Publications

16 Feb 2010
Research & Ideas

The Outside-In Approach to Customer Service

must be more profound and open-ended, with an intent not only to discover how your customers engage with your products or services but also to understand some of the broader parameters of the constraints... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Consumer Products

15 Apr 2019
News

Why Anxious Customers Prefer Human Customer Service

April 15, 2019
Article

Why Anxious Customers Prefer Human Customer Service

By: Michelle A. Shell and Ryan W. Buell

Register to Read

03 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

The State of Customer Service Leadership

Breakthrough Service is Different.” What is your definition of breakthrough service, and why is it different? Sasser: Breakthrough services are those that provide extraordinary results and a high-quality... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner; Retail

July 2003 (Revised April 2011)
Case

Singapore Airlines: Customer Service Innovation

By: Rohit Deshpande and Hal Hogan

The members of Singapore Airlines' (SIA) management committee needs to decide whether to cancel the implementation of the new lie-flat seats in business class after the effects of the global recession on the travel industry in September 2001. SIA was considered the... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Management Teams; Brands and Branding; Air Transportation Industry; Travel Industry; Singapore

Educators

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

Keywords: Customer Compatibility; Customer Relationship Management; Strategy; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Performance Efficiency; Analysis; Consumer Behavior; Analytics and Data Science

25 Jun 2012
News

Complexity Kills: Keeping Customer Service Simple

April 2006
Background Note

Informing Service Management with Customer Data

By: Frances X. Frei and Dennis Campbell

Taught as the third module in a Harvard Business School course on Managing Service Operations. Explores the role of data analysis in ongoing service management. Describes how to realize the maximum amount of value from analyses and use this information in... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Design; Analytics and Data Science; Service Operations; Mathematical Methods; Value

Educators

April 2006 (Revised April 2008)
Course Overview Note

Managing Service Operations: Understanding the Customer Operating Role

By: Frances X. Frei

Describes Managing Service Operations: Understanding the Customer Operating Role, a second-year MBA course that consists of three modules. The first module, Conceptualizing the Customer Operating, explores the operational challenges and opportunites of managing... View Details

Keywords: Service Operations

April 2004 (Revised June 2004)
Teaching Note

Starbucks: Delivering Customer Service (TN)

By: Youngme E. Moon and John A. Quelch

Teaching Note to (9-504-016). View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Food and Beverage Industry

May 1998 (Revised July 1999)
Teaching Note

ACTC Customer Service Department TN

Teaching Note for (9-393-056). View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships

February 1991
Case

Techsonic Industries, Inc.: Customer Service

April 1997 (Revised November 1997)
Case

Anglian Water: Customer Service Transformation

2005
Book

Best Face Forward: Why Companies Must Improve Their Service Interfaces With Customers

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Bernard J. Jaworski

Keywords: Technology; Digital; Services; Strategy; Internet and the Web; Service Delivery; Marketing

31 Oct 2013
News

The Secret Magic Behind Netflix Customer Service

2024
Working Paper

The Operational Impact of Customer Location in On-Demand Services

By: Natalie Epstein, Santiago Gallino and Antonio Moreno

The rapid growth of on-demand delivery services, particularly in the food and grocery sectors, has driven the expansion of hyperlocal fulfillment centers (FCs). This paper uses data from an on-demand grocery delivery platform in Latin America to assess how customer... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Logistics; Geographic Location; Service Delivery; Quality; Retail Industry; Latin America

SSRN

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

Web

Customer Service - HBS Working Knowledge

E-mail Customer Service *Name: *Email: (Return address) Comments: Contact HBS Working Knowledge Baker Library | Bloomberg Center Harvard Business School Soldiers Field Road Boston, MA 02163 View Details

March 1981 (Revised May 1981)
Case

Federal Express: Customer Service Department (B1)