article thumbnail

Research: When Retail Workers Have Stable Schedules, Sales and Productivity Go Up

Harvard Business

The relentless rise of online retailers has led to deep soul searching among brick-and-mortar retailers to find ways to compete. The traditional methods of competing through convenience, assortment, and pricing are largely ineffective against online retailers who outperform brick-and-mortar retailers in these dimensions.

Retail 28
article thumbnail

How to Win with Automation (Hint: It’s Not Chasing Efficiency)

Harvard Business

At the same time, managers need to continue to motivate employees who fear their jobs being replaced by robots. This creates a dilemma for leaders. Clearly, any enterprise that doesn’t embrace automation won’t be able to survive any better than a farmer with a horse-drawn plow. market share in online sales.

article thumbnail

How to Reduce Primary Care Doctors’ Workloads While Improving Care

Harvard Business

Just imagine the operational demand if primary care providers also had to actively monitor their patients’ health data between office visits. The workload problem is further increased by patients’ likely response to enhanced availability, such as what tax accounting and retail customers have enjoyed through digital channels.

How To 28