Zeynep Ton
There are 2 articles for this faculty member.
About Faculty in this Article:
Zeynep Ton is an assistant professor in the Technology and Operations Management unit at Harvard Business School.
Thinking Twice About Supply-Chain Layoffs
| Published: | December 8, 2008 |
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| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Cutting the wrong employees can be counterproductive for retailers, new research from Harvard Business School professor Zeynep Ton concludes. One suggestion: Pay attention to staff who handle mundane tasks such as stocking and labeling. Your customers do.
The Effect of Labor on Profitability: The Role of Quality
| Author: | Zeynep Ton |
|---|---|
| Published: | November 13, 2008 |
| Paper Release Date: | September 2008, revised July 2009 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
Determining staffing levels is an important decision in retail operations. In 2006, retailers spent $393 billion on employee wages, more than 10 percent of their revenue that year and more than their inventory holding costs. Hence, staffing levels have a major impact on retailers' costs. But at the same time, staffing levels affect conformance quality—how well employees execute prescribed processes—and service quality—the extent to which customers have a positive service experience at the stores. While there is overwhelming evidence that conformance quality and service quality improve sales, both generally and in retail settings, their effect on profitability is not clear. To examine how the amount of labor at a store affects profitability through its impact on conformance quality and service quality, Zeynep Ton analyzed extensive data from stores of a large retailer.
