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Show Results For
-
All HBS Web
(11,114)
- People (21)
- News (2,320)
- Research (6,602)
- Events (50)
- Multimedia (102)
- Faculty Publications (4,535)
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- Forthcoming
- Article
Dynamic Competition for Customer Memberships
By: Cristian Chica, Julian Jimenez-Cardenas and Jorge Tamayo
A competitive two-period membership (subscription) market is analyzed. Two symmetric firms charge a “membership” fee that allows consumers to buy products or services at a given unit price for both periods. Firms can choose between long- or short-term memberships. When...
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Keywords:
Competitive Price Discrimination;
Membership;
Dynamic Competition;
Competition;
Price;
Consumer Behavior;
Business Model
Chica, Cristian, Julian Jimenez-Cardenas, and Jorge Tamayo. "Dynamic Competition for Customer Memberships." Journal of Economics & Management Strategy (forthcoming). (Pre-published online August 12, 2024.)
- February 2018
- Article
Retention Futility: Targeting High-Risk Customers Might Be Ineffective.
By: Eva Ascarza
Companies in a variety of sectors are increasingly managing customer churn proactively, generally by detecting customers at the highest risk of churning and targeting retention efforts towards them. While there is a vast literature on developing churn prediction models...
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Keywords:
Retention/churn;
Proactive Churn Management;
Field Experiments;
Heterogeneous Treatment Effect;
Machine Learning;
Customer Relationship Management;
Risk Management
Ascarza, Eva. "Retention Futility: Targeting High-Risk Customers Might Be Ineffective." Journal of Marketing Research (JMR) 55, no. 1 (February 2018): 80–98.
- 2022
- Working Paper
Mitigating the Negative Effects of Customer Anxiety Through Access to Human Contact
By: Michelle A. Kinch and Ryan W. Buell
Prior research in social psychology has shown that when people feel anxious, they seek advice from others. However, companies that operate in high-anxiety settings (like financial services, health care, and education) are increasingly deploying self-service...
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Keywords:
Anxiety;
Self-service;
Empirical Operations;
Behavioral Operations;
Customers;
Emotions;
Service Delivery;
Interpersonal Communication;
Customer Satisfaction;
Trust
Kinch, Michelle A., and Ryan W. Buell. "Mitigating the Negative Effects of Customer Anxiety Through Access to Human Contact." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 19-089, February 2019. (Revised November 2023.)
- October 1990
- Case
Manufacturers Hanover Corp.: Customer Profitability Report
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Banking company noting declining profitability from its traditional lending activities has started to measure the total profitability of its lending relationships. A loan pricing model estimates the profit and return-on-equity from commercial loans. Additional work was...
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Keywords:
Investment Return;
Revenue;
Commercial Banking;
Banks and Banking;
Customer Value and Value Chain;
Banking Industry
Kaplan, Robert S. "Manufacturers Hanover Corp.: Customer Profitability Report." Harvard Business School Case 191-068, October 1990.
- October 1994 (Revised March 1999)
- Case
Ritz-Carlton: Using Information Systems to Better Serve the Customer
By: W. Earl Sasser, Thomas O. Jones and Norman Klein
Explores the interface of an information system that keeps track of guests and their preferences, and the people systems that deliver multiple services at Ritz-Carlton hotels. The luxury hotel chain's unique service credo and commitment to quality principles are...
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Keywords:
Competency and Skills;
Customer Satisfaction;
Training;
Recruitment;
Service Delivery;
Supply Chain Management;
Luxury;
Balance and Stability;
Information Technology
Sasser, W. Earl, Thomas O. Jones, and Norman Klein. "Ritz-Carlton: Using Information Systems to Better Serve the Customer." Harvard Business School Case 395-064, October 1994. (Revised March 1999.)
- 30 Sep 2002
- Research & Ideas
Use the Psychology of Pricing To Keep Customers Returning
Buyers are more apt to use a product right after they purchase it, a fact you need to ponder as you consider how to keep customers coming back...
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Keywords:
by Manda Mahoney
- 18 Nov 2009
- HBS Case
Customer Feedback Not on elBulli’s Menu
He's been called "the Salvador Dalí of the kitchen" for creations ranging from beetroot and yogurt ice-cream lollipops to a deconstructed Spanish omelet served in a parfait glass. Each year, some 2 million hopeful diners vie...
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- September 2010 (Revised January 2012)
- Case
BP's Macondo: Spill and Response
By: Julio J. Rotemberg
This case starts by reporting various factors that may have contributed to the massive Macondo oil spill, noting that BP, its partners and the government all made decisions that helped cause the accident. It then discusses the response to this spill by BP and the...
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Keywords:
Safety;
Metals and Minerals;
Crisis Management;
Infrastructure;
Trade;
Pollutants;
Risk and Uncertainty;
Business and Government Relations;
Finance;
Multinational Firms and Management;
Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms;
Technology Adoption;
Energy Industry;
Mining Industry;
United Kingdom;
United States
Rotemberg, Julio J. "BP's Macondo: Spill and Response." Harvard Business School Case 711-021, September 2010. (Revised January 2012.)
- Research Summary
Managing the Operating Role of Customers
By: Frances X. Frei
Customers in operating roles introduce considerable variability into the production environment including differences in the demands they impose on the environment and the unpredictability of those demands. When customers are the source of production variability, the...
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- 21 Mar 2014
- Working Paper Summaries
Speaking of Corporate Social Responsibility
- November 2011 (Revised August 2012)
- Background Note
Customer Discovery and Validation for Entrepreneurs
By: Frank V. Cespedes, Thomas Eisenmann and Steven G. Blank
Provides practical guidelines for conducting market research to explore and validate demand for entrepreneurial offering. Explains how the research objectives of entrepreneurs might differ from those relevant to managers evaluating product or service offerings to...
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Cespedes, Frank V., Thomas Eisenmann, and Steven G. Blank. "Customer Discovery and Validation for Entrepreneurs." Harvard Business School Background Note 812-097, November 2011. (Revised August 2012.)
- Article
How Direct-to-Consumer Brands Can Continue to Grow
By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Daniel Corsten, Matt Higgins and Leonard A. Schlesinger
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands such as Allbirds, Casper, Peloton, and Warby Parker have creatively found a weakness in the marketing citadel of incumbent brands. By using data gleaned from daily interactions with customers, these brands have been able to adapt how...
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Keywords:
Direct-to-consumer;
Customer Journey;
Business Model;
Customer Relationship Management;
Growth and Development Strategy
Rangan, V. Kasturi, Daniel Corsten, Matt Higgins, and Leonard A. Schlesinger. "How Direct-to-Consumer Brands Can Continue to Grow." Harvard Business Review 99, no. 6 (November–December 2021): 101–109.
- 21 Apr 2008
- Research & Ideas
The New Math of Customer Relationships
managers think of customers, and introduce the idea that not all customers contribute equal value. Concrete examples illustrate the self-reinforcing nature of the connections between employee loyalty and View Details
Keywords:
by Sean Silverthorne
- February 1990 (Revised April 1991)
- Background Note
Quick Response in the Apparel Industry
It has been estimated that the U.S. apparel industry wastes over $25 billion annually due to inefficient practices, long lead times, and insufficient coordination between channel partners. In response to intense competition from off-shore producers, the industry has...
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Keywords:
Information;
Distribution Channels;
Performance Efficiency;
Partners and Partnerships;
Adaptation;
Business Strategy;
System;
Technology;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
United States
Hammond, Janice H. "Quick Response in the Apparel Industry." Harvard Business School Background Note 690-038, February 1990. (Revised April 1991.)
- March 2006 (Revised April 2008)
- Module Note
Conceptualizing the Customer Operating Role
By: Frances X. Frei
The module introduces students to the concept and implications of a customer operating role. Building on the first year operations curriculum in which only employees' and machines' operating roles are considered, it provides the additional perspectives needed to bring...
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Keywords:
Customers;
Performance Efficiency;
Perspective;
Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques;
Service Operations
Frei, Frances X. "Conceptualizing the Customer Operating Role." Harvard Business School Module Note 606-032, March 2006. (Revised April 2008.)
- March 2022 (Revised March 2022)
- Module Note
Managing Customers in the Digital Era
By: Eva Ascarza
The last two decades have witnessed incredible technological advances that have transformed the ways customers connect with each other and enabled firms to track customers in multiple ways through various channels to personalize (and automize) their offerings at...
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Keywords:
Customer Relationship Management;
Customer Focus and Relationships;
Technological Innovation
Ascarza, Eva. "Managing Customers in the Digital Era." Harvard Business School Module Note 522-066, March 2022. (Revised March 2022.)
- February 2003 (Revised March 2007)
- Case
Internet Customer Acquisition Strategy at Bankinter
By: Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez, V.G. Narayanan and Lisa Brem
Bankinter, a relatively small Spanish bank, has a large presence as an Internet financial services provider. Leading the way to profitability through the Internet will give Bankinter a major competitive advantage over the larger, more established Spanish banks. Ann...
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Keywords:
Customer Relationship Management;
Internet and the Web;
Activity Based Costing and Management;
Customer Value and Value Chain;
Banks and Banking;
Banking Industry;
Spain
Martinez-Jerez, Francisco de Asis, V.G. Narayanan, and Lisa Brem. "Internet Customer Acquisition Strategy at Bankinter." Harvard Business School Case 103-021, February 2003. (Revised March 2007.)
- 2011
- Article
Regulatory Uncertainty and Corporate Responses to Environmental Protection in China
By: Christopher Marquis, Jianjun Zhang and Yanhua Zhou
We develop a framework to analyze the closing gap between regulation and enforcement of environmental protection in China and present a number of resulting implications for doing business there. We identify three major dimensions that characterize change in regulatory...
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Keywords:
Framework;
Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms;
Law Enforcement;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Emerging Markets;
Business Ventures;
Alignment;
Risk and Uncertainty;
Natural Environment;
Motivation and Incentives;
Management Practices and Processes;
Competitive Strategy;
China
Marquis, Christopher, Jianjun Zhang, and Yanhua Zhou. "Regulatory Uncertainty and Corporate Responses to Environmental Protection in China." California Management Review 54, no. 1 (Fall 2011): 39–63.
- January 2009 (Revised February 2009)
- Case
Grupo Bimbo: Growth and Social Responsibility
By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Regina Garcia-Cuellar
Bimbo, headquartered in Mexico with 2008 sales of $7 billion, was one of the largest bakery companies in the world. Even as it had grown spectacularly in the last several decades, the company had earned a stellar reputation for its corporate social responsibility...
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Keywords:
Global Strategy;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Reputation;
Expansion;
Food and Beverage Industry;
Mexico
Rangan, V. Kasturi, and Regina Garcia-Cuellar. "Grupo Bimbo: Growth and Social Responsibility." Harvard Business School Case 509-025, January 2009. (Revised February 2009.)
- 21 Aug 2019
- Working Paper Summaries