Publications

November 2019
Case

Scaling at Chief

By: Katherine B. Coffman, Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Kathleen L. McGinn, Julia Kelley and Katherine Chen

Chief is a New York-based peer network that provides mentorship, support, networking opportunities, and a sense of community to women executives. Co-founders Carolyn Childers and Lindsay Kaplan launched the company in January 2019, and just two months later, Chief has... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Leadership Development; Expansion; Growth Management; Customer Satisfaction; North and Central America; United States; New York (state, US); New York (city, NY)

04 Feb 2021
Research & Ideas

Inside CEOs' Pandemic Worries: Uncertainty, Employees, and Kids

with young children. "Buying a house is usually the biggest decision that our customers make. It no longer was a priority during the pandemic." Managing multiple changes. CEOs had to View Details

Keywords: by Gamze D. Yucaoglu, Robin Abrahams, and Boris Groysberg

January 2008 (Revised July 2009)
Case

Microfinance International Corporation: No, Not Another Microfinance Case

CEO and founder Atsumasa Tochisako (52) sat in his Washington D.C. headquarters, looking with pride at the copy of a press release that would announce the latest in a broadening line of financial services that Washington D.C.-based Microfinance International... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Social Entrepreneurship; Microfinance; Globalized Firms and Management; Financial Services Industry

03 Nov 2022
Op-Ed

Feeling Separation Anxiety at Your Startup? 5 Tips to Soothe These Growing Pains

was fair game to chat about. A typical chat might go: Full Stack Engineer: “I’m thinking of moving the ‘Learn More’ button to the bottom right of the home page.” CEO: “Sounds good. What do you think about what that potential customer said... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

2020
Book

The Ends Game: How Smart Companies Stop Selling Products and Start Delivering Value

By: Marco Bertini and Oded Koenigsberg

How some firms are rewriting the rules of commerce by pursuing “ends”—actual outcomes—rather than selling “means”—their products and services. View Details

Keywords: Commerce; Business Model; Design; Customer Relationship Management; Strategy

September 2020 (Revised July 2022)
Supplement

Spreadsheet Supplement to "Artea: Designing Targeting Strategies"

By: Eva Ascarza and Ayelet Israeli

Spreadsheet Supplement to "Artea: Designing Targeting Strategies" (521-021). View Details

Keywords: Race; Gender; Marketing; Diversity; Customer Relationship Management; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Technology Industry; United States

18 Apr 2005
Research & Ideas

Prosper with Multi-Channel Retailing

reach customers who may not be near a Gap store," she said. Shopping 24/7 Martha Velando (HBS MBA '02), brand manager at Bath & Body Works, said multi-channel retailing "is all about increasing... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Jette; Consumer Products; Retail

January 2004 (Revised August 2005)
Case

Kikkoman Corporation: Consumer Focused Innovation

By: Rohit Deshpande and Hal Hogan

In May 2003, the president and CEO of Kikkoman Corp. sat in his Tokyo office weighing various options for strengthening the company's long-term growth. Kikkoman was the world's largest producer of soy sauce, largely due to its pioneering role since the 1950s as the... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Innovation Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning; Adaptation; Competitive Strategy; Japan

December 2000
Case

Friona Industries, L.P.

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Cate Reavis

As the food industry becomes more sophisticated, and as genomics and other factors provide for quality control from the producers to the consumers in the food chain, the beef industry has been one of the last commodity systems to organize the vertical systems to... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Customer Value and Value Chain; Food; Management Systems; Supply and Industry; Performance Consistency; Quality; Partners and Partnerships; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry

February 1999
Case

Lifeline Systems, Inc. (B)

By: H. Kent Bowen and Marilyn Matis

In 1997, Lifeline Systems continues to grow its service business to $32 million, 56% of the company's total revenues. More local hospital Lifeline programs turn over their monitoring service to Lifeline Central, expanding the company's subscriber base by 30%. The... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Information Technology; Expansion; Cost Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Change; Customer Relationship Management; Service Operations; Age; Investment; Health Industry; Technology Industry; Cambridge; Boston

27 Feb 2020
Sharpening Your Skills

How Following Best Business Practices Can Improve Health Care

Harvard Business School spends a significant amount of research funds each year on the health care industry, answering questions such as: How can the business of health care be made more efficient? What can a business do to motivate employees to take better care of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Health; Medical Devices & Supplies

August 1991 (Revised September 1994)
Background Note

What Is Industrial Marketing?

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Discusses the key distinguishing aspects of industrial as compared to consumer marketing. These differences are highlighted for organizational as well as marketing mix aspects. View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Innovation Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Marketplace Matching; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Core Relationships; Industrial Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry

November 1993 (Revised November 1994)
Case

Molding the Impossible: the NYPRO/Vistakon Disposable Contact Lens Project

By: Clayton M. Christensen

NYPRO, Inc., one of the world's leading manufacturers of plastic injection-molded products, is asked by the Vistakon Division of Johnson & Johnson to manufacture molds that Vistakon will use to produce disposable contact lenses. The required dimensional tolerances for... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Engineering; Management Practices and Processes; Product Development; Production; Groups and Teams; Manufacturing Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

October 1995
Teaching Note

Procter & Gamble: Improving Consumer Value Through Process Design TN

By: F. Warren McFarlan

Teaching Note for (9-195-126). View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Customer Focus and Relationships; Distribution Channels; Information Technology; Value Creation; Logistics; Management Practices and Processes; Consumer Products Industry

29 Jun 2015
HBS Case

Consumer-centered Health Care Depends on Accessible Medical Records

as data companies. Partnerships could alleviate this concern. For example, Philips recently aligned itself with Salesforce.com, a leader in customer relationship management approaches that could be applied... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Health; Technology

15 Sep 2003
Research & Ideas

The Lessons of New-Market Disruption

performance. That initially led managers inside both companies to resist devoting scarce resources to developing those technologies because their lead customers were saying they wanted additional performance... View Details

Keywords: by Clark Gilbert; Technology

April 2011
Module Note

Customer-Centric Information and Control Systems in B2B Settings: The Case for Customer-Supplier Partnerships

By: Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez

Keywords: Customers; Information; Information Management; Partners and Partnerships