Faculty and Research

Frances X. Frei is a Professor in the Technology and Operations Management Unit at Harvard Business School.  Her research, course development, and teaching examine how organizations can more effectively design service excellence. Her academic research has been published in top-tier journals such as Management Science and Harvard Business Review.  In addition, she has published dozens of case studies across a variety of industries, including financial services, government, retail, software, telecommunications, and travel & leisure.

Most of those case studies appear in Managing Service Operations, an elective course Professor Frei developed that investigates organizations’ efforts to design, manage and improve service experiences.  The course provides students with tools and frameworks to analyze service models from the perspective of customers, employees, and owners.  A comprehensive description of the course is available to fellow educators via Harvard Business School Publishing.  In support of the course and related research, Frances has completed case studies on Zipcar, eBay, Southwest Airlines, Tiffany’s, Dell, Commerce Bank, Progressive Insurance, Orient Express Hotels and Celebrity Cruises, among others.

Professor Frei currently teaches and leads the required first-year Technology and Operations Management course at Harvard Business School.  The course trains students on how to design operating environments that deliver on customer promises while creating value for broader stakeholders.  In service of this agenda, students learn to foster and manage organizational improvement, learning, and innovation.

Professor Frei has received the HBS Student Association Faculty Award for teaching excellence on multiple occasions, as well as teaching awards from the Wharton School of Business and the University of Rochester.  Professor Frei also teaches in executive education programs and serves in an advisory capacity for organizations seeking to create greater value through their service experiences.

Professor Frei received her Ph.D. in Operations and Information Management from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.  She holds an M.E. in Industrial Engineering from Pennsylvania State University, and a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania.