Satisfaction - Publications - Faculty & Research

01 Sep 2018
News

Research Brief: Where Top-Down Tops Out

stay, and job satisfaction of staff. In the study, the researchers looked at CEOs with tenure in at least two organizations and compared the performances of hospitals with new CEOs against those that did not experience a change at the... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Myers

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 be one of the fifty customers... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Food & Beverage

April 2001
Teaching Note

first direct (A) TN

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Michelle Toth and William A. Sahlman

Teaching Note for (9-897-079). For book only - not listed on case. View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Information Technology; Customer Satisfaction; Business Model; Banking Industry; United Kingdom

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Portrait Project

Ann Lucena

helping a friend or sharing a smile with a stranger. I want the delight of introducing someone to a beautiful song or teaching a child a new word. I crave the satisfaction of enhancing and enriching someone else’s life. I yearn for the... View Details

July–August 2025
Article

How the Busiest People Find Joy

By: Leslie A. Perlow, Sari Mentser and Salvatore J. Affinito

Joy, along with achievement and meaningfulness, is one of the three keys to a satisfying life. Yet it’s the missing piece for many ambitious individuals, the authors found after examining data on how nearly 2,000 professionals spend their days. Jam-packed schedules are... View Details

Keywords: Well-being; Satisfaction; Work-Life Balance; Happiness

2018
Working Paper

Status Inconsistency: Variance in One's Status Across Groups Harms Well-being but Improves Perspective-taking

By: Catarina Fernandes and Alison Wood Brooks

Most people belong to many different groups. While some people experience consistently high or low status across all of their groups, others experience wildly different levels of status in each group. In this research, we examine how status inconsistency – the degree... View Details

Keywords: Status; Social Hierarchies; Well-being; Perspective Taking; Status and Position; Groups and Teams; Satisfaction; Perspective

Citation

March 2017
Exercise

Designing Transformational Customer Experiences

By: Stefan Thomke

Anyone who has recently travelled, gone shopping, or tried to have a problem solved may have little recollection of the experience. Worse yet, some are frustrated by the lack of responsiveness or empathy that they encountered. The reality is that most customer... View Details

Keywords: Customer Experience; Exercise; Learning By Doing; LEGO; Storytelling; Customer Satisfaction; Design; Innovation and Management; Transformation; Service Delivery

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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

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Profit; Product Positioning; Operations; Luxury; Shipping Industry

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August 2002
Background Note

Customer Benefit Stack

By: Das Narayandas

Describes a process to understand customer benefits created in industrial markets using the metaphor of a customer benefit stack. View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Customer Value and Value Chain; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Manufacturing Industry

Citation

Educators

October 1993 (Revised July 1997)
Case

Measure of Delight: The Pursuit of Quality at AT&T Universal Card Services (A)

By: Roy D. Shapiro and Michael D. Watkins

AT&T's Universal Card Services (UCS) has been extremely successful during its short lifetime. Dedicated to improving service quality and customer satisfaction, chief quality officer Rob Davis and his quality team have designed and put into place an unusual measurement... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Policy; Compensation and Benefits; Performance Evaluation; Quality; System; Telecommunications Industry

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17 Jun 2025
Blog Post

Balancing Career Stability with Creative Pursuits with Jeff Roslund (MBA 2013)

immense satisfaction in building something from the ground up. Reflecting on Success Having spent so much time reflecting on my personal and professional goals, I’ve started to rethink what success means to me. Early in my career, I... View Details

09 Nov 2017
News

A Chance to Lead

the president and the CEO. “We were tiny, we were $4 billion in assets, a couple of hundred people. But I look at Vanguard [today], it's a thousand times as big as when I joined. And it's a far better company. Most companies that grow that much regress. I look today... View Details

01 Apr 2002
News

Siebel Addresses HBS Northern California Club

of itself." At Siebel Systems, he continued, incentive compensation is tied to customer- satisfaction scores. "Virtually every employee communication that I've given since the company's founding has been centered around the absolute... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

Fall 2020
Article

Competing on Customer Outcomes

By: Marco Bertini and Oded Koenigsberg

Customers ultimately want to pay for meaningful outcomes, not the products and services that presumably deliver them. Today, companies can be increasingly accountable for those outcomes with three kinds of technologically-enhanced revenue models. Adopt one to better... View Details

Keywords: Market Positioning; Revenue Strategy; Customer Satisfaction; Marketing Strategy; Business Model; Value Creation

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01 Oct 1999
News

Eight Among Many: Charles W. ("Bill") Cassell

graduate school, earned a master's in education, and is currently substitute teaching in anticipation of a full-time position. As the father of now seven-year-old Alex, Cassell has already found satisfaction contributing to his son's... View Details

Keywords: Eileen McCluskey

21 Jul 2003
Research & Ideas

Don’t Get Buried in Customer Data—Use It

customers." He cites the example of a major hotel chain that asks guests to complete a multiple-question satisfaction survey via their room's TV set during their stay. When one guest answered "extremely dissatisfied" to all... View Details

Keywords: by Jean Ayers

July 22, 2024
Article

Why People Resist Retirement

By: Teresa M. Amabile

Research suggests making the decision to retire means grappling with three psychological issues. First, identity issues can loom large for any deeply engaged professional. Even a small step away from a career can make a person wonder who they are without it. Second,... View Details

Keywords: Retirement; Identity; Leadership; Satisfaction; Relationships; Age

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01 Sep 2018
News

Ask the Expert: Delivering the Goods

Image by Edmon de Haro The US Postal Service prides itself on delivering through rain, sleet, and snow—but what about serious debt? After 11 straight years of losses and declining first-class mail volumes, the USPS saw one glimmer of hope in 2017: an 11.8 percent... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint

01 Dec 2017
News

Ask the Expert: Human Intelligence

illustration by Taylor Callery illustration by Taylor Callery Artificial intelligence is not a replacement for the human brain. At least not yet. “That is decades away,” says Rudina Seseri (MBA 2005), answering one of the most common questions she hears. As cofounder... View Details

Keywords: April White