HBR Article List 2007 - Part 1

Article belonging to subject areas

Change Management
Customer Relations
Decision Making
Entrepreneurship
Environment
Ethics and Society
Finance and Accounting





Change Management

Back in Fashion: How We're Reviving a British Icon Stuart Rose

When retailer Marks & Spencer hired Stuart Rose to turn the company around, he told the board that three things needed to be done right away: Improve the product, improve the stores, and improve the service. It was - and still is - that simple. MAY Reprint R0705B

British Library CEO Lynne Brindley on Helping to Spur Business Innovation Sarah Cliffe

Lynne Brindley, the CEO of the British Library, explains how the United Kingdom's exclusive repository for rare books, manuscripts, and scientific papers has loosened the design of its Business & IP Centre to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation. FORETHOUGHT, NOVEMBER Reprint F0711G

Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail John P. Kotter

Companies often cope with new, more-challenging environments by making fundamental changes in the way they do business. To succeed, follow these eight critical steps in the right order - and with plenty of patience. JANUARY Originally published in 1995. Reprint R0701J; OnPoint 1710; HBR Article Collection "Lead Change - Successfully, 3rd Edition" 1908



Customer Relations

Beating the Market with Customer Satisfaction Christopher W. Hart

A growing body of research conclusively shows that higher customer satisfaction leads to higher share prices. FORETHOUGHT, MARCH Reprint F0703H

HBR CASE STUDY: The Customers' Revenge Dan Ariely. With commentary by Nate Bennett, Tom Farmer, Nancy Fein, Barak Libai, and Chris Martin

A disgruntled Atida customer is threatening to air his case on YouTube. Is it new-age extortion, or does the automaker need a fresh approach to customer service? DECEMBER Reprint R0712A, Reprint Case only R0712X, Reprint Commentary only R0712Z

How Valuable Is Word of Mouth? V. Kumar, J. Andrew Petersen, and Robert P. Leone

Your most profitable customers are probably not the ones who buy the most - they're the ones who do the best job of referring your firm to others. Use this tool to distinguish the two groups - and raise the lifetime value of both. OCTOBER Reprint R0710J

Northwestern Mutual's Ed Zore on Staying Relevant to Customers Thomas A. Stewart

Ed Zore is the CEO of Northwestern Mutual, a highly admired 150-year-old insurer. Relevance, not innovation, matters most to customers, he says, and should matter most to companies as well. FORETHOUGHT, DECEMBER Reprint F0712H

Service with a Very Big Smile New research confirms that the bigger the employees' smiles, the happier the customers. FORETHOUGHT, MAY Reprint F0705C

Silo Busting: How to Execute on the Promise of Customer Focus Ranjay Gulati

More and more companies claim that they offer solutions - packages of products and services that are hard to copy and can command premium prices. To truly solve customers' problems, however, companies often have to make significant changes to their structures, processes, and mind-sets. MAY Reprint R0705F

Understanding Customer Experience Christopher Meyer and Andre Schwager

Customer satisfaction is just a slogan unless companies face up to the unvarnished reality of their customers' subjective experiences. Here's a process to ensure that every corporate function plays a role in monitoring, probing, and enhancing customer experience. FEBRUARY Reprint R0702G

Work with Me Simon J. Bell and Andreas B. Eisingerich

Should service firms show clients their inner workings or keep their cards close? Recent research touts the benefits of letting customers know how firms operate. FORETHOUGHT, JUNE Reprint F0706J



Decision Making

Hotter Heads Prevail Andrew O'Connell

A detached and impassive executive may seem like the corporate decision-making ideal, but people make better choices when they're experiencing intense emotions, according to new research. FORETHOUGHT, DECEMBER Reprint F0712G

The Wisdom of (Expert) Crowds Robert S. Duboff

The Delphi technique involves recruiting panels of experts from a variety of fields and asking them to iteratively evaluate predictions about the future of, say, an emerging innovation until they reach consensus. Shaping the strongest predictions into several possible scenarios prepares managers to act quickly when one outcome begins to unfold. FORETHOUGHT, SEPTEMBER Reprint F0709G




Entrepreneurship

HBR CASE STUDY: Good Money After Bad? John W. Mullins. With commentary by Ivan Farneti, Fred Hassan, Robert M. Johnson, and Christoph Zott

Jack Brandon is a committed entrepreneur with a sound proprietary technology but not much marketing expertise. Should his VC backers put more money into a second product when he hasn't succeeded in selling the first? MARCH Reprint R0703A, Reprint Case only R0703X, Reprint Commentary only R0703Z




Environment

Forethought: Special Report: Climate Business, Business Climate Climate change will transform the business landscape. Companies will see the price of carbon emissions rise steeply, in both monetary and social terms. Businesses will face new costs and risks and discover new ways to seize competitive advantage. Here's what executives need to do to prepare for the coming carbon-constrained world. FORETHOUGHT, OCTOBER Reprint F0710A




Ethics and Society

Beware of Bad Microcredit Steve Beck and Tim Ogden

Failing to reduce poverty by supporting the wrong microcredit program can tarnish a company's good name. Executives in charge of corporate social responsibility should insist on clearly defined measures of success, invest in improving microcredit's effectiveness, and support the growth of small companies in regions of poverty. FORETHOUGHT, SEPTEMBER Reprint F0709C

HBR CASE STUDY: The CEO's Private Investigation Joseph Finder. With commentary by Harry "Skip" Brandon, James B. Comey, Eric A. Klein, Christopher E. Kubasik, and William J. Teuber, Jr.

If a CEO suspects her colleagues of wrongdoing, is it appropriate for her to commission a private investigation? OCTOBER Reprint R0710A, Reprint Case only R0710X, Reprint Commentary only R0710Z




Finance and Accounting

The Flaw in Customer Lifetime Value Detlef Schoder

Marketers commonly estimate customer lifetime value in order to decide which customers are worth continued investment. But the way companies typically calculate that value is flawed because it overlooks the real option of abandoning unprofitable customers. FORETHOUGHT, DECEMBER Reprint F0712J

So You Think You Understand Revenues Robert Shaw and Vincent-Wayne Mitchell

The sophisticated technologies used to understand costs don't illuminate revenue sources well. For that you need a whole new breed of accountant. FORETHOUGHT, MAY Reprint F0705D

The Truth About Private Equity Performance Oliver Gottschalg and Ludovic Phalippou

Private equity fund performance is most often reported in a way that exaggerates the truth. A modified calculation gives a more accurate read of performance and often changes a fund's relative rank. FORETHOUGHT, DECEMBER Reprint F0712D