Customer Relations - Publications - Faculty & Research

03 Jan 2011
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Articles of 2010

dispersed around the globe. But the one theme that has attracted the most HBS Working Knowledge readers over our 11-year history is how to improve personal leadership skills. A third of the articles on this page relate to improving work... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

11 Mar 2021
News

Leading with Heart

guys, where's the windmill?" Gulati: Tell us about some windmills that you built through this crisis that you believe are going to be in good stead going forward. Chaudhary: I'll share with you, on the customer side, a windmill that we... View Details

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Porter’s Perspective: Competing in the Global Economy

Competitive advantage. Corporate strategy. The competitive advantage of nations. All over the world these terms quickly bring to mind the groundbreaking work of HBS professor Michael Porter, whose two decades of research on these and View Details

Keywords: Re: Michael E. Porter

06 Aug 2013
First Look

First Look: August 6

fully realized and are stronger in mature, slow growth industries. Prices do not fall, however, when the acquirer is diversifying into a new product market. This direct evidence of real changes induced by merger activity is consistent with consolidation by View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

02 Apr 2007
Lessons from the Classroom

Making the Move to General Manager

interconnections across the organization. The second is transitioning from the role of a doer to the role of managing through other people—and that's a big change. "As a new GM, you will be one step away from the customers or one... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Web

Launching Tech Ventures | HBS Online

fashion. When you are finding a particular concept difficult to master, or would like additional examples of a theory, try asking the bot your question in the same way you would phrase it to a human TA. If you have a question pertaining to where or how to submit... View Details

01 Aug 1998
News

High Honors

others as you would have them serve you." When he announced his plans to step down, McDermott reminded his colleagues, "We've made customer service our primary goal, and we've encouraged other corporations to do the same." A year later,... View Details

15 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Businesses Beware: The World Is Not Flat

other common myth that even if the world isn't quite flat today, it will be tomorrow. The data clearly indicate that national borders still matter. I group the differences that they demarcate into 4 areas: those related to cultural... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

20 Feb 2019
Research & Ideas

Rocket-tunity: Can Private Firms Turn a Profit in Space?

more optimistic than in prior years about the future of human space exploration via non-government firms. Mission Statement: VIRGIN GALACTIC “Our mission, to be the Spaceline for Earth, means we focus on using space for good while delivering an unparalleled View Details

Keywords: by Scott Wallask; Aerospace; Tourism; Transportation

Web

Harvard Business School

institutional advancement at Howard University and director of corporate and foundation relations at Boston University. A foundation was established in King's honor to support the enrollment of African American students at HBS. R. Michael... View Details

14 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Restarting Under Uncertainty: Managerial Experiences from Around the World

client-centric approach. It intensified virtual interactions with customers, merged sales and customer service, and boosted integration of all databases, which had been spread across functions, into a single View Details

Keywords: by Raffaella Sadun, Andrea Bertoni, Alexia Delfino, Giovanni Fassio, and Mariapaola Testa

01 Mar 2023
News

Step Change

their own priorities, was a time-consuming challenge for Enan, he recalls. “It was a real exercise in navigating various congressional committees and the general power structure in Washington,” Harmon says. “Enan’s ability to relate to... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; photographed by Abdelrahman Gabr – Koree; entrepreneurship; women; venture capital; Egypt; developing economies; Finance

21 Apr 2021
Research & Ideas

The Pandemic Conversations That Leaders Need to Have Now

conversations with individual employees during this critical time. Conversations are the best way to get leaders and employees back into the practice of relating to one another in person. How are people doing? What challenges are they... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg, Robin Abrahams, and Katherine Connolly Baden

12 Nov 2021
News

Alumni Business Leaders on Confronting the Climate Change Challenge

emissions from the entire state of Florida every year for the next nine years" for the White House, key US agencies, state capitals, business leaders, and Congress to meet the Paris Agreement goal of reducing emissions 50 percent by 2030. At a Council on Foreign View Details

19 Sep 2016
Research & Ideas

Why Isn't Business Research More Relevant to Business Practitioners?

journals. “Academic research can be helpful, but it tends to be overly complex, hard to digest, and not backed by real quantitative insights from customer populations or engagements,” says Neale-May, executive director of the Chief... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Education

Web

2024 Reunion Presentations - Alumni

in the context of Opower, a software company that encourages households to reduce their energy consumption. From Opower's earliest days, its managers utilized experiments to amplify their environmental impact and enhance customer value.... View Details

01 Jan 2014
News

To Spot Financial Trouble Early, Use Three Circles: A conversation with Blythe McGarvie of Harvard Business School

January 2021 (Revised April 2022)
Case

Best Buy's Corie Barry: Confronting the COVID-19 Pandemic

By: William W. George and Amram Migdal

This case examines the leadership of Corie Barry, the new CEO of Best Buy, with a focus on actions the company took in 2020 to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic. The case includes a history of Best Buy’s strategy and leadership, including the transitions between the... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Change; Disruption; Volatility; Communication; Competency and Skills; Customers; Decision Making; Ethics; Fairness; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Finance; Cash Flow; Financial Condition; Financial Liquidity; Goods and Commodities; Corporate Governance; Health Pandemics; Human Resources; Executive Compensation; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Resignation and Termination; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Innovation and Invention; Jobs and Positions; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Job Design and Levels; Job Interviews; Job Offer; Labor; Employment; Human Capital; Working Conditions; Law; Leadership; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Management; Business or Company Management; Crisis Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Management Style; Management Succession; Management Systems; Management Teams; Risk Management; Operations; Distribution; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Logistics; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Supply Chain; Organizations; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Outcome or Result; Personal Development and Career; Retirement; Work-Life Balance; Planning; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Relationships; Business and Community Relations; Labor and Management Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Safety; Science; Strategy; Retail Industry; North and Central America; United States; Minnesota

Citation

Educators

Purchase

November 2005 (Revised December 2016)
Case

Bally Total Fitness (A): The Rise, 1962–2004

By: John R. Wells, Elizabeth A. Raabe and Gabriel Ellsworth

From a single, modest club in 1962, Bally Total Fitness had grown to become—in management’s words—the “largest and only nationwide commercial operator of fitness centers” in the United States in 2004. Bally had faced its share of challenges, but the last couple of... View Details

Keywords: Bally Total Fitness; Fitness; Gyms; Health Clubs; Chain; Securities And Exchange Commission; Paul Toback; Weight Loss; Exercise; Contracts; Personal Training; Retention; Accounting; Accounting Audits; Accrual Accounting; Finance; Advertising; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customers; Customer Satisfaction; Public Equity; Financing and Loans; Revenue; Revenue Recognition; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Health; Nutrition; Business History; Lawsuits and Litigation; Management; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing; Operations; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business Strategy; Competition; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Segmentation; Trends; Cost Management; Profit; Growth and Development; Leadership Style; Five Forces Framework; Private Ownership; Opportunities; Motivation and Incentives; Competitive Strategy; Health Industry; United States; Illinois; Chicago