Publications

August 2016 (Revised June 2017)
Case

InsideSales.com (A)

By: Frank V. Cespedes

This case focuses on growth requirements for a company moving from its base in SMB customers (Small and Mid-Sized businesses) to Enterprise customers (companies with more than 500 employees). It examines the differences in buying processes, product requirements,... View Details

Keywords: Business Organization; Customer Relationship Management; Marketing Strategy; Organizational Change And Adaptation; Organizational Design; Talent; Talent Management; Organizations; Growth Management; Sales; Salesforce Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Technology Industry; United States

December 2016
Article

Deal Process Design in Management Buyouts

By: Guhan Subramanian

Management buyouts (MBOs) are an economically and legally significant class of transaction: not only do they account for more than $10 billion in deal volume per year, on average, but they also play an important role in defining the relationship between inside and... View Details

Keywords: Management Buyout; Deal Structuring; Acquisition; Design; Fairness

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24 Feb 2014
Research & Ideas

Busting Six Myths About Customer Loyalty Programs

differentiation is difficult in retail as well because development of such advantages takes time and is difficult to execute. All the while, low-price players are constantly looming to pounce. Can low-margin retailers afford customer... View Details

Keywords: by Marcel Corstjens & Rajiv Lal; Retail; Consumer Products

16 May 2011
Research & Ideas

What Loyalty? High-End Customers are First to Flee

customers who are more valuable over time. "One prescription from all of this is that managers should avoid service complacency—or the tendency to rely on preexisting service advantages—and invest more... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

04 Jan 2021
Working Paper Summaries

The Twofold Effect of Customer Retention in Freemium Settings

Keywords: by Eva Ascarza, Oded Netzer, and Julian Runge; Video Game; Entertainment & Recreation

April 2007 (Revised April 2011)
Teaching Note

Slots, Tables, and All that Jazz: Managing Customer Profitability at the MGM Grand Hotel (TN)

By: Dennis Campbell and Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez

Teaching note to 106029. View Details

Keywords: Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Customers; Profit; Accommodations Industry

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

December 2017
Case

Molino Cañuelas: Serving Customers from Seed Development to the Kitchen Table

By: Jose B. Alvarez, Maria Fernanda Miguel and Mariana Cal

Molino Cañuelas was a vertically integrated food company with a management system that allowed it to innovate and grow systematically. With sales of $2 billion in 2016, the firm not only produced flour, vegetable oil, and packaged food products, it also owned a port... View Details

Keywords: Quality Management System; Food Industry; Molino Cañuelas; Argentina; Vertical Integration; Quality; Management Systems; Expansion; Global Range; Growth and Development Strategy; Agribusiness; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Argentina

17 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Let Customers Call the Shots

technologies could be used to create a captive one-to-one relationship between firms and consumers, so that customers could literally be viewed as assets. We should start to realize that things are not that... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

September 2002 (Revised January 2013)
Case

Siebel Systems: Organizing for the Customer

By: Robert Simons and Antonio Davila

Siebel Systems is one of the fastest growing companies in America. Tom Siebel, the company's founder, has organized the business to accommodate growth and focus on the customer. Innovative information technology systems and clear accountability prove to be essential to... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Applications and Software; Business Growth and Maturation; Information Technology; Performance Evaluation; Performance Expectations; Innovation and Management; Technological Innovation; Customer Focus and Relationships; Management Teams; Information Technology Industry; North and Central America

21 Mar 2016
HBS Case

Can Customer Reviews Be 'Managed?'

actually booking and get a commission of that?” Q: You call the case “managing online reviews.” As I read it, I thought the notion of managing online reviews seems to be counter to the notion of providing unbiased information. Yet you do... View Details

Keywords: by Brian Kenny; Advertising; Travel

April 2005
Article

The Quest for Customer Focus

By: Ranjay Gulati and James Oldroyd

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships

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February 2024
Case

SundaySky: Changing Customer Experiences through Personalized Video

By: David C. Edelman and James Barnett

In June 2023, SundaySky CEO Jim Dicso considers growth strategies. The software-as-a-service company provided software to create advertising videos, customer service videos, and other videos, like employee training modules, and had begun to pilot a new generative... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Strategy; Technology Adoption; AI and Machine Learning; Applications and Software; Growth and Development Strategy; Advertising Industry; Technology Industry; United States

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

December 1999
Case

Lees Supermarkets: Customer Loyalty Programs

By: David E. Bell, Rajiv Lal and Ann Leamon

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Marketing Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry

Find at Harvard

June 2017 (Revised May 2018)
Supplement

Hilti Fleet Management Video Supplements

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Oliver Gassmann and Roman Sauer

This case explores the introduction of fleet management in the construction industry by the premium power tools manufacturer Hilti in 2000. Following its customers’ needs, Hilti moved from selling power tools to leasing them as a service. The introduction of the new... View Details