Go to main content
Harvard Business School
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions

Faculty & Research

  • HOME
  • FACULTY
  • RESEARCH
    • Global Research Centers
    • HBS Case Collection
    • HBS Case Development
    • Initiatives & Projects
    • Publications
    • Research Associate (RA) Positions
    • Research Services
    • Seminars & Conferences
    Close
  • FEATURED TOPICS
    • Business and Environment
    • Business History
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Finance
    • Globalization
    • Health Care
    • Human Behavior and Decision-Making
    • Leadership
    • Social Enterprise
    • Technology and Innovation
    Close
  • ACADEMIC UNITS
    • Accounting and Management
    • Business, Government and the International Economy
    • Entrepreneurial Management
    • Finance
    • General Management
    • Marketing
    • Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
    • Organizational Behavior
    • Strategy
    • Technology and Operations Management
    Close

Case | HBS Case Collection | December 2015

IDEO: Human-Centered Service Design

by Ryan W. Buell and Andrew Otazo

  • Print
  • Email

Abstract

The case describes IDEO, one of the world's leading design firms, and its human-centered innovation culture and processes. It is an example of what managers can do to make their own organizations more innovative. In reaction to a rapidly changing competitive landscape, a team of IDEO designers has been hired by Cineplanet, the leading movie cinema chain in Peru, to reinvent the movie-going experience for Peruvians. Cineplanet wishes to better align their operating model with the needs and behaviors of its customers. Please note: This case study includes mandatory video elements, which are integrated into the pre-class assignment for students and the classroom teaching plan for instructors. Information on how to access and use these multimedia components is included in the Teaching Note.

Keywords: design thinking; innovation; service delivery; service management; service; Design; Service Delivery; Innovation and Management; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Peru;

Language: English Format: Multimedia EducatorsPurchase

Citation:

Buell, Ryan W., and Andrew Otazo. "IDEO: Human-Centered Service Design." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Case 615-703, December 2015.

About the Author

Photo
Ryan W. Buell
Finnegan Family Associate Professor of Business Administration
Technology and Operations Management

View Profile »
View Publications »

 

More from the Author

  • Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | September 2019

    Commonwealth Bank of Australia: Unbanklike Experimentation

    Ryan W. Buell and Leslie K. John

    Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.

    Teaching Note for HBS No. 619-018.

    Citation:

    Buell, Ryan W., and Leslie K. John. "Commonwealth Bank of Australia: Unbanklike Experimentation." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 620-041, September 2019. (Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.)  View Details
    CiteView DetailsPurchase Related
  • Working Paper | HBS Working Paper Series | 2019

    Improving Customer Compatibility with Operational Transparency

    Ryan W. Buell and MoonSoo Choi

    Through a large-scale field experiment with 389,611 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 engagement. Although we find transparency to have an insignificant effect on acquisition rates, customers who were shown each offering’s tradeoffs selected different products than those who were not. Moreover, prospective customers who experienced transparency and subsequently chose to open an account went on to exhibit higher quality service relationships over time. Monthly spending was 9.9% higher and cancellation rates were 20.5% lower among those who experienced transparency into each offering’s tradeoffs. Increased product usage and retention accrued disproportionately to customers with prior category experience—more experienced customers who were provided transparency spent 19.2% more on a monthly basis and were 33.7% less likely to defect after nine months. Importantly, we find that these gains in engagement and retention do not come at the expense of customers’ financial wellbeing—the probability of making late payments was reduced among customers who experienced transparency. We further find that the positive effects of transparency on engagement and retention were attenuated in the presence of a promotion that provided financial incentives to choose particular offerings. Taken together, these results suggest that providing transparency into an offering’s tradeoffs may be an effective strategy for informing customer choices, leading to better outcomes for customers and firms alike.

    Keywords: behavioral operations; operational transparency; customer compatibility; customer behavior; Consumer Behavior; Decision Making; Operations; Strategy;

    Citation:

    Buell, Ryan W., and MoonSoo Choi. "Improving Customer Compatibility with Operational Transparency." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-013, July 2019.  View Details
    CiteView DetailsSSRN Read Now Related
  • Working Paper | HBS Working Paper Series | 2019

    How Transparency into Internal and External Responsibility Initiatives Influences Consumer Choice: Evidence from the Field and Lab

    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 through responsible operations practices (such as paying a living wage to workers or engaging in environmentally sustainable manufacturing). Others pursue external responsibility initiatives (such as philanthropy or cause-related marketing). Through three experiments, conducted in the field and lab, we compare how transparency into these internal and external initiatives affects customer perceptions and sales, and explore the psychological processes linking transparency to sales. The results provide converging evidence that transparency into a company’s internal responsibility practices can be at least as motivating of consumer sales as transparency into its external responsibility initiatives, incrementally increasing a consumer’s probability of purchase by 13.6% and 45.8% across our two field experiments, conducted in social and environmental domains, respectively. We further investigate the perceptual effects of transparency into internal and external responsibility initiatives and find that the underlying psychological mechanisms linking both types of transparency to consumer purchase intentions are highly consistent. Transparency into internal and external initiatives increases perceived altruism, cause sincerity, corporate ability, trust, favorability, and consumers’ beliefs that the company is an attractive employer, which in turn drives sales. Taken together, our results suggest that it may be in the interest of both business and society for managers to prioritize internal responsible operations initiatives, to achieve both top and bottom line benefits, while mitigating social and environmental harms.

    Keywords: Sustainable Operations; corporate social responsibility; operational transparency; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Consumer Behavior; Perception;

    Citation:

    Buell, Ryan W., and Basak Kalkanci. "How Transparency into Internal and External Responsibility Initiatives Influences Consumer Choice: Evidence from the Field and Lab." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 19-115, May 2019.  View Details
    CiteView DetailsSSRN Read Now Related
ǁ
Campus Map
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→ Map & Directions
→ More Contact Information
→ More Contact Information
→ More Contact Information
→ More Contact Information
  • HBS Facebook
  • Alumni Facebook
  • Executive Education Facebook
  • Michael Porter Facebook
  • Working Knowledge Facebook
  • HBS Twitter
  • Executive Education Twitter
  • HBS Alumni Twitter
  • Michael Porter Twitter
  • Recruiting Twitter
  • Rock Center Twitter
  • Working Knowledge Twitter
  • Jobs Twitter
  • Social Enterprise Twitter
  • HBS Youtube
  • Michael Porter Youtube
  • Executive Education Youtube
  • HBS Linkedin
  • Alumni Linkedin
  • Executive Education Linkedin
  • MBA Linkedin
  • Linkedin
  • HBS Instagram
  • Alumni Instagram
  • Executive Education Instagram
  • Michael Porter Instagram
  • HBS iTunes
  • Executive Education iTunes
  • HBS Tumblr
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Terms of Use
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College