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- August 2021 (Revised February 2023)
- Case
Fair Park Covid-19 Mass Vaccination Site (A)
By: Willy Shih
This case is an opportunity to apply the methods of the Toyota Production System (TPS) to the analysis of an everyday service application: administering Covid-19 vaccines. It describes the start-up of a drive-up Covid-19 mass vaccination site at the Texas State Fair... View Details
Keywords: Operations Improvement; Operations And Processes; Toyota Production System; COVID-19 Pandemic; Operations; Service Operations; Health Pandemics; Problems and Challenges; Goals and Objectives; Measurement and Metrics; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; United States; Texas
Shih, Willy. "Fair Park Covid-19 Mass Vaccination Site (A)." Harvard Business School Case 622-003, August 2021. (Revised February 2023.)
- 15 Aug 2024
- Op-Ed
Post-CrowdStrike, Six Questions to Test Your Company's Operational Resilience
stakeholders during disruptions. Continuous improvement in preparedness and response plans is essential. Accountability, transparency, and effective communication can significantly mitigate risks and enhance View Details
Keywords: by Hise Gibson and Anita Lynch
- Article
An Integrated Decision-Making Approach for Improving European Air Traffic Management
By: Yael Grushka-Cockayne, Bert De Reyck and Zeger Degraeve
We develop a multistakeholder, multicriteria decision-making framework for Eurocontrol, the European air traffic management organization, for evaluating and selecting operational improvements to the air traffic management system. The selected set of improvements will... View Details
Keywords: Decision Making; Framework; Operations; Performance Improvement; Government Administration; Air Transportation Industry; Europe
Grushka-Cockayne, Yael, Bert De Reyck, and Zeger Degraeve. "An Integrated Decision-Making Approach for Improving European Air Traffic Management." Management Science 54, no. 8 (August 2008): 1395–1409.
- 2024
- Working Paper
Operational Impact of Communication Channels: Evidence from Last-Mile Delivery Services
By: Natalie Epstein, Santiago Gallino and Antonio Moreno
Communication channels are often used to improve customer satisfaction and behavior. This paper studies
how they can be used to enhance operational performance.
We partner with a last-mile delivery company and, through natural and field experiments, explore... View Details
We partner with a last-mile delivery company and, through natural and field experiments, explore... View Details
Epstein, Natalie, Santiago Gallino, and Antonio Moreno. "Operational Impact of Communication Channels: Evidence from Last-Mile Delivery Services." Working Paper, August 2024.
- 2013
- Working Paper
The Operational Consequences of Private Equity Buyouts: Evidence from the Restaurant Industry
By: Albert W. Sheen and Shai Bernstein
What, if anything, do private equity firms do with businesses they acquire? We find evidence of significant operational changes in 101 restaurant chain buyouts between 2002 and 2012. Analysis of health inspections conducted for over 50,000 stores in Florida shows that... View Details
Keywords: Safety; Quality; Private Equity; Food; Management Practices and Processes; Leveraged Buyouts; Performance Efficiency; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Florida
Sheen, Albert W., and Shai Bernstein. "The Operational Consequences of Private Equity Buyouts: Evidence from the Restaurant Industry." Working Paper, June 2013.
- 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
Buell, Ryan W., and MoonSoo Choi. "Improving Customer Compatibility with Tradeoff Transparency." Management Science 71, no. 2 (February 2025): 1335–1355.
- 2006
- Book
Service Productivity Management: Improving Service Performance Using Data Envelopment Analysis
By: H. David Sherman and Joe Zhu
Here is an in-depth guide to the most powerful available benchmarking technique for improving service organization performance—Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The book outlines DEA as a benchmarking technique, identifies high cost service units, isolates specific... View Details
Sherman, H. David, and Joe Zhu. Service Productivity Management: Improving Service Performance Using Data Envelopment Analysis. Boston, MA: Springer, 2006.
- October 1988 (Revised March 1989)
- Case
Florida Power Light Quality Improvement (QI) Story Exercise (A)
Florida Power and Light (FPL) has developed a widely acclaimed quality improvement program (QIP). This exercise leads the students through the process that a division of FPL utilized in an attempt to "improve service." Specifically, the process requires students to... View Details
Keywords: Quality; Service Delivery; Performance Improvement; Business Processes; Utilities Industry; Florida
Hart, Christopher. "Florida Power Light Quality Improvement (QI) Story Exercise (A)." Harvard Business School Case 689-041, October 1988. (Revised March 1989.)
- March 2002
- Background Note
Virtuous Cycles: Improving Service and Lowering Costs in E-Commerce
Illustrates how various elements in a customer's encounter with Internet services relying on physical service (labor-intensive customer support and/or logistics) affect one another. Presents a framework that suggests: 1) that improving service quality in specific... View Details
Keywords: Internet and the Web; Service Delivery; Performance Efficiency; Performance Effectiveness; Service Industry
Hallowell, Roger H. "Virtuous Cycles: Improving Service and Lowering Costs in E-Commerce." Harvard Business School Background Note 802-155, March 2002.
- 09 Mar 2016
- Lessons from the Classroom
In This Classroom, Beer Can Improve Your Grade
Casadesus-Masanell says. The new version of Strategic Brew is easier to play. The number of regions breweries operated in dropped from three to one. Customer market segments—like premium or craft—were pared down from seven to five. The... View Details
- Article
Once More: How Do You Improve Customer Service?
Cespedes, Frank V. "Once More: How Do You Improve Customer Service?" Business Horizons 35, no. 2 (March–April 1992): 58–67.
- April 1996 (Revised June 2001)
- Case
Partners HealthCare System, Inc. (B): Cardiac Care Improvement
By: Gary P. Pisano and Maryam Golnaraghi
Explores the challenges confronting the CEO at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in the wake of radical changes in the health care environment. As pressures have risen for cost containment in health care, the hospital has embarked on a series of reengineering efforts to... View Details
Keywords: Consolidation; Health Care and Treatment; Mergers and Acquisitions; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Management Teams; Operations; Innovation and Invention; Cost Management; Health Industry; Massachusetts
Pisano, Gary P., and Maryam Golnaraghi. "Partners HealthCare System, Inc. (B): Cardiac Care Improvement." Harvard Business School Case 696-063, April 1996. (Revised June 2001.)
- Article
Front-line Staff Perspectives on Opportunities for Improving the Safety and Efficiency of Hospital Work Systems
By: Anita L. Tucker, Sara J. Singer, Jennifer E. Hayes and Alyson Falwell
Objective To link safety-related concerns raised by frontline staff about hospital work systems (operational failures) to the safety and efficiency of hospitals, and to contrast these concerns with national patient safety initiatives.
Data... View Details
Keywords: Perspective; Opportunities; Safety; Performance Efficiency; System; Failure; Conferences; Employees; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Experience and Expertise; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; United States
Tucker, Anita L., Sara J. Singer, Jennifer E. Hayes, and Alyson Falwell. "Front-line Staff Perspectives on Opportunities for Improving the Safety and Efficiency of Hospital Work Systems." Health Services Research 43, nos. 5, pt.2 (October 2008).
- January 2015 (Revised October 2015)
- Case
Trouble at Tessei
By: Ethan Bernstein and Ryan W. Buell
In 2005, Teruo Yabe is asked to revive Tessei, the 669-person JR-East subsidiary responsible for cleaning its Shinkansen ("bullet") trains. Operational mistakes, customer complaints, safety issues, and employee turnover are at or near all-time highs, even as the... View Details
Keywords: Service Management; Employee Engagement; Employee Motivation; Leadership And Managing People; Quality Improvement; Efficiency; Japan; Operational Transparency; Employee Coordination; Transparency; Leadership; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Employees; Quality; Transportation Industry; Japan
Bernstein, Ethan, and Ryan W. Buell. "Trouble at Tessei." Harvard Business School Case 615-044, January 2015. (Revised October 2015.)
- October 2017 (Revised April 2018)
- Case
Improving Worker Safety in the Era of Machine Learning (A)
By: Michael W. Toffel, Dan Levy, Jose Ramon Morales Arilla and Matthew S. Johnson
Managers make predictions all the time: How fast will my markets grow? How much inventory do I need? How intensively should I monitor my suppliers? Which potential customers will be most responsive to a particular marketing campaign? Which job candidates should I... View Details
Keywords: Machine Learning; Policy Implementation; Empirical Research; Inspection; Occupational Safety; Occupational Health; Regulation; Analysis; Forecasting and Prediction; Policy; Operations; Supply Chain Management; Safety; Manufacturing Industry; Construction Industry; United States
Toffel, Michael W., Dan Levy, Jose Ramon Morales Arilla, and Matthew S. Johnson. "Improving Worker Safety in the Era of Machine Learning (A)." Harvard Business School Case 618-019, October 2017. (Revised April 2018.)
- Summer 2014
- Article
Designed for Workarounds: A Qualitative Study of the Causes of Operational Failures in Hospitals
By: Anita L. Tucker, W. Scott Heisler and Laura D. Janisse
Frontline care providers in hospitals spend at least 10% of their time working around operational failures, which are situations where information, supplies, or equipment needed for patient care are insufficient. However, little is known about underlying causes of... View Details
Tucker, Anita L., W. Scott Heisler, and Laura D. Janisse. "Designed for Workarounds: A Qualitative Study of the Causes of Operational Failures in Hospitals." Permanente Journal 18, no. 3 (Summer 2014): 33–41.
- 1998
- Chapter
Reengineering Channel Reordering Processes to Improve Total Supply-Chain Performance
By: J. Hammond and Theodore H. Clark
Keywords: Supply Chain Management; Performance Improvement; Distribution Channels; Management Practices and Processes
Hammond, J., and Theodore H. Clark. "Reengineering Channel Reordering Processes to Improve Total Supply-Chain Performance." In Global Supply Chain and Technology Management. Vol. 1, edited by Hau Lee and Shu Ming Ng. POMS Series in Technology and Operations Management. Miami: Production and Operations Management Society (POMS), 1998.
- 27 Feb 2020
- Sharpening Your Skills
How Following Best Business Practices Can Improve Health Care
accounting have to do with improving patient outcomes in Haiti? HBS faculty members discuss their research and what it means for patients, providers, and industries. A Good Place to Start Clayton Christensen on Disrupting Health CareIn a... View Details
- October 2019 (Revised December 2019)
- Case
BC Partners: Acuris
By: Victoria Ivashina and Terrence Shu
This case follows Nikos Stathopoulos, Managing Partner of BC Partners, as he and his team evaluate the potential sale of one of BC Partners’ portfolio companies, Acuris. Acuris was a global financial intelligence, news, and data company that had been acquired by BC... View Details
Keywords: Fund Management; Fund Raising; Leveraged Buyout; Buyout; Portfolio Management; Operations Improvement; Exit; Exit Strategy; Valuation Ratios; Finance; Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts; Operations; Performance Improvement; Acquisition; Valuation
Ivashina, Victoria, and Terrence Shu. "BC Partners: Acuris." Harvard Business School Case 220-041, October 2019. (Revised December 2019.)