satisfaction - Publications - Faculty & Research

January–February 2024
Article

Shared Service Delivery Can Increase Client Engagement: A Study of Shared Medical Appointments

By: Ryan W. Buell, Kamalini Ramdas, Nazlı Sönmez, Kavitha Srinivasan and Rengaraj Venkatesh

Problem Definition: Clients and service providers alike often consider one-on-one service delivery to be ideal, assuming – perhaps unquestioningly – that devoting individualized attention best improves client outcomes. In contrast, in shared service delivery, clients... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Customer Satisfaction; Outcome or Result; Performance Improvement

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Are You Really Innovating Around Your Customers' Needs?

By: Sunil Gupta

Every company believes it is customer-centric. However, most of them are product- and service-centric first, focusing on how to enhance their offerings rather than putting themselves in their customers’ shoes. To come up with truly innovative customer-centric ideas,... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Innovation and Management

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May 2012
Background Note

Innovation Magic

By: Stefan Thomke and Jason Randal

Why do certain product and service experiences seem like magic, making them all but destined for success, while other items languish on store shelves? For a better understanding of that, perhaps there's no better place to turn to than the world of magic. Consider that... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Product Differentiation; Experimentation; Personal Strategy ＆ Style; Innovation and Invention; Creativity; Service Operations; Product; Customer Satisfaction

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Exploring value-based care: My summer internship with Main Street Health - Recruiting

better understand their drivers of satisfaction and opportunities to improve efficiency. Through this, I gained insight into the unique challenges and rewards of rural health care. Hiring health care professionals, finding transportation,... View Details

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Losing Passion for Your Job? Why Quitting Might Be the Right Move | Working Knowledge

employee engagement in the United States has reached an 11-year low, with employee satisfaction tanking and many people looking for new work. Those who are sticking with their current employers feel more disconnected than ever—a... View Details

20 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

How to be a Customer

How-to books targeting customers often focus on how to game the system, how to return the cocktail dress on Monday after you've worn it once on Saturday, how to exploit manufacturer warranties and satisfaction guarantees (often,... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

Profile

Shantanu Rege

a clearer understanding of the issues." New ideas about leadership After a semester at HBS, Shantanu's ideas about leadership have changed. "Before, I thought of it as achieving success. But now I think in terms of personal View Details

Profile

Ameel Somani

structures," he says, "I had to consider competitive position and how we'd grow going forward." Combining passions Despite his satisfaction with investment banking, one important area remained unfulfilled: helping others.... View Details

Web

Special Assistant to the CEO | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

he wants to “gain more satisfaction regarding connections made and knowledge gained in the development landscape of Detroit and cities like it. I was born and raised in Detroit. I see this a great jump-off point for a career in... View Details

January 2010 (Revised February 2010)
Case

IBM Retail Business Assessment at Dillard's, Inc.: Managing Staffing Levels to Improve Conversion

This case illustrates the challenges associated with matching staffing levels with variable workload in retail stores and highlights how decisions related to staffing and scheduling affect operational performance and the quality of labor at the stores. The case... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Employees; Market Transactions; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Performance Improvement; Retail Industry

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01 Dec 2017
News

Yoga Inc.

Above: photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images On a late summer day in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in a large carpeted room with a colorful cloth tacked over a dropped fiberboard ceiling, Bob Vaccaro (MBA 1970), short white hair, eyes crinkled with smile lines, sits easily,... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Halber

01 Dec 2005
News

Faculty Books

intelligence.” No one bats a thousand, in business or in life, but you can increase your betting success rate and your satisfaction with your successes. Negotiation, Decision Making, and Conflict Management edited by Max H. Bazerman... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

15 May 2012
News

Finally Finding the Right Fit

moved to Amsterdam for a consulting job with Bain. But that didn’t provide the satisfaction he envisioned. Increasingly, he longed to return to his roots in retailing. “I always dreamed of being in the branding and fashion business,” he... View Details

Keywords: fashion; apparel; Apparel Manufacturing; Manufacturing

01 Jun 1997
News

MBA Program:Rapid Innovation in '96

summer work experience," says Wheelwright. "They've had the same opportunity as their September classmates to find a great position, and they've expressed great satisfaction with this opportunity." Foundations Wheelwright notes that the... View Details

10 Jan 2011
Research & Ideas

Is Groupon Good for Retailers?

At first blush, the two-year-old online start-up Groupon seems a bit audacious. For starters, there's the news that the deal-of-the-day website turned down a $6 billion acquisition offer from Google last month. Then there's the company's business model: selling... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Advertising; Technology

March 2025
Case

Skylight: Hit Product or Scalable Company?

By: Rembrand Koning, Christina Wallace and Jeff Huizinga

Skylight, originally a digital frame startup aimed at connecting dispersed families, expanded with a second product—Calendar—to help families manage schedules. Despite significant potential, Calendar struggled with persistent technical issues and poor customer... View Details

Keywords: Culture; Software; Hardware; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Customer Satisfaction; Resource Allocation; Product Launch; Business Strategy; Expansion

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April 2001
Teaching Note

MindSpring TN

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Steven Silverman and William A. Sahlman

Teaching Note for (9-899-178). For book only - not listed on case. View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Growth and Development Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Organizational Culture; Competitive Strategy; Web Services Industry

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2009
Chapter

Should Central Banks Maximize Happiness? Happiness, Contentment and Other Emotions for Central Banks

By: Rafael Di Tella and Robert MacCulloch

Keywords: Central Banking; Happiness; Satisfaction; Emotions; Banking Industry

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01 Dec 2017
News

2017 in Media: Courting the Cord-Cutters

When the phenomenon of cord-cutting— dropping a cable subscription in favor of one or more online streaming services—started attracting media attention a couple of years ago, the TV industry didn’t respond quickly. Cord-cutters were a very small piece of the TV... View Details

Keywords: Laura Martin (MBA 1983) , entertainment and internet analyst, Needham & Company

July–August 2025
Article

How the Busiest People Find Joy

By: Leslie A. Perlow, Sari Mentser and Salvatore J. Affinito

Joy, along with achievement and meaningfulness, is one of the three keys to a satisfying life. Yet it’s the missing piece for many ambitious individuals, the authors found after examining data on how nearly 2,000 professionals spend their days. Jam-packed schedules are... View Details

Keywords: Well-being; Satisfaction; Work-Life Balance; Happiness