Publications

February 2016
Case

Health Catalyst

By: Kevin Schulman and Suresh Balu

Dan Burton, Health Catalyst CEO (HBS Baker Scholar), and Tom Burton, Health Catalyst Senior Vice President of Product Development and cofounder, closed on a $41 million investment round. Their firm was one of the hottest companies in the health information technology... View Details

Keywords: Service Management; Strategy; Operations Management; Information Technology; Information Management; Entrepreneurship; Service Delivery; Competitive Strategy; Performance; Information Technology Industry; Health Industry

October 2013 (Revised November 2015)
Case

Southwire and 12 For Life: Scaling Up? (A)

By: Jan W. Rivkin and Ryan Lee

Southwire, a leading maker of cable based in rural Georgia, has partnered with the local school system to staff a factory with at-risk high school students. The positive impact on student outcomes has been remarkable, and the factory makes a profit for the company. Now... View Details

Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Production; Education; Business and Community Relations; Manufacturing Industry; Education Industry

December 2004 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Managing Diversity at Cityside Financial Services

By: Robin J. Ely and Ingrid Vargas

Cityside Financial Services, a disguised consumer bank, serves both a largely African-American urban community and a more affluent, predominantly white clientele. To match the gender and racial makeup of its staff to that of its customers, Cityside's sales division... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Situation or Environment; Race; Employees; Gender; Customer Satisfaction; Diversity; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry

April 2008
Teaching Note

New Service Design Exercise (TN)

By: Frances X. Frei

Teaching Note for [605053]. View Details

Keywords: Service Operations; Design; Strategy; Product Positioning

Web

Technology & Operations Management Curriculum - Faculty & Research

Spring 2025 Q3Q4 3.0 Managing Service Operations Ryan Buell , Michael Montelongo , Robert Markey Fall 2024 Q1Q2 3.0 Supply Chain Analytics Kris Ferreira Fall 2024 Q1 1.5 Supply Chain Management Kris Ferreira... View Details

October 2002 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Dell Computers (A): Field Service for Corporate Clients

By: Frances X. Frei, Amy C. Edmondson and Corey B. Hajim

Explores the highly successful PC and low-end server manufacturer's entry into the large-scale server market in the United States. A key difference of this new market is the intense service element required to support the larger hardware. Specifically, the industry... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Customer Relationship Management; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Service Operations; Business or Company Management; Emerging Markets; Problems and Challenges; Service Delivery; Computer Industry; United States

2000
Chapter

Service Markets and the Internet

By: J. A. Deighton

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Service Operations; Market Design

January 2017
Supplement

Hello Alfred: Come Home Happy — Operating the Business Model Exercise

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Christopher Payton

On a mission to "automate the on-demand economy," Harvard Business School classmates Marcela Sapone and Jessica Beck launched Hello Alfred in 2013 to provide subscribers with an "Alfred" to complete various chores for a monthly fee. In early 2016, the company has built... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Internet and the Web; Business Startups; Service Operations; Service Industry; New York (city, NY); Boston

23 Sep 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Operational Failures and Problem Solving: An Empirical Study of Incident Reporting

Keywords: by Julia Adler-Milstein, Sara J. Singer & Michael W. Toffel; Health

04 May 2011
News

Recipes from the COC (Chief Operating Cook)

A spicy chickpea dish © Kirti Poddar on Flickr When Dean Nitin Nohria sat down for an interview with us last September, we asked: "What do you like to do for fun?" His answer: "I love to cook. I'm vegetarian, and I cook Indian and Italian food. At home, I'm the chef.... View Details

Keywords: Bulletin; Educational Services; Educational Services

Apr 12 2017
Interview

The Future of Professional Service Firms

April 2021
Supplement

Buy Online, Pickup in Store: Vice President of Store Operations Supplement

By: Antonio Moreno, Santiago Gallino and Amy Klopfenstein

In April 2019, Sylvarella VP of Store Operations Axley Vega must review an analysis of her department’s sales data to determine the impact of the company’s Buy Online, Pickup in Store (BOPS) program. BOPS implementation created significant problems for the store... View Details

Keywords: Operations; Service Delivery; Logistics; Infrastructure; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Analysis; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States; Canada

March 1991 (Revised May 1991)
Case

Charles Schwab: Financial Advisors Service

By: Steven C. Wheelwright

Keywords: Product Development; Innovation and Invention; Financial Services Industry

Find at Harvard

2009
Other Unpublished Work

Organizational Alignment in Professional Services

By: John J. Gabarro, Thomas J. DeLong and Robert Lees

Keywords: Service Operations; Alignment; Organizational Structure

May 1993
Case

Patient Transfusion Services Lab of Central Blood Bank

By: James L. Heskett

The vice president of the Lab and Clinical Services at Central Blood Bank is faced with the challenge of convincing a hospital to use economical shared patient transfusion testing services. View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Quality; Service Operations; Mathematical Methods; Customer Satisfaction; Health Industry

February 1996 (Revised November 2003)
Case

Indianapolis: Activity-Based Costing of City Services (A)

By: Robert S. Kaplan

A new administration in the City of Indianapolis is initially determined to privatize many municipal services. Before taking this action, however, the city managers want to know the current cost of performing these services with the municipal workers. Existing... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Public Sector; Activity Based Costing and Management; Service Delivery; Privatization; City; Indianapolis