Most companies' leaders declare their commitment to delivering value to customers. Many have adopted language such as "customer-centric" or "customer-obsessed." Companies that consistently earn top marks for customer loyalty in their industry deliver total shareholder returns 2-3 times the market average. Yet, even the companies most committed to customer loyalty often take actions that harm customer relationships, erode value delivered to customers, and in extreme cases, enrage them. Ultimately, this erodes not only customer value, but also shareholder value. Professor Markey's research is focused on understanding why this happens and developing management and leadership techniques for overcoming it. These include the exploration of changes to corporate disclosure rules, development of customer value reporting and analytic tools, and creation of operating models that align accountability and authority around the activities that deliver measurable value to customers.
Rob Markey
Senior Lecturer of Business Administration
Senior Lecturer of Business Administration
Rob Markey is a Senior Lecturer of Business Administration in the Technology and Operations Unit at Harvard Business School.
Professor Markey is also an advisory partner in Bain & Company’s Boston office. He is perhaps best known as the co-author of The Ultimate Question 2.0: How Net Promoter Companies Thrive in a Customer-Driven World, with Fred Reichheld. Professor Markey's most recent work focuses on helping large companies measure, manage, and grow the value of their customer relationships.
He teaches Managing Service Operations in the MBA elective curriculum.
Technology and Operations Management
Rob Markey is a Senior Lecturer of Business Administration in the Technology and Operations Unit at Harvard Business School.
In addition to teaching at HBS, Professor Markey is an advisory partner in Bain & Company’s Boston office. He founded and served for nearly 20 years as the global leader of the firm’s Customer Strategy and Marketing practice. He is perhaps best known as the co-author of The Ultimate Question 2.0: How Net Promoter Companies Thrive in a Customer-Driven World, with Fred Reichheld. He is the primary creator of the Net Promoter System of management.
Professor Markey's most recent work focuses on helping large companies measure, manage, and grow the value of their customer relationships. His published articles on customer experience and loyalty have appeared in publications such as the Harvard Business Review, including “Are You Undervaluing Your Customers,” which appears in the January-February 2020 issue. He is the host of the Customer Confidential podcast.
He teaches Managing Service Operations in the MBA elective curriculum. The course focuses on how to effectively design, manage, and improve service organizations. Key learning objectives include how to create distinctive and sustainable services strategies and how to execute service models that enable customers, employees, and owners to thrive simultaneously. The course sits at the intersection of leadership, strategy, marketing, and operations and is recommended for students that plan to lead, work in, advise, or invest in service organizations.
He serves on the board of directors for Forethought Technologies and the board of advisors for Joyous. Additionally, Professor Markey helped found and served for nearly a decade on the Board of Directors of City Year New York. He is currently a board member of City Year Providence.
Professor Markey earned his MBA from Harvard Business School. He is a graduate of Brown University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics.
- Books
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- Reichheld, Fred, and Rob Markey. The Ultimate Question 2.0: How Net Promoter Companies Thrive in a Customer-Driven World. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2011. View Details
- Journal Articles
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- Markey, Rob. "Are You Undervaluing Your Customers? It’s Time to Start Measuring and Managing Their Worth." Harvard Business Review 98, no. 1 (January–February 2020): 42–50. View Details
- Markey, Rob, Fred Reichheld, and Andreas Dullweber. "Closing the Customer Feedback Loop." Harvard Business Review 87, no. 12 (December 2009): 43–47. View Details
- Markey, Rob, Gerard Du Toit, and James Allen. "Find Your Sweet Spot." Harvard Management Update 11, no. 11 (November 2006): 3–6. View Details
- Research Summary
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Most companies' leaders declare their commitment to delivering value to customers. Many have adopted language such as "customer-centric" or "customer-obsessed." Companies that consistently earn top marks for customer loyalty in their industry deliver total shareholder returns 2-3 times the market average. Yet, even the companies most committed to customer loyalty often take actions that harm customer relationships, erode value delivered to customers, and in extreme cases, enrage them. Ultimately, this erodes not only customer value, but also shareholder value. Professor Markey's research is focused on understanding why this happens and developing management and leadership techniques for overcoming it. These include the exploration of changes to corporate disclosure rules, development of customer value reporting and analytic tools, and creation of operating models that align accountability and authority around the activities that deliver measurable value to customers.
- Teaching
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Managing Service Operations - MBA Elective Curriculum
World-class service organizations deeply understand the needs and behaviors of their customers, and design, manage, and improve their operating models accordingly. This course investigates the distinct challenges inherent in leading service operations, which make up more than 63% of the global economy.
In this course, students learn how to design distinctive and sustainable service strategies, how to manage customers and employees, how to develop a cohesive service culture, how to fund service excellence, how to leverage big data to enhance performance, and how to reshape their organizations to suit evolving consumer needs and changing competitive landscapes. The course draws upon cutting edge research and examples from a broad array of industries, including business services, entertainment, financial services, food services, government, healthcare, hospitality, retail, and transportation.