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Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(10,651)
- People (28)
- News (2,535)
- Research (5,760)
- Events (71)
- Multimedia (100)
- Faculty Publications (3,948)
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- 13 Jul 2016
- HBS Case
How Uber, Airbnb, and Etsy Attracted Their First 1,000 Customers
who have rides to offer. (Same idea as Airbnb, which connects people needing rooms with home-owners.) So to launch as a platform service, these companies need to find users on both the supply and demand sides. “Poaching View Details
- June 17, 2016
- Comment
Companies Need to Start Marketing Security to Customers
By: John A. Quelch
Recent events in Orlando underscore an important marketing truth: consumer safety and security are mission critical. A popular nightclub, Pulse, known as a safe place for the LGBT community, is put out of business at least temporarily by a terrorist act. Not far away... View Details
Keywords: Consumer Safety; Public Safety; Brand Attraction; Risk Management; Safe Environment Benefit; Marketing Safety; Global Brands; Advertising; Change Management; Disruption; Volatility; Crime and Corruption; Customers; Music Entertainment; Animation Entertainment; Film Entertainment; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Problems and Challenges; Safety; Corporate Strategy; Business Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Tourism Industry; Travel Industry; United States
Quelch, John A. "Companies Need to Start Marketing Security to Customers." Harvard Business School Working Knowledge (June 17, 2016). (Republished by Fortune.com as "What the Orlando Tragedies Can Teach Businesses" on June 20, 2016.)
- March 2023 (Revised May 2025)
- Case
On
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Karolin Frankenberger and Sascha Mader
Founded in 2010, in just one decade, the Swiss company On had established itself as a main player in global sports footwear and apparel. Based on an unconventional strategy which one of the founders labeled as “obsessively distinct,” On grew its sales with a compound... View Details
Keywords: Brands and Branding; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Digital Marketing; Disruptive Innovation; Distribution Channels; Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Global Strategy; Initial Public Offering; Innovation and Invention; Innovation Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Marketing Strategy; Product Design; Product Development; Product Marketing; Social Media; Strategy; Supply Chain Management; Technological Innovation; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Retail Industry; Sports Industry; Europe; Switzerland; Germany; United States
- 2023
- Working Paper
No Mask, No Service: Customer Reaction to Walmart’s 2020 National Mask Mandate
By: Innessa Colaiacovo
Multi-location firms face a complex series of economic tradeoffs when deciding whether to implement
standard processes or allow processes to vary across establishments. One element of this tradeoff is customer
response. This paper explores customer reaction to a... View Details
Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Geographic Location; Policy; Health Pandemics; Retail Industry; United States
Colaiacovo, Innessa. "No Mask, No Service: Customer Reaction to Walmart’s 2020 National Mask Mandate." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 24-004, July 2023. (Revise and Resubmit to Journal of Economics and Management Strategy.)
- Forthcoming
- Article
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... View Details
Keywords: Anxiety; Self-service; Empirical Operations; Behavioral Operations; Communication Technology; Behavior; Customer Focus and Relationships; Trust; Satisfaction; Financial Services Industry
Kinch, Michelle A., and Ryan W. Buell. "Mitigating the Negative Effects of Customer Anxiety Through Access to Human Contact." Management Science (forthcoming). (Pre-published online March 31, 2025.)
- 07 Oct 2019
- Sharpening Your Skills
How Companies Can Make Up with (Very) Unhappy Customers
JetBlue today is considered one of the top airlines in the world, and its customer ratings are as high as its airplanes. But not that long ago JetBlue was a prime business school example of a nightmare... View Details
- 22 Feb 2021
- Book
Reaching Today's Omnichannel Customer Takes a New Sales Strategy
components: actionable customer selection criteria (because resources spent on accounts A and B are not available for accounts C, D, and so on); clarity about the buying process for target View Details
Keywords: by Kristen Senz
- 16 May 2016
- HBS Case
Food Safety Economics: The Cost of a Sick Customer
prompted a greater demand for food testing in order to verify the authenticity of the claims. Increasing consumer consciousness about food safety and healthfulness: Consumers have high expectations about the safety of their food, so a great deal of public interest is... View Details
- 05 Jun 2019
- Research & Ideas
If Your Customers Don't Care What You Charge, What Should You Charge?
customers. Both established firms and new market entrants frequently use introductory offers to accumulate customers and then raise prices later on, assuming customers will choose to stay over the cost of... View Details
- 20 May 2019
- Research & Ideas
Activist CEOs Are Rising Up—and Their Customers Are Listening
When former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced earlier this year he was thinking about running for president of the United States, it wasn’t a new idea. Past CEOs seeking the White House have included Carly Fiorina, Ross Perot, Herman Cain, Steve Forbes, Mitt... View Details
Keywords: by Michael Blanding
- Teaching Interest
Executive Education: Leading Growth through Customer Centricity — India
By: Rajiv Lal
Establishing a strategic advantage in India's highly competitive marketplace requires a systemic shift in focus—away from selling products and toward meeting the needs of customers. But how many companies are prepared to carry out such fundamental change? By... View Details
- August 2009
- Supplement
The TSMC Way: Meeting Customer Needs at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (CW)
By: Willy C. Shih
When L.C. Tu receives an emergency order, he is confronted with a range of production scheduling choices, each of which has unique costs and trade-offs. The case was designed to help students understand job-shop style production and the impact of disruptions and... View Details
- Research Summary
Overview
By: Eva Ascarza
Professor Ascarza’s research primarily focuses on providing researchers and marketers a better understanding of how to manage customer retention so as to reduce churn and increase firm’s profitability. She addresses these issues by building empirical models of customer... View Details
- March 2006 (Revised September 2006)
- Case
Slots, Tables, and All That Jazz: Managing Customer Profitability at the MGM Grand Hotel
By: Dennis Campbell, Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez, Marc Epstein and Joshua Bellin
The MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas had detailed information on loyal gaming customers, but could its information systems also be tailored to nongaming customers? As the nongaming business sectors became increasingly profitable both at the MGM Grand and in Las Vegas... View Details
Keywords: Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Customer Relationship Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Accommodations Industry; Nevada
Campbell, Dennis, Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez, Marc Epstein, and Joshua Bellin. "Slots, Tables, and All That Jazz: Managing Customer Profitability at the MGM Grand Hotel." Harvard Business School Case 106-029, March 2006. (Revised September 2006.)
- 30 Sep 2002
- Research & Ideas
Use the Psychology of Pricing To Keep Customers Returning
a product depends on the underlying demand for a product. Managers who offer a scarce resource, such as a private golf course, face a constant battle between maximizing the number of paying customers (in... View Details
Keywords: by Manda Mahoney
- 18 May 2022
- Research & Ideas
Are Banks the ‘Bad Guys’? Overdraft Fees Are Crushing Low-Income Customers
by the banks might have severe consequences on consumers living paycheck to paycheck. About 14 percent of bank customers incur five or more overdraft fees a year, according to the FDIC. The researchers... View Details
- April 2000 (Revised May 2000)
- Case
Capital One Financial Corporation
By: Bharat N. Anand, Michael G. Rukstad and Christopher Paige
Designed to explore the structure, implementation, and sustainability of an information-based strategy (IBS) undertaken by Capital One during the 1990s. Particular issues of interest are the impact of mass customization on industry structure, the ability to transfer... View Details
Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Customization and Personalization; Industry Structures; Internet and the Web; Innovation Strategy; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Financial Services Industry; United States
Anand, Bharat N., Michael G. Rukstad, and Christopher Paige. "Capital One Financial Corporation." Harvard Business School Case 700-124, April 2000. (Revised May 2000.)
- September 2020 (Revised February 2021)
- Case
Zameer Kassam Fine Jewelry: Engaging Clients
By: Ryan W. Buell and Amy Klopfenstein
Zameer Kassam Fine Jewelry (ZKFJ) designs custom engagement rings that tell the story of a couple’s relationship. The case describes the company’s process for engaging clients, which has historically been a relatively offline, high-touch experience. Obliged by... View Details
Keywords: Customer Engagement; Service Delivery; Health Pandemics; Internet and the Web; Customer Satisfaction; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Growth and Development; Retail Industry
Buell, Ryan W., and Amy Klopfenstein. "Zameer Kassam Fine Jewelry: Engaging Clients." Harvard Business School Case 621-043, September 2020. (Revised February 2021.)
- 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... View Details
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.
- Research Summary
Book on Telegraphs:
This is a long-term project that focuses on the economic impact of telegraphs. I have been collecting data on telegraph companies operating in all Americas, especially submarine telegraph companies. The final product will be a book but I intend to produce some papers... View Details