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Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(8,224)
- People (9)
- News (1,436)
- Research (5,709)
- Events (20)
- Multimedia (9)
- Faculty Publications (4,105)
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- 25 Jul 2005
- Research & Ideas
An Organization Your Customers Understand
payers. For example, an office assistant may order office products to be used by fifty people in a department and paid for by a central accounts payable facility. All these entities are customers. The advice to managers: "Look at all your business View Details
Keywords: by Robert Simons
- February 2008 (Revised December 2011)
- Case
Weber Shandwick: The Client Relationship Leader Program
By: Robert G. Eccles and Kerry Herman
In 2002 Weber Shandwick, a leading global public relations agency, instituted a Client Relationship Leader (CRL) Program for its top 32 global accounts. The purpose of the program is to ensure that all of the firm's resources across geographies, practice areas, and... View Details
Keywords: Blogs; Competency and Skills; Customer Relationship Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Social and Collaborative Networks; Competitive Advantage; Public Relations Industry
Eccles, Robert G., and Kerry Herman. "Weber Shandwick: The Client Relationship Leader Program." Harvard Business School Case 408-077, February 2008. (Revised December 2011.)
- Article
Cooks Make Tastier Food When They Can See Their Customers
By: Ryan W. Buell, Tami Kim and Chia-Jung Tsay
While existing theory suggests that increased contact between customers and employees diminishes efficiency, recent research demonstrates that when employees can see their customers, the beneficiaries of their efforts, the quality and efficiency of the service they... View Details
Keywords: Operational Transparency; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Service Management; Service Industry
Buell, Ryan W., Tami Kim, and Chia-Jung Tsay. "Cooks Make Tastier Food When They Can See Their Customers." Harvard Business Review 92, no. 11 (November 2014): 34–35.
- 08 Aug 2005
- Research & Ideas
A Balanced Scorecard Approach To Measure Customer Profitability
expecting that the margin from a comprehensive set of services will transform the customer into a profitable relationship. Figure 1 shows how one insurance company managed its View Details
Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan
- fall 1996
- Article
Internal Service Quality, Customer and Job Satisfaction: Linkages and Implications for Managers
By: Roger Hallowell, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Jeffrey Zornitsky
- January 2012 (Revised March 2013)
- Case
Ctrip: Scientifically Managing Travel Services
By: David A. Garvin and Nancy Hua Dai
Ctrip is a $437 million Chinese on-line travel services company with a scientific, data driven approach to management. The case explores Ctrip's founding and early growth, its expansion into multiple market segments including hotel reservations, air ticketing, leisure... View Details
Keywords: Scientific Management; Data-driven Management; Management; Expansion; Business Growth and Maturation; Market Entry and Exit; Mathematical Methods; Business Processes; Information Management; Travel Industry; China
Garvin, David A., and Nancy Hua Dai. "Ctrip: Scientifically Managing Travel Services." Harvard Business School Case 312-092, January 2012. (Revised March 2013.)
- July 2008 (Revised December 2009)
- Case
Infosys' Relationship Scorecard: Measuring Transformational Partnerships
By: Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez, Robert S. Kaplan and Katherine Miller
This case analyzes Infosys' innovative approach to measuring performance in client relations. Infosys' strategy is evolving to build transformational partnerships from its original position as an outsourcer of end-to-end IT projects. A transformational partner helps... View Details
Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Performance Evaluation; Attorney and Client Relationships; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Balanced Scorecard; Competitive Strategy; Commercialization; Competitive Advantage; Economic Growth; Growth and Development Strategy; Consulting Industry; Information Technology Industry; India
Martinez-Jerez, Francisco de Asis, Robert S. Kaplan, and Katherine Miller. "Infosys' Relationship Scorecard: Measuring Transformational Partnerships." Harvard Business School Case 109-006, July 2008. (Revised December 2009.)
- May 2011
- Article
Think Customers Hate Waiting? Not So Fast...
By: Ryan W. Buell and Michael I. Norton
Managers typically look for ways to reduce wait time to increase customer satisfaction. New research suggests there's a better approach: showing customers a representation of the effort, whether literal or not, being expended on their behalf while they wait. (The... View Details
Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Service Delivery; Consumer Behavior; Performance Effectiveness; Customer Satisfaction
Buell, Ryan W., and Michael I. Norton. "Think Customers Hate Waiting? Not So Fast..." Harvard Business Review 89, no. 5 (May 2011).
- July 2021 (Revised October 2021)
- Case
Allianz Customer Centricity: Is Simplicity the Way Forward?
By: Eva Ascarza and Emilie Billaud
This case explores the tradeoffs between product personalization and simplicity as companies grow. The case presents an opportunity to understand whether and how each of these approaches enables and/or limits companies’ abilities to provide customer satisfaction while... View Details
Keywords: Simplicity; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customization and Personalization; Customer Satisfaction; Performance Efficiency; Strategy; Insurance Industry; Europe; Germany
Ascarza, Eva, and Emilie Billaud. "Allianz Customer Centricity: Is Simplicity the Way Forward?" Harvard Business School Case 522-008, July 2021. (Revised October 2021.)
- June 2023
- Article
National Customer Orientation: An Empirical Test across 112 Countries
By: Ofer Mintz, Imran S. Currim and Rohit Deshpandé
Customer orientation is a central tenet of marketing. However, less is known about how customer orientation varies across countries and time. Mintz, Currim, and Deshpandé (Eur. J. Mark., 56: 1014–1041, 2022) propose a country-level construct, national customer... View Details
Mintz, Ofer, Imran S. Currim, and Rohit Deshpandé. "National Customer Orientation: An Empirical Test across 112 Countries." Marketing Letters 34, no. 2 (June 2023): 189–204.
- July 2005 (Revised January 2011)
- Case
Understanding Customer Profitability at Charles Schwab
By: Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez
Charles Schwab is transforming into a customer-centric organization. Central to this cultural and organizational change is the utilization of customer profitability at different decision-making levels. Examines several technical aspects of the ABC cost system, as well... View Details
Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Motivation and Incentives; Customer Relationship Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Activity Based Costing and Management; Decision Making; Organizational Culture; Profit; Performance Evaluation; Budgets and Budgeting
Martinez-Jerez, Francisco de Asis. "Understanding Customer Profitability at Charles Schwab." Harvard Business School Case 106-002, July 2005. (Revised January 2011.)
- 20 Dec 2017
- Lessons from the Classroom
How to Design a Better Customer Experience
Click HereHarvard Business School Professor Stefan Thomke describes how his Executive Education students use LEGO blocks to design customer experiences. (Video by Executive Education) Why do some product or service experiences have enough... View Details
- April 2025 (Revised May 2025)
- Background Note
Customer Acquisition and the Cash Flow Trap
By: E. Ofek, Barak Libai and Eitan Muller
Startups as well as existing firms recognize the need to invest in order to acquire customers for their new ventures. And as each customer is expected at some point to have generated sufficient gross margins to cover their CAC, management expects that, soon enough, the... View Details
Keywords: Business Model; Customers; Forecasting and Prediction; Cash Flow; Business or Company Management
Ofek, E., Barak Libai, and Eitan Muller. "Customer Acquisition and the Cash Flow Trap." Harvard Business School Background Note 525-056, April 2025. (Revised May 2025.)
- 21 Aug 2019
- Working Paper Summaries
Improving Customer Compatibility with Operational Transparency
- 16 Nov 2016
- Research & Ideas
Turning One Thousand Customers into One Million
the advertising. To do this, it provided support to the sellers to market their crafts and in turn, market the Etsy platform to their loyal customers. Etsy created a “Seller Handbook” and other internal management tools for sellers to... View Details
- January 2021 (Revised May 2021)
- Case
Amazon Shopper Panel: Paying Customers for Their Data
By: Eva Ascarza and Ayelet Israeli
This case introduces a new Amazon program that has consumers upload their receipts from transactions outside of Amazon, in exchange for money. Through the discussion, the case aims to explore issues in customers’ privacy in the digital age, the value of customers’ own... View Details
Keywords: Data Analytics; Data Privacy; Data Management; ＂Marketing Analytics＂; Marketing Communication; Marketing Research; Data-driven Management; E-Commerce Strategy; Ethical Decision Making; CRM; Consumer Protection; Targeted Advertising; Targeted Policies; Data Ownership; Marketing; Research; Marketing Communications; Analytics and Data Science; Management; Customer Relationship Management; Ethics; E-commerce; Retail Industry; Technology Industry; United States
Ascarza, Eva, and Ayelet Israeli. "Amazon Shopper Panel: Paying Customers for Their Data." Harvard Business School Case 521-058, January 2021. (Revised May 2021.)
- July 2010
- Supplement
Marketing Analysis Toolkit: Customer Lifetime Value Analysis (CW)
By: Thomas J. Steenburgh and Jill Avery
Customers are increasingly being viewed as assets that bring value to the firm. Customer lifetime value is a metric which allows managers to understand the overall value of their customer base and relate it to three customer strategies firms employ: asset acquisition -... View Details
- June 2010 (Revised January 2011)
- Case
Scientific Glass Incorporated: Inventory Management
By: Steven C. Wheelwright and William Schmidt
Scientific Glassware is a fast-growing, privately held company that provides specialized glassware for laboratory and research facilities. Excess inventory is tying up extra capital needed to fund the company's expansion plans. The newly hired Manager of Inventory... View Details
Keywords: Inventory Control; Inventory Management; Materials Management; Order Processing; Warehousing; Salesforce Management; Logistics; Operations; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Finance; Consumer Products Industry; Technology Industry
Wheelwright, Steven C., and William Schmidt. "Scientific Glass Incorporated: Inventory Management." Harvard Business School Brief Case 104-208, June 2010. (Revised January 2011.)
- February 2008
- Case
Campbell Soup Company: Selling Channel Innovation to Customers
Campbell Soup, like most food manufacturers, faced grocery chain and wholesale demand for its goods driven by Campbell's own promotional pricing structure rather than retail consumer demand. Former policies to encourage overstock created huge swings in production and... View Details
Keywords: Information Technology; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Manufacturing Industry; Food and Beverage Industry
Ton, Zeynep. "Campbell Soup Company: Selling Channel Innovation to Customers." Harvard Business School Case 608-141, February 2008.
- January 2007 (Revised January 2010)
- Case
Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart (A)
By: James K. Sebenius and Ellen Knebel
Describes the retailer-supplier negotiations of Tom Muccio, one of the earlier Proctor & Gamble (P&G) employees to be based in Bentonville, Arkansas, in negotiating the early operational components of the supplier-retailer partnership between P&G and Wal-Mart in the... View Details
Keywords: Negotiation Process; Supply Chain Management; Partners and Partnerships; Conflict and Resolution; Bentonville
Sebenius, James K., and Ellen Knebel. "Tom Muccio: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart (A)." Harvard Business School Case 907-013, January 2007. (Revised January 2010.)