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- All HBS Web (1,457)
- Faculty Publications (450)
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- March 2019
- Technical Note
Control or Flexibility? Structured Empowerment Offers Both—Lessons from Retail & Service Chains (Abridged)
By: Tatiana Sandino
This note explains how several retail and service organizations use a practice described here as “structured empowerment” to balance control and flexibility as they grow. I define structured empowerment as a practice that grants employees both (a) the power to make... View Details
Keywords: Service Operations; Standards; Employees; Service Delivery; Decision Making; Power and Influence; Retail Industry; Service Industry
Sandino, Tatiana. "Control or Flexibility? Structured Empowerment Offers Both—Lessons from Retail & Service Chains (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Technical Note 119-088, March 2019.
- November 2022
- Teaching Note
Proximie: Using XR Technology to Create Borderless Operating Rooms
By: Ariel D. Stern, Alpana Thapar and Menna Hassan
Founded by Nadine Hachach-Haram in 2016, Proximie was a digital medicine platform that used mixed reality and a host of digital audio and visual tools to enable clinicians, proctors, and medical device company personnel to be virtually present in operating rooms (ORs),... View Details
- 2016
- Working Paper
Operations in the On-Demand Economy: Staffing Services with Self-Scheduling Capacity
By: Itai Gurvich, Martin Lariviere and Antonio Moreno
Motivated by recent innovations in service delivery such as ride-sharing services and work-from-home call centers, we study capacity management when workers self-schedule. Our service provider chooses capacity to maximize its profit (revenue from served customers minus... View Details
Keywords: Strategic Servers; On-demand Economy; Independent Capacity; Distributed Systems; Uber; Service Operations; Performance Capacity
Gurvich, Itai, Martin Lariviere, and Antonio Moreno. "Operations in the On-Demand Economy: Staffing Services with Self-Scheduling Capacity." Working Paper, June 2016.
- 22 Jan 2001
- Research & Ideas
Control Your Inventory in a World of Lean Retailing
Manufacturers generally classify products in terms of broad product lines, developing a single marketing strategy and production plan for each line. That makes sense for marketing, but it's a mistake for production. Different SKUs [stock-keeping units] within a product... View Details
- 1993
- Chapter
Operation and Regulation in Financial Intermediation: A Functional Perspective
By: Robert C. Merton
Keywords: Financial Markets; Operations; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government and Politics; Financial Services Industry
Merton, Robert C. "Operation and Regulation in Financial Intermediation: A Functional Perspective." In Operation and Regulation of Financial Markets, edited by P. Englund. Stockholm: Ekonomiska rådet (Sweden), 1993.
- November 1991
- Article
A Process Control Methodology Applied to Manufacturing GaAs MMICs
By: Rebecca M. Henderson, Peter Moran, Scott Andrew Elliott, Neil Wylie and Jesus del Alamo
Henderson, Rebecca M., Peter Moran, Scott Andrew Elliott, Neil Wylie, and Jesus del Alamo. "A Process Control Methodology Applied to Manufacturing GaAs MMICs." IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing 4, no. 4 (November 1991).
- April 1993 (Revised May 1993)
- Case
Safeway Manufacturing Division: The Manufacturing Control System (MCS) (A)
Describes a decision that SMD management made to implement an MRP II system in its 38 plants. Raises the issues that needed to be addressed to enable the implementation, and is positioned so the students can develop a detailed implementation plan. View Details
Stoddard, Donna B., and Maryellen C. Costello. "Safeway Manufacturing Division: The Manufacturing Control System (MCS) (A)." Harvard Business School Case 193-134, April 1993. (Revised May 1993.)
- 2007
- Article
Convictions, Conventions and the Operational Risk Maze—The Cases of Three Financial Services Institutions
By: Anette Mikes
Making sense of operational risk practices in the financial services sector is a challenge. There is a temptation to explain the wide variety of approaches as a characteristic of the early stage of development in which the genre resides.Based on the evidence of... View Details
Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Risk Management; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Conflict and Resolution; Organizations; Financial Services Industry
Mikes, Anette. "Convictions, Conventions and the Operational Risk Maze—The Cases of Three Financial Services Institutions." International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management 7, no. 8 (2007): 1027–1056.
- March 2018 (Revised March 2019)
- Technical Note
Control or Flexibility? Structured Empowerment Offers Both — Lessons from Retail & Service Chains
By: Tatiana Sandino
This note explains how several retail and service organizations use a practice described here as “structured empowerment” to balance control and flexibility as they grow. I define structured empowerment as a practice that grants employees both (a) the power to make... View Details
Keywords: Service Operations; Standards; Employees; Service Delivery; Decision Making; Power and Influence; Retail Industry; Service Industry
Sandino, Tatiana. "Control or Flexibility? Structured Empowerment Offers Both — Lessons from Retail & Service Chains." Harvard Business School Technical Note 118-082, March 2018. (Revised March 2019.)
- 25 Jun 2019
- Research & Ideas
The Powerful Strategic Tool Companies Should Not Try to Control
mind that communities are governed very differently than companies. User communities operate outside the boundaries of the firm even in cases where the community organizes around a firm’s core products––and firms can therefore not View Details
Keywords: by Danielle Kost
- November 2009
- Article
Organizational Design and Control across Multiple Markets: The Case of Franchising in the Convenience Store Industry
Many companies operate units that are dispersed across different types of markets, and thus serve significantly diverging customer bases. Such market-type dispersion is likely to compromise the headquarter's ability to control its local managers' behavior and satisfy... View Details
Keywords: Market Dispersion; Decentralization; Incentives; Business Headquarters; Geographic Location; Governance Controls; Distribution; Organizational Design; Franchise Ownership; Retail Industry
Campbell, Dennis, Srikant M. Datar, and Tatiana Sandino. "Organizational Design and Control across Multiple Markets: The Case of Franchising in the Convenience Store Industry." Accounting Review 84, no. 6 (November 2009): 1749–1779.
- 2008
- Working Paper
Organizational Design and Control across Multiple Markets: The Case of Franchising in the Convenience Store Industry
By: Dennis Campbell
Many companies operate units which are dispersed across different types of markets, and thus serve significantly diverging customer bases. Such market-type dispersion is likely to compromise the headquarters' ability to control its local managers' behavior and... View Details
Keywords: Business Headquarters; Customer Focus and Relationships; Geographic Location; Governance Controls; Organizational Design; Franchise Ownership; Retail Industry
Campbell, Dennis. "Organizational Design and Control across Multiple Markets: The Case of Franchising in the Convenience Store Industry." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 08-091, April 2008.
- August 2023 (Revised May 2024)
- Case
Dicerna Pharmaceuticals: Decision Making in Clinical Trial Design and Operations
By: Satish Tadikonda and Amanda McEwen
The success or failure of Dicerna Pharmaceuticals (Dicerna) as an emerging pharmaceutical company would likely hinge on its lead drug candidate Nedosiran and the company’s ability to see it successfully through clinical development. Ralf Rosskamp, Chief Medical... View Details
Keywords: Business Strategy; Health Testing and Trials; Product Development; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Pharmaceutical Industry
Tadikonda, Satish, and Amanda McEwen. "Dicerna Pharmaceuticals: Decision Making in Clinical Trial Design and Operations." Harvard Business School Case 824-018, August 2023. (Revised May 2024.)
- 08 May 2008
- Working Paper Summaries
Organizational Design and Control across Multiple Markets: The Case of Franchising in the Convenience Store Industry
- November 2016 (Revised December 2016)
- Module Note
Strategy Execution Module 13: Identifying Strategic Risk
By: Robert Simons
This module reading begins by describing the three sources of strategic risk—operations risk, asset impairment risk, and competitive risk—and demonstrates how these risks can undermine an entire business. To assist in the identification of these risks, the risk... View Details
Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Execution; Risk Assessment; Operational Control; Asset Impairment; Franchise Risk; Fraud; Strategy; Information Management
Simons, Robert. "Strategy Execution Module 13: Identifying Strategic Risk." Harvard Business School Module Note 117-113, November 2016. (Revised December 2016.)
- 2015
- Working Paper
Blinded by Experience: Prior Experience, Negative News and Belief Updating
By: Bradley R. Staats, Diwas S. KC and Francesca Gino
Traditional models of operations management involve dynamic decision-making assuming optimal (Bayesian) updating. However, behavioral theory suggests that individuals exhibit bias in their beliefs and decisions. We conduct both a field study and two laboratory studies... View Details
Keywords: Behavioral Operations; Egocentric Bias; Experience; Healthcare Operations; Prejudice and Bias; Behavior; Operations; Decision Making; Health Care and Treatment
Staats, Bradley R., Diwas S. KC, and Francesca Gino. "Blinded by Experience: Prior Experience, Negative News and Belief Updating." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 16-015, August 2015.
- 04 May 2016
- What Do You Think?
What Does Boaty McBoatface Tell Us About Brand Control on the Internet?
When Should Control Over a Brand Be Ceded to the Public? The verdict is in. Our hardly scientific poll has endorsed the name of Boaty McBoatface for the new research vessel being commissioned by the UK’s National Environment Research... View Details
- April 2012
- Case
Bayonne Packaging, Inc.
By: Roy D. Shapiro and Paul E. Morrison
A printer and paper converter produces customized packaging used by industrial customers to deliver promotional materials, software, luxury beverages, and gift food and candy. The company specializes in creating innovative packaging solutions for its customers and... View Details
Keywords: Production Controls; Manufacturing; Capacity Analysis; Quality Control; Performance Management; Process Analysis; Quality; Production; Performance Productivity; Performance Capacity; Business Processes; Manufacturing Industry
Shapiro, Roy D., and Paul E. Morrison. "Bayonne Packaging, Inc." Harvard Business School Brief Case 124-420, April 2012.
- Forthcoming
- Article
Mitigating the Negative Effects of Customer Anxiety Through Access to Human Contact
By: Michelle A. Kinch and Ryan W. Buell
Prior research in social psychology has shown that when people feel anxious, they seek advice from others. However, companies that operate in high-anxiety settings (like financial services, health care, and education) are increasingly deploying self-service... View Details