Publications

2012
Module Note

Endeavouring Towards Customer Satisfaction: A Case Study of TVS Motor Company Ltd.

By: Shashank Shah and Shashank Shah

Keywords: Customer Centric Initiative; Customer Satisfaction; Customer Engagement; Auto Industry; India

Research Summary

Personal Productivity

He is working on a short book advising professionals on how to increase their productivity -- the quality and quantity of their output, as opposed to their hours. The book grows out of an article he published on the subject in the Harvard Business Review

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30 Jan 2020
Research & Ideas

The Upside of Highlighting a Product's Downsides

When booking an international flight, the choice often comes down to “expensive but direct” or “cheap with connections.” But what if an airline warned customers that the direct flight was frequently delayed? Would customers appreciate knowing that they might spend more... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

May 16 2023
Testimonial

Professional and Personal Growth Merge at OPM

Awards

Harvard Business School. Doctoral Award for Excellence in Mentoring

By: Michael W. Toffel

Runner up for the 2010 Doctoral Award for Excellence in Mentoring. Established by doctoral students, the awards recognize HBS faculty "who exemplify a deep commitment to fostering the personal and professional development" of HBS doctoral students. View Details

August 2002 (Revised February 2018)
Teaching Note

Customer Profitability and Customer Relationship Management at RBC Financial Group

By: V.G. Narayanan

Teaching Note for 102-043 and 102-072. View Details

Keywords: Financial Services Industry; Banking Industry; Canada

1983
Chapter

Utilitarianism and the Goodness of Persons

By: L. S. Paine

Keywords: Ethics; Attitudes; Welfare

2014
Chapter

Customer Experience and Service Design

By: Uday S. Karmarkar and Uma R. Karmarkar

While services already dominate economic activity in all major economies in the world, there has been curiously little investigation into many aspects of service management. For example, while product design and development have received a great deal of attention, the... View Details

Keywords: Service Design; Service Management; Product Design; Service Operations; Customer Satisfaction; Service Industry

Against a backdrop of intensifying competition, rising labor costs, and ascending customer expectations, companies are actively seeking ways to do more with less – for example, compelling customers to take on new roles in the value creation process. And, when... View Details

Web

Custom Programs

A learning experience built around your business goals. HBS helps you design customized learning experiences that transform individual leaders, teams, and organizations. Our expert team will partner with you... View Details

2005
Class Lecture

Managing Markets, Segments, and Customers

By: Das Narayandas

Keywords: Markets; Segmentation; Customers

Research Summary

Entrepreneurial Management: Customer Discovery and Business Development

By: Frank V. Cespedes

This research focuses on: (a) market research methods and tactics suitable to startups seeking their initial customers and validation of their initial business model; (b) guidelines for conducting visits with potential customers as part of the startup ptrocess; and (c)... View Details

April 2025
Background Note

Customer Acquisition and the Cash Flow Trap

By: E. Ofek, Barak Libai and Eitan Muller

Startups as well as existing firms recognize the need to invest in order to acquire customers for their new ventures. And as each customer is expected at some point to have generated sufficient gross margins to cover their CAC, management expects that, soon enough, the... View Details

Article

Personal Investing: Advice, Theory, and Evidence

By: Z. Bodie and D. B. Crane

Keywords: Investment; Theory

August 2002
Background Note

Customer Benefit Stack

By: Das Narayandas

Describes a process to understand customer benefits created in industrial markets using the metaphor of a customer benefit stack. View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Customer Value and Value Chain; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Manufacturing Industry

1976
Chapter

Person Perception

By: T. M. Amabile and A. H. Hastorf

Keywords: Perception

March 2009
Article

Customer Experience Creation: Determinants, Dynamics and Management Strategies

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger, Peter C. Verhoef, Katherine N. Lemon, A. Parasuraman, Anne Roggeveen and Michael Tsiros

Retailers, such as Starbucks and Victoria's Secret, aim to provide customers a great experience across channels. In this paper we provide an overview of the existing literature on customer experience and expand on it to examine the creation of a customer experience... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry

Read Now

February 1987 (Revised August 1988)
Case

Gillette Personal Care Division: Marketing Planning and Control

Bill Ryan, president of the Gillette Co.'s Personal Care Division, is considering changing the division's planning and control system for marketing. White Rain, the division's most recent success, had been launched by taking shortcuts through the system, while other... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Management Systems; Consumer Products Industry; United States

March 2025
Article

Is Personal Identity Intransitive?

By: J. De Freitas and L. J. Rips

There has been a call for a potentially revolutionary change to our existing understanding of the psychological concept of personal identity. Apparently, people can psychologically represent people, including themselves, as multiple individuals at the same time. Here... View Details

Keywords: Identity; Judgments