Publications

01 Aug 2005
Research & Ideas

How to Choose the Best Deal

million for the Abbott estate and $1.8 million for the orchard property. If Jim has taken both monetary issues and personal satisfaction into account, then the two deals should be equivalent at his stipulated upper limits. That's because... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Wheeler

26 Jan 2004
Research & Ideas

What Developing-World Companies Teach Us About Innovation

the psychological satisfaction of creating patrimonio, something of enduring value to be passed on to the next generation. The insight that buildings represented more than simple utility helped CEMEX position a program aimed at these... View Details

Keywords: by Donald N. Sull, Alejandro Ruelas-Gossi & Martin Escobari

26 Mar 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Mitigating the Negative Effects of Customer Anxiety Through Access to Human Contact

Keywords: by Michelle A. Shell and Ryan W. Buell; Health

January 2014 (Revised November 2021)
Case

Filene's Basement: Inside a Fired Customer's Relationship

By: Jill Avery and Susan Fournier

How, in a business climate in which building relationships with customers has dominated both managerial thought and marketing budgets, could Filene's Basement have fired a loyal customer, one who was formally and informally recognized as a best customer? This case... View Details

Keywords: CRM; Retailing; Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Customer Relationship Management; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Retail Industry; United States

October 1994 (Revised March 1999)
Case

Ritz-Carlton: Using Information Systems to Better Serve the Customer

By: W. Earl Sasser, Thomas O. Jones and Norman Klein

Explores the interface of an information system that keeps track of guests and their preferences, and the people systems that deliver multiple services at Ritz-Carlton hotels. The luxury hotel chain's unique service credo and commitment to quality principles are... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Customer Satisfaction; Training; Recruitment; Service Delivery; Supply Chain Management; Luxury; Balance and Stability; Information Technology

21 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 21, 2009

the lowest employee satisfaction scores and highest employee turnover rate among all of the departments at EMU. Furthermore, her new unit was infamous for its culture of confrontation, blaming, and favoritism. The staff that has remained... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Mar 2004
News

Ron Shaich’s Café Society

satisfaction in the food industry. People love coming to Panera Bread — last week we served four million customers! They get what we’re doing. As I travel the country I find it amazing that people come up and thank me. It feels great... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young; Food Services and Drinking Places; Hospitality

01 Oct 2002
News

Faculty Research Symposium

organizational properties of each team, measuring factors such as leadership behaviors of nurse managers; adequacy of training, information, and equipment; team characteristics (stability, composition, quality of relationships, and performance outcomes); and individual... View Details

15 Mar 2011
First Look

First Look: March 15

(DA) at North Atlantic Hospital (NAH), faces several significant challenges. Staff satisfaction surveys confirmed her assessment that department faculty morale was low, the tenure and promotion system was perceived as opaque and biased... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Jun 2011
News

The House that Howard Built

Duffy (MBA 1977), then administrative director of External Relations. Nearly a third of the survey’s respondents said they were self-employed, while almost half described themselves as “entrepreneurs.” (This cohort also reported greater personal and career View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

01 Dec 2003
News

Can Manufacturing Keep Its Edge?

relentless innovation and laser-eyed attention to detail are the primary drivers of success. And despite, or perhaps because of, those demands, these manufacturing executives also describe the sense of deep satisfaction their work can... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Manufacturing

01 Sep 2015
First Look

First Look -- September 1, 2015

performance. Using panel data from the Japanese National Hospital Organization, we analyze performance improvements following regulation requiring standardized measurement and peer disclosure of absolute and relative patient satisfaction... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

20 Feb 2006
Research & Ideas

Are Company Founders Underpaid?

The interests of these "organizationally centered" executives are more likely to be aligned with those of the owners. Stewards identify closely with the organization and thus derive higher satisfaction from behaviors that... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Financial Services; Technology

15 May 2007
Working Paper Summaries

I’ll Have the Ice Cream Soon and the Vegetables Later: Decreasing Impatience over Time in Online Grocery Orders

Keywords: by Todd Rogers, Katherine L. Milkman & Max H. Bazerman; Food & Beverage

January 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Cisco Systems (2001): Building and Sustaining a Customer-Centric Culture

By: Ranjay Gulati

Customer centricity has been an important part of the culture at Cisco Systems since its inception. While part of this is attributable to values put in place by the founders and retained by subsequent management, it is also closely interwoven with its organizational... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Organizational Culture; Research and Development; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Employees; Brands and Branding; Customer Relationship Management; Business Units

May 2025
Case

The Micro-Family Office: Aamir Rehman

By: Lauren Cohen and Sophia Pan

With a successful career and strong academic credentials, Aamir Rehman sought to design a life grounded in autonomy. For him, this meant serving on boards, continuing his professorship, and ensuring a secure and comfortable life for his family. While he didn’t possess... View Details

January 2011
Case

Aardvark

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Alison Berkley Wagonfeld and Lauren Barley

Aardvark is an online social search service that allows users to pose questions and receive answers from other users in their extended social network. The case explores the process that Aardvark's founders used to design and develop their product based on intensive... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Entrepreneurship; Product Design; Product Development; Social and Collaborative Networks; Internet and the Web

September 2009
Teaching Note

HubSpot: Inbound Marketing and Web 2.0 (TN)

By: Thomas J. Steenburgh and Jill Avery

Teaching Note for 509-049. View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Technology Adoption; Internet and the Web; Blogs; Media; Markets; Segmentation; Price; Decision Choices and Conditions; Marketing Strategy; Information Technology Industry