Publications

16 May 2016
HBS Case

Food Safety Economics: The Cost of a Sick Customer

Chipotle Mexican Grill’s ongoing struggle to win customers back months after a contaminated food crisis highlights the challenges companies face with keeping food safe. Chipotle has seen its shares tumble and recently reported its... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage

30 Sep 2002
Research & Ideas

Use the Psychology of Pricing To Keep Customers Returning

Buyers are more apt to use a product right after they purchase it, a fact you need to ponder as you consider how to keep customers coming back for more. In this e-mail interview with HBS Working Knowledge's Manda Mahoney, Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Mahoney

February 2006
Case

Millions of Customers and the Search for a Business: the Challenge of IRC-Hispano

Like many online services, IRC-Hispano, the world's largest Spanish-language chat organization, has many customers but sees few revenues. As an association, its structure presents many limitations and hurdles to overcome involving investing in technology platform... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Decision Choices and Conditions; Digital Platforms; Technology Adoption; Internet and the Web; Organizational Structure; Technological Innovation; Revenue; Web Services Industry; Technology Industry; Spain

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November 2008 (Revised November 2008)
Case

Cyworld: Creating and Capturing Value in a Social Network

By: Sunil Gupta and Sangman Han

In May 2008, the new CEO of Cyworld, a social network company in Korea, had to decide how to create and capture value from his rapidly growing user base. Cyworld was founded in 1999, and in 2003 it was acquired by SK Telecom, a leading mobile service provider in Korea.... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Consumer Behavior; Social and Collaborative Networks; Segmentation; Value Creation; South Korea

March 17, 2021
Other Article

Beyond Pajamas: Sizing Up the Pandemic Shopper

By: Ayelet Israeli, Eva Ascarza and Laura Castrillo

A first look at how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted e-commerce apparel shopping in the US and the UK. Extensive analysis and interactive graphics utilizing millions of transactions.
While the pandemic is still playing out, our preliminary investigations... View Details

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December 2021 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Bed Bath & Beyond: The New Strategy to Drive Shareholder Value

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel W. Fisher

At one time, Bed Bath & Beyond was one of the most successful specialty retailers in the United States—its growth and profit margins far exceeded both peer retailers in the home goods market as well as many other discount retailers. But in 2014, its stock price peaked,... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Value Creation; Diversification; Corporate Governance; Leading Change; Performance Evaluation; Valuation; Investment Activism; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

05 Sep 2019
Working Paper Summaries

The Value of Intermediation in the Stock Market

Keywords: by Marco Di Maggio, Mark Egan, and Francesco Franzoni

26 Oct 2015
Research & Ideas

What’s the Value of a Win in College Athletics?

schools raked in more than $100 million in revenue from their athletics programs. A total of 67 schools made more than $50 million. Hundreds of free-spending University of Alabama fans head toward the Georgia Dome.... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Sports; Education

10 Oct 2018
Research & Ideas

The Legacy of Boaty McBoatface: Beware of Customers Who Vote

public. Boaty blowback highlights the potential danger of giving consumers the power to vote, even though customer engagement is a primary goal of almost every social media strategy. The problem: Even though NERC never explicitly promised... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Advertising

February 2019 (Revised December 2019)
Case

ThirdLove

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Matthew G. Preble

Keywords: Cohort Behavior; Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC); Lifetime Value (LTV)

March 2006 (Revised September 2006)
Case

Slots, Tables, and All That Jazz: Managing Customer Profitability at the MGM Grand Hotel

By: Dennis Campbell, Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez, Marc Epstein and Joshua Bellin

The MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas had detailed information on loyal gaming customers, but could its information systems also be tailored to nongaming customers? As the nongaming business sectors became increasingly profitable both at the MGM Grand and in Las Vegas... View Details

Keywords: Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Customer Relationship Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Accommodations Industry; Nevada

November 2016 (Revised April 2017)
Case

Basecamp: Pricing

By: Frank Cespedes and Robb Fitzsimmons

A data analyst at Basecamp is evaluating the results of pricing research and its potential implications for the venture’s latest version of its project management software product. View Details

Keywords: Pricing; Entrepreneurial Management; Data Analysis; Marketing; Customer Acquisition; Customer Retention; Value Proposition; Sales Management; Product Management; Market Research; Life Time Value; Testing; Entrepreneurship; Analytics and Data Science; Customers; Value; Sales; Product Marketing; United States

January 2016
Case

Haiti Hope: Innovating the Mango Value Chain

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Jean-François Harvey

This case study examines a market-based approach to economic development through the eyes of NGO TechnoServe's project manager, implementing a US$9.5 million five-year public-private partnership between Coca-Cola, IDB, and USAID. The case ends at the beginning of the... View Details

2011
Book

The Ultimate Question 2.0: How Net Promoter Companies Thrive in a Customer-Driven World

By: Fred Reichheld and Rob Markey

Defines the fundamental concept of Net Promoter, explaining its connection to your company’s growth and sustained success.
*Presents the closed-loop feedback process and demonstrates its power to energize employees and delight customers.
*Shares new and... View Details

Keywords: Customer Centric Initiative; Customer Defection; Customer Engagement; Customer Experience; Customer Focused Organization; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Customer Value and Value Chain; Network Effects

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2008
Book

Business Market Management: Understanding, Creating, and Delivering Value

By: James C. Anderson, James A. Narus and Das Narayandas

For business-to-business marketing courses. The authors build the book around a framework of understanding, creating, and delivering value. View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Business Processes; Value

March 2010
Article

Calculating, Creating, and Claiming Value in Business Markets: Status and Research Agenda

By: Gary L. Lilien, Rajdeep Grewal, Douglas Bowman, Min Ding, Abbie Griffin, V. Kumar, Das Narayandas, Renana Peres, Raji Srinivasan and Qiong Wang

A key challenge facing business marketers surrounds developing a deeper understanding of customer needs. We conceptualize that challenge as having three dimensions: calculating, creating, and claiming value. We discuss key problems, new developments and research... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Problems and Challenges; Research; Customer Relationship Management

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2009
Working Paper

Applying the Care Delivery Value Chain: HIV/AIDS Care in Resource Poor Settings

By: Joseph Rhatigan, Sachin H Jain, Joia S. Mukherjee and Michael E. Porter

The care delivery value chain is a framework that can help conceptualize the organization and structure of care delivery for medical conditions. We apply this framework to HIV/AIDS care in resource-limited settings. Several conclusions arise than can help inform... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Framework; Health Care and Treatment; Health Disorders; Service Delivery

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2012
Chapter

Firing Your Best Customers: How Smart Firms Destroy Relationships Using CRM

By: Jill Avery and Susan Fournier

With incidences in the 20%–25% range, the practice of firing customers has become increasingly attractive as firms try to maximize the lifetime value of their customer portfolios. This chapter traces the relationship trajectory of a 30-year customer of Filene's... View Details

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