Customers - Publications - Faculty & Research

30 Sep 2002
Research & Ideas

Use the Psychology of Pricing To Keep Customers Returning

Buyers are more apt to use a product right after they purchase it, a fact you need to ponder as you consider how to keep customers coming back for more. In this e-mail interview with HBS Working Knowledge's Manda Mahoney, Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Mahoney

18 May 2022
Research & Ideas

Are Banks the ‘Bad Guys’? Overdraft Fees Are Crushing Low-Income Customers

Payday lenders have long been cast as villains for charging consumers sky-high interest rates, leaving borrowers who live paycheck to paycheck struggling to repay loans. But conventional banks are just as guilty of using fees to penalize consumers, hurting low-income... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

February 2009
Background Note

Basic Techniques for the Analysis of Customer Information Using Excel 2007: A Step-by-Step Approach

By: Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez

The objective of this note is to provide a set of easy, step-by-step guides for some analytical techniques that are useful in the analysis of cases discussed in the course "Competing and Winning through Customer Information" (CWCI). The instructions that follow use... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Information Management; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques

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September 2005 (Revised February 2007)
Supplement

Angels and Devils: Best Buy's New Customer Approach (B)

By: Anita Elberse, John T. Gourville and Das Narayandas

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Electronics Industry; Retail Industry

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June 2002
Teaching Note

Customer Value Measurement at Nortel Networks-Optical Networks Division, TN

By: Das Narayandas

Teaching Note for (9-501-050). View Details

Keywords: Telecommunications Industry

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March – April 2008
Article

Customer Preference Discontinuities: A Trigger for Radical Technological Change

By: Mary Tripsas

What factors cause a mature industry to re-enter a period of technological turbulence? This paper addresses this question by developing a model of technological evolution that incorporates both technological trajectories and a new concept: preference trajectories, ... View Details

Keywords: History; Technology; Transition; Consumer Behavior; Industry Structures; Product Development

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20 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Activist CEOs Are Rising Up—and Their Customers Are Listening

When former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced earlier this year he was thinking about running for president of the United States, it wasn’t a new idea. Past CEOs seeking the White House have included Carly Fiorina, Ross Perot, Herman Cain, Steve Forbes, Mitt... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

20 Aug 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Can Shared Service Delivery Increase Customer Engagement? A Study of Shared Medical Appointments

Keywords: by Ryan W. Buell, Kamalini Ramdas, and Nazlı Sönmez; Health

April 2002 (Revised March 2008)
Teaching Note

eBay: The Customer Marketplace (A) and Combating Fraud (B) (TN)

By: Frances X. Frei

Teaching Note for (9-602-071) and (9-602-152). View Details

Keywords: Web Services Industry

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2000
Working Paper

Leveraging the Customer Base: Creating Competitive Advantage Through Knowledge Management

By: Elie Ofek and Miklos Sarvary

Citation

Teaching Interest

Executive Education: Leading Growth through Customer Centricity — India

By: Rajiv Lal

Establishing a strategic advantage in India's highly competitive marketplace requires a systemic shift in focus—away from selling products and toward meeting the needs of customers. But how many companies are prepared to carry out such fundamental change? By... View Details

2007
Blog

Harvard Business Online—Marketing Know:How: Customers Demand and Deserve Respect

By: John A. Quelch

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2003
Book

How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Markets

By: Gerald Zaltman

Keywords: Customers; Cognition and Thinking; Markets

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October 1994 (Revised March 1999)
Case

Ritz-Carlton: Using Information Systems to Better Serve the Customer

By: W. Earl Sasser, Thomas O. Jones and Norman Klein

Explores the interface of an information system that keeps track of guests and their preferences, and the people systems that deliver multiple services at Ritz-Carlton hotels. The luxury hotel chain's unique service credo and commitment to quality principles are... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Customer Satisfaction; Training; Recruitment; Service Delivery; Supply Chain Management; Luxury; Balance and Stability; Information Technology

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10 Oct 2018
Research & Ideas

The Legacy of Boaty McBoatface: Beware of Customers Who Vote

public. Boaty blowback highlights the potential danger of giving consumers the power to vote, even though customer engagement is a primary goal of almost every social media strategy. The problem: Even though NERC never explicitly promised... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Advertising

April 1999 (Revised March 2000)
Background Note

Discovering What Has Already Been Discovered: Why Did Your Customers Hire Your Product?

By: Clayton M. Christensen

Describes a methodology for identifying markets for new technologies and for defining the highest value attributes of new products or services. It helps innovators escape the trap of incremental improvements to established product concepts by asking a straightforward... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Markets; Product; Technology Adoption; Value

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16 May 2016
HBS Case

Food Safety Economics: The Cost of a Sick Customer

Chipotle Mexican Grill’s ongoing struggle to win customers back months after a contaminated food crisis highlights the challenges companies face with keeping food safe. Chipotle has seen its shares tumble and recently reported its... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage

February 2006
Case

Millions of Customers and the Search for a Business: the Challenge of IRC-Hispano

Like many online services, IRC-Hispano, the world's largest Spanish-language chat organization, has many customers but sees few revenues. As an association, its structure presents many limitations and hurdles to overcome involving investing in technology platform... View Details