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All HBS Web
(1,269)
- Faculty Publications (246)
- September 2011
- Article
The Labor Illusion: How Operational Transparency Increases Perceived Value
By: Ryan W. Buell and Michael I. Norton
A ubiquitous feature of even the fastest self-service technology transactions is the wait. Conventional wisdom and operations theory suggests that the longer people wait, the less satisfied they become; we demonstrate that due to what we term the labor illusion, when...
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Keywords:
Internet and the Web;
Perception;
Valuation;
Service Delivery;
Consumer Behavior;
Performance Effectiveness;
Customer Satisfaction;
Service Industry
Buell, Ryan W., and Michael I. Norton. "The Labor Illusion: How Operational Transparency Increases Perceived Value." Management Science 57, no. 9 (September 2011): 1564–1579.
- July 2011 (Revised January 2012)
- Teaching Note
Demand Media (TN)
By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld
Teaching Note for 512021.
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- June 2011
- Case
Reed Supermarkets: A New Wave of Competitors
By: John A. Quelch and Carole Carlson
Reed Supermarkets is a high-end supermarket chain with operations in several Midwestern states. Meredith Collins, vice president of marketing, visits stores located in Columbus, Ohio, an important region with the largest market and the greatest impact on revenue...
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Keywords:
Product Positioning;
Marketing Strategy;
Business Growth and Maturation;
Competitive Strategy;
Consumer Behavior;
Brands and Branding;
Retail Industry;
Food and Beverage Industry;
Ohio
Quelch, John A., and Carole Carlson. "Reed Supermarkets: A New Wave of Competitors." Harvard Business School Brief Case 114-296, June 2011.
- 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...
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Keywords:
Customer Relationship Management;
Service Delivery;
Consumer Behavior;
Performance Effectiveness;
Customer Satisfaction
Buell, Ryan W., and Michael I. Norton. "Think Customers Hate Waiting? Not So Fast..." Harvard Business Review 89, no. 5 (May 2011).
- April 2011
- Case
Porcini's Pronto: "Great Italian cuisine without the wait!"
By: James L. Heskett and Richard Luecke
Porcini's Inc. operates a chain of 23 full-service restaurants located near shopping malls and downtown areas in the northeastern United States. Known for providing excellent service, Porcini's serves high-quality Italian cuisine made from fresh ingredients. Looking...
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Keywords:
Franchising;
Syndication;
Quantitative Analysis;
Performance Measurement;
Human Resource Management;
Incentives;
Motivation;
Consumer Behavior;
Measurement and Metrics;
Quality;
Customer Value and Value Chain;
Selection and Staffing;
Expansion;
Business Growth and Maturation;
Service Delivery;
Franchise Ownership;
Customer Focus and Relationships;
Product Marketing;
Food and Beverage Industry;
Service Industry;
Northeastern United States
Heskett, James L., and Richard Luecke. Porcini's Pronto: "Great Italian cuisine without the wait!". Harvard Business School Brief Case 114-277, April 2011.
- March 2011 (Revised December 2012)
- Case
Demand Media
By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld
Google search had helped Demand Media grow to be a $1.9 billion online publisher. Then, social media and smartphone apps began to change the way people navigated the Internet. How should Demand Media respond? The business ran on a radically new model in which a stable...
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Keywords:
Business Model;
Information Publishing;
Consumer Behavior;
Customization and Personalization;
Internet and the Web;
Publishing Industry
Deighton, John, and Leora Kornfeld. "Demand Media." Harvard Business School Case 511-043, March 2011. (Revised December 2012.) (request a courtesy copy.)
- January – February 2011
- Article
'Bricks and Clicks': The Impact of Product Returns on the Strategies of Multichannel Retailers
By: Elie Ofek, Zsolt Katona and Miklos Sarvary
The Internet has increased the flexibility of retailers, allowing them to operate an online arm in addition to their physical stores. The online channel offers potential benefits in selling to customer segments that value the convenience of online shopping, but it also...
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Ofek, Elie, Zsolt Katona, and Miklos Sarvary. "'Bricks and Clicks': The Impact of Product Returns on the Strategies of Multichannel Retailers." Marketing Science 30, no. 1 (January–February 2011).
- 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...
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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
Malone, Chris, Jill Avery, and S. T. Fiske. "Brands Are People Too! Harnessing the Power of Brand Warmth and Competence." White Paper Series, Relational Capital Group, Newtowne Square, PA, 2011.
- September 2010 (Revised February 2011)
- Case
Red Lobster
By: David E. Bell and Jason Riis
Red Lobster, a 40-year-old chain of seafood restaurants, has just completed some market research revealing an opportunity to shift its target customer segment. The chain is in the final stages of a 10-year plan of rejuvenation under CEO Kim Lopdrup. When he took over...
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Keywords:
Advertising;
Customer Satisfaction;
Marketing Strategy;
Consumer Behavior;
Research;
Segmentation;
Food and Beverage Industry
Bell, David E., and Jason Riis. "Red Lobster." Harvard Business School Case 511-052, September 2010. (Revised February 2011.)
- 2016
- Working Paper
The Impact of Supplier Inventory Service Level on Retailer Demand
By: Nathan Craig, Nicole DeHoratius and Ananth Raman
To set inventory service levels, suppliers must understand how changes in inventory service level affect demand. We build on prior research, which uses analytical models and laboratory experiments to study the impact of a supplier's service level on demand from...
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Keywords:
Customer Satisfaction;
Forecasting and Prediction;
Learning;
Consumer Behavior;
Service Delivery;
Performance Expectations;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Service Industry
Craig, Nathan, Nicole DeHoratius, and Ananth Raman. "The Impact of Supplier Inventory Service Level on Retailer Demand." Working Paper. (Revised January 2016.)
- April 2010
- Case
A Giant Among Women
By: Willy C. Shih, Ethan S Bernstein, Maly Hout Bernstein, Jyun-Cheng Wang and Yi-Ling Wei
Few CEOs successfully manage the evolution of their companies from OEM outsourcer to branded manufacturer to expert consumer marketer as well as Tony Lo, CEO of Giant Manufacturing Co. Ltd., now the largest bicycle manufacturer in the world. In the mid-1980s, Giant...
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Keywords:
Consumer Behavior;
Customer Focus and Relationships;
Global Strategy;
Gender;
Customer Satisfaction;
Product Development;
Bicycle Industry;
Taiwan
Shih, Willy C., Ethan S. Bernstein, Maly Hout Bernstein, Jyun-Cheng Wang, and Yi-Ling Wei. "A Giant Among Women." Harvard Business School Case 610-096, April 2010.
- March 2010 (Revised November 2010)
- Case
Pandora Radio: Fire Unprofitable Customers?
By: Willy C. Shih and Halle Alicia Tecco
Pandora Radio is at a crossroads. Founder Tim Westergren has just been told by a well known VC to get rid of his unprofitable customers in order to get his costs down, but Westergren is not sure that such actions are consistent with his company's business model....
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Keywords:
Business Model;
Customer Satisfaction;
Music Entertainment;
Venture Capital;
Profit;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Consumer Behavior;
Internet;
Media and Broadcasting Industry
Shih, Willy C., and Halle Alicia Tecco. "Pandora Radio: Fire Unprofitable Customers?" Harvard Business School Case 610-077, March 2010. (Revised November 2010.)
- January 2010 (Revised March 2013)
- Case
HubSpot: Lower Churn through Greater CHI
By: F. Asis Martinez Jerez, Thomas Steenburgh, Jill Avery and Lisa Brem
HubSpot, a web marketing startup is under pressure from VCs to rapidly acquire new customers and to maintain a low level of customer churn. In the case, students explore the drivers of customer churn and uncover opportunities to increase customer retention across the...
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Keywords:
Business Startups;
Customer Relationship Management;
Customer Satisfaction;
Customer Value and Value Chain;
Forecasting and Prediction;
Consumer Behavior;
Happiness;
Consulting Industry
Martinez Jerez, F. Asis, Thomas Steenburgh, Jill Avery, and Lisa Brem. "HubSpot: Lower Churn through Greater CHI." Harvard Business School Case 110-052, January 2010. (Revised March 2013.)
- January 2010 (Revised August 2011)
- Case
United Breaks Guitars
By: John A. Deighton and Leora Kornfeld
When social media propagate a complaint about poor customer service, an international media event ensues. How do viral videos spread and what can firms do about them? This case dissects an incident in which a disgruntled customer used YouTube and Twitter to spread a...
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Keywords:
Communication Technology;
Customer Satisfaction;
Marketing Communications;
Marketing Strategy;
Consumer Behavior;
Network Effects;
Service Delivery;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Internet;
Air Transportation Industry
Deighton, John A., and Leora Kornfeld. "United Breaks Guitars." Harvard Business School Case 510-057, January 2010. (Revised August 2011.) (request a courtesy copy.)
- Article
Are Self-service Customers Satisfied or Stuck?
This paper investigates the impact of self-service technology (SST) usage on customer satisfaction and retention. Specifically, we disentangle the distinct effects of satisfaction and switching costs as drivers of retention among self-service customers. Our empirical...
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Keywords:
Service Delivery;
Information Technology;
Customer Satisfaction;
Competition;
Cost;
Banks and Banking;
Behavior;
Market Transactions;
Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques
Buell, Ryan W., Dennis Campbell, and Frances X. Frei. "Are Self-service Customers Satisfied or Stuck?" Production and Operations Management 19, no. 6 (November–December 2010). (Awarded the Decision Sciences Institute Stan Hardy Award for Outstanding Paper Published during 2010 in the Field of Operations Management.)
- Article
The Cost Structure, Customer Profitability, and Retention Implications of Self-Service Distribution Channels: Evidence from Customer Behavior in an Online Banking Channel
By: Dennis Campbell and Frances X. Frei
This paper uses the context of online banking to investigate the consequences of employing self-service distribution channels to alter customer interactions with the firm. Using a sample of retail banking customers observed over a 30-month period at a large U.S. bank,...
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Keywords:
Cost;
Service Operations;
Distribution Channels;
Consumer Behavior;
Internet and the Web;
Banks and Banking;
Technology Adoption;
Service Delivery;
Market Transactions;
Market Participation;
Profit;
Retail Industry;
Banking Industry;
United States
Campbell, Dennis, and Frances X. Frei. "The Cost Structure, Customer Profitability, and Retention Implications of Self-Service Distribution Channels: Evidence from Customer Behavior in an Online Banking Channel." Management Science 56, no. 1 (January 2010): 4–24. (Lead Article.)
- December 2009 (Revised October 2015)
- Case
Diamond Foods
By: David E. Bell and Mary Louise Shelman
CEO Michael Mendes has transformed a grower-owned cooperative into a publicly traded top marketer of snack foods. Diamond's organization, culture, product development process, advertising and promotion strategy, and specifically its marketing department have been built...
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Keywords:
Agribusiness;
Business Model;
Customer Focus and Relationships;
Leadership;
Marketing Strategy;
Consumer Behavior;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Cooperative Ownership;
Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry;
Retail Industry;
United States
Bell, David E., and Mary Louise Shelman. "Diamond Foods." Harvard Business School Case 510-013, December 2009. (Revised October 2015.)
- November 2009
- Article
Organizational Design and Control across Multiple Markets: The Case of Franchising in the Convenience Store Industry
Many companies operate units that are dispersed across different types of markets, and thus serve significantly diverging customer bases. Such market-type dispersion is likely to compromise the headquarter's ability to control its local managers' behavior and satisfy...
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Keywords:
Market Dispersion;
Decentralization;
Incentives;
Business Headquarters;
Geographic Location;
Governance Controls;
Distribution;
Organizational Design;
Franchise Ownership;
Retail Industry
Campbell, Dennis, Srikant M. Datar, and Tatiana Sandino. "Organizational Design and Control across Multiple Markets: The Case of Franchising in the Convenience Store Industry." Accounting Review 84, no. 6 (November 2009): 1749–1779.
- August 26, 2009
- Comment
Where Cash for Clunkers Ran Off the Road
By: John A. Quelch
Today, let us celebrate the end of an unjustifiable drain on the U.S. taxpayer: the Cash for Clunkers (C4C) program.
True, C4C greatly boosted the number of consumers visiting car dealers. Doubtless, some new cars were sold to consumers who thought they... View Details
True, C4C greatly boosted the number of consumers visiting car dealers. Doubtless, some new cars were sold to consumers who thought they... View Details
Keywords:
Government Programs;
Environmental Impact;
Government Waste;
Customer Behavior;
Economic Growth;
Economy;
Financial Crisis;
Government and Politics;
Leadership;
Marketing;
Programs;
Value;
Auto Industry;
Consumer Products Industry;
Public Administration Industry;
United States
Quelch, John A. "Where Cash for Clunkers Ran Off the Road." Harvard Business School Working Knowledge (August 26, 2009).
- 2009
- Chapter
Creating Superior Customer Value in a Connected World
By: Ranjay Gulati
"In the early twenty-first century, customers are more demanding than ever, and difficult economic times make them all the more so. As customers tighten their wallets and increase their demands, firms face greater pressure to provide superior customer value. Reducing...
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