Customer Focus - Publications - Faculty & Research

01 Dec 2018
News

In My Humble Opinion: Growth Investor

dirt roads. His excellence on the field was due to his preparation in the off-season.” First job: An independent video store. “I loved that job because I love the power of storytelling. I always wanted to tell customers about an amazing... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna

01 Oct 1996
News

Trading Up — Kenneth D. Brody (MBA 1971)

organization more customer responsive and attuned to the needs of smaller businesses, as well as for shifting the bank's focus away from dealings with foreign governments and toward more private... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons

07 Apr 2015
News

Warrior Spirit

products and an environment where customers can connect with the brand. Evolve operates on the same concept. The focus just happens to be martial arts.” Like Starbucks, Evolve charges a premium for that... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment; Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries; Arts, Entertainment; Technical and Trade Schools; Educational Services

14 Sep 2023
Blog Post

MBAs Accelerate Their Social Enterprise Ventures

a startup. Most importantly, I’m ending this summer with the confidence that I can be a founder. Rea: This summer, our focus was to comprehensively understand India's solar irrigation landscape. We conducted field interviews with over 100... View Details

January 2024 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Uncle Nearest: Creating a Legacy

By: Hise Gibson, Archie L. Jones, Nicole Gilmore and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

Fawn Weaver, as a Black woman and industry outsider in a capital-intensive, highly regulated, competitive and male-dominated spirits industry, successfully overcame numerous obstacles to launch a premium American whiskey brand, Uncle Nearest in 2017, which became the... View Details

Citation

Educators

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13 Nov 2019
Research & Ideas

Don't Turn Your Marketing Function Over to AI Just Yet

this hybrid approach is allowing companies to replace traditional customer interviews and focus groups, according to Amano and his colleagues. Understanding what prompts a View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

16 Aug 2022
Op-Ed

Now Is the Time for Entrepreneurs to Play Offense

roadmap. Engineers and product managers love it when they’re “left alone.” Take the time to do deeper customer discovery and requirements gathering. Customers might be more open to participating in beta... View Details

Keywords: by Jeffrey Bussgang

Web

Strategy Execution Online Course | HBS Online

Apply techniques to help your business innovate and adapt to change while maintaining clear focus and retaining necessary controls. Highlights Using Control Systems Interactively Discussing Challenges in San Jose Choosing a System to Use... View Details

30 Oct 2019
Research & Ideas

How to Recover Gracefully After Shutting Down Your Startup

are told that great entrepreneurs are persistent. So, if you throw in the towel, you must not be a great entrepreneur.” It’s hard to let others down. Letting go of an ill-conceived idea becomes much harder when dozens of employees rely on it to feed their families.... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

13 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 13

software and IT service firms will likely have an inward focus over the next five years and will, therefore, only slowly emerge onto the global market. Working PapersThe Role of Organizational Scope and Governance in Strengthening... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Profile

Brandon Tieu

HubSpot's impending decision of whether to focus on selling to larger enterprise customers or small-medium businesses. The former CEO came to class and explained their rationale to View Details

12 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 12, 2018

changes in stockouts or rebalances. We observe no evidence of learning or fatigue. Agent-level heterogeneity in the treatment effects shows that the agents who handle substantially more customer deposits than withdrawals benefit most from... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

27 Feb 2017
Research & Ideas

Reputation is Vital to Survival in Turbulent Markets

of our clients who saw how we managed to overcome the crisis.” —Antonio Madero, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Sanluis Corporation (a leading Mexico-based automotive parts maker) Silverthorne: Was this focus on reputation development pushed... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

26 Mar 2024
Blog Post

IFC India: Financing the Climate Transition in India

focus of this estimate, presenting a roadmap for sustainable investment. Is this gap unsurmountable? We believe there are reasons to feel hopeful - It all depends on how we choose to contextualize. Benchmarking the funding gap against... View Details

15 Dec 2003
Research & Ideas

The New Global Business Manager

managers? How have your own views changed? Christopher Bartlett: Well, fortunately, the basic argument has held up. But the world has evolved and we do see some new patterns emerging. But first let's focus on the things that have stayed... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

Web

History - Entrepreneurship

businesses. Most graduates wait until they have a high potential idea they are truly passionate about. Often, such ideas come through in-depth experience in a market and exposure to unsatisfied customer needs – experience that may be... View Details

06 Oct 2010
Research & Ideas

John Kotter: Four Ways to Kill a Good Idea

time they tried a big change (in their case, the "customer centric" initiative), they were unsuccessful, and some of the consequences (impossible workloads for a while, a few good people's careers derailed) were very unpleasant. Anxiety began to grow as... View Details

Keywords: by John Kotter & Lorne A. Whitehead

01 Jun 2024
News

Alumni and Faculty Books

about it? Why is telling your son or daughter to “just say no” a hopelessly ineffective strategy? How do imaginary peers influence your adolescent’s decisions? Why does the focus on reforming bullies and supporting victims miss the point... View Details

Web

HBS - The year in Review

core activities of teaching, research, and disseminating ideas. Faculty and students alike embraced the custom technology that enabled teaching and learning both in the classroom and remotely. They were supported by hundreds of frontline... View Details

March 2019 (Revised March 2023)
Case

Accion's Fintech Strategy

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Michael Chu and Tricia Gregg

Accion, an NGO, had been a pioneer in microfinance since its entry into that sector in the early 1970s. Its investments in Banco Compartamos paid off, when the microfinance bank went IPO in 2007, leaving an influx of $138 million for Accion. Under a new CEO, Michael... View Details