Publications

September 1998 (Revised July 1999)
Case

Costco Companies, Inc.

By: David E. Bell and Ann Leamon

Costco Companies, one of the major players in the wholesale club industry, has developed a new class of membership that offers discounted services--auto, health, and home insurance, business credit card processing, real estate services--in exchange for a higher annual... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Cost Management; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Supply and Industry; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Risk and Uncertainty; Retail Industry

01 Mar 2024
News

Come Sail Away

When Michael Sard (MBA 2018) arrived at HBS, he owned about 50 Hawaiian shirts. “It was one of the few items in a man’s closet that could have a ritual to it around going out, like a tuxedo does,” he says. Purchase options, however, seemed limited to two extremes:... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; entrepreneurship; manufacturing; career path; Apparel Manufacturing; Manufacturing

March 2008
Case

Shangri-La Hotels

By: Dennis Campbell and Brent Kazan

In November 2006, Symon Bridle, the newly appointed chief operating officer of Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, was thinking about a number of organizational issues that presented challenges to Shangri-La's rapid expansion strategy. There were three major issues at hand:... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Growth and Development Strategy; Standards; Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Accommodations Industry; China; Europe; North America

November 2022 (Revised December 2024)
Case

Hugging Face (A): Serving AI on a Platform

By: Shane Greenstein, Daniel Yue, Sarah Gulick and Kerry Herman

It is fall 2022, and open-source AI model company Hugging Face is considering its three areas of priorities: platform development, supporting the open-source community, and pursuing cutting-edge scientific research. As it expands services for enterprise clients, which... View Details

Keywords: Community; Open-source; AI and Machine Learning; Product Development; Networks; Service Delivery; Research; Governance; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Information Industry; Technology Industry; United States

Forthcoming
Book

Innovating in Healthcare: Creating Breakthrough Tech, Services, Drugs, Products, and Business Models

By: Regina E. Herzlinger

Innovating in Healthcare offers effective approaches for designing, reworking, and implementing innovative healthcare services, products, and business models. It will help anyone working in healthcare service or product development, from hospitals to startups,... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Service Delivery; Product Development; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Health Industry

Web

Organizational Leadership Course | HBS Online

experience you. Please note that Qualtrics—the tool used in the delivery of the Learning Path Tool— does not provide services to individuals in Russia and Belarus. If you take Organizational Leadership from any of these countries, you... View Details

Web

Andrew O’Brien | About

Andrew O’Brien Bio Andy O’Brien is the Chief of Operations at the Harvard Business School. He is in charge of all non-academic operations on the 40 acre 1.9 million square foot HBS campus. In this role Andy is responsible for fourteen different service groups ranging... View Details

Web

ICIC - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

Delivery Project The Institute for Cancer Care Innovation MOC Network ICIC U.S. Cluster Mapping Project U.S. Competitiveness Project FSG Shared Value Initiative Social Progress Imperative AllWorld Network ICIC Initiative for a Competitive... View Details

22 Aug 2022
Research & Ideas

Can Amazon Remake Health Care?

percent premium was exactly the wrong answer. Gazette: Has the public’s newfound acceptance of telehealth shifted the way providers view delivery of service? Chandra: We’d already started to see a move toward telehealth before the... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Health

March 2011
Case

Globant

By: Mukti Khaire, Gustavo A. Herrero and Cintra Scott

The case deals with an IT company born in Argentina in 2003 to provide software services to established companies in the developed world. After reaching sales of $57 million in 2010, the company ponders its next steps to achieve $500 million in revenues by 2015. View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Entrepreneurship; Global Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Delivery; Software; Information Technology Industry; Argentina

01 May 2020
What Do You Think?

Does Remote Work Mix with Organizational Culture?

without too much difficulty. It all suggests that responses to the virus may hasten a trend already in process, that of more delivery of work performed remotely. The pros and cons of working remotely have been hashed over repeatedly.... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

October 2015 (Revised February 2020)
Teaching Note

Trouble at Tessei

By: Ethan Bernstein and Ryan 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

Web

Information Technology | Harvard Business School

Service Delivery Team Profile By Kellyn Eaddy on April 16, 2025 IT Strategy: HBS IT Website Provides Easier Access to News and Support By Kellyn Eaddy on February 18, 2025 How can HBS IT help you make a difference? We’re here to help you... View Details

20 Apr 2020
Blog Post

Introducing LivelyHood, A Volunteer Nonprofit Founded in Response to COVID-19

“no contact” delivery protocol. With our system, volunteers get to decide when and how much to help. Additionally, we have decided to build a matching algorithm to pair volunteers to requests. We looked around at some of the different... View Details

24 Jan 2011
HBS Case

Terror at the Taj

On November 26, 2008, 175 people died in Mumbai, India, when 10 terrorists simultaneously struck sites. Of the five locations—all well-known landmarks—the beautiful domes of the hotel known as the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower would become most closely associated with the... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Accommodations

May 2016 (Revised September 2016)
Case

Hillside Beach Club: Delivering the Ultimate Family Vacation in the Mediterranean

By: Rajiv Lal and Gamze Yucaoglu

In 2015, Edip Ilkbahar, HBC’s founder and CEO, was looking over the plans for a new branch in Cyprus. Since the inception of the company by the Alarko Group of companies in 1994, Ilkbahar’s company had enjoyed high occupancy, high guest satisfaction, and high... View Details

Web

Openings - Christensen Center for Teaching & Learning

instructor should consider presence and delivery in the opening: Voice Speak slowly and project Modulate tone and speed Movement Standing in a fixed spot (e.g. in front of the doc cam) can help focus student attention Using dynamic body... View Details

December 2002 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Four Seasons Goes to Paris: '53 Properties, 24 Countries, 1 Philosophy'

By: Roger H. Hallowell, David Bowen and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Illustrates how Four Seasons manages hotels in countries with strong and distinct national cultures. Focuses on how the chain meets its exacting service standards in a variety of settings worldwide, with special attention on France. View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Global Range; Global Strategy; Standards; Accommodations Industry; Paris