Publications

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

20 Oct 2022 - 22 Oct 2022
Talk

Evaluative Dynamics: Summarizing Customer Journeys, Interviews, and Lives

By: Julian De Freitas, P. Kim and T. Ullman

June 2017 (Revised January 2019)
Case

Signet Jewelers: Assessing Customer Financing Risk

By: Gerardo Pérez Cavazos, Suraj Srinivasan and Monica Baraldi

Marc Cohodes, a renowned short seller, has identified weaknesses in Signet's business strategy, which he argues is heavily reliant on providing loans to customers with subprime credit scores. He believes that the company accounts for its receivables portfolio using... View Details

Keywords: Short Selling; Bad Debt Expense; Accounting; Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Finance; Financing and Loans; Valuation; Retail Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States

November 2004
Article

Linking Customer Management Effort to Customer Profitability in Industrial Markets

By: Douglas Bowman and Das Narayandas

Keywords: Customers; Management; Profit; Markets

November 2011
Teaching Note

Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? (Brief Case)

By: Michael J. Roberts and Paul E. Morrison

Teaching Note for Product #4377. View Details

Keywords: Capacity Utilization; Supply ＆ Demand; Operations Management; Customer Service; Management; Demand and Consumers; Operations; Customer Focus and Relationships; Supply and Industry; Capital

2022
Case

Polarizing Government Work: McKinsey & Co. and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

When Donald Trump announced his run for president in 2015, he placed immigration front and center in his campaign. He promised to drastically expand U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and build a border... View Details

Keywords: International Relations; Immigration; Public Opinion; Ethics

November–December 1995
Article

Why Satisfied Customers Defect

By: T. O. Jones and W. E. Sasser Jr.

Keywords: Customers

August 1984 (Revised March 1989)
Background Note

Direct, Personal Leadership

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Richard R. Ellsworth

Argues that to be effective leaders, general managers must focus on substance, not process, and aggressively combat the forces that can lead to the politicization of the organization. Examines the leader's direct role in setting and communicating goals, managing the... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Style; Management Practices and Processes

08 Aug 2005
Research & Ideas

A Balanced Scorecard Approach To Measure Customer Profitability

The Balanced Scorecard introduced customer metrics into performance management systems. Scorecards feature all manner of wonderful objectives relating to the customer value proposition View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan

26 Jul 2016
Research & Ideas

Where will Pokémon Go with Your Personal Information?

data and how they go about monetizing it? Or is it free reign and whatever they don’t capitalize on, someone else quickly will? Shih: I’d be more in the latter camp. I remember working for IBM in August of... View Details

Keywords: Re: Willy C. Shih; Video Game; Entertainment & Recreation

January–February 2020
Article

Are You Undervaluing Your Customers?: It’s Time to Start Measuring and Managing Their Worth

By: Rob Markey

Leaders recognize that they should manage their businesses to maximize the value of the customer base. But too often, earnings pressures result in cost-cutting measures that hurt customers.

Loyalty-leading companies operate differently. They create systems for... View Details

Keywords: Customer Experience; Customer Value; Customer Centric Initiative; Customer Focused Organization; Customer Lifetime Value; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Value and Value Chain; Operations; Business Strategy

05 Aug 2010
What Do You Think?

What Is Customer Opinion Good For?

Summing Up Customer inputs to the product development process count, but in different ways and at different times, according to many responding to this month's column. As Alexander Gat put it, competing... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Technology

Article

Are Self-service Customers Satisfied or Stuck?

By: Ryan W. Buell, Dennis Campbell and Frances X. Frei

This paper investigates the impact of self-service technology (SST) usage on customer satisfaction and retention. Specifically, we disentangle the distinct effects of satisfaction and switching costs as drivers of retention among self-service customers. Our empirical... View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Information Technology; Customer Satisfaction; Competition; Cost; Banks and Banking; Behavior; Market Transactions; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques

23 Jun 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovative Ways to Encourage Personal Savings

have much money to begin with can make savings more feasible or more fun, or both. Given the diversity of financial conditions, social settings, and personal circumstances of families, View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

18 Nov 2009
HBS Case

Customer Feedback Not on elBulli’s Menu

He's been called "the Salvador Dalí of the kitchen" for creations ranging from beetroot and yogurt ice-cream lollipops to a deconstructed Spanish omelet served in a parfait glass. Each year, some 2 million hopeful diners vie to... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Food & Beverage

Article

Deception and Its Detection: Effects of Monetary Incentives and Personal Relationship History

By: Lyn M. Van Swol, Deepak Malhotra and Michael T. Braun

The study examined detection of deception in unsanctioned, consequential lies between either friends or strangers using an ultimatum game. The sender was given an amount of money to divide with the receiver. The receiver did not know the precise amount the sender had... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Money; Ethics; Relationships

January 1997
Background Note

Buy Low, Sell High: Creating and Extracting Customer Value by Enhancing Organizational Performance

By: Benson P. Shapiro

Provides an integrated framework for creating customer value and managing the firm profitably. Focuses on the use of product/service line management and effective customer service to achieve customer satisfaction and high profitability. View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Framework; Performance Efficiency; Sales; Business Strategy; Customer Satisfaction; Profit; Product Marketing; Business or Company Management