Publications

Educators

March 2016
Supplement

Compass Group: The Ascension Health Decision

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; Customer Focus and Relationships; Service Industry; Health Industry; United States

02 Apr 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 2, 2019

gun restrictions. Lifting the Veil: The Benefits of Cost Transparency By: Mohan, Bhavya, Ryan W. Buell, and Leslie K. John Abstract—Firms do not typically disclose information on their costs to produce a... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

February 2020
Module Note

Transforming Customer Engagement in Service Operations

April 2018
Supplement

Breakfast at the Paramount

The Paramount is a 44-seat diner on Charles Street in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston. A frequent "Best of Boston" award winner, the restaurant is a perennial favorite among locals and tourists, particularly for brunch on the weekends, when lines often stretch... View Details

Keywords: Food; Management Practices and Processes; Service Delivery; Service Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Boston

December 2015 (Revised October 2018)
Exercise

Customer Compatibility Exercise

Fall 2016
Article

How Do Customers Respond to Increased Service Quality Competition?

By: Ryan W. Buell, Dennis Campbell and Frances X. Frei

When does increased service quality competition lead to customer defection, and which customers are most likely to defect? Our empirical analysis of 82,235 customers exploits the varying competitive dynamics in 644 geographically isolated markets in which a nationwide... View Details

Keywords: Service Quality Competition; Retail Banks; Empirical Operations; Retention; Service Operations; Quality; Competition; Banking Industry; United States

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Web

Managing Service Operations - Course Catalog

HBS Course Catalog Managing Service Operations Course Number 2120 Professor Ryan Buell Senior Lecturer Robert Markey Fall; Q1Q2; 3.0 credits 28 Sessions Paper/Project Service is the business of people... View Details

Article

Are Self-service Customers Satisfied or Stuck?

By: Ryan W. Buell, Dennis Campbell and Frances X. Frei

This paper investigates the impact of self-service technology (SST) usage on customer satisfaction and retention. Specifically, we disentangle the distinct effects of satisfaction and switching costs as drivers of retention among self-service customers. Our empirical... View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Information Technology; Customer Satisfaction; Competition; Cost; Banks and Banking; Behavior; Market Transactions; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques

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12 Feb 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, February 12, 2019

forthcoming World Happiness Report Happiness and Prosocial Behavior: An Evaluation of the Evidence By: Aknin, Lara B., A.V. Whillans, Michael I. Norton, and Elizabeth W. Dunn Abstract— Humans are an extremely prosocial species. Compared... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

07 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: Sept. 7

http://www.themontrealreview.com/2009/The-current-crisis-and-the-essence-of-capitalism.php Reversing the Null: Regulation, Deregulation, and the Power of Ideas Authors:David Moss Publication:Chap. 4 in Challenges to Business in the Twenty-First Century, edited View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

About Us | Information Technology

The Multimedia Development team is deeply thoughtful about the student journey, and the cases are beautiful. Students, executives, and my colleagues from other schools are always impressed. The cases engage students in a different way. Classes are more fun. The impact... View Details

12 Apr 2016
First Look

April 12, 2016

April 2016 Harvard Business Review Can You Cut 'Turn Times' Without Adding Staff? By: Bernstein, Ethan, and Ryan W. Buell Abstract—The president of RSA Ground, the subsidiary... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

03 Nov 2015
First Look

November 3, 2015

difference-in-differences, matching estimations, and regression discontinuity designs. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50014 Experimental Evidence of Pooling Outcomes Under Information Asymmetry By: Schmidt, William, and View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 Dec 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas, December 12, 2017

Joy M., Liana Victorino, Ryan W. Buell, Michael J. Dixon, Susan M. Goldstein, Larry J. Menor, Madeleine E. Pullman, Aleda Roth, Enrico Secchi, and Jie Zhang Abstract—The purpose of this article is to present... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Apr 2011
First Look

First Look: April 5

PublicationsThe Labor Illusion: How Operational Transparency Increases Perceived Value Authors:Ryan W. Buell and Michael I. Norton Publication:Management Science (forthcoming) Abstract A ubiquitous feature... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

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

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February 2016 (Revised March 2020)
Supplement

Oberoi Hotels: Train Whistle in the Tiger Reserve

By: Ananth Raman and Ryan W. Buell

Supplement to HBS Case No. 615-043. View Details

February 2016 (Revised February 2020)
Teaching Note

Oberoi Hotels: Train Whistle in the Tiger Reserve

By: Ryan W. Buell and Ananth Raman

Celebrated as one of the world's premiere luxury hotel brands, Oberoi Hotels attracts and serves some of the most quality sensitive guests in the world. The case considers the challenge of how an organization with a standardized service model can repeatedly delight... View Details

Keywords: Service Quality; Service Management; Service Quality Competition; Customer Management; Customer Service Excellence; Employee Empowerment; Employee Engagement; Employee Training; Hospitality; Hotel Industry; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Customer Satisfaction; Employees; Training; Quality; Accommodations Industry; India

October 2023 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Sydney Loves Kevin

By: Ryan W. Buell and Himabindu Lakkaraju

Kevin Roose was a columnist and podcast host for the New York Times, who focused on technology and its effects on society. When Microsoft launched the latest version of its search engine Bing in February 2023, the company invited Roose to its Redmond campus to... View Details

Keywords: Newspapers; AI and Machine Learning; Technology Adoption; Technological Innovation; Perspective; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Technology Industry