Customer Management - Publications - Faculty & Research

August 1998 (Revised October 1998)
Background Note

Note on Lead User Research

By: Stefan H. Thomke and Ashok Nimgade

Describes the Lead User concept and method (step-by-step) with brief examples from industrial practice. View Details

Keywords: Customers; Management Practices and Processes; Industry Growth

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Article

In Microfinance, Clients Must Come First

By: Srikant M. Datar, Marc J. Epstein and Kristi Yuthas

In the debate over whether microfinance works, few microfinance institutions articulate what, exactly, their ultimate goals are and how, exactly, they will achieve them. The authors cut through the confusion by mapping a clear theory of change for microfinance. If the... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Customer Focus and Relationships; Social Entrepreneurship; Microfinance; Goals and Objectives; Success; Social Enterprise; Poverty

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14 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Rewriting the Rules of Service Competition

Editor's Note: Harvard Business School professors James Heskett, W. Earl Sasser, and Leonard A. Schlesinger literally wrote the book on service industry management with The Service Profit Chain. Now the trio is back with What Great... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett, W. Earl Sasser & Leonard A. Schlesinger; Retail

08 Mar 2016
First Look

March 8, 2016

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50700 How Do Customers Respond to Increased Service Quality Competition? By: Buell, Ryan W., Dennis Campbell, and Frances X. Frei Abstract—When does increased service quality competition lead... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 9, 2023
Article

Linking Growth and the Frontline

By: Frank V. Cespedes, Jay Galeota and Michael Wong

Most strategies are about growing the business. But about one quarter of companies do not grow at all and, even before the pandemic, only one in eight achieved more than 10% revenue growth annually, according to data from S&P Global regulatory filings. One reason is a... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Customer Focus and Relationships; Competency and Skills

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06 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

How Small Wins Unleash Creativity

can shift for many reasons, but the consequences for inner work life are almost always negative. For instance, managers often fail to realize the damage that will be done to employee engagement if they neglect proper View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

02 Aug 2024
HBS Case

How a Mission to Cut Food Waste Launched a Multimillion-Dollar Venture

On a hectic Friday in October 2016, Josh Domingues wondered if he had made a mistake quitting the security of a well-paying job managing contracts for professional hockey players to start a new venture selling nearly expired groceries at discount prices. After all, a... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Technology; Information Technology

29 Jul 2002
Research & Ideas

Get Off the Dime!

seen a variation on this story? Getting the Bosses' Approval From Ted Watson The general idea—hardly unique to us—was to do business consistently across all of our operating units. We would have the same approach to conducting any activity regardless of whether a View Details

Keywords: by John P. Kotter & Dan S. Cohen

04 Apr 2019
Cold Call Podcast

Can Mark Zuckerberg Rebuild Trust in Facebook?

very narrow slice. They know exactly the kind of customer they're looking at and they can go at them. Of course, this was subject then to other influences like the Russian influences, but I just felt that this goes way beyond Cambridge... View Details

30 Jan 2019
What Do You Think?

Who Will Measure up to These Two Remarkable Leaders?

column challenged readers to come up with nominations of current leaders that we might be recognizing for their similarly remarkable accomplishments 10 or 20 years from now. This prompted Sandeep to ask, “Where are those legends, the fanatically View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Air Transportation; Financial Services

01 Oct 2001
What Do You Think?

Will Information Technology Really Turn Organizations Upside Down This Time?

do you think? Original Article Periodically, somebody comes up with the idea of turning the organization upside down, with the customer on top. Those serving customers in the frontline come next, and top... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

2021
Working Paper

CRM and AI in Time of Crisis

By: Michelle Y. Lu and Navid Mojir

A crisis can affect the incentives of various players within a firm’s multi-layered sales and marketing organization (e.g., headquarters and branches of a bank). Such shifts can result in sales decisions against the firm’s best interests. Motivated by the backlash to... View Details

Keywords: CRM; Artificial Intelligence; AI; B2B Marketing; Decision Authority; Crisis Marketing; Intra-organizational Conflict; COVID-19 Pandemic; Customer Relationship Management; Technological Innovation; Decision Making; Strategy; Health Pandemics; Crisis Management; AI and Machine Learning

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May 2018
Case

The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation's Answer Fund

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Matthew G. Preble

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Educators

26 May 2009
Research & Ideas

Improving Market Research in a Recession

most firms are reducing spending on the market research that would help manage that uncertainty. In the United States, spending on market research has dipped for four consecutive quarters, and chief marketing officers don't expect the... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

June 2016
Case

The Wealthfront Generation

By: Luis Viceira and Allison Ciechanover

Keywords: Automated Investment Advisor; Millennials; Fintech; Customers; Asset Management; Internet and the Web; Age; Investment; Business Startups; California

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06 May 2008
First Look

First Look: May 6, 2008

deputies. Several months earlier, Swanborough, then vice-president of Marketing, had been named vice-president for Sales Effectiveness atop a transformed sales division. The previous week, the team had presented to top management the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

09 Aug 2004
Research & Ideas

A Diagnostic for Disruptive Innovation

revisit another. But the goal remains the same: Find the option that can set your company on the path to disruptive growth. Customer Diagnostic This diagnostic assesses customers in order to identify... View Details

Keywords: by Scott D. Anthony, Mark W. Johnson & Matt Eyring

02 Jul 2012
Research & Ideas

Why Good Deeds Invite Bad Publicity

robust direct link between CSR and financial performance” It is true that in areas such as environmentally sustainable practices, customers have been willing to pay responsible producers a premium for products; take organic cotton, for... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Energy

17 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

America Needs a Manufacturing Renaissance

moved its chief technical officer from the United States to China. Because most of its large customers are now in China, Taiwan, and South Korea, it makes sense for the company to do its research close to the factories that use its... View Details

Keywords: by Gary P. Pisano & Willy C. Shih; Manufacturing