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- Faculty Publications (739)
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- All HBS Web (2,344)
- Faculty Publications (739)
- 24 Apr 2014
- News
A taste of home leads to jobs creation and community improvements
In a small, undercapitalized cheese manufacturing operation in rural Wisconsin, Paul Scharfman (AB 1976, MBA 1979) saw the opportunity to develop a variety of specialty cheeses that would appeal to the palates of the growing population of... View Details
- September 2010
- Article
Do Inventory and Gross Margin Data Improve Sales Forecasts for U.S. Public Retailers?
By: Saravanan Kesavan, Vishal Gaur and Ananth Raman
Firm-level sales forecasts for retailers can be improved if we incorporate cost of goods sold, inventory, and gross margin (defined here as the ratio of sales to cost of goods sold) as three endogenous variables. We construct a simultaneous equations model, estimated... View Details
Keywords: Sales; Forecasting and Prediction; Distribution; Goods and Commodities; Cost; Public Sector; Profit; Mathematical Methods; Analytics and Data Science; Retail Industry; United States
Kesavan, Saravanan, Vishal Gaur, and Ananth Raman. "Do Inventory and Gross Margin Data Improve Sales Forecasts for U.S. Public Retailers?" Management Science 56, no. 9 (September 2010): 1519–1533.
- March 2016
- Supplement
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 Multimedia/Video Supplement 616-706, March 2016.
- February 2021
- Article
How Transparency into Internal and External Responsibility Initiatives Influences Consumer Choice
By: Ryan W. Buell and Basak Kalkanci
Amid growing calls for transparency and social and environmental responsibility, companies are employing different strategies to improve consumer perceptions of their brands. Some pursue internal initiatives that reduce their negative social or environmental impacts... View Details
Keywords: Sustainable Operations; Corporate Social Responsibility; Operational Transparency; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Operations; Environmental Sustainability; Consumer Behavior; Perception
Buell, Ryan W., and Basak Kalkanci. "How Transparency into Internal and External Responsibility Initiatives Influences Consumer Choice." Management Science 67, no. 2 (February 2021): 932–950.
- 2012
- Other Unpublished Work
The Instrumental Value of Medical Leadership: Engaging Doctors in Improving Services
By: Richard Bohmer
This paper was commissioned to contribute to The King's Fund's 2012 review of leadership
and engagement. View Details
Keywords: Health Care; Service Quality; Quality; Leadership; Service Delivery; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry
Bohmer, Richard. "The Instrumental Value of Medical Leadership: Engaging Doctors in Improving Services." King's Fund, London, England, May 2012.
- Research Summary
"On design of operations & production management technology-base and performance database for empowerment of global/local industries in the international business environment"
His current research interests are in the reinforcement of continuous improvement schemes such as TPM, its global transfer and road-mapping for empowerment of industries. One of his aims while at Harvard TOM Unit is to establish infrastructure which enables... View Details
- Article
The Perils of Excellence: Barriers to Effective Process Improvement in Product-Driven Firms
By: Rebecca M. Henderson, Jesus del Alamo, Todd Becker, James Lawton, Peter Moran, Saul Shapiro and Dean Vlasak
Henderson, Rebecca M., Jesus del Alamo, Todd Becker, James Lawton, Peter Moran, Saul Shapiro, and Dean Vlasak. "The Perils of Excellence: Barriers to Effective Process Improvement in Product-Driven Firms." Production and Operations Management 7, no. 1 (Spring 1998): 2–18.
- 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
Keywords: Anxiety; Self-service; Empirical Operations; Behavioral Operations; Communication Technology; Behavior; Customer Focus and Relationships; Trust; Satisfaction; Financial Services Industry
Kinch, Michelle A., and Ryan W. Buell. "Mitigating the Negative Effects of Customer Anxiety Through Access to Human Contact." Management Science (forthcoming). (Pre-published online March 31, 2025.)
- September 2009
- Article
Virtue out of Necessity? Compliance, Commitment and the Improvement of Labor Conditions in Global Supply Chains
By: Akshay Mangla, Richard Locke and Matthew Amengual
Private, voluntary compliance programs, promoted by global corporations and nongovernmental organizations alike, have produced only modest and uneven improvements in working conditions and labor rights in most global supply chains. Through a detailed study of a major... View Details
Mangla, Akshay, Richard Locke, and Matthew Amengual. "Virtue out of Necessity? Compliance, Commitment and the Improvement of Labor Conditions in Global Supply Chains." Politics & Society 37, no. 3 (September 2009): 319–351.
- July – August 2011
- Article
Deliberate Learning to Improve Performance in Dynamic Service Settings: Evidence from Hospital Intensive Care Units
By: I. M. Nembhard and A. L. Tucker
Dynamic service settings-characterized by workers who interact with customers to deliver services in a rapidly changing, uncertain, and complex environment (e.g., hospitals)-play an important role in the economy. Organizational learning studies in these settings have... View Details
Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Customer Focus and Relationships; Learning; Health Care and Treatment; Service Delivery; Performance Improvement; Quality; Groups and Teams; Cooperation; Health Industry
Nembhard, I. M., and A. L. Tucker. "Deliberate Learning to Improve Performance in Dynamic Service Settings: Evidence from Hospital Intensive Care Units." Organization Science 22, no. 4 (July–August 2011): 907–922.
- 2023
- Working Paper
Personalized Game Design for Improved User Retention and Monetization in Freemium Games
By: Eva Ascarza, Oded Netzer and Julian Runge
One of the most crucial aspects and significant levers that gaming companies possess in designing
digital games is setting the level of difficulty, which essentially regulates the user’s ability to
progress within the game. This aspect is particularly significant in... View Details
Keywords: Freemium; Retention/churn; Field Experiment; Field Experiments; Gaming; Gaming Industry; Mobile App; Mobile App Industry; Monetization; Monetization Strategy; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Customers; Retention; Product Design; Strategy
Ascarza, Eva, Oded Netzer, and Julian Runge. "Personalized Game Design for Improved User Retention and Monetization in Freemium Games." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 21-062, November 2020. (Revised December 2023.)
- 2005
- Book
Best Face Forward: Why Companies Must Improve Their Service Interfaces With Customers
By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Bernard J. Jaworski
Keywords: Technology; Digital; Services; Strategy; Internet and the Web; Service Delivery; Marketing
Rayport, Jeffrey F., and Bernard J. Jaworski. Best Face Forward: Why Companies Must Improve Their Service Interfaces With Customers. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2005.
- 2018
- Working Paper
Show or Tell? Improving Agent Decision Making in a Tanzanian Mobile Money Field Experiment
By: Jason Acimovic, Chris Parker, David F. Drake and Karthik Balasubramanian
When workers make operational decisions, the firm's global knowledge and the workers’ domain-specific knowledge complement each other. Oftentimes workers have the final decision-making power. Two key decisions a firm makes when designing systems to support these... View Details
Keywords: Employees; Decision Making; Training; Performance Improvement; Money; Mobile Technology; Developing Countries and Economies; Financial Services Industry
Acimovic, Jason, Chris Parker, David F. Drake, and Karthik Balasubramanian. "Show or Tell? Improving Agent Decision Making in a Tanzanian Mobile Money Field Experiment." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 18-106, May 2018.
- fall 2002
- Article
How Much Does the Market Value an Improvement in a Product Attribute?
By: Elie Ofek and V. Srinivasan
Ofek, Elie, and V. Srinivasan. "How Much Does the Market Value an Improvement in a Product Attribute?" Marketing Science 21, no. 4 (fall 2002): 398–411.
- Research Summary
Overview
By: Ryan W. Buell
From creating flight itineraries online, to interacting with tellers to complete complex banking transactions, to engaging with the government to address civic problems, customers are playing an increasingly vital role in the performance of operations in a broadening... View Details