Customer experience

There's no going back to the old normal.

Strategies for leveraging hidden value.

The best insights often come from seeing the world through someone else's eyes.

In 1970, Citibank’s services rated poorly when compared with other banks’. In response, management ordered an overhaul of the services area and brought in managers with experience in manufacturing environments to make the services more efficient. That program succeeded in ensuring new processing efficiency and management control; yet it did not go far enough in […]

As technology becomes more powerful and affordable, your company is only limited by its imagination.

Smartphones make it possible, if you set the right assignments.

It’s not ads, but affiliates, that drive revenue.

When Kevin Peters became president of Office Depot's North American operations, in 2010, its customer service scores (as graded by a third-party mystery-shopping...

Your strategy should be driven by relationship-building - not shiny new tech.

What happens when employees rate customers.

Is your company unintentionally keeping your most senior people from getting the feedback they most need? It can easily happen as an unintended consequence of success. Consider these situations: Senior executives at car companies drive only the newest models: For decades, the top executives at America’s leading automobile manufacturers always drove models fresh from the […]

Upstarts can face daunting odds when they challenge incumbents. Those that succeed know there's a method to their disruption. And it's one any company...

Why and how to rethink the competition.

A distinctive brand is good for business, of course. But you’d be surprised how important it is to a firm’s overall performance. We studied how customer perceptions of brand differentiation related to stock price over the course of 11 years in 275 “monobrand” companies such as AT&T, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, and Reebok. (Customer brand-perceptions data […]

This key metric can help you measure customer loyalty.

Everyone says they are in favor of open innovation and co-creation. We have all heard about the wisdom of crowds, bringing the outside in, and have bought the t-shirt which states that “none of us is as smart as all of us.” But what is co-creation, really, and how do you do it right? Co-creation […]

The news from Google this week is that it has launched a ninth version of its Chrome browser, with the biggest change being that it incorporates the “instant” capabilities the company introduced in 2010. As you probably know, Google Instant is the enhancement to Google’s search engine that begins suggesting results even as you type. […]

"There is no excuse. Creativity has to be at the forefront."

As Verizon puts its iPhone on sale this week, many observers are predicting doom and gloom for AT&T, which previously had exclusive rights to offer Apple’s blockbuster device. Verizon has already sold out of its pre-order iPhones, and the ad wars have already begun. However, many business leaders neglect to realize how competitive threats create […]

Last week, I got to spend nearly an hour interviewing Jack Welch, the legendary former chairman and CEO of General Electric, in front of an audience of several thousand bankers from around the world. It was a fun and stimulating conversation that ranged from the toughest leadership challenge facing financial institutions (his answer: energizing rank-and-file […]

Nike, which first started experimenting with social media and networking in 2004, has been consistently reducing its spending on traditional advertising....

Over the decades, Kinko's had forged a deep emotional bond with consumers by easing their anxiety and helping them solve pressing document processing...

This case describes the history of Desko, a Canadian manufacturer of wood office furniture, as it faced a crisis that threatened its own existence. The...

At the age of 39, Solmaz Altın took over the helm at Allianz Turkey. Solmaz quickly realized that, although the insurance market was thinly penetrated...

After its spin-off from one of the world's largest ultrasound makers, Sonosite attempts to popularize a new kind of handheld ultrasound units. Sonosite...

Supplements the (A) case. A rewritten version of an earlier supplement.

In 2004, the $16.8 billion U.S. health club industry continued its strong record of growth. There were almost 27,000 health clubs in the United States,...

In early January 2016, the chief strategy officer and his team at Ippudo, an expanding ramen restaurant operation, were tasked to formulate both marketing...

Examines the economics, technology, customer segments, and competitors of the PC networking software industry.

Having diagnosed the situation, he made overdue investments in systems and brought in new blood from outside, instilling new discipline, capabilities...

Describes a situation facing Philip Satre, chairman and CEO of Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. Satre was reading a May 2000 Wall Street Journal story that...

Reed Hastings founded Netflix to provide a home movie service that would do a better job satisfying customers than the traditional retail rental model....

This case describes unruly passenger behaviour on National Aviation Company of India Ltd.'s New York-Delhi flight. It elaborates on the airline crew's...

Reed Supermarkets is a high-end supermarket chain with operations in several Midwestern states. Meredith Collins, vice president of marketing, visits...

The Bertelsmann-owned French book club, France Loisirs, has successfully operated a subscription-based business model delivering a remarkably high profit...

This case examines Nova Post's strategic response to the challenges posed by the Russian full-scale military invasion into Ukraine in 2022, focusing on...

In early 2016, Motoi Oyama, president and CEO of ASICS, a major sports apparel and footwear manufacturer based in Japan, lays out his company's growth...

See (A) case.

Alibris is an Internet-era company providing search and fulfillment services for hard-to-find (rare, used, and out-of-print) books. At the time of the...

There's no going back to the old normal.

Strategies for leveraging hidden value.

The best insights often come from seeing the world through someone else's eyes.

In 1970, Citibank’s services rated poorly when compared with other banks’. In response, management ordered an overhaul of the services area and brought in managers with experience in manufacturing environments to make the services more efficient. That program succeeded in ensuring new processing efficiency and management control; yet it did not go far enough in […]

As technology becomes more powerful and affordable, your company is only limited by its imagination.

Nike, which first started experimenting with social media and networking in 2004, has been consistently reducing its spending on traditional advertising....

Smartphones make it possible, if you set the right assignments.

It’s not ads, but affiliates, that drive revenue.