Publications

27 Feb 2009
News

Switzerland has the medical bills covered

February 2000 (Revised November 2000)
Case

Women.com

By: Myra M. Hart and Sarah S. Khetani

Entrepreneurs Ellen Pack and Marleen McDaniel have founded a women's online network and watched it grow from an online subscription service in 1992 to one of the best known, widely visited women's networks on the web in 1999. While the company's vision has remained... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Internet and the Web; Partners and Partnerships; Initial Public Offering; Networks; Transition; Web Services Industry

Find at Harvard

28 Jan 2013
Research & Ideas

Helping Yelp Create More Accurate Reviews

ratings to convey information of product or service quality. But don't expect Yelp to change its review system any time soon. "I've talked to Yelp and other review companies," Luca says. "Yelp isn't... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Food & Beverage

July 2002 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Taj Hotel Group

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Vineeta Vijayaraghavan

R.K. Krishna Kumar, managing director and head of Taj Hotel Group, has to decide whether to reexamine a promotion decision. In an attempt to deliver a level of service quality that met global standards at the Indian hotel chain, Kumar had introduced new personnel... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Human Resources; Leadership Development; Management Teams; Organizational Culture; Alignment; India

October 2012 (Revised August 2013)
Case

Global Unichip Corporation (A)

By: Willy Shih and Chen-Fu Chien

Global Unichip Corporation (GUC) is a design services company that acts as a front-end to TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor foundry. In so doing, it masked the complexity of the latest process technologies, and reduced the entry barriers for small firms to... View Details

29 May 2006
What Do You Think?

How Important Is the “Service Sector Effect” on Productivity?

Respondents to this month's column appeared to be about equally divided on these issues. John Inman commented, "I sometimes feel that we are racing to the bottom to provide products and services at ever lower pricing without... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Service

11 Nov 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Increased Speed Equals Increased Wait: The Impact of a Reduction in Emergency Department Ultrasound Order Processing Time

Keywords: by Jillian Berry Jaeker, Anita L. Tucker & Michael H. Lee; Health

February 1991
Case

Burlington Northern: The ARES Decision (A)

By: Julie H. Hertenstein and Robert S. Kaplan

Burlington Northern's decision whether to invest in ARES, an automated train control system, is a ($350 million) strategic investment in information technology. Although set in a service industry (railroad) the issues around this decision arise in many organizations... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Rail Transportation; Information Technology; Competitive Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Performance Effectiveness; Cost vs Benefits; Technology Adoption; Technological Innovation; Customers; Quality; Rail Industry

October 1995 (Revised March 1996)
Case

Booz.Allen & Hamilton: Vision 2000

In 1993, Booz.Allen & Hamilton forsook its previous, highly local organizational structure. It was motivated by a desire to serve multinational clients more effectively and to provide greater value to clients with more localized business by collecting best practices... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Organizational Structure; Global Strategy; Service Industry

October 2000 (Revised November 2005)
Case

Cisco Systems: Web-enablement

By: Richard L. Nolan, Kelley Porter and Christina Akers

Describes how Cisco web-enabled their ERP systems and developed the "front office" systems to electronically link to their customers and suppliers. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Information Technology; Technological Innovation; Internet and the Web; Service Operations; Information Technology Industry

28 Jul 2023
Blog Post

How I Landed My Manufacturing Internship at HBS

thereof), I wasn’t sure what industry/sector I wanted to pursue for a summer internship. After some research and reflection, I focused on manufacturing. I was an aerospace systems and standards engineer prior to HBS, and I thought the... View Details

August 2020 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Just Arrived: Integrating Refugees in Sweden

By: Brian Trelstad, Emilie Billaud and Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej

Just Arrived is an online platform that matches newly-arrived immigrants in Sweden with employment opportunities. As one of several for-profit and non-profit start-ups in Europe that is looking to address the refugee crisis, the case enables a comparative analysis of... View Details

Keywords: Immigration; Refugees; Employment; Integration; Business Model; Social Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Employment Industry; Sweden; Italy; Germany

April 2021
Case

ClearChoice Dental Implant Centers

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Ashiana Jivraj and Jane Barrow

The case illustrates the application of value-based health care to dental medicine. ClearChoice Dental Implant Centers was a rapidly-growing network of dentist-owned independent implant clinics. The targeted market included 23 million people, 15% of the US adult... View Details

Keywords: Value-based Health Care; Dental Medicine; Growth and Development Strategy; Expansion; Business Strategy; Customer Value and Value Chain; Customer Focus and Relationships; Health Industry; United States

14 Nov 2018
HBS Seminar

Lindsey Cameron, University of Michigan Ross School of Business

February 2018
Case

EmQuest: Travel Distribution in the Digital Era

By: Karim R. Lakhani and Gamze Yucaoglu

EmQuest, Emirates Group’s travel distribution company, must decide what to do with its contract with the global distribution system it uses, Sabre. Since its founding in 1988, EmQuest was servicing travel agents in the MENA region by providing a connection to over 400... View Details

Keywords: UAE; Decision; Business Model; Competitive Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Business Strategy; Value Creation; Change Management; Emerging Markets; For-Profit Firms; Competitive Advantage; Travel Industry; United Arab Emirates

Rob Markey is a Senior Lecturer of Business Administration in the Technology and Operations Unit at Harvard Business School. He teaches Managing Service Operations in the MBA elective curriculum. The course focuses on how to effectively design,... View Details

July 2015 (Revised October 2016)
Case

China Lodging Group (A)

By: Tatiana Sandino, Shelley Xin Li and Nancy Hua Dai

This case study explores the challenges of aligning middle management interests with company goals as a company navigates rapid growth in a dynamic industry. China Lodging Group, a Chinese hotel chain that opened about 2,000 hotels during its first decade in business,... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Business or Company Management; Growth Management; Balanced Scorecard; Accommodations Industry; China