Publications

25 May 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Trust and Disintermediation: Evidence from an Online Freelance Marketplace

Keywords: by Grace Gu and Feng Zhu; Service

Article

From Netscape to eHarmony: The High Risks and Big Rewards of Platform Markets

By: Dylan B. Minor

Keywords: Leadership; Service Delivery; Mobile Technology; Economics

Read Now

March 2003 (Revised January 2006)
Case

Threshold Sports

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Todd H Thedinga

Describes the sales, marketing, and operating issues facing Threshold Sports, a small cycling event management company that produces the Pro Cycling Tour. Examines the issues facing the company as it approaches breakeven and attempts to grow the business substantially.... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Bicycle Transportation; Service Delivery; Sports; Service Industry; Service Industry

11 Jun 2020
In Practice

Are Digital Organizations Better at Overcoming COVID?

pays to be nuanced here. A large portion of the challenges facing businesses are industrywide (and worldwide). For instance, hotels have government-imposed limitations on the services they can offer. These restrictions bind equivalently... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

January 1977
Teaching Note

Fabritek Corp., Teaching Note

By: Steven C. Wheelwright

Teaching Note for (9-669-004). View Details

Keywords: Contracts; Quality; Service Delivery; Auto Industry

01 Dec 2014
News

Dressing by Number

of expertly picked goodies delivered to your door. (True story: That “aha” moment came courtesy of a delivery of farmer-endorsed seasonal veggies.) Now she’s translated that idea into Stitch Fix, the Pandora of fashion. This rapidly... View Details

Keywords: Christine Lejeune; fashion; cosmetics; Clothing and Clothing Accessories Stores; Retail Trade

Article

Once More: How Do You Improve Customer Service?

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Keywords: Customers; Service Delivery

Find at Harvard

2010
Working Paper

Specialization and Variety in Repetitive Tasks: Evidence from a Japanese Bank

By: Bradley R. Staats and Francesca Gino

Sustaining operational productivity in the completion of repetitive tasks is critical to many organizations' success. Yet research points to two different work-design related strategies for accomplishing this goal: specialization to capture the benefits of repetition... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Working Conditions; Service Delivery; Performance Productivity; Financial Services Industry; Japan

Read Now

01 Jun 2020
News

Meal Plan

at a white-tablecloth restaurant. This year is looking a little different. On May 8, as some states loosened dining-in restrictions and others maintained strict guidelines for takeout and delivery only, the Bulletin held a virtual... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; restaurants; COVID-19; pandemic; recovery; Food Services and Drinking Places; Food Services and Drinking Places; Food Services and Drinking Places; Food Services and Drinking Places

September 1974
Case

Max-Able Medical Clinic (A)

The issue concerns introduction of a new technology in health care delivery. The case requires the student to analyze the process for delivering health care via a new technology, the multiphasic testing facility. Analysis of patient flow, capacity, choice of tests, and... View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Technology Adoption; Health Care and Treatment; Service Industry; Service Industry

Find at Harvard

August 2005 (Revised March 2006)
Exercise

Data Analysis Exercise

By: Frances X. Frei

Keywords: Operations; Service Delivery; Management

September 1995 (Revised March 1996)
Case

HCL America

Shows students how a custom software programming company takes advantage of differences between the United States and India in the cost of skilled labor (software engineers) to give its customers rare expertise and lower prices. Asks students to examine the company... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Service Delivery; Software; Information Technology Industry; United States; India

October 1999 (Revised January 2000)
Case

Alaska Airlines: For the same price, you just get more...

Alaska Airlines grapples with the issue of whether or not advanced use of technology to enable its customers to serve themselves (self-service) in certain airport functions will help it to achieve competitive advantage. View Details

Keywords: Technology; Service Delivery; Competitive Advantage; Air Transportation Industry; Alaska

01 Sep 2008
News

In Africa, Porter Sees Lessons for Health Care

the highlands of east Africa, it is HIV and TB patients to whom Porter listens intently as they describe their care and treatment. It’s July 2007, and Porter is on a fact-finding trip to Rwanda, part of his work for the Global Health View Details

Keywords: HIV/AIDS; Ambulatory Health Care Services; Ambulatory Health Care 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