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Publications

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  • All HBS Web  (375)
    • News  (80)
    • Research  (258)
  • Faculty Publications  (63)

Show Results For

  • All HBS Web  (375)
    • News  (80)
    • Research  (258)
  • Faculty Publications  (63)
Page 1 of 375 Results →
  • June 2017
  • Article

Creating Reciprocal Value Through Operational Transparency

By: Ryan W. Buell, Tami Kim and Chia-Jung Tsay
We investigate whether organizations can create value by introducing visual transparency between consumers and producers. Although operational transparency has been shown to improve consumer perceptions of service value, existing theory posits that increased contact... View Details
Keywords: Operational Transparency; Service Management; Production Management; Organizational Performance; Behavioral Operations; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Consumer Behavior; Labor; Organizational Design; Operations; Service Industry; United States; Kenya
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Buell, Ryan W., Tami Kim, and Chia-Jung Tsay. "Creating Reciprocal Value Through Operational Transparency." Management Science 63, no. 6 (June 2017): 1673–1695.
  • 20 Feb 2019
  • News

Operational Transparency

  • July–August 2021
  • Article

Surfacing the Submerged State: Operational Transparency Increases Trust in and Engagement with Government

By: Ryan W. Buell, Ethan Porter and Michael I. Norton
Problem definition: As trust in government reaches historic lows, frustration with government performance approaches record highs. Academic/practical relevance: We propose that in co-productive settings like government services, peoples’ trust and... View Details
Keywords: Government Services; Behavioral Operations; Operational Transparency; Government Administration; Service Operations; Programs; Perception; Attitudes; Behavior; Trust
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Buell, Ryan W., Ethan Porter, and Michael I. Norton. "Surfacing the Submerged State: Operational Transparency Increases Trust in and Engagement with Government." Manufacturing & Service Operations Management 23, no. 4 (July–August 2021): 781–802.
  • 05 Mar 2019
  • News

Make Customers Happier with Operational Transparency

  • June 2012
  • Article

The Transparency Paradox: A Role for Privacy in Organizational Learning and Operational Control

By: Ethan S. Bernstein
Using data from embedded participant-observers and a field experiment at the second largest mobile phone factory in the world, located in China, I theorize and test the implications of transparent organizational design on workers' productivity and organizational... View Details
Keywords: Transparency; Privacy; Organizational Learning; Operational Control; Organizational Performance; Chinese Manufacturing; Field Experiment; Rights; Interpersonal Communication; Management Practices and Processes; Ethics; Corporate Disclosure; Performance Productivity; Boundaries; Organizations; Social and Collaborative Networks; Labor and Management Relations; Power and Influence; Manufacturing Industry; China
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Bernstein, Ethan S. "The Transparency Paradox: A Role for Privacy in Organizational Learning and Operational Control." Administrative Science Quarterly 57, no. 2 (June 2012): 181–216.
  • 21 Aug 2019
  • Working Paper Summaries

Improving Customer Compatibility with Operational Transparency

Keywords: by Ryan W. Buell and MoonSoo Choi; Banking
  • 01 Jul 2014
  • Working Paper Summaries

Creating Reciprocal Value Through Operational Transparency

Keywords: by Ryan W. Buell, Tami Kim & Chia-Jung Tsay
  • 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
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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.
  • September 2011
  • Article

The Labor Illusion: How Operational Transparency Increases Perceived Value

By: Ryan W. Buell and Michael I. Norton
A ubiquitous feature of even the fastest self-service technology transactions is the wait. Conventional wisdom and operations theory suggests that the longer people wait, the less satisfied they become; we demonstrate that due to what we term the labor illusion, when... View Details
Keywords: Internet and the Web; Perception; Valuation; Service Delivery; Consumer Behavior; Performance Effectiveness; Customer Satisfaction; Service Industry
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Buell, Ryan W., and Michael I. Norton. "The Labor Illusion: How Operational Transparency Increases Perceived Value." Management Science 57, no. 9 (September 2011): 1564–1579.
  • March–April 2019
  • Article

Operational Transparency: Make Your Processes Visible to Customers and Your Customers Visible to Employees

By: Ryan W. Buell
Conventional wisdom holds that the more contact an operation has with its customers, the less efficiently it will run. But when customers are partitioned away from the operation, they are less likely to fully understand and appreciate the work going on behind the... View Details
Keywords: Operational Transparency; Customers; Services; Operations; Customer Focus and Relationships; Employees; Customer Satisfaction; Behavior; Service Industry
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Buell, Ryan W. "Operational Transparency: Make Your Processes Visible to Customers and Your Customers Visible to Employees." R1902H. Harvard Business Review 97, no. 4 (March–April 2019): 102–113.
  • 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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Buell, Ryan W., and MoonSoo Choi. "Improving Customer Compatibility with Tradeoff Transparency." Management Science 71, no. 2 (February 2025): 1335–1355.
  • 29 Nov 2013
  • Working Paper Summaries

Surfacing the Submerged State with Operational Transparency in Government Services

Keywords: by Ryan W. Buell, Ethan Porter, and Michael I. Norton
  • February 18, 2022
  • Article

Transparency as a Solution for COVID-19 Related Hospital Capacity Issues

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Richard Boxer
In the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, many U.S. hospitals could not provide an adequate supply of beds to meet demand. Solving the problem of hospital bed capacity is of great importance in the “new normal,” which requires recognizing that SARS-CoV-2 is but... View Details
Keywords: COVID; COVID-19 Pandemic; Health Care; Health Care Demand; Health Care Delivery; Health Care Industry; Health Care Operations; Health Care Policy; Transparency; Hospital; Hospital Management; Hospitals; Health Pandemics; Health Care and Treatment; Service Delivery; Operations; Performance Capacity; Policy; Health Industry
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Herzlinger, Regina E., and Richard Boxer. "Transparency as a Solution for COVID-19 Related Hospital Capacity Issues." Health Affairs Forefront (February 18, 2022).
  • 05 Jun 2019
  • Working Paper Summaries

How Transparency into Internal and External Responsibility Initiatives Influences Consumer Choice

Keywords: by Ryan W. Buell and Basak Kalkanci
  • 26 May 2003
  • Research & Ideas

Corporate Transparency Improves For Foreign Firms in U.S. Markets

interesting (and perhaps not surprising) that even companies that are not listed in the U.S. but have operations in the U.S. follow the U.S. disclosure-and-transparency model. Q: Were you able to arrive at a conclusion regarding whether... View Details
Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell
  • 10 Jun 2015
  • Research & Ideas

The Transparency Revolution in Corporate Reporting

third lesson is how those two things come together—making a difference and operating an efficient and profitable organization. It's what I refer to as the transparency revolution. In corporate reporting,... View Details
Keywords: Re: George Serafeim
  • January 2015 (Revised October 2015)
  • Case

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
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Bernstein, Ethan, and Ryan W. Buell. "Trouble at Tessei." Harvard Business School Case 615-044, January 2015. (Revised October 2015.)
  • 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
  • Research Summary

Overview

My research uses a combination of lab experiments and empirical methods to understand how organizations can design their operations in order to inspire trust. View Details
Keywords: Behavioral Operations; Human-in-the-loop; Algorithm Transparency; Corporate Social Responsibility; Operations Management
  • 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
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Bernstein, Ethan, and Ryan Buell. "Trouble at Tessei." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 616-031, October 2015. (Revised February 2020.)
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