It is very difficult to sample a service. The best way to convince someone to purchase wine is to have them try a sample glass. If they like it, they may buy a case, or at least a bottle. Wine estates and fine wine stores realize this and use tastings as a major element of promotional strategy. Similarly, car dealers arrange demonstration drives, and bookstores have their wares on display for customers to browse through before making a choice. Sampling is far more difficult with services, because they are intangible. The Web has the potential to change all this.
Each year, Harvard Business School Publishing Services (HBSP) generates many millions of dollars worth of business selling case studies, multimedia programs, books, and of course, the famous Harvard Business Review . Previously, an instructor anywhere in the world wishing to examine a Harvard case study had to order a sample copy either by telephone, fax, or in writing, and then wait some days for the item to arrive, after having been physically dispatched by HBSP. Nowadays, approved instructors from all over the world browse the Harvard site, using powerful search facilities to find cases and other materials in which they are interested. When something relevant is found, the instructor downloads it in Adobe Acrobat format and prints it, complete with a watermark indicating that the case is a sample, not for further reproduction. The instructor can then decide whether to order the item. Similarly, the Web site also allows surfers to enroll for regular electronic updates on abstracts of new cases, articles, books, and other products that may be of interest. As well, visitors can subscribe to receive bimonthly the abstracts of articles in the latest Harvard Business Review .
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