Publications

30 Jan 2020
News

What Organizations Need to Survive a Pandemic

22 Apr 2015
News

The king of soya focuses on a high-tech vision of farming

28 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

How Racial Bias Taints Customer Service: Evidence from 6,000 Hotels

when underlying biases are creeping into their interactions with customers. Feldberg and Kim have a few suggestions to help organizations identify whether bias is present and reverse the pattern: Conduct surveys. Reach out to View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

16 Jun 2020
Research & Ideas

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

services or tiers of products that meet customers’ deaccession-based basic unmet needs. Walgreens allowed customers to purchase a number of products at their drive-through because of their fundamental utilitarian-based health and safety... View Details

Keywords: by Rohit Deshpandé, Ofer Mintz, and Imran S. Currim; Retail; Service

13 Mar 2017
Research & Ideas

Hiding Products From Customers May Ultimately Boost Sales

portion of your full product catalog—and leaving customers to wonder what you’ll offer next? Or is it better to display all your wares at once, in hopes of encouraging a shopping spree? For example, is a View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail; Fashion

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

January 1997
Background Note

Buy Low, Sell High: Creating and Extracting Customer Value by Enhancing Organizational Performance

By: Benson P. Shapiro

Provides an integrated framework for creating customer value and managing the firm profitably. Focuses on the use of product/service line management and effective customer service to achieve customer satisfaction and high profitability. View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Framework; Performance Efficiency; Sales; Business Strategy; Customer Satisfaction; Profit; Product Marketing; Business or Company Management

03 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

The State of Customer Service Leadership

services, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, J. W. Marriott, Nordstrom, Publix supermarkets, Quicken Loans, Southwest Airlines, Starbucks, USAA insurance, Wegmans, Whole Foods Markets, among others. These organizations have a greater than... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner; Retail

09 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

The Manager’s Guide to Communicating with Customers Collection

Are you reaching your customers? The key is knowing who they are and what they want To appeal to retail customers you need to understand what makes them tick. What better way to do that than by studying actual consumer behavior? A great... View Details

Keywords: by Richard Bierck; Retail

13 Mar 2017
News

Hiding Products From Customers May Ultimately Boost Sales

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

09 Dec 2019
Research & Ideas

Identify Great Customers from Their First Purchase

and advances in machine learning technology. Ascarza expects her research will be published early next year and at that point plans to make the code for her model available online for free. With the help of a trained data scientist, any View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Retail; Service

01 Apr 2002
News

New Director of MBA Career Services Focuses on Power of Alumni Network

stepping up alumni outreach efforts and contacting organizations that have not typically recruited at HBS. "We're asking graduates of the School to think about our young, energetic, talented students when they're making their hiring plans... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

27 Sep 2010
Research & Ideas

Customer Experts Lose Influence When Teams are Pressured

high-status people who have gained a wide-ranging knowledge of the business based on long, varied experience across clients and even industries, as well as their formal training and education. Customer-specific experts know their client View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

22 Sep 2021
Blog Post

Meet LASO: The HBS Latino Student Organization

The Latino Student Organization (LASO) proudly promotes and supports Harvard Business School’s Latino students and works alongside the Latino Alumni Association (HBSLAA). Representing a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, interests,... View Details

August 2016 (Revised June 2017)
Case

InsideSales.com (A)

By: Frank V. Cespedes

This case focuses on growth requirements for a company moving from its base in SMB customers (Small and Mid-Sized businesses) to Enterprise customers (companies with more than 500 employees). It examines the differences in buying processes, product requirements,... View Details

Keywords: Business Organization; Customer Relationship Management; Marketing Strategy; Organizational Change And Adaptation; Organizational Design; Talent; Talent Management; Organizations; Growth Management; Sales; Salesforce Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Technology Industry; United States

April 2022
Article

National Customer Orientation: A Framework, Propositions and Agenda for Future Research

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

Purpose: This paper aims to propose a new country-level construct, national customer orientation, to provide a benchmark for global headquartered managers’ decisions and scholars investigating cross-national research.
Design/methodology/approach: A conceptual... View Details

Keywords: International Marketing; Macro-marketing; Marketing; Financial Crisis; Customer Focus and Relationships; Economic Growth; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation

Read Now

October 2010 (Revised August 2012)
Case

Harvest: Organic Waste Recycling with Energy Recovery (A)

By: Deishin Lee, Baris Ata and Mustafa H. Tongarlak

This case describes the waste management industry and a clean technology solution for landfill diversion and renewable energy production. The (A) case focuses on the operational characteristics of waste management and waste to energy, as well as the characteristics of... View Details

Keywords: Renewable Energy; Logistics; Wastes and Waste Processing; Corporate Finance; Green Technology Industry; Utilities Industry; Energy Industry