Publications

September 2015 (Revised March 2025)
Technical Note

FIELD Global Capstone: Developing Customer Empathy

By: Jill Avery

The Design Thinking process begins with empathizing with potential customers. Empathizing, being aware of, interpreting, and understanding the thoughts of others, as well as being able to vicariously experience them oneself, requires the careful and deliberate study of... View Details

Keywords: Market Research; Design Thinking; Customer Behavior; Ethnography; Interviews; Surveys; A/B Testing; Experimentation; Marketing; Customer Focus and Relationships; Consumer Behavior; Demand and Consumers

Article

The Impact of Forward-Looking Metrics on Employee Decision-Making: The Case of Customer Lifetime Value

By: Pablo Casas-Arce, Asis Martinez Jerez and V.G. Narayanan

This paper analyzes the effects of forward-looking metrics on employee decision-making. We use data from a bank that started providing branch managers with the customer lifetime value (CLV)—an estimate of the future value of the customer relationship—of mortgage... View Details

Keywords: Customer Lifetime Value; Forward-looking Metrics; Employees; Decision Making; Information; Customer Value and Value Chain; Banks and Banking; Mortgages; Outcome or Result

January–February 2018
Article

Some Customers Would Rather Leave Without Saying Goodbye

By: Eva Ascarza, Oded Netzer and Bruce G.S. Hardie

We investigate the increasingly common business setting in which companies face the possibility of both observed and unobserved customer attrition (i.e., “overt” and “silent” churn) in the same pool of customers. This is the case for many online-based services where... View Details

Keywords: Churn; Retention; Attrition; Customer Base Analysis; Hidden Markov Models; Latent Variable Models; Customer Relationship Management; Consumer Behavior

Read Now

December 2014 (Revised February 2023)
Module Note

Legal Analysis: Customers

By: Lena G. Goldberg

This Note introduces the Module on Responsibilities to Customers taught in Leadership and Corporate Accountability, a required course in the Harvard Business School MBA program. The Note outlines the asymmetries inherent in the company-customer relationship and... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Corporate Accountability; Ethics; Legal Liability; Customer Relationship Management

April 2011 (Revised May 2011)
Case

EMC2: Delivering Customer Centricity

By: Thomas Steenburgh and Jill Avery

This case introduces the concept of customer centricity and traces its development at EMC, the world's leading data storage hardware and information management software company. EMC's customers had historically relied on EMC salespeople to guide them through the... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Interpersonal Communication; Customer Relationship Management; Knowledge Acquisition; Marketing Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Salesforce Management; Social and Collaborative Networks; Internet; Information Technology Industry

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

March 2002 (Revised May 2007)
Case

Customer Profitability and Customer Relationship Management at RBC Financial Group (Abridged)

By: V.G. Narayanan and Lisa Brem

The Royal Bank of Canada uses customer relationship management and customer profitability tools to gain a competitive advantage in Canada's increasingly crowded financial services market. The case presents two pricing and customer management issues: one from the point... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Customer Relationship Management; Price; Perspective; Marketing; Competitive Advantage; Financial Services Industry; Banking Industry; Canada

24 Aug 2018
Video

Customer Interaction Days

February 2002 (Revised March 2002)
Case

Customer Profitability and Customer Relationship Management at RBC Financial Group

By: V.G. Narayanan and Lisa Brem

The Royal Bank of Canada uses customer relationship management and customer profitability tools to gain a competitive advantage in Canada's increasingly crowded financial services market. The case presents two pricing and customer management issues: one from the point... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Price; Customer Relationship Management; Marketing; Customer Value and Value Chain; Financial Services Industry; Banking Industry; Canada

Research Summary

How to Manage Customers for Increased Profits and Customer Satisfaction

By: Frances X. Frei

For many service firms, the customer plays an important role in contributing to the cost and/or quality of the service. This is very different than many manufacturing contexts, for example, where the firm has virtually complete control over product cost and quality. ... View Details

November 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Technical Note

Customer Data Privacy

By: Eva Ascarza and Ta-Wei Huang

This note provides an overview of the evolving landscape of customer data privacy in 2023. It highlights two pivotal aspects that make privacy a central concern for businesses: building and maintaining customer trust and navigating the intricate regulatory... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Governance Compliance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Risk and Uncertainty; Reputation; Trust; Information Management; Retail Industry; Technology Industry; Financial Services Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Europe; United States

Program

Transforming Customer Experiences

Summary Superior customer service can differentiate your business in the marketplace—if you design the right offerings and execute flawlessly. Led by HBS thought leaders who are experts in customer... View Details

Article

Valuing Customers

By: Sunil Gupta, Donald R. Lehmann and Jennifer A. Stuart

Keywords: Value; Customers

2004
Article

Valuing Customers

By: Sunil Gupta, Donald R. Lehmann and Jennifer A. Stuart

Keywords: Value; Customers

January 2024 (Revised February 2024)
Exercise

Travelogo: Understanding Customer Journeys

By: Eva Ascarza, Nicolas Padilla and Oded Netzer

In late May 2023, Sarah Merino, the newly appointed manager of the Customer Insights group at Travelogo—an online travel booking platform—initiates a comprehensive analysis of clickstream data to understand the varied behaviors and needs of their users. In preparation... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Analysis; Analytics and Data Science; Marketing Strategy; Segmentation; Consumer Behavior; Travel Industry; United States

June 2002
Background Note

Note on Customer Management

By: Das Narayandas

Lays out a framework for the management of customers using examples of forms in a variety of industries. View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Framework