Publications

September 2010 (Revised August 2013)
Case

Liza Davis and the Bargain Hunting Customer

By: Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez and Lisa Brem

Liza Davis, an upscale women's fashion retailer, is reeling from worldwide recession and lower demand. Should the company target the fast-growing bargain hunter segment or hold the line on price discounts to preserve their brand image? Customer profitability... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Price; Product Positioning; Customer Value and Value Chain; Business Cycles; Financial Crisis; Profit; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry

December 2000 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Achieving Customer Satisfaction at Pizza Hut (A)

By: V.G. Narayanan and Preeti Choudhary

Describes how Pizza Hut measures and monitors customer satisfaction, customer complaints, and the quality of its retail locations. View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Systems; Risk Management; Franchise Ownership; Performance Evaluation; Problems and Challenges; Quality; Food and Beverage Industry; Service Industry

01 Sep 2008
News

Stanford Lets Students Customize

Analytical Thinking. Students also get one-on-one advice from senior faculty who help them customize a plan of study. Customization is a cornerstone of the new program, which permits students to tailor their... View Details

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

May 2011
Article

Think Customers Hate Waiting? Not So Fast...

By: Ryan W. Buell and Michael I. Norton

Managers typically look for ways to reduce wait time to increase customer satisfaction. New research suggests there's a better approach: showing customers a representation of the effort, whether literal or not, being expended on their behalf while they wait. (The... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Service Delivery; Consumer Behavior; Performance Effectiveness; Customer Satisfaction

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06 Jul 2020
News

The Right Way to Manage Churn for Maximum Profit

2008
Chapter

Models of Customer Value

By: Sunil Gupta and Donald R. Lehmann

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain

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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

February 1988
Case

General Electric: Customer Service

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships

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March 2006
Background Note

Influencing Customer Behavior in Service Operations

By: Frances X. Frei and Amy C. Edmondson

Explores ways in which service firms can influence the behavior of their customers. Drawing from research on employee motivation and applying it to customer motivation, the note describes two levels of managerial control: instrumental control, which shapes behavior... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Governance Controls; Consumer Behavior; Service Operations; Emotions; Motivation and Incentives; Power and Influence; Service Industry

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

01 Mar 2004
What Do You Think?

Are Customer Loyalty Initiatives Worth the Investment?

Summing Up This month's column presented two views of the importance of customer loyalty management, one challenging its feasibility and long-term impact (Michael Treacy, Double Digit Growth) and one concluding that it is one of the most... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

April 2004 (Revised June 2004)
Teaching Note

Starbucks: Delivering Customer Service (TN)

By: Youngme E. Moon and John A. Quelch

Teaching Note to (9-504-016). View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Food and Beverage Industry

October 2001 (Revised October 2017)
Supplement

Pilgrim Bank (B): Customer Retention

By: Frances X. Frei and Dennis Campbell

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Banking Industry

April 1998
Teaching Note

Managing Customers for Profits (TN)

By: Das Narayandas

Teaching Note for (8249) and (8257). View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Profit; Customer Relationship Management

January 2023 (Revised February 2025)
Module Note

LCA Module Overview: Customers

By: Nien-hê Hsieh

This note provides an overview of key questions, themes, and concepts to be covered in the module and provides a brief description of each case and how it relates to these questions, themes, and concepts. View Details