Publications

October 1991 (Revised August 2000)
Case

Becton Dickinson & Company: VACUTAINER Systems Division (Condensed)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Frank V. Cespedes

Becton Dickinson, a phenomenally successful company with an 80% market share in the blood collection needles and syringes market faces a change in the customer buying environment (cost containment pressures at hospitals). This forces a reevaluation of the company's... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Customer Satisfaction; Demand and Consumers; Market Participation; Distribution Channels; Success; Corporate Strategy; Value Creation; Health Industry

September 2020 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Gong: Resonating Conversational Insights

By: Alison Wood Brooks and Trevor Spelman

In 2015, Amit Bendov was struck by a realization about a new technology that might be able to transcribe musical notation in real-time, which eventually became known as Gong. Gong’s business proposition was simple: provide software that automatically captures,... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Technological Innovation; Communication; Performance Effectiveness; Sales; Customer Satisfaction; Competitive Strategy

May 1999
Background Note

Note on Behavioral Pricing

By: John T. Gourville

The note introduces the behavioral or psychological aspects of consumer price acceptance. Begins by reviewing the traditional economic approach to product pricing and consumer price acceptance--namely, that consumers should be willing to purchase anytime a product's... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Decisions; Fairness; Price; Marketing Strategy; Behavior; Perspective; Public Opinion

September 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Emergia: Driving Profitability on Help Desk Contracts

Emergia wants to keep its customer happy with its contact center service, but the margins on the help desk contract are dangerously low. Can Miguel Neira, the COO, increase margins while preserving the customer relationship? View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Customer Satisfaction; Profit; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Service Operations; Performance Capacity; Performance Evaluation; Mathematical Methods; Service Industry

09 Jan 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, January 9, 2018

experiments in which participants waited in virtual queues, revealed that waiting in last place diminishes wait satisfaction while increasing the probabilities of switching and abandoning queues. After controlling for other factors,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2010 (Revised April 2011)
Supplement

Aman Resorts (B)

By: Eugene Soltes and Aldo Sesia

The (B) case describes how employees are rewarded and compensated and is used to supplement the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Globalized Firms and Management; Compensation and Benefits; Employees; Performance Evaluation; Motivation and Incentives; Accommodations Industry

11 Mar 2001
Research & Ideas

Wired and Black: Focus on Careers

are," he said. Good managers, he added, should "value what others devalue." "If marketing is the priority, look at manufacturing," Thomas suggested. Seeking Balance In the end, though, all the panelists said job View Details

Keywords: by Carrie Levine

Web

How to Onboard Recently Graduated MBAs - Recruiting

perspectives, new dimensions — and sometimes new challenges — are naturally introduced: evolving what is familiar means that establishing and promoting shared expectations can become more complex. To reduce friction and increase mutual View Details

01 Jan 2002
News

Orin C. Smith (MBA '67)

right things were done that day." It's easy to hear the note of satisfaction and pride in Smith's voice, and while he's too modest to openly acknowledge his leadership role in Starbucks' phenomenal success, he's too honest to discount the... View Details

06 Dec 2019
Blog Post

Moving to the States with My Daughter to Pursue an MBA and Switch Careers

creativity, and tangible impact. Still, I realized that I was not satisfied with my growth and needed something more challenging and fulfilling for the long term. I prioritized self-reflection to more clearly understand my motivations and what brings me View Details

September 1999 (Revised July 2006)
Case

Juice Guys (A)

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, Sharon Lee Fox and Cynthia Rushmore Kuechle

The case explores who the customers are for a new beverage product, their desires as customers for this product, and their desires when ordering this product from a local specialty store location. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Customer Relationship Management; Consumer Behavior; Commercialization; Customer Satisfaction; Food and Beverage Industry

Web

Medium of Artistic Expression - Edwin H. Land & Polaroid | Harvard Business School

photographer and the photograph," Land reflected, "it is hoped that many of the satisfactions of working in the early arts can be brought to a new group of photographers." 86 EXPLORE MORE OF THE EXHIBIT EXPLORE x HOME EMERGENCE OF A NEW... View Details

19 Jul 2004
Research & Ideas

Your Customers: Use Them or Lose Them

her course for Harvard MBA students, Managing Service Operations, which explores interactions between firms and customers. Defy Conventional Wisdom Commerce Bank entered a mature industry where the overall level of customer satisfaction... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

04 Mar 2002
Research & Ideas

Don’t Lose Money With Customers

customer. "Sometimes it makes sense to have a conversation with customers to find out how satisfied they are, and there are other times when the vendor might be better off drawing inferences from observations of actual customer behavior," Narayandas says.... View Details

Keywords: by Peter K. Jacobs

01 Apr 1997
News

HBS Conferences Explore Range of Issues

managed to achieve success and satisfaction in both realms. She related how in June 1983, six months pregnant with her first child, she became the Times' highest-ranking woman when the paper named her deputy metropolitan editor. She took... View Details

01 Dec 1998
News

Managing the Business of Life

think the so-called rewards they bring are pretty overrated." Rather, Glover finds immense satisfaction in helping clients create safer workplaces and a cleaner environment. "The icing on the cake," she says, "is that we simultaneously... View Details

February 2025 (Revised February 2025)
Case

Managing Complexity at mymuesli

By: Thomas Graeber and Stacy Straaberg

In April 2009, direct-to-consumer e-commerce muesli brand mymuesli faced a flood of customer questions. The breakfast cereal startup enabled users to order personalized muesli on its website by choosing from 75 organic ingredients for a total of 566 quadrillion... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Decisions; Food; Product Marketing; Product Positioning; Product Launch; Problems and Challenges; Behavior; Competitive Advantage; Customization and Personalization; Segmentation; Internet and the Web; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe; Germany

July 2004 (Revised July 2005)
Case

Activision: The 'Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer' Project

By: Alan D. MacCormack, Enrico D"Angelo and Kerry Herman

Mike Ward, the producer in charge of developing the Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer game for Activision, must decide whether to launch the game in time for the 2002 Christmas season. Complicating his decision are the lukewarm response from consumers to TV test spots of the... View Details

Keywords: Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Product Development; Customer Satisfaction; Projects; Business or Company Management; Product Launch; Marketing Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Industry Structures; Innovation Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States