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    • COVID-19 Business Impact Center
      COVID-19 Business Impact Center
      Cold Call
      A podcast featuring faculty discussing cases they've written and the lessons they impart.
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      • 02 Mar 2021
      • Cold Call Podcast

      Can Historic Social Injustices be Addressed Through Reparations?

      Survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre and their descendants believe historic social injustices should be addressed through reparations. Professor Mihir Desai discusses the arguments for and against reparations in response to the Tulsa Massacre and, more broadly, to the effects of slavery and racist government policies in the US in his case, “The Tulsa Massacre and the Call for Reparations.”  Open for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.

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      • Popular
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      Customer SatisfactionRemove Customer Satisfaction →

      New research on customer satisfaction from Harvard Business School faculty on issues such as the distinction between understanding and listening to customers, how to determine how much of a CEO's time should be spent interacting with customers, and how satisfied employees and customers can drive lifelong profit.
      Page 1 of 20 Results
      • 20 Aug 2020
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Can Shared Service Delivery Increase Customer Engagement? A Study of Shared Medical Appointments

      by Ryan W. Buell, Kamalini Ramdas, and Nazlı Sönmez

      Shared service delivery means that customers are served in groups rather than individually. Results from a large-scale study of glaucoma follow-up appointments at a major eye hospital indicate that shared service delivery can significantly improve patients’ verbal and non-verbal engagement.

      • 01 Jun 2020
      • What Do You Think?

      Will Challenged Amazon Tweak Its Retail Model Post-Pandemic?

      by James Heskett

      James Heskett's readers have little sympathy for Amazon's loss of market share during the pandemic. Has the organization lost its ability to learn? Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 30 Jan 2020
      • Research & Ideas

      The Upside of Highlighting a Product's Downsides

      by Danielle Kost

      Companies want to show their offerings in the best light. Ryan W. Buell and MoonSoo Choi find out what happens when they also embrace transparency, accentuating the positive—and the negative. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 05 Sep 2019
      • Working Paper Summaries

      The Value of Intermediation in the Stock Market

      by Marco Di Maggio, Mark Egan, and Francesco Franzoni

      Despite the rise of alternative trading platforms, high-touch broker trading remains prominent in institutional equity markets. The authors analyze how fees, research, quality of execution, and information can help explain how execution decisions and preferences vary across investors.

      • 11 Jul 2019
      • Sharpening Your Skills

      Deconstructing 'Customer Experience'

      by Sean Silverthorne

      Providing great customer service is no longer the responsibility of just one department. Today it's called "customer experience," and everyone in the company is responsible for exceeding expectations. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 15 Apr 2019
      • Research & Ideas

      Infographic: Can I Please Speak to an Actual Person?

      by Katherine Vizcardo and Danielle Kost

      Customers still want the option to access human help in automated service—even if they don't use it, says research by Michelle A. Shell and Ryan W. Buell. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 26 Mar 2019
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Mitigating the Negative Effects of Customer Anxiety Through Access to Human Contact

      by Michelle A. Shell and Ryan W. Buell

      Firms increasingly deploy self-service technologies (SSTs) to manage customer interfaces that are inherently stressful. For example, patients may be asked to use kiosks to check themselves into hospitals. This study finds that customer anxiety during SST transactions can reduce customers’ trust in the service provider. Operational design choices may help.

      • 20 Dec 2018
      • Cold Call Podcast

      Using Fintech to Disrupt Eastern Bank from Within

      When Eastern Bank decided to battle a threat from new competitors, it hired a fintech executive to set up Eastern Labs and start innovating. Karen Mills discusses her case study on what happened next. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 12 Feb 2018
      • Research & Ideas

      Customers at the Back of the Line Are Anxious—Can You Keep Them from Leaving?

      by Michael Blanding

      The irrational anxiety associated with being last in line can lead to unhappy customers, according to new research by Ryan Buell. But there are ways to make people happier while they wait—and keep them from abandoning the queue. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 02 Feb 2018
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Last Place Aversion in Queues

      by Ryan W. Buell

      While no one likes standing in line for service, being last intensifies the pain of waiting, doubles the probability of switching queues, and quadruples the chances of leaving the line altogether. Many service settings could be improved if managers actively mitigated last place aversion.

      • 20 Dec 2017
      • Lessons from the Classroom

      How to Design a Better Customer Experience

      by Dina Gerdeman

      With the help of LEGO bricks, Stefan Thomke helps business executives discover how design principles can serve as building blocks to create a great customer experience. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 23 Mar 2017
      • Cold Call Podcast

      Cost-cutting Leads to Turbulence in the Airline Industry

      When a business known for delivering an exemplary customer experience faces cutbacks, what services get chopped? Assistant Professor Susanna Gallani discusses a recent case study about an airline that looks not just to survive a downturn but emerge stronger. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 02 Feb 2015
      • Research & Ideas

      Disruptors Sell What Customers Want and Let Competitors Sell What They Don’t

      by Michael Blanding

      By "decoupling" activities that consumers value from the ones they don't, enterprising digital startups are wreaking havoc on established firms. Thales Teixeira discusses his research on the second wave of Internet disruption. Open for comment; 8 Comment(s) posted.

      • 16 May 2011
      • Research & Ideas

      What Loyalty? High-End Customers are First to Flee

      by Julia Hanna

      Companies offering top-drawer customer service might have a nasty surprise awaiting them when a new competitor comes to town. Their best customers might be the first to defect. Research by Harvard Business School's Ryan W. Buell, Dennis Campbell, and Frances X. Frei. Key concepts include: Companies that offer high levels of customer service can't expect too much loyalty if a new competitor offers even better service. High-end businesses must avoid complacency and continue to proactively increase relative service levels when they're faced with even the potential threat of increased service competition. Even though high-end customers can be fickle, a company that sustains a superior service position in its local market can attract and retain customers who are more valuable over time. Firms rated lower in service quality are more or less immune from the high-end challenger. Closed for comment; 24 Comment(s) posted.

      • 10 Jan 2011
      • Research & Ideas

      Is Groupon Good for Retailers?

      by Carmen Nobel

      For retailers offering deals through the wildly popular online start-up Groupon, does the one-day publicity compensate for the deep hit to profit margins? A new working paper, "To Groupon or Not to Groupon," sets out to help small businesses decide. Harvard Business School professor Benjamin G. Edelman discusses the paper's findings. Key concepts include: Discount vouchers provide price discrimination, letting merchants attract consumers who would not ordinarily patronize their business without a major price incentive. These vouchers also benefit merchants through advertising, simply by informing consumers of a merchant's existence via e-mail. For some merchants, the benefits of offering discount vouchers are sharply reduced if individual customers buy multiple vouchers. As a marketing tool, discount vouchers are likely to be most effective for businesses that are relatively unknown and have low marginal costs. Closed for comment; 59 Comment(s) posted.

      • 29 Nov 2010
      • HBS Case

      United Breaks Guitars

      by Julia Hanna

      A new case coauthored by HBS marketing professor John Deighton and research associate Leora Kornfeld offers an object lesson in the dangers social media can bring for big, recognizable companies and their brands. From the HBS Alumni Bulletin. Open for comment; 26 Comment(s) posted.

      • 18 Nov 2009
      • HBS Case

      Customer Feedback Not on elBulli’s Menu

      by Julia Hanna

      The world is beating a path to Chef Ferran Adrià's door at elBulli, but why? In professor Michael Norton's course, students learn about marketing from a business owner who says he doesn't care whether or not customers like his product. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.

      • 01 Oct 2008
      • Research & Ideas

      How Much Time Should CEOs Devote to Customers?

      by John Quelch

      Every corporate mission statement pays lip service to respecting customer needs, but actual customer expertise is typically a mile wide and an inch deep, says Harvard Business School professor John Quelch. Here's why every CEO should spend at least 10 percent of his or her time thinking about, talking to, and steering the organization to the customer. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.

      • 21 Apr 2008
      • Research & Ideas

      The New Math of Customer Relationships

      by Sean Silverthorne

      Harvard Business School professor emeritus James L. Heskett has spent much of his career exploring how satisfied employees and customers can drive lifelong profit. Heskett and his colleagues will soon introduce a new concept into the business management literature: customer and employee "owners." Key concepts include: Service profit chain concepts are global, subject only to local cultural practices. Businesses are experimenting with the idea of creating "owners" out of both customers and employees, who create the highest lifetime value to the organization. During times of economic stress, relationships between customer and employee satisfaction, loyalty, and productivity become more critical. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.

      • 16 Jan 2006
      • Research & Ideas

      What Customers Want from Your Products

      by Clayton M. Christensen, Scott Cook & Taddy Hall

      Marketers should think less about market segments and more about the jobs customers want to do. A Harvard Business Review excerpt by HBS professor Clayton M. Christensen, Intuit’s Scott Cook, and Advertising Research Foundation’s Taddy Hall. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.

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