Publications

January 2023 (Revised August 2023)
Case

Veeva Systems and the Transformation to a Public Benefit Corporation

By: Ranjay Gulati and Allison M. Ciechanover

Peter Gassner, the co-founder and CEO of Veeva Systems, steered the company through rapid scaling from its launch in 2007 to 2022. Year after year, the company had exceeded expectations, with its market capitalization reaching $50 billion at its peak. By 2022, the... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Corporate Governance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Culture; Information Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States; California

2015
Other Teaching and Training Material

Marketing Reading: Digital Marketing

By: Sunil Gupta and Joseph Davin

Digital technology has changed how consumers search for information, interact with each other, and buy products. The popularization of these technologies has made it possible for companies to have a better understanding of their customers' decision journey and... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Buzz Marketing; Internet Marketing; Marketing; Marketing Management; Social Media; Social Networks; Viral Marketing; Word-of-mouth Marketing; Digital; Internet; Marketing Channels; Marketing Reference Programs; Online Advertising; Advertising Industry

12 Jun 2012
First Look

First Look: June 12

PublicationsPricing to Create Shared Value Authors:Marco Bertini and John T. Gourville Publication:Harvard Business Review 90, no. 6 (June 2012) Abstract Many companies are in competition with their View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

27 Jan 2023
Op-Ed

Have We Lost Sight of Integrity?

the NTSB later flagged for omitting pivotal facts, Boeing said that its customers “have our assurance that the 737 MAX is as safe as any airplane that has ever flown the skies.” Just five months later, another 737 MAX—Ethiopian Airlines... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

Article

When Talk Is "Free": The Effect of Tariff Structure on Usage Under Two- and Three-Part Tariffs

By: Eva Ascarza, Anja Lambrecht and Naufel Vilcassim

In many service industries, firms introduce three-part tariffs to replace or complement existing two-part tariffs. In contrast with two-part tariffs, three-part tariffs offer allowances, or “free” units of the service. Behavioral research suggests that the attributes... View Details

Keywords: Pricing; Nonlinear Pricing; Discrete/continuous Choice Model; Three-part Tariffs; Free Products; Price; Consumer Behavior; Analysis; Learning; Risk and Uncertainty

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March 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Neck & Neck: Leveraging the Club Neck Information

Commercial Director Prado wonders how to leverage the loyalty card information to prepare the fall 2008 budget. The case discusses the value of subjective and objective information for profit-planning purposes. Spanish children's apparel retailer Neck & Neck uses... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Profit; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Retail Industry

March 2024
Teaching Note

Madrigal: Conducting a Customer-Base Audit

By: Eva Ascarza, Peter S. Fader, Bruce Hardie and Michael Ross

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 524-046. This case presents a scenario where Madrigal, a U.S. retailer with a rich 20-year history and a solid loyalty program, faces a turning point with the arrival of a new CEO. This leadership change reveals a critical gap in... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Analytics and Data Science; Growth and Development Strategy; Customer Value and Value Chain; Retail Industry; United States

2024
Working Paper

The Impact of Culture Consistency on Subunit Outcomes

By: Jasmijn Bol, Robert Grasser, Serena Loftus and Tatiana Sandino

We examine the association between subunit culture consistency—defined as the congruence between the organizational values espoused by top management and those perceived and practiced by subunit employees—and subunit outcomes. Using data from 235 subunits of a... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Employees; Creativity; Satisfaction

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January 2020 (Revised April 2020)
Case

Rumo: Infrastructure for a Healthier Economy

By: Forest L. Reinhardt, Mariana Cal, Ruth Costas and Natalie Kindred

Brazilian logistics company Rumo operated 13,500 km in railway networks, port terminals, and inland transshipment terminals, connecting major Brazilian ports to the agriculture hubs of Mato Grosso and São Paulo state. Controlled by Cosan, Brazil's leading sugar and... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Customer Relationship Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Logistics; Rail Transportation; Value Creation; Rail Industry; Transportation Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Latin America; Brazil

November 2012 (Revised September 2013)
Case

Learning Resources: A Hands-On Toy Company Deals with New Challenges and Opportunities

By: Boris Groysberg and Anahita Hashemi

Learning Resources is a family-owned educational toy company that, by late 2011, was facing a myriad of challenges, including increased competition, entry into new markets, new distribution methods, rising costs of production in China, and changing customer behavior.... View Details

Keywords: Leading Teams; Strategy Formulation; Strategy And Execution; Innovation; Corporate Culture; Industry Analysis; Organizational Alignment; Entrepreneurs; Sales Channels; Leadership; Strategy; Change Management; Innovation Leadership; Family Business; Entrepreneurship; Product Design; Sales; Retail Industry; United States

05 Mar 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, March 5, 2019

non-democracies. The Value of First Impressions: Leveraging Acquisition Data for Customer Management By: Padilla, Nicolas, and Eva Ascarza Abstract— Managing customers... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

Detecting Routines: Applications to Ridesharing CRM

Routines shape many aspects of day-to-day consumption. While prior work has established the importance of habits in consumer behavior, little work has been done to understand the implications of routines--which we define as repeated behaviors with recurring, temporal... View Details

24 Jan 2011
HBS Case

Terror at the Taj

outstanding service are selected for inclusion in the Managing Directors Club and recognized across the organization. Such incentives aren't so unusual, of course. But interviews with senior management demonstrate how seriously the task of building a customer-centric... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Accommodations

February 2021
Background Note

Jobs to Be Done: A Toolbox

By: Derek C. M. van Bever, Bob Moesta, Iuliana Mogosanu, Shaye Roseman and Katie Zandbergen

The Jobs to Be Done methodology is both a theory and a practical approach for understanding customer behavior and why people make the choices they make. Many practitioners, whether they work for startups or incumbent businesses, find Jobs to Be Done useful because it... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Decision Choices and Conditions; Knowledge Acquisition; Attitudes; Perception; Theory; Behavior; Customer Relationship Management

November 2007
Article

A Model of Consumer Learning for Service Quality and Usage

By: Raghuram Iyengar, Asim Ansari and Sunil Gupta

In many services, e.g., the wireless service industry, consumers choose a service plan based on their expected consumption. In such situations, consumers experience two forms of uncertainty. First, consumers may be uncertain about the quality of their service provider... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Customer Value and Value Chain; Learning; Price; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Service Delivery; Quality; Risk and Uncertainty; Service Industry

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23 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

How to Brand a Next-Generation Product

excitement among prospective consumers who value new bells and whistles over small improvements. On the other hand, customers may worry that new features pose the risk of new glitches and a steep learning... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

2015
Book

What Great Service Leaders Know and Do: Creating Breakthroughs in Service Firms

By: James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser and Leonard A. Schlesinger

Based on decades of collective field experiences, the authors present anecdotal evidence in support of eight things that great service leaders know and do. Great service leaders know that (1) leading a breakthrough service is different, and they take steps to ensure... View Details

Keywords: Management; Leadership; Service Operations; Service Delivery

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June 2007 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Intel 2006: Rising to the Graphics Challenge

By: Willy C. Shih and Elie Ofek

Examines the evolution of the PC hardware industry over the span of two and a half decades. The open architecture design of the IBM Personal Computer followed by the rapid appearance of clones drove a high level of standardization and modularity in the industry, and... View Details

Keywords: History; Customer Value and Value Chain; Decision Choices and Conditions; Information Infrastructure; Competitive Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Technology Industry

August 2023
Case

Beamery: Using Skills and AI to Modernize HR

By: Boris Groysberg, Alexis Lefort, Susan Pinckney and Carolina Bartunek

Unicorn human relationships startup Beamery evaluates it's growth versus depth strategy as its strategic partners and customers could become future competitors in a quickly changing AI based human resources and talent management industry View Details