Publications

January 1995 (Revised October 1995)
Case

Citibank: Global Customer Management

By: Michael Y. Yoshino and Thomas W. Malnight

Describes Citibank's worldwide operations, which include activities in developing and developed markets. The bank's structure also varies across markets and regions, varying from autonomous national affiliates to an industry/product-based structure in its domestic U.S.... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Global Range; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Multinational Firms and Management; SWOT Analysis; Emerging Markets; Banking Industry; United States

January 2019
Case

Capitalism, Entrepreneurship and Responsibility

By: Geoffrey Jones

This case contains excerpts from prominent business leaders and others expressing their views on the responsibilities, if any, of business leaders to other stakeholders in society. It begins with an excerpt from Andrew Carnegie, the nineteenth century steel magnate, in... View Details

Keywords: Capitalism; Entrepreneurship; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Leadership; Attitudes; Perspective

07 Sep 2010
News

Customers always know best

22 Apr 2014
News

Business has a responsibility to solve social problems

Robert Goodwin (GMP 3, 2007), CEO of Executives Without Borders, talks about how the business community has a responsibility to help solve major social challenges. (Published April 2014) View Details

1999
Article

Are People Polite to Computers: Responses to Computer-based Interviewing Systems

By: C. I. Nass, Y. Moon and P. Carney

Keywords: Information Technology; System

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1998
Working Paper

Are People Polite to Computers? Responses to Computer-Based Interviewing Systems

By: Clifford Nass, Youngme Moon and Paul Carney

February 2024 (Revised February 2024)
Teaching Note

Travelogo: Understanding Customer Journeys

By: Eva Ascarza and Ta-Wei Huang

Teaching Note for HBS Exercise 524-044. The exercise aims to teach students about 1) Customer Segmentation; and 2) constructing buying personas, 3) Get actionable insights from clickstream data. View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Analysis; Analytics and Data Science; Marketing Strategy; Segmentation; Consumer Behavior; Travel Industry; United States

August/September 2003
Article

A Plea to Boards to Shift Focus Back to the Customer

By: Gail J. McGovern and John Quelch

Research Summary

Understanding Customers

(To learn about Luc Wathieu's MBA course, please scroll down to the last abstract below.) View Details

2020
Chapter

Luxury and Environmental Responsibility

By: Anat Keinan, Sandrine Crener and Dafna Goor

Luxury and sustainability are often perceived as incompatible and contradictory. However, as the concept of luxury and our understanding of conspicuous consumption are evolving and need to be revisited—from conspicuous to conscious consumption—the book chapter explores... View Details

Keywords: Luxury; Goods and Commodities; Trends; Environmental Sustainability; Research

20 Jul 2016
News

To Increase Sales, Get Customers to Commit a Little at a Time

23 May 2012
News

Start-Up Customer Service 101

01 Mar 2009
News

Local Customs

of opening fifty ‘microfactories’ around the globe, each building 2,000 units a year of cars customized to fit different regions’ local tastes,” the Boston Herald reported (December 15, 2008). Invoking the... View Details

Keywords: Transportation Equipment Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers; Retail Trade; Transportation

07 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

What Customers Need to Hear from You During the COVID Crisis

not just to the company, but also to people around the globe. At the same time, managers at other global brands were similarly considering their brands’ response View Details

Keywords: by Jill Avery and Richard Edelman

Fall 2020
Article

Competing on Customer Outcomes

By: Marco Bertini and Oded Koenigsberg

Customers ultimately want to pay for meaningful outcomes, not the products and services that presumably deliver them. Today, companies can be increasingly accountable for those outcomes with three kinds of technologically-enhanced revenue models. Adopt one to better... View Details

Keywords: Market Positioning; Revenue Strategy; Customer Satisfaction; Marketing Strategy; Business Model; Value Creation

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June 2017 (Revised January 2019)
Case

Signet Jewelers: Assessing Customer Financing Risk

By: Gerardo Pérez Cavazos, Suraj Srinivasan and Monica Baraldi

Marc Cohodes, a renowned short seller, has identified weaknesses in Signet's business strategy, which he argues is heavily reliant on providing loans to customers with subprime credit scores. He believes that the company accounts for its receivables portfolio using... View Details

Keywords: Short Selling; Bad Debt Expense; Accounting; Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Finance; Financing and Loans; Valuation; Retail Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States

15 Apr 2019
News

Why Anxious Customers Prefer Human Customer Service

2023
Working Paper

No Mask, No Service: Customer Reaction to Walmart’s 2020 National Mask Mandate

By: Innessa Colaiacovo

Multi-location firms face a complex series of economic tradeoffs when deciding whether to implement standard processes or allow processes to vary across establishments. One element of this tradeoff is customer response. This paper explores customer reaction to a... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Geographic Location; Policy; Health Pandemics; Retail Industry; United States