Publications

Keywords: Organizations; Customer Focus and Relationships

Conference Presentation

Building and Leading Customer Centric Organizations

Keywords: Organizations; Customer Focus and Relationships

Conference Presentation

Building and Leading Customer Centric Organizations

Keywords: Organizations; Customer Focus and Relationships

17 Jun 2016
Op-Ed

Companies Need to Start Marketing Security to Customers

undercut a positive message about a product's benefits with safety warnings. That might make you feel uncomfortable and even dissuade you from buying the brand. You might instead buy a competitive product that doesn't flag safety issues quite as much. "Risk... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch; Entertainment & Recreation

March 2000 (Revised February 2005)
Case

Hewlett Packard--Computer Systems Organization: Selling to Enterprise Customers

By: Das Narayandas and Robert C. Dudley

In late 1996, Manuel Diaz, head of Worldwide Sales for Hewlett-Packard's (HP) Computer Systems Organization (CSO), is reviewing the results of an audit of HP's enterprise customer management approach with the objective of identifying market and organizational... View Details

Keywords: Accounting Audits; Transformation; Customer Relationship Management; Cost vs Benefits; Marketing Strategy; Sales; Computer Industry

March 2003
Background Note

Managing a Customer Relationship Over Time

By: Das Narayandas

Describes the different ways in which vendors can sell a portfolio of products to industrial customers. View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Management; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Networks; Sales; Manufacturing Industry

Conference Presentation

Building and Leading Customer Centric Organizations

Keywords: Organizations; Customer Focus and Relationships

Conference Presentation

Building and Leading Customer Centric Organizations

Keywords: Organizations; Customer Focus and Relationships

Conference Presentation

Building and Leading Customer Centric Organizations

Keywords: Organizations; Customer Focus and Relationships

21 Oct 2002
Research & Ideas

The Parable of the Bungled Baggage And the Unhappy Customer

said, "Would Professor Sasser meet the special service agent?"... I was feeling a little uncomfortable because I was going to talk about customer service and customer View Details

Keywords: by W. Earl Sasser

February 2010 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Local Motors: Designed by the Crowd, Built by the Customer

By: Michael I. Norton and Jeremy Dann

In the wake of the meltdown among U.S. auto manufacturers in 2009, Jay Rogers, CEO of Local Motors, has a new approach for the automotive industry: decide which models are produced through online design competitions, and then allow customers to "build their own cars"... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Customer Focus and Relationships; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Product Design; Product Development; Creativity; Social and Collaborative Networks; Customization and Personalization; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States

March 2011
Exercise

Customer Intelligence Advantage: Module 2 Assignment

By: F. Asis Martinez Jerez

This exercise directs students to analyze a customer-centric firm by first understanding the elements that characterize a customer-centric organization, then by capturing and comparing this firm's approach to customer-centricity. Students interview three levels in the... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Employees; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Leadership; Competitive Advantage

Find at Harvard

Conference Presentation

Building and Leading Customer Centric Organizations

Keywords: Organizations; Customer Focus and Relationships

January 2008 (Revised April 2008)
Teaching Note

Pilgrim Bank (B): Customer Retention (TN)

By: Frances X. Frei and Dennis Campbell

Teaching Note for [602095]. View Details

Keywords: Customers; Banks and Banking; Customer Focus and Relationships; Banking Industry

07 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

What Customers Need to Hear from You During the COVID Crisis

acknowledge the impact it was having on people’s lives. Consumers also warned against brands taking advantage of the crisis. Consumers’ survey responses indicated that brand storytelling should focus on providing real solutions to the... View Details

Keywords: by Jill Avery and Richard Edelman

Winter 2013
Article

How to Identify the Best Customers for Your Business

By: Frank V. Cespedes, James P. Dougherty and Ben S. Skinner III

How can businesses achieve profitable growth so that their costs don’t grow faster than sales? This article focuses on scaling a venture’s sales process and provides a methodology for identifying core customers and some implications for governance criteria and... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Growth Management; Sales

Find at Harvard

January 2013
Case

Zappos.com 2009: Clothing, Customer Service, and Company Culture (MM)

By: Frances X. Frei and Robin J. Ely

On July 17, 2009, Zappos.com, a privately-held online retailer of shoes, clothing, and other soft-line retail categories, learned that Amazon.com, a $19 billion multinational online retailer, had won its Board of Directors' approval to offer to merge the two companies.... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Internet and the Web; Mergers and Acquisitions; Organizational Culture; Growth and Development Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry

June 16, 2020
Article

Your Customers Have Changed. Here's How to Engage Them Again.

By: Rohit Deshpandé, Ofer Mintz and Imran S. Currim

The coronavirus makes your customers less able and less willing to spend than before. How should you re-engage with them? Advice from Rohit Deshpandé and colleagues. View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Health Pandemics; Situation or Environment; Customer Relationship Management

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Forthcoming
Article

Engaging Customers with AI in Online Chats: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment

By: Shunyuan Zhang and Das Narayandas

We examine how artificial intelligence (AI) affected the productivity of customer service agents and customer sentiment in online interactions. Collaborating with a meal delivery company, we conducted a randomized field experiment that exploited exogenous variation in... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Customer Focus and Relationships; Performance Efficiency