Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,270)
- Faculty Publications (171)
- April 2008
- Case
Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston and Dr. Bradford J. Shingleton (2004)
By: H. Kent Bowen and Marcelo Pancotto
Dr. Bradford Shingleton has developed some of the highest quality eye surgery techniques in the industry. He involves his nurses and technicians in creating a surgical service that is constantly improving. The case has many details about how Dr. Shingleton works with... View Details
- November 2007 (Revised April 2008)
- Case
Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: A Rural Business Initiative
By: David E. Bell, Nitin Sanghavi, Virginia Fuller and Mary L. Shelman
In rural India, farmers historically had limited access to quality input items for both their fields and homes. Indian conglomerate DSCL has undertaken a Rural Business Initiative to address this issue, establishing a chain of retail outlets throughout rural India... View Details
- November 2007 (Revised January 2010)
- Case
ThedaCare: System Strategy
By: Michael E. Porter and Sachin H. Jain
Over the 1980s and 1990s, America's changing health care payer environment resulted in mergers of numerous community hospitals into hospital systems. Based in Appleton, Wisconsin, ThedaCare stood out among community hospital systems in its pursuit of service... View Details
- November 2007
- Article
A Model of Consumer Learning for Service Quality and Usage
By: Raghuram Iyengar, Asim Ansari and Sunil Gupta
In many services, e.g., the wireless service industry, consumers choose a service plan based on their expected consumption. In such situations, consumers experience two forms of uncertainty. First, consumers may be uncertain about the quality of their service provider... View Details
- 2007
- Book
When Professionals Have to Lead: A New Model for High Performance
By: Thomas J. DeLong, John J. Gabarro and Robert Lees
For too long, professional services firms (PSFs) have relied on the "producer-manager" model, which works well in uncomplicated business environments. However, today's managing directors must balance conflicting roles, more demanding clients, tougher competitors, and... View Details
- September 2007 (Revised January 2009)
- Case
Reading Rehabilitation Hospital: Implementing Patient-Focused Care (A) (Abridged)
By: Roy D. Shapiro
Reading Rehab Hospital has experimented with a popular concept in health care--patient-focused care--intended to increase quality and reduce costs by organizing care delivery around particular diagnoses or "service lines," rather than around the functions or... View Details
- May 2007 (Revised July 2011)
- Case
The West German Headache Center: Integrated Migraine Care
By: Michael E. Porter, Clemens Guth and Elisa M. Dannemiller
Describes the joint efforts of the German health plan KKH and Essen University Hospital to develop an integrated practice unit (IPU), and the West German Headache Center's efforts to improve the quality of migraine care. Provides an overview of the German health care... View Details
- December 2006 (Revised September 2007)
- Case
Ponsse: From Finland to Global
By: David E. Bell and Mary L. Shelman
Finland-based Ponsse Oyj, with 2005 turnover of $250 million, is the only dedicated forest equipment company of size that remained in a consolidating industry. Competitors included global giants such as John Deere and Komatsu. Since his arrival at Ponsse in 2004, CEO... View Details
- March 2005 (Revised March 2006)
- Background Note
Activity-Based Costing and Capacity
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Discusses the use of budgeted rather than historical data in an activity-based costing (ABC) model and argues for calculating rates using practical capacity, not actual utilization. An ABC model need not be limited to analysis of historical data. When cost driver rates... View Details
- October 2002 (Revised April 2007)
- Case
Dell Computers (A): Field Service for Corporate Clients
By: Frances X. Frei, Amy C. Edmondson and Corey B. Hajim
Explores the highly successful PC and low-end server manufacturer's entry into the large-scale server market in the United States. A key difference of this new market is the intense service element required to support the larger hardware. Specifically, the industry... View Details
- September 2002 (Revised October 2002)
- Case
Orient-Express Hotels
By: Frances X. Frei and Corey B. Hajim
Describes how a hotel and leisure company provides high-end service through its distinctive hotels and trains. Provides an opportunity to learn about the company's unusual quality practices and puts into doubt the unquestioned use of well-known practices, such as... View Details
- July 2002 (Revised March 2003)
- Case
North East Medical Services
By: Thomas J. DeLong and Wendy Carter
Sophie Wong, president and CEO of North East Medical Services, a health care organization dedicated to serving the underprivileged Asian American community in San Francisco, must decide how to reposition the organization to serve patients from multiple income levels... View Details
- July 2002 (Revised October 2002)
- Case
Taj Hotel Group
By: Thomas J. DeLong and Vineeta Vijayaraghavan
R.K. Krishna Kumar, managing director and head of Taj Hotel Group, has to decide whether to reexamine a promotion decision. In an attempt to deliver a level of service quality that met global standards at the Indian hotel chain, Kumar had introduced new personnel... View Details
- March 2002 (Revised March 2004)
- Case
Metalcraft Supplier Scorecard
By: Susan L. Kulp, V.G. Narayanan and Ronald L. Verkleeren
An automotive components company uses a supplier scorecard to make sourcing decisions and review its supplier performance. View Details
- January 2002 (Revised April 2004)
- Case
Chapter Enrichment Program Teams at the American Red Cross (A)
By: Jeffrey T. Polzer and Anita Williams Woolley
The American Red Cross has a system for structuring, staffing, and leading teams to review its local chapters. Mirroring professional services firms that use teams to serve clients, this system provides detailed guidelines to increase individual team member's... View Details
- November 2001 (Revised October 2017)
- Supplement
Store24 (B): Service Quality and Employee Skills
By: Frances X. Frei and Dennis Campbell
Supplements the (A) case. View Details
- September 2001 (Revised October 2002)
- Case
Virgin Group, The: Filling in the Value Gap
By: Frances X. Frei, Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar and Corey B. Hajim
Chronicles the successes and failures of the Virgin Group. By examining these examples, students discover attributes of Virgin's overall service concept, which, at its core, competes on quality rather than on price. Students are challenged to consider how Virgin might... View Details
- March 2001 (Revised September 2005)
- Case
Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, The
By: Sandra J. Sucher and Stacy McManus
In just seven days, the Ritz-Carlton transforms newly hired employees into "Ladies and Gentlemen Serving Ladies and Gentlemen." The case details a new hotel launch, focusing on the unique blend of leadership, quality processes, and values of self-respect and dignity,... View Details
- January 2001
- Case
Achieving Customer Satisfaction at Pizza Hut (B)
By: V.G. Narayanan and Lisa Brem
Supplements the (A) case. View Details
- December 2000 (Revised February 2007)
- Case
Achieving Customer Satisfaction at Pizza Hut (A)
By: V.G. Narayanan and Preeti Choudhary
Describes how Pizza Hut measures and monitors customer satisfaction, customer complaints, and the quality of its retail locations. View Details