Customer Power - Publications - Faculty & Research

24 Apr 2014
News

Ron Shaich (MBA 1978)

Ron Shaich’s (MBA 1978) first venture, a cookie shop in downtown Boston, evolved into Au Bon Pain. His latest—Panera Cares—allows customers to pay only what they can afford at the popular restaurants he owns, Panera Bread. There’s a box... View Details

02 Apr 2024
Blog Post

IFC India: A Circular Journey Through JSW Cement - From Steel Slag to Stronger Shores

has proven its strength and is now used in coastal regions. JSW maintains a balance between sustainability and customer needs, offering both clinker and slag-blended cement. JSW Cement's story is a testament to the View Details

07 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

How to Help Small Businesses Survive COVID's Next Phase

cheese, at least for now. It’s equally important for firms to understand their most loyal and profitable customers—who they are, what they buy, and how to engage them. Beyond their purchasing power, loyal customers can become a company’s... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Food & Beverage; Service

01 Dec 2004
News

Starting Off on the Right Foot

When business and career psychologist James Waldroop counsels young executives who are starting assignments in a new company, he urges them to act like anthropologists. “For the first six months on the job, your assignment is to understand the View Details

Keywords: Deborah E. Blagg

11 Jun 2007
Lessons from the Classroom

Teaching the Next Generation of Energy Executives

You may think that being an energy executive—especially a manager in a leading oil company—might be the easiest job around. Just flip the production switch, and watch gas prices head toward $4 a gallon. But students enrolled in Harvard Business School professor Forest... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Energy; Utilities

02 Aug 2021
What Do You Think?

Can Companies with Remote Management Succeed?

in the office together.” "Just how large an organization can get while still being managed remotely in an effective way is a question." I assume that Matt Mullenweg, founder of Automattic, the parent company of WordPress, which powers... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

22 Feb 2022
News

Ink: Bringing Purpose to Life

purpose into their core operations, generating powerful win-win decisions that benefit everyone, with little compromise—if any—required on any side. A manufacturing company might change wasteful processes, for instance, using less energy... View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

19 Feb 2018
Sharpening Your Skills

Amazoned: Is Any Industry Safe?

obvious—igniting a revolution in retail—to the more subtle—how Amazon's web development services resulted in more startups receiving VC funding. What will be the next shoe to fall? Can Amazon Do What Walmart Couldn’t, Stop the 'Wheel of Retailing'? Is Amazon's growing... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

09 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

Five Questions for Paul Lawrence and Nitin Nohria

product. In four-drive terms, we would argue that brands would be stronger to the extent they come to represent an implicit promise to the customer that can be trusted, a promise that to some extent addresses all four primary drives. Take... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

What It Takes: Minorities in the Executive Suite

We are on the cusp of a new millennium; yet the face of corporate power in the United States remains overwhelmingly white. People of color hold less than 1 percent of all senior executive posts. But what about leaders such as Kenneth... View Details

Keywords: by Judith A. Ross

25 Sep 2000
Research & Ideas

More Than the Sum of Its Parts: The Impact of Modularity on the Computer Industry

The computer age began some six decades ago with general-purpose machines with Star Wars-like names such as ENIAC and EDVAC. They were powered by vacuum tubes, big enough to fill an entire room, and developed by mathematicians under the... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Computer; Consumer Products; Technology

01 Sep 2003
News

Globalization Revisited

argued that advances in communications technology were increasingly inspiring consumers around the world to want the same things. Therefore, he declared, international companies should cease to act as “multinationals” that customized... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

01 Dec 2022
News

Flying High

(debt and equity) to $104.5 million. “We’ve demonstrated substantial success both in the United States and Europe,” observes Pelet. “Now we need to double down and expand further in those markets.” As Aero does that, attention to customer... View Details

Keywords: April White; aviation; airlines; entrepreneurship; leadership; innovation; Air Transportation; Transportation

29 Sep 2003
Research & Ideas

Pride Goeth Before a Profit

into a very powerful motivating force. In a tough economic environment, when there is little money for bonuses and a lot of concern about layoffs, Katzenbach says it becomes even more important to communicate with employees about the... View Details

Keywords: by Theodore Kinni

Blog

Why Does Your Company Exist?

help the local community. While most companies have some type of socially positive goal, it usually takes a back seat to making money. But for some companies, a corporate purpose is actually much, much more—it's a powerful force that... View Details

Web

HBS Magazine - Alumni

Relations Entrepreneurship-Social Entrepreneurship Social Enterprise-Nonprofit Organizations Patch Work How John Jameson (MBA 1991) and Winning Connections harnessed the enduring political power of a phone call View Story Topics:... View Details

08 Jul 2014
First Look

First Look: July 8

Overall, the findings demonstrate the power of non-financial rewards to motivate agents in settings where there are limits to the use of financial incentives. Publisher's link: http://www.people.hbs.edu/nashraf/NoMarginNoMission_JPubE.pdf... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

06 Dec 2021
News

Ink: Talking Shop

retail has been about merchants who had stuff, making it available to customers who needed stuff. As the customer, either you bought the stuff or you didn’t. Now consumers can find out anything they want to know about a product and source... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Retail Trade

08 Sep 2015
First Look

September 8, 2015

impact their decisions to climb the corporate ladder (or not). In Studies 1 and 2, when asked to list their core goals in life, women listed more life goals overall than men, and a smaller proportion of their goals related to achieving View Details