Publications

January 1998
Case

Frontgate Catalog

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Frontgate is a high-end, Lebanon, Ohio-based catalog business. The decision makers are trying to determine how much financial and personnel resources to invest in the development of a Web site. The decision is being made in light of branding issues and competitor's Web... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Competition; Internet and the Web; Brands and Branding; Retail Industry; Ohio

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15 Jul 2002
Research & Ideas

Going Green Makes Good Business Sense

Press in 2000. Reinhardt evaluated current trends and tensions for managers, and outlined tactics that managers use to try to reconcile what at face value seem competing objectives: how to maximize shareholder value while at the same time... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

04 Oct 2004
Research & Ideas

Start to Measure Your E-commerce Success

arise. Since the choices are different for each company, because the strategies, structures, and systems are different, substantial customization is necessary. Senior managers should consider six initial... View Details

Keywords: by Marc J. Epstein

05 Oct 2009
Research & Ideas

The Vanguard Corporation

were going to succeed and prosper needed to manage risks better, have a stronger sense of purpose to motivate their employees, and satisfy a public already agitated about scandals such as Enron in the corporate world. What I didn't see... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

11 Sep 2000
Research & Ideas

Riding the Internet Fast Track

professor Tom Eisenmann, who also serves on the board of OneMain.com, one of the nation's ten largest Internet service providers, and on the advisory boards of many Internet start-ups. Eisenmann's definition of the get-big-fast strategy includes three criteria: massive... View Details

Keywords: by Peter Jacobs

May 2002 (Revised May 2002)
Case

Tim Blanchard at Jones Mendel & Co.

By: John J. Gabarro

Tim Blanchard struggles to balance all the demands facing him as a partner of a consulting firm. He must decide how to serve clients, mentor his people, provide strategy and direction to the high-tech group, and spend time with family. A rewritten version of an earlier... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Managerial Roles; Work-Life Balance; Consulting Industry

July 1994
Background Note

Note on Retail Organizations

By: David E. Bell

Describes a typical organizational structure for retailers and discusses duties of various individuals such as buyer, category manager, etc. View Details

Keywords: Customers; Managerial Roles; Organizational Structure; Retail Industry

02 Nov 2016
What Do You Think?

Are Employees Becoming Job 'Renters' Instead of 'Owners'?

“It may not be possible for every employee (to) value the company as if it were his own. The next best thing is to make the customer the focus of everyone’s work. When customer service is enculturated... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

24 Apr 2012
First Look

First Look: April 24

note:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/812097-PDF-ENG Business Model Analysis for Entrepreneurs Thomas R. EisenmannHarvard Business School Note 812-096 This note defines a business model and its major elements: a customer value... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

July 2003 (Revised October 2013)
Case

Model N Inc.

By: Marco Iansiti and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

The CEO of a Silicon Valley start-up needed to make organizational and product changes to deliver a new software solution to a Fortune 500 customer. He was wondering how he should structure the company to best meet the requirements for this particular customer, while... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Trends; Communication; Customer Focus and Relationships; Selection and Staffing; Time Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Strategy; Software; Computer Industry

December 2002 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Tesco Plc.

By: David E. Bell

Tesco, a supermarket chain, has been transformed from a third-rate retailer to a global leader in the past ten years. This case describes how that was accomplished. Interviews with Tesco employees explain the company's approach to understanding customers, motivating... View Details

Keywords: History; Motivation and Incentives; Leadership; Internet and the Web; Supply Chain Management; Global Strategy; Globalization; Customer Focus and Relationships; Business Strategy; Retail Industry

2000
Chapter

Strategies of Consumer Group Mobilization

By: Gunnar Trumbull

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Consumer Behavior; Marketing Strategy; Groups and Teams

21 May 2007
Research & Ideas

Fixing the Marketing-CEO Disconnect

problem is that these managers don't know what metrics to measure or how to interpret the results. They may collect all manner of plausible marketing-performance metrics, from customer satisfaction to... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

02 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

Retail Reaches a Tipping Point—Which Stores Will Survive?

experience and allow them to dream about and complete bigger projects. Lal: There is the potential to use the Internet to make your store more valuable, like Home Depot does in letting you plan a project online and then coming into the store to discuss it with someone.... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

February 2000 (Revised November 2002)
Case

QuickenInsurance: The Race to Click and Close (A)

By: Lynda M. Applegate

ES Technologies started in 1976 as a storefront in Tempe, Arizona selling personal computer kits to hobbyists. Twenty years later, revenues exceeded $3.5 billion, and the business had evolved from a computer store to a master reseller and full-line integrator of... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Industry Structures; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Information Technology; Information Technology Industry; Arizona

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03 Dec 2007
Research & Ideas

Authenticity over Exaggeration: The New Rule in Advertising

the best course of action for marketers faced with this complex new world of meaning-making? Deighton challenges his students in HBS's executive Owner/President Management Program to think of a witty, self-aware ad that they could create... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Publishing; Advertising

November 2006
Case

Introducing Frequent Flyer Programs

By: Dennis A. Yao

Allows students to explore the value to American Airlines of introducing a frequent flyer program in 1981. View Details

Keywords: Value; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Mathematical Methods; Game Theory; Competitive Advantage; Programs; Customers; Air Transportation Industry