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Publications
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(1,855)
- Faculty Publications (403)
- January 2006
- Tutorial
Alternative Choice Decisions Analysis
By: David F. Hawkins, V.G. Narayanan, Jacob Cohen and Michele Jurgens
Shows how managers use information on costs and revenues to decide between possible alternative courses of action. Presents two case examples of differential cost analysis. The first, a make or buy decision, examines two alternatives in which only costs vary. The... View Details
- December 2005 (Revised March 2006)
- Module Note
Rethinking Customer Satisfaction
By: Youngme E. Moon
Outlines the structure and content of a six-session module that explores the negative dynamics that can result when firm profitability becomes disconnected from customer satisfaction. View Details
Keywords: Customer Satisfaction
- December 2005
- Article
Up to Code: Does Your Company's Conduct Meet World-Class Standards?
Codes of conduct have long been a feature of corporate life. Today, they are arguably a legal necessity—at least for public companies with a presence in the United States. But the issue goes beyond U.S. legal and regulatory requirements. Sparked by corruption and... View Details
- November 2005 (Revised September 2007)
- Case
Beijing Hualian
By: David E. Bell and Mary L. Shelman
China's fifth largest domestic retailer faced intensifying competition from Wal-Mart and Carrefour with the opening of China's fast-growing retail market in January 2005. In response, Beijing Hualian developed a new "Family Store" format targeted at the nation's... View Details
- September 2005 (Revised February 2007)
- Case
Angels and Devils: Best Buy's New Customer Approach (A)
In November 2004, The Wall Street Journal reported that consumer electronics retailer Best Buy's new customer approach was to shun the "devils" among its customers. The "customer centricity" initiative, which was led by Best Buy's CEO Brad Anderson, was based on an... View Details
- August 2005 (Revised April 2006)
- Case
Kemps LLC: Introducing Time-Driven ABC
By: Robert S. Kaplan
Kemps is making a strategy shift: from being focused on fulfilling customer requests to becoming the best cost dairy producer in the industry. Its existing manufacturing cost system, however, fails to capture the costs associated with handling special flavors, small... View Details
- July 2005 (Revised April 2006)
- Case
Carnival Cruise Lines
By: Lynda M. Applegate, Robert Kwortnik and Gabriele Piccoli
Highlights the potential value of customer data and the choices and challenges the firm faces when attempting to capture this value. Carnival collects a significant amount of individual-level behavioral and demographic customer data. Senior management must now decide... View Details
- 2005
- Article
Increasing Exploration: Evidence from International Expansion
By: Juan Alcacer, Heather Berry and Wilbur Chung
While firms balance exploitation and exploration to maximize profits, specifics of how firms pursue this balance are scarce. We focus on how firms increase their exploration after obtaining greater capabilities and experience via sequential international expansion.... View Details
Keywords: Price Bubble; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Industry Growth; Research and Development; Profit; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Disruptive Innovation; Five Forces Framework; SWOT Analysis; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Manufacturing Industry; Japan; United States
- December 2004 (Revised April 2006)
- Case
Managing Diversity at Cityside Financial Services
By: Robin J. Ely and Ingrid Vargas
Cityside Financial Services, a disguised consumer bank, serves both a largely African-American urban community and a more affluent, predominantly white clientele. To match the gender and racial makeup of its staff to that of its customers, Cityside's sales division... View Details
- November 2004
- Article
Linking Customer Management Effort to Customer Profitability in Industrial Markets
By: Douglas Bowman and Das Narayandas
- March 2004 (Revised April 2004)
- Background Note
Seeing What's on Red Auerbach's Mind
Analysis of an interview with Red Auerbach, HBR No. 87201. Alan M. Webber, who conducted the interview, probed for the lessons that Auerbach has learned from a long and productive career coaching and managing the Boston Celtics, a professional basketball team in the... View Details
- September 2003 (Revised March 2004)
- Case
Bharti Tele-Ventures
By: Tarun Khanna, Krishna G. Palepu and Ingrid Vargas
Following the liberalization of India's telecommunications service industry in the early 1990s, Bharti Tele-Ventures grew from a small entrepreneurial telephone equipment importer and manufacturer to become India's largest private-sector telecommunications service... View Details
- July 2003 (Revised October 2018)
- Case
Starbucks: Delivering Customer Service
By: Youngme Moon and John Quelch
Starbucks, the dominant specialty-coffee brand in North America, must respond to recent market research indicating that the company is not meeting customer expectations in terms of service. To increase customer satisfaction, the company is debating a plan that would... View Details
- June 2003
- Case
In-N-Out Burger
By: Youngme E. Moon, Lucy Cummings, Sonali Sampat, Sam Thakarar and Kerry Herman
In-N-Out Burger is a fast-food chain with 171 company-owned locations in three states--California, Nevada, and Arizona. It has an extremely hardcore customer base and the company appears to be in good financial health. The primary issue in this case concerns expansion:... View Details
- April 2003 (Revised September 2005)
- Case
Celebrity Cruises, Inc.: A Taste of Luxury
By: Frances X. Frei, Corey B. Hajim and Christian Hempell
Describes the complex operations of the cruise industry. Positioned between luxury cruise lines and mass market lines, Celebrity struggles to find ways to create customer loyalty and increase profitability. View Details
- April 2003
- Tutorial
ABC Pen Factory Tutorial
By: Robert S. Kaplan
To preview this online product, Authorized Faculty can call our customer service department at 1-800-545-7685 or 617-783-7600. Illustrates, via a guided audio tour accompanied by dynamically changing spreadsheets, the role for activity-based cost systems. The numerical... View Details
Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants
- March 2003
- Background Note
Linking Customer Management Effort to Profits
By: Das Narayandas
Describes the link between a vendor's customer management effort and customer profitability. View Details
- February 2003 (Revised October 2003)
- Case
Cable Data Systems
By: Paul W. Marshall and Todd H Thedinga
Describes the operating challenges of Cable Data Systems (CDS), a minority-owned cable installation company with a dual mission of maximizing profits and providing employment opportunities to minorities in urban markets. Following the merger of two cable installation... View Details
- February 2003 (Revised March 2007)
- Case
Internet Customer Acquisition Strategy at Bankinter
By: Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez, V.G. Narayanan and Lisa Brem
Bankinter, a relatively small Spanish bank, has a large presence as an Internet financial services provider. Leading the way to profitability through the Internet will give Bankinter a major competitive advantage over the larger, more established Spanish banks. Ann... View Details