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Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(6,278)
- People (3)
- News (1,338)
- Research (4,178)
- Events (16)
- Multimedia (81)
- Faculty Publications (2,912)
- 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... View Details
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.
- Research Summary
Entrepreneurial Management: Customer Discovery and Business Development
This research focuses on: (a) market research methods and tactics suitable to startups seeking their initial customers and validation of their initial business model; (b) guidelines for conducting visits with potential customers as part of the startup ptrocess; and (c)... View Details
- March 2000 (Revised January 2001)
- Background Note
Customers in Health Care, The
By: Richard M.J. Bohmer
Reviews the current literature on the consumers of health care, primarily patients. Discusses their stated preferences, the sources of information they use in making their selections of plan and provider, and their behavior. View Details
Bohmer, Richard M.J. "Customers in Health Care, The." Harvard Business School Background Note 600-118, March 2000. (Revised January 2001.)
- March 2009
- Article
Customer Experience Creation: Determinants, Dynamics and Management Strategies
By: Leonard A. Schlesinger, Peter C. Verhoef, Katherine N. Lemon, A. Parasuraman, Anne Roggeveen and Michael Tsiros
Retailers, such as Starbucks and Victoria's Secret, aim to provide customers a great experience across channels. In this paper we provide an overview of the existing literature on customer experience and expand on it to examine the creation of a customer experience... View Details
Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry
Schlesinger, Leonard A., Peter C. Verhoef, Katherine N. Lemon, A. Parasuraman, Anne Roggeveen, and Michael Tsiros. "Customer Experience Creation: Determinants, Dynamics and Management Strategies." Journal of Retailing 85, no. 1 (March 2009).
- October 2023 (Revised August 2025)
- Teaching Note
Managing Customer Retention at Teleko
By: Eva Ascarza and Ta-Wei Huang
Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 523-005. View Details
- May 1998 (Revised July 1999)
- Teaching Note
ACTC Customer Service Department TN
Teaching Note for (9-393-056). View Details
Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships
- March 2011
- Background Note
Customer Loyalty Schemes in the Retail Sector
By: Jose B. Alvarez and Aldo Sesia
Customer loyalty schemes (or programs) are explicit efforts by retailers to gain long-term patronage from customers. Loyalty schemes are developed for a variety of reasons: to reward loyal customers, to generate more robust information about customer behavior, to... View Details
Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Consumer Behavior; Business Strategy; Retail Industry; United Kingdom; United States
Alvarez, Jose B., and Aldo Sesia. "Customer Loyalty Schemes in the Retail Sector." Harvard Business School Background Note 511-077, March 2011.
- February 2001 (Revised June 2002)
- Case
Customer Value Measurement at Nortel Networks--Optical Networks Division
By: Das Narayandas
Since 1995, Nortel Networks' Optical Networks (ON) division has been incorporating customer satisfaction and loyalty measures into its business practices to increase customer value. Over the years, key process owners in various parts of the organization have become... View Details
Keywords: Business Divisions; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Management Teams; Marketing Strategy; Value Creation; Telecommunications Industry
Narayandas, Das. "Customer Value Measurement at Nortel Networks--Optical Networks Division." Harvard Business School Case 501-050, February 2001. (Revised June 2002.)
- December 1999
- Case
Lees Supermarkets: Customer Loyalty Programs
By: David E. Bell, Rajiv Lal and Ann Leamon
Bell, David E., Rajiv Lal, and Ann Leamon. "Lees Supermarkets: Customer Loyalty Programs." Harvard Business School Case 500-038, December 1999.
- April 1997
- Background Note
Using ABC to Manage Customer Mix and Relationships
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Describes applying activity-based costing to manage customer relationships. Links cost-to-serve to net margins earned with individual customers. View Details
Kaplan, Robert S. "Using ABC to Manage Customer Mix and Relationships." Harvard Business School Background Note 197-094, April 1997.
- June 2013
- Case
Olympic Rent-A-Car U.S.: Customer Loyalty Battles
By: John Deighton and James T. Kindley
The marketing and operations managers for Olympic Rent-A-Car meet to decide how to respond to changes in the loyalty rewards program at the market-leading competitor. The competitor's program gives awards based on dollars spent instead of days rented and eliminates... View Details
Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Competitive Strategy; Marketing; Operations; Auto Industry; Service Industry
Deighton, John, and James T. Kindley. "Olympic Rent-A-Car U.S.: Customer Loyalty Battles." Harvard Business School Brief Case 913-568, June 2013.
- May 2016 (Revised January 2018)
- Case
Airbnb, Etsy, Uber: Acquiring the First Thousand Customers
By: Thales S. Teixeira and Morgan Brown
By 2016, two-sided online platforms (or marketplaces) were pervasive among the highest growing internet startups around. These marketplaces sought to match suppliers of assets for rent, physical products or services with customers demanding them. Among the most notable... View Details
Keywords: Airbnb; Etsy; Uber; Growth Hacking; Two-sided Market; Internet and the Web; Marketing Strategy; Digital Platforms; Digital Marketing; Business Startups; Transportation Industry; Accommodations Industry
Teixeira, Thales S., and Morgan Brown. "Airbnb, Etsy, Uber: Acquiring the First Thousand Customers." Harvard Business School Case 516-094, May 2016. (Revised January 2018.)
- 2005
- Book
Managing Customers as Investments: The Strategic Value of Customers in the Long Run
By: Sunil Gupta and Donald R. Lehmann
Gupta, Sunil, and Donald R. Lehmann. Managing Customers as Investments: The Strategic Value of Customers in the Long Run. Wharton School Publishing, 2005. (2006 winner of the annual Berry-AMA book prize for the best book in marketing.)
- April 2006 (Revised April 2008)
- Course Overview Note
Managing Service Operations: Understanding the Customer Operating Role
By: Frances X. Frei
Describes Managing Service Operations: Understanding the Customer Operating Role, a second-year MBA course that consists of three modules. The first module, Conceptualizing the Customer Operating, explores the operational challenges and opportunites of managing... View Details
Keywords: Service Operations
- February 1994
- Case
Xerox Corp.: The Customer Satisfaction Program (A)
A rewritten version of an earlier case, Xerox Corp.: The Customer Satisfaction Program. Does not provide an update and no new content is added. The new (A) and (B) case structure merely isolates the service guarantee issue. View Details
Menezes, Melvyn A. "Xerox Corp.: The Customer Satisfaction Program (A)." Harvard Business School Case 594-109, February 1994.
- 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.
- 21 Mar 2016
- HBS Case
Can Customer Reviews Be 'Managed?'
Research says 85 percent of people will make a purchase after reading online reviews about a product or service. This has had huge implications for the hotel industry and helps explain why TripAdvisor, a massive repository of user-generated reviews, was the... View Details
- October 2023 (Revised August 2025)
- Supplement
Managing Customer Retention at Teleko
By: Eva Ascarza and Ta-Wei Huang
- November 2001
- Case
Bang Networks-The First Customer (B)
By: Jay O. Light and Mary N. Caravella
Supplements the (A) case. View Details
Light, Jay O., and Mary N. Caravella. "Bang Networks-The First Customer (B)." Harvard Business School Case 202-066, November 2001.
- April 1997 (Revised November 1997)
- Case
Anglian Water: Customer Service Transformation
Loveman, Gary W., and Sabina M. Ciminero. "Anglian Water: Customer Service Transformation." Harvard Business School Case 897-093, April 1997. (Revised November 1997.)