Publications

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February 1996 (Revised November 2003)
Case

Indianapolis: Activity-Based Costing of City Services (A)

By: Robert S. Kaplan

A new administration in the City of Indianapolis is initially determined to privatize many municipal services. Before taking this action, however, the city managers want to know the current cost of performing these services with the municipal workers. Existing... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Public Sector; Activity Based Costing and Management; Service Delivery; Privatization; City; Indianapolis

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

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Customer Relationship Management; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Service Operations; Business or Company Management; Emerging Markets; Problems and Challenges; Service Delivery; Computer Industry; United States

Web

Technology & Operations Management Faculty - Faculty & Research

Technology & Operations Management Overview Faculty Curriculum Seminars & Conferences Awards & Honors Doctoral Students Unit Head Robert S. Huckman Albert J. Weatherhead III Professor of Business Administration Howard Cox Healthcare... View Details

March 1991 (Revised May 1991)
Case

Charles Schwab: Financial Advisors Service

By: Steven C. Wheelwright

Keywords: Product Development; Innovation and Invention; Financial Services Industry

Find at Harvard

2007
Other Unpublished Work

Professional Service Firms: A Breed Apart

By: John J. Gabarro, Thomas J. DeLong and Robert Lees

Keywords: Service Operations; Service Industry

May 1993
Case

Patient Transfusion Services Lab of Central Blood Bank

By: James L. Heskett

The vice president of the Lab and Clinical Services at Central Blood Bank is faced with the challenge of convincing a hospital to use economical shared patient transfusion testing services. View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Quality; Service Operations; Mathematical Methods; Customer Satisfaction; Health Industry

2009
Other Unpublished Work

Organizational Alignment in Professional Services

By: John J. Gabarro, Thomas J. DeLong and Robert Lees

Keywords: Service Operations; Alignment; Organizational Structure

Web

Technology & Operations Management Curriculum - Faculty & Research

Edmondson , Tiona Zuzul Spring 2026 Q3Q4 3.0 Managing Service Operations Ryan Buell , Robert Markey Fall 2025 Q1Q2 3.0 Supply Chain Management Kris Ferreira Fall 2025 Q1Q2 3.0 Ananth Raman Spring 2026 Q3Q4... View Details

02 Feb 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Mobile Money: The Effect of Service Quality and Competition on Demand

Keywords: by Karthik Balasubramanian & David F. Drake; Banking

April 2021
Supplement

Buy Online, Pickup in Store: Vice President of Store Operations Supplement

By: Antonio Moreno, Santiago Gallino and Amy Klopfenstein

In April 2019, Sylvarella VP of Store Operations Axley Vega must review an analysis of her department’s sales data to determine the impact of the company’s Buy Online, Pickup in Store (BOPS) program. BOPS implementation created significant problems for the store... View Details

Keywords: Operations; Service Delivery; Logistics; Infrastructure; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Analysis; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States; Canada

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

23 Jan 2012
Research & Ideas

Break Your Addiction to Service Heroes

your biggest buckets of cost and rethinking those strategically in ways that give your customers something they value," notes Frei, the UPS Foundation Professor of Service Management at Harvard Business School. Morriss (HBS MBA '04),... View Details

Keywords: by Deborah Blagg; Service

Web

Research Staff Services - Faculty & Research

Research Services Research Staff Services 3ms As part of the Division of Research and Faculty Development (DRFD), Research Staff Services (RSS) provides research support... View Details

2008
Working Paper

Economic Factors Underlying the Unbundling of Advertising Agency Services

By: Mohammad Arzaghi, Ernst R. Berndt, James C. Davis and Alvin J. Silk

This paper addresses a longstanding puzzle involving the unbundling of services that has occurredover more than two decades in the U.S. advertising agency industry: How can the shift from the bundling to the unbundling of services be explained and what accounts for the... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Framework; Service Operations; Decisions; Relationships; Price; Diversification; Geography; Cost; Advertising Industry; United States

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December 2014 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Compass Group: The Ascension Health Decision

By: Ryan W. Buell

In 2012, Compass Group (Compass) was on the verge of closing a $2 billion deal with Ascension Health (Ascension), one of the largest healthcare systems in the United States. Under the deal, Compass would provide foodservice management and cleaning services for 86 of... View Details

Keywords: Operations Strategy; Sectorization; Operational Focus; Customer Compatibility; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Operations; Strategy; Customer Focus and Relationships; Service Industry; Service Industry; United States

June 2018 (Revised February 2019)
Case

Babcom: Opening Doors

By: Ryan W. Buell, Joshua D. Margolis and Margot Eiran

Keywords: Leadership; Service Operations; Customer Service; Talent Management; Human Resources; Growth; Middle East

April 2010
Teaching Note

IBM: The Corporate Service Corps (TN)

By: Christopher Marquis, Alison Comings and Bobbi Thomason

Teaching Note for [409106]. View Details

Keywords: Service Operations; Employees; Partners and Partnerships; Non-Governmental Organizations; Developing Countries and Economies; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Programs; Global Strategy; Computer Industry; Information Technology Industry; Ghana; Tanzania; Romania; Philippines; Viet Nam