• March 2021
• Article

The Customer May Not Always Be Right: Customer Compatibility and Service Performance

By: Ryan W. Buell, Dennis Campbell and Frances X. Frei

This paper investigates the impact of customer compatibility – the degree of fit between the needs of customers and the capabilities of the operations serving them – on customer experiences and firm performance. We use a variance decomposition analysis to quantify the... View Details

Keywords: Customer Compatibility; Satisfaction; Profitability; Service Operations; Customer Relationship Management; Customer Satisfaction; Performance

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Buell, Ryan W., Dennis Campbell, and Frances X. Frei. "The Customer May Not Always Be Right: Customer Compatibility and Service Performance." Management Science 67, no. 3 (March 2021): 1468–1488.

• 10 Mar 2011
• News

Warren Adams: Searching for profits and saving Patagonia

• 25 Feb 2013
• Research & Ideas

Lean Strategy Not Just for Start-Ups

Lean start-up strategies aren't just for start-ups anymore. That was the key message that Intuit cofounder Scott Cook (HBS MBA '76) shared in a small seminar with Harvard Business School faculty recently. Since its launch in 1983, the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

• 1997
• Simulation

Managing Customers For Profits - Interactive CD-ROM Simulation

By: N. Narayandas and Steve Peterson

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Profit

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Narayandas, N., and Steve Peterson. "Managing Customers For Profits - Interactive CD-ROM Simulation." Simulation and Teaching Note. 1997. (Winner of Gold CINDY (Cinema in Industry) Award presented by International Association of Audio Visual Communicators.)

• October 2022 (Revised February 2024)
• Case

Masdar City: Aiming for Sustainable and Profitable Real Estate

By: Boris Vallee and Fares Khrais

Masdar City broke ground in 2008 and was conceived by the Abu Dhabi government to be an international beacon of innovation in sustainable energy and real estate. It was also to be a profitable investment for the government. At first glance, the two goals pulled in... View Details

Keywords: Analysis; Business Growth And Maturation; Decisions; Public Sector; Financial Crisis; Construction; Climate Change; Green Technology; Borrowing And Debt; Corporate Finance; Capital; Capital Budgeting; Capital Structure; Cost Of Capital; Equity; REIT; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Initial Public Offering; Innovation; Growth And Development Strategy; Emerging Markets; Urban Development; Middle East; United Arab Emirates; Sustainable Cities; Green Building; Business and Government Relations; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financing and Loans; Real Estate Industry; Construction Industry; Energy Industry; Green Technology Industry; Abu Dhabi

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Vallee, Boris, and Fares Khrais. "Masdar City: Aiming for Sustainable and Profitable Real Estate." Harvard Business School Case 223-036, October 2022. (Revised February 2024.)

• 02 May 2014
• Working Paper Summaries

Profits and Economic Development

Keywords: by Dan Schwab & Eric Werker

• 27 Jan 2015
• News

Airline profits soar yet no relief for passengers

• 2014
• Working Paper

Profits and Economic Development

By: Dan Schwab and Eric Werker

Are rents, or excess profits, good for development? Using industry-level manufacturing data, this paper demonstrates a negative effect of rents, measured by the mark-up ratio, on productivity growth. The negative effect is strongest in poor countries, suggesting that... View Details

Keywords: Firm Performance; Rent; Mark-up; Competition; Manufacturing; Development Economics; Profit; Economic Growth; Renting or Rental

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Schwab, Dan, and Eric Werker. "Profits and Economic Development." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 14-087, March 2014. (Revised April 2014.)

• 06 Jul 2020
• News

The Right Way to Manage Churn for Maximum Profit

• 21 Feb 2014
• News

For Facebook, It’s Users First and Profits Later

• January 2021 (Revised March 2021)
• Case

Jumia's Path to Profitability

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in September 2019 as Sacha Poignonnec and Jeremy Hodara, co-founders and co-CEOs of Jumia, the leading Pan-African e-commerce platform, are contemplating the company’s path to profitability in the aftermath of a fragile investor sentiment, as the company... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Business Models; Business Model; Business Startups; Emerging Markets; For-Profit Firms; Strategy; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Value Creation; Globalization; Entrepreneurship; Competition; Expansion; Logistics; Profit; Resource Allocation; Diversification; Corporate Strategy; Retail Industry; Technology Industry; Africa

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Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, Pippa Tubman Armerding, and Gamze Yucaoglu. "Jumia's Path to Profitability." Harvard Business School Case 721-355, January 2021. (Revised March 2021.)

• January–February 2018
• Article

Inclusive Growth: Profitable Strategies for Tackling Poverty and Inequality

By: Robert S. Kaplan, George Serafeim and Eduardo Tugendhat

More than a billion people in the developing world remain in extreme poverty and outside the formal economy. Traditional CSR programs have done little to alleviate the situation and rarely produce transformative change.
Instead of trying to fix local problems,... View Details

Keywords: Inclusive Growth; Sustainability; Social Impact; Business Strategy; Shared Value; Impact Investing; Inequality; Corporate Governance; Balanced Scorecard; Strategy Execution; Economic Growth; Developing Countries and Economies; Poverty; Equality and Inequality; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Strategy; Investment

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Kaplan, Robert S., George Serafeim, and Eduardo Tugendhat. "Inclusive Growth: Profitable Strategies for Tackling Poverty and Inequality." Harvard Business Review 96, no. 1 (January–February 2018): 127–133.

• 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

• 28 Sep 2011
• Research & Ideas

The Profit Power of Corporate Culture

concept," he says. "Its impact on profit can be measured and quantified." Heskett finds that as much as half of the difference in operating profit between organizations can be attributed to... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

• February 2024
• Teaching Note

Masdar City: Aiming for Sustainable and Profitable Real Estate

By: Boris Vallee and Sean Bracken

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 223-036. View Details

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Vallee, Boris, and Sean Bracken. "Masdar City: Aiming for Sustainable and Profitable Real Estate." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 224-063, February 2024.