Managing Service Operations

Course Number 2120

Professor Ryan Buell

Senior Lecturer of Business Administration Robert Markey

Fall; Q1Q2; 3.0 credits
28 Sessions
Paper/Project

Service is the business of people helping people, and people are born to help one another. The survival of our species literally depends upon it. Yet, service organizations are often designed and managed in a way that prevents us from realizing our potential.

Service organizations are complex and diverse, and they continue to grow in prominence. They account for 63% of the global economy, 80% of the U.S. GDP, and 86% of the jobs taken by last year’s graduating class of Harvard Business School MBAs.

Managing Service Operations (MSO) teaches students how to effectively design, manage, and improve service organizations. Students will learn:

How to create distinctive and sustainable service strategies,
How to execute service models that enable customers, employees, and owners to simultaneously thrive, and;
How to adapt to evolving customer needs and changing competitive landscapes.

A general management course, MSO resides at the intersection of leadership, strategy, marketing, and operations. It draws upon cutting-edge research and field examples from a broad array of industries, including financial services, government, healthcare, hospitality, professional services, restaurants, retail, and transportation. The course is useful for students planning to lead, work in, advise, or invest in service organizations.