrated as one of the world's premiere luxury hotel brands, Oberoi Hotels attracts and serves some of the most quality-sensitive guests in the world. The case considers the challenge of how an organization, with a standardized service model, can repeatedly delight... View Details
Keywords: Service Quality; Service Management; Service Quality Competition; Customer Management; Customer Service Excellence; Employee Empowerment; Employee Engagement; Employee Training; India; Hospitality; Hotel Industry; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Customer Satisfaction; Employees; Quality; Accommodations Industry; India
Buell, Ryan W., Ananth Raman, and Vidhya Muthuram. "Oberoi Hotels: Train Whistle in the Tiger Reserve." Harvard Business School Case 615-043, January 2015. (Revised March 2015.)
- July 2023
- Article
Marketplace Scalability and Strategic Use of Platform Investment
By: Jin Li, Gary Pisano, Richard Xu and Feng Zhu
The scalability of a marketplace depends on the operations of the marketplace platform as well as its sellers’ capacities. In this study, we explore one strategy that a marketplace platform can use to enhance its scalability: providing an ancillary service to sellers.... View Details
Li, Jin, Gary Pisano, Richard Xu, and Feng Zhu. "Marketplace Scalability and Strategic Use of Platform Investment." Management Science 69, no. 7 (July 2023): 3958–3975.
- 2002
- Other Unpublished Work
Legal Management: The Case for a Managed Model for the Delivery of Legal Services
This essay takes a brief look at the innovations in the delivery of legal services made due to the expansion of the pre-paid sector and uses those changes in the power dynamics of the industry to make a compelling case for a more widespread, managed model. The managed... View Details
Bernstein, Ethan S. "Legal Management: The Case for a Managed Model for the Delivery of Legal Services." December 2002. (Harvard Law School: Bellow-Sacks Access to Civil Legal Services Project.)
- 2021
- Working Paper
Accounting for Product Impact in the Interactive Media and Services Industry
By: DG Park, George Serafeim and Katie Trinh
We apply the product impact measurement framework of the Impact-Weighted Accounts Initiative (IWAI) in two competitor companies within the interactive media and services industry. We design a monetization methodology that allows us to calculate monetary impact... View Details
Keywords: Product Innovation; Impact; Impact Investing; Impact Measurement; ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; ESG Ratings; Social Corporate Responsibility; Corporate Social Responsibility; Social Impact; Product Design; Product Positioning; Society; Product; Environmental Sustainability; Measurement and Metrics; Framework; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Media; Technology Industry
Park, DG, George Serafeim, and Katie Trinh. "Accounting for Product Impact in the Interactive Media and Services Industry." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 21-134, June 2021.
- 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.)
- Article
Fighting Bias on the Front Lines
By: Alexandra C. Feldberg and Tami Kim
Most companies aim for exceptional customer service, but too few are attentive to the subtle discrimination by frontline employees that can alienate customers, lead to lawsuits, or even cause lasting brand damage by going viral.
This article presents research... View Details
This article presents research... View Details
Keywords: Customer Service; Customer Focus and Relationships; Service Delivery; Diversity; Prejudice and Bias; Organizational Change and Adaptation
Feldberg, Alexandra C., and Tami Kim. "Fighting Bias on the Front Lines." Harvard Business Review 99, no. 6 (November–December 2021): 90–98.
- 19 Feb 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
The Supply Chain Economy: A New Framework for Understanding Innovation and Services
Keywords: by Mercedes Delgado and Karen G. Mills
- September 2000
- Background Note
Professional Services Module One: Introduction to the Challenges Facing PSFs
By: Thomas J. DeLong, Ashish Nanda and Scot H. Landry
This initial module was meant to clarify how the course would be useful to students who would be starting PSFs, working for them as an employee or contractor, managing them, or hiring them from the client side. View Details
DeLong, Thomas J., Ashish Nanda, and Scot H. Landry. "Professional Services Module One: Introduction to the Challenges Facing PSFs." Harvard Business School Background Note 801-007, September 2000.
- March 2018 (Revised March 2019)
- Technical Note
Control or Flexibility? Structured Empowerment Offers Both — Lessons from Retail & Service Chains
By: Tatiana Sandino
This note explains how several retail and service organizations use a practice described here as “structured empowerment” to balance control and flexibility as they grow. I define structured empowerment as a practice that grants employees both (a) the power to make... View Details
Keywords: Service Operations; Standards; Employees; Service Delivery; Decision Making; Power and Influence; Service Industry; Service Industry
Sandino, Tatiana. "Control or Flexibility? Structured Empowerment Offers Both — Lessons from Retail & Service Chains." Harvard Business School Technical Note 118-082, March 2018. (Revised March 2019.)
- November 2008
- Article
Chartering New Territory: Diversification, Legitimacy and Practice Area Creation in Professional Service Firms
By: Heidi Gardner, N. Anand and Timothy Morris
Diversification into innovative domains through new practice area creation is a critical imperative for professional services firms. Using theories of organizational territoriality and corporate charters, we conceptualize professional firms as federations of distinct... View Details
Keywords: Diversification; Lawfulness; Code Law; Management Practices and Processes; Service Operations; Innovation and Invention; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques
Gardner, Heidi, N. Anand, and Timothy Morris. "Chartering New Territory: Diversification, Legitimacy and Practice Area Creation in Professional Service Firms." Special Issue on Professional Service Firms: Where Organization Theory and Organizational Behavior Might Meet, edited by Roy Suddaby, Royston Greenwood, and Celeste Wilderom Journal of Organizational Behavior 29, no. 8 (November 2008).
- September 2000
- Background Note
Professional Services Module Two: External Strategy for Sustained Competitive Advantage
By: Thomas J. DeLong, Ashish Nanda and Scot H. Landry
Concerns itself with the strategic dynamics which influence organizations externally. View Details
Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Business Plan; Service Operations; For-Profit Firms; Power and Influence; Measurement and Metrics; Business Processes; Management Practices and Processes; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques
DeLong, Thomas J., Ashish Nanda, and Scot H. Landry. "Professional Services Module Two: External Strategy for Sustained Competitive Advantage." Harvard Business School Background Note 801-008, September 2000.
- August 2021 (Revised February 2023)
- Supplement
Fair Park Covid-19 Mass Vaccination Site (B)
By: Willy Shih
This case is an opportunity to apply the methods of the Toyota Production System (TPS) to the analysis of an everyday service application: administering Covid-19 vaccines. It describes the start-up of a drive-up Covid-19 mass vaccination site at the Texas State Fair... View Details
Keywords: Operations Management; Operations Improvement; Operations And Processes; Toyota Production System; COVID-19 Pandemic; Operations; Service Operations; Health Pandemics; Service Delivery; Problems and Challenges; Goals and Objectives; Measurement and Metrics; Health Industry; United States
Shih, Willy. "Fair Park Covid-19 Mass Vaccination Site (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 622-004, August 2021. (Revised February 2023.)