Publications

2011
White Paper

Brands Are People Too! Harnessing the Power of Brand Warmth and Competence

By: Chris Malone, Jill Avery and S. T. Fiske

Research in customer behavior has revealed that the way humans respond to brands is simply an extension of the way they instinctively perceive, judge, and behave towards one another. Understanding how consumers judge brands using social processes akin to those used in... View Details

Keywords: Brands; Brand Management; Customer Relationship Management; CRM; Brand Positioning; Brand Equity; Customers; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Products Industry

Read Now

April 2011 (Revised May 2011)
Case

EMC2: Delivering Customer Centricity

By: Thomas Steenburgh and Jill Avery

This case introduces the concept of customer centricity and traces its development at EMC, the world's leading data storage hardware and information management software company. EMC's customers had historically relied on EMC salespeople to guide them through the... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Interpersonal Communication; Customer Relationship Management; Knowledge Acquisition; Marketing Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Salesforce Management; Social and Collaborative Networks; Internet; Information Technology Industry

June 2014 (Revised March 2017)
Teaching Note

Agero: Enhancing Capabilities for Customers

By: Robert Simons and Natalie Kindred

This is the teaching note for Agero: Enhancing Capabilities for Customers (HBS No. 113-001) View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Execution; Organization Structure; Diagnostic Control Systems; Interactive Control Systems; Performance Goals; Performance Measurement; Strategy; Organizational Design; Performance Evaluation; Customer Focus and Relationships

November 2011
Teaching Note

Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? (Brief Case)

By: Michael J. Roberts and Paul E. Morrison

Teaching Note for Product #4377. View Details

Keywords: Capacity Utilization; Supply ＆ Demand; Operations Management; Customer Service; Management; Demand and Consumers; Operations; Customer Focus and Relationships; Supply and Industry; Capital

2009
Working Paper

Do Analysts Follow Managers Who Switch Companies? An Analysis of Relationships in the Capital Markets.

By: Francois Brochet, Gregory S. Miller and Suraj Srinivasan

We examine the importance of professional relationships developed between analysts and managers by investigating analyst coverage decisions in the context of CEO and CFO moves between publicly listed firms. We find that top executive moves from an origin firm to a... View Details

Keywords: Business and Stakeholder Relations; Capital Markets; Decisions; Managerial Roles; Financial Institutions; Investment; Market Participation; Public Ownership; Relationships

SSRN

2011
Module Note

Suppliers to Dealers: Stakeholders' Management at TVS Motor Company Ltd.

By: Shashank Shah, Shashank Shah and A. Sudir Bhaskar

Keywords: Supply Chain Management; Supplier Relationships; Dealer Network; Auto Industry; India

Find at Harvard

March 1999 (Revised January 2000)
Background Note

Interactive Technologies and Relationship Marketing Strategies

By: Youngme E. Moon

Outlines the role of interactive technologies in the development of relationship marketing strategies. View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Customer Relationship Management; Technology

23 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

How Relationships are Building Biotech

career relationships help to build up organizations. The study of careers seems to act as a powerful lens for examining the birth of biotech. Higgins, who specializes in research, teaching, and course development surrounding the field of... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace & Mallory Stark

April 2025
Article

Buying (Quality) Time Predicts Relationship Satisfaction

By: A.V. Whillans, Jessie Pow and Joe J. Gladstone

Seven studies examine the association between time-saving purchases (e.g., housecleaning and meal delivery services) and relationship satisfaction. Study 1 uses an eleven-year longitudinal panel survey to show that increases in time-saving purchases predict long-term... View Details

Keywords: Personal Finance; Family and Family Relationships; Satisfaction; Well-being

June 2019
Case

Airbnb, Etsy, Uber: Expanding from One to Many Millions of Customers

By: Thales S. Teixeira

By 2019, two-sided online platforms (or marketplaces) were among the highest-growing internet startups around. These marketplaces sought to match suppliers of assets for rent, physical products, or services with customers demanding them. Among the most notable... View Details

Keywords: Airbnb; Etsy; Uber; Growth Hacking; Two-Sided Markets; Digital Marketing; Customer Acquisition; Two-Sided Platforms; Growth Management; Marketing Strategy; Customers; Acquisition; Organizational Change and Adaptation

November 2011
Supplement

Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? Spreadsheet Supplement (Brief Case)

Keywords: Capacity Utilization; Supply ＆ Demand; Operations Management; Customer Service; Operations; Customer Focus and Relationships; Performance Capacity

June 2005 (Revised March 2017)
Teaching Note

Siebel Systems: Organizing for the Customer

By: Robert Simons

Teaching Note to (103-014). The Siebel Systems case describes the unusual accountability and organizing choices made by managers of a successful, rapidly growing software development company. The case is set in 2002, but details the critical decisions made by founder... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Execution; Organization Design; Structure; Job Design; Diagnostic Control Systems; Customers; Strategy; Organizational Design

Aug 21 2017
Testimonial

Growing Strong Relationships

06 Jun 2016
News

Know the Job Your Product Was Hired to Do

Keywords: innovation; customer relationship management; consumer choice

July 2003 (Revised October 2018)
Case

Starbucks: Delivering Customer Service

By: Youngme Moon and John Quelch

Starbucks, the dominant specialty-coffee brand in North America, must respond to recent market research indicating that the company is not meeting customer expectations in terms of service. To increase customer satisfaction, the company is debating a plan that would... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Profit; Recruitment; Marketing Strategy; Service Operations; Performance Improvement; Planning; Food and Beverage Industry

November 2011
Supplement

Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? Faculty Spreadsheet (Brief Case)

Keywords: Capacity Utilization; Supply ＆ Demand; Operations Management; Customer Service; Operations; Customer Focus and Relationships; Performance Capacity

November 2001 (Revised October 2017)
Case

GuestFirst Hotel (A): Customer Loyalty

By: Frances X. Frei and Dennis Campbell

Provides a hotel context in which to explore the link between customer loyalty and financial performance, using four years of hotel data. Challenges students to find the extent of the relationship between loyalty and performance. View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Mathematical Methods; Finance; Performance; Relationships; Customer Focus and Relationships; Data and Data Sets; Accommodations Industry