Scaling Service Operations - Publications - Faculty & Research

25 Aug 2022
News

Up on the Corner

Owners’ Loan Corporation deemed vast swaths of Baltimore populated by people of color to be “hazardous” and shaded them red on its official maps. Banks refused to offer mortgages and other financial services to residents of these... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; photographed by Melissa Golden; Real Estate

May 2020 (Revised March 2022)
Case

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic and the Global Economy (A)

By: Alberto Cavallo and Christian Godwin

In April 2020, the world struggled to contain the exponential escalation of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Dozens of countries had imposed restrictions on travel, work, and social gatherings. A large share of the global population was under lockdowns and... View Details

Citation

Educators

Purchase

25 May 2020
Research & Ideas

Has Occupational Licensing Outlived Its Usefulness?

service provider has a license, their hiring decision is still more driven by price and online reviews than the quality assurance that comes with licensing. New research shows that tougher licensing requirements reduce the pool of... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Service

01 Jan 2014
News

To Spot Financial Trouble Early, Use Three Circles: A conversation with Blythe McGarvie of Harvard Business School

11 Jun 2020
In Practice

Are Digital Organizations Better at Overcoming COVID?

chains and people analytics to artificial intelligence-based models and automated biotechnology research, organizations further along the digital curve are responding differently than those still wondering how to evolve. The digital technology embedded throughout their... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

September 2002 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Bank of America (B)

By: Stefan H. Thomke and Ashok Nimgade

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Service Operations; Technology; Banking Industry

Citation

Educators

Purchase

Kenny Salas is a fintech entrepreneur and operating executive, currently at the helm of nuDesk, which helps companies scale through AI-driven solutions and dedicated talent hubs in Mexico. As a Partner at... View Details

01 Dec 2010
News

The Transformers

to scale couldn’t find a chief financial officer or a chief operating officer, so we got into executive search,” adds Bradach. To address this need, in 2003 Bridgespan launched Bridgestar, offering a full... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services

September 2003 (Revised October 2010)
Case

A Pain in the Hip

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer

Describes in detail the process of diagnosing the cause of a sore hip in a young girl. Referred to the emergency room by her pediatrician, the child is subjected to a set of diagnostic tests over a two-day period, each designed to reduce the uncertainty surrounding the... View Details

Keywords: Production; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Performance Improvement; Health Industry

Citation

Find at Harvard

Research Summary

Overview

Downstream businesses that utilize global suppliers frequently use auditing programs to monitor their suppliers’ working conditions and are often deployed to address reputational concerns associated with procuring from unregulated suppliers. Despite their widespread... View Details

Keywords: Audit Quality; Remote Work; Outsourcing; Econometric Analysis; Switching Costs; Service Operations; Performance Effectiveness; Service Industry; Service Industry

February 2004
Teaching Note

Sampa Video, Inc. (TN)

By: Richard S. Ruback and Peter Tufano

Teaching Note to (9-201-094). View Details

Keywords: Service Operations; Service Delivery; Projects; Valuation; Financing and Loans; Strategy; Cost of Capital; Service Industry

Citation

Purchase

Student-Faculty-Profile

Michelle Shell & Ryan Buell

demonstrated the negative effects on decision-making under distress. We are conducting a series of experiments to better quantify the impacts on service operations and to identify ways that the View Details

Person Page

Media

This lists media reports covering my firm dollarDEX Investments or me (or my colleagues), or columns written by me (or my colleagues). There are all... View Details

01 Mar 2018
News

3-Minute Briefing: Lisandra Rickards (MBA 2010)

businesses from startup to scale up. An entrepreneur in the dental equipment business had just serviced a large government contract, which created issues with inventory. He went through our training program,... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna

25 May 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Trust and Disintermediation: Evidence from an Online Freelance Marketplace

Keywords: by Grace Gu and Feng Zhu; Service

March 2003
Teaching Note

Bank of America (A) and (B) TN

By: Stefan H. Thomke

Teaching Note for (9-603-022) and (9-603-023). View Details

Keywords: Service Operations; Banking Industry

Citation

Purchase

01 Jun 2018
News

Disrupting India’s Dental Market

opening a hospital. “I didn’t want to get into real estate,” he says. “I wanted to get into a service business.” Perhaps even more appealingly, dentistry did not depend on referrals from other doctors, which turned Indian medicine into “a... View Details

Keywords: Sasha Issenberg

01 Sep 2011
News

Water for Life

operational underperformance. We transformed it into a service operating according to world-class standards. At the time you took over, 63 percent of Metro Manila’s water was... View Details

Keywords: Waste Management and Remediation Services; Waste Management and Remediation Services; Waste Management and Remediation Services; Waste Management and Remediation Services

Kenneth Salas

Kenny Salas is a fintech entrepreneur and operating executive, currently at the helm of nuDesk, which helps companies scale through AI-driven solutions and dedicated talent hubs in Mexico. As a Partner at... View Details

Keywords: Finance

July 2015 (Revised July 2016)
Case

SF Express: From Delivery to E-Commerce

By: Feng Zhu and David Lane

Shunfeng Express (SF), China's leading express delivery firm, in May 2014 opened the first 500 of several thousand Heike stores, which allowed consumers to buy and try out SF's own e-commerce offerings, in addition to other services. As an example of China's... View Details