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  • March 2019
  • Technical Note
  • HBS Case Collection

Control or Flexibility? Structured Empowerment Offers Both—Lessons from Retail & Service Chains (Abridged)

By: Tatiana Sandino
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:9
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Abstract

This note explains how several retail and service organizations use a practice described here as “structured empowerment” to balance control and flexibility as they grow. I define structured empowerment as a practice that grants employees both (a) the power to make choices from narrow sets of options on a set of inputs and processes and (b) the responsibility to deliver results according to the company’s value proposition. This lets a company control operations by standardizing the options frontline employees can choose from to drive results as well as adapting to diverse markets. Combining choices from the options makes a large number of service offerings and routine sequences possible. This abridged version of the note does not reference the case "OXXO's Turf War Against Extra." It is intended to be used in a classroom setting where "OXXO's Turf War Against Extra" is also being taught, abridged so that it does not give away any relevant information about the case.

Keywords

Service Operations; Standards; Employees; Service Delivery; Decision Making; Power and Influence; Retail Industry; Service Industry

Citation

Sandino, Tatiana. "Control or Flexibility? Structured Empowerment Offers Both—Lessons from Retail & Service Chains (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Technical Note 119-088, March 2019.
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About The Author

Tatiana Sandino

Accounting and Management
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    • 2023
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    The Impact of Subunit Culture Consistency on Employee and Customer Outcomes

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    Buurtzorg

    By: Ethan Bernstein, Tatiana Sandino, Joost Minnaar and Annelena Lobb
    • 2020
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    From Online Content to Offline Results: Effects of a Best Practices Initiative on an Enterprise Social Network

    By: Shelley Xin Li and Tatiana Sandino
More from the Author
  • The Impact of Subunit Culture Consistency on Employee and Customer Outcomes By: Jasmijn Bol, Robert Grasser, Serena Loftus and Tatiana Sandino
  • Buurtzorg By: Ethan Bernstein, Tatiana Sandino, Joost Minnaar and Annelena Lobb
  • From Online Content to Offline Results: Effects of a Best Practices Initiative on an Enterprise Social Network By: Shelley Xin Li and Tatiana Sandino
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