Harvard Business Review

JULY 30, 2013

In every start-up, finding initial product-market fit is a magical moment. You dive deep into a customer development process, working closely with a few customers who feed you requirements and are willing to trial an imperfect product that is evolving quickly. I''ll discuss each one below. 1) Enterprise Sales.

Marketing 8

Marketing Productivity Products Learning Curve 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 13, 2017

Because I teach a course on Product Management at Harvard Business School, I am routinely asked “what is the role of a Product Manager?” ” The role of a Product Manager (PM) is often referred to as the “CEO of the Product.” Aron Vellekoop Len/Getty Images. Core Competencies.

Productivity 8

Productivity Products Core Competence Management 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

72% of all new products don’t meet their revenue targets. About two-thirds were in B2B businesses.). HBR: Is new products’ high rate of failure really a pricing problem, or does it reflect a more fundamental innovation problem? They build a product hoping to monetize, but not knowing whether they will be able to.

Price 10

Price Productivity Products Simon 10

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 14, 2018

As a result, many B2B companies remain stuck in a stalemate. Disgruntled distribution partners may retaliate in ways such as switching to rivals, favoring competing products, or even lobbying for legislative remedies. Here are three strategies for developing digital distribution approaches that minimize risk: Embrace Stealth.

Strategy 10

Strategy B2B Insurance Business Model 10

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 29, 2016

Reaching these lofty projections over the next four years, however, will require a fundamental reorientation in the way that technologists and product designers work together to create successful “connected” personal devices and home appliance products. applications pushed technology to address B2B market requirements.

Technology 8

Technology B2B B2C Mass Marketing 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 19, 2017

In 2015, Boeing launched the Aerospace Data Analytics Lab in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University to develop AI technology for airlines. These are amazing technologies with great promise for any level of executive in any B2C or B2B company. Insight Center. Crossing the Digital Divide.

USP 8

USP Airlines Productivity Products 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 18, 2018

Changing consumer needs, combined with shifting workforce expectations, are altering the competitive landscape and dictating transformation of existing company operating models for consumer industries. Accenture, in conjunction with the World Economic Forum, has created a vision of the operating model of the future for consumer industries.

Strategy 8

Strategy Content Business Model Retail 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 5, 2018

Practically every organization today has a set of core values that ideally function as the “operating instructions” of the company. Several words always come up in practically every discussion, no matter if the company is a large enterprise or a small business, B2B or a B2C, product or service, new or established.

B2C 14

B2C Ethics Teamwork B2B 14

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 10, 2016

Angel investors (including friends and family members) help about half of these companies with their initial development. You’ve probably demonstrated your product’s potential with a subset of customers, and now experienced investors are willing to place a bet on you. What about pricing? The list goes on.

Marketing 8

Marketing Software B2B Technology 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 18, 2011

The role exists in B2B and B2C firms as diverse as Allstate, Dunkin' Brands, USAA, Philips Electronics, FedEx, the Cleveland Clinic, and SAP. About one quarter of these CCOs formerly held operations positions. Who are these new customer experience executives — and why do companies appoint them?

B2C 15

B2C B2B Forrester Budgeting 15

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 18, 2011

The executives' role is to define the attributes of the customer experience in partnership with their operational colleagues, organize the customer-satisfaction-measurement process against those attributes, and encourage remedial action wherever warranted. Most product development groups continue to design non-interactive products.

B2B 13

B2B Consensus Productivity Products 13

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 27, 2018

Clearly these leaders believe that digitalization offers exciting new, technology-enabled ways for organizations to engage with stakeholders, deliver a superior experience across the life cycle of their business, manage costs, and improve productivity.

Supply Chain 8

Supply Chain Content CIO Business Model 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 15, 2017

Other than the well-documented differences in language and development, demographic differences are also significant. Policies relating to infrastructure development, land and labor, healthcare, and transport fall under the purview of the states—as do most licensing and permitting. Step 2: Measure operating environment.

Strategy 8

Strategy Operations Policies Environment 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 23, 2015

So far, much of the attention around smart, connected products has been around consumer-facing goods like watches and thermostats. Industrial companies have tended to be among the last to create digital strategies that harness the new opportunities arising from the proliferation of smart products. That lag poses dangers.

Industry 8

Industry System Business Model B2C 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 21, 2013

The idea is as simple as this: why not have a mobile demonstration van for products, to take a fully-equipped, immersive selling experience to customers’ own sites? Take the demonstration vans now being used in the UK by Tyco Security which makes products like security cameras, monitors, and access control systems.

B2B 8

B2B B2C Education Travel 8

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 20, 2018

” The intention was right, but there was no operational impact. If you’re B2B, the train is parked in the station, but it’s leaving soon. One of my favorite business school professors used to say, “If you want to build a great company, your product has got to be ten times better than the competition.”

B2C 13

B2C Energy Marketing B2B 13

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 12, 2015

There is a big, important change happening in digital product design. For a long time, there has been a clear split between business software (often called Enterprise or B2B ), and consumer software (B2C, or simply “products”). That split is increasingly irrelevant.

Software 8

Software Supply Chain B2C Education 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 22, 2012

Will we see the day when all products carry environmental labels with data on carbon emissions and other impacts? The attempt to give corporate buyers and end consumers more sustainability data about the products they are purchasing has had a somewhat tortured history. Or total energy use during the product's lifetime?

Supply Chain 14

Supply Chain Retail Apparel B2B 14

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 22, 2017

Marketers need to master data analytics, customer experience, and product design. Customers today are not just consumers; they are also creators, developing content and ideas — and encountering challenges — right along with you. But marketing, like other corporate functions, has become more complex and rigorous.

Creativity 13

Creativity Marketing Agility Budgeting 13

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 5, 2015

Technology-enabled services are the backbone of this industry, and the fastest growing sectors have demand for high-end skills, such as mobile app development and data analytics, as well as middle-level skills, such as video production, copywriting, and financial analysis. General Accepted Accounting Principles.

Outsourcing 8

Outsourcing Technology B2B GDP 8

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 28, 2016

Of course, anyone who really knows the history of platforms may recall the many that aspired to make gobs of money but never did and quickly died (think of the many B2B exchanges that never made it to the other side of dot-com bust). Commentators tend to give a lot of credit to Apple and Google for developing great mobile software platforms.

IPO 8

IPO Succession Technology Software 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 26, 2016

Compared to professions like engineering or business disciplines like Finance or Operations, the concept of a dedicated salesperson is relatively recent. Sales was traditionally seen as a form of service work, with an emphasis primarily on developing moral character. Each group has its own operating procedures.

Education 8

Education Levitt Retail Training 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 30, 2014

Yet for all the shared responsibility, the marketing and sales relationship has often been a contentious and lopsided one, with sales dominating in B2B sectors while marketing leads in B2C ones. That starts with developing a deep understanding of how customers behave and make decisions. Collaborate around the customer decision journey.

Marketing 11

Marketing Guidelines B2C Analysis 11

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 21, 2011

One of the surest ways of losing touch with real customers' needs and getting outsmarted by competitors is to enforce a monoculture in your organization, where competitive products are banned and employees only come into contact with your own offerings. Pay for products and services out of the company purse. Go Further.

Software 14

Software Wireless B2B Library 14

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 9, 2014

Companies have long developed and managed their sales people differently from other employees, placing great emphasis on individual performance. On the most effective sales teams, particularly B2B, the individual no longer reigns supreme. Even in sales, network performance now accounts for about 44% of the impact.

Team 10

Team Metrics Compliance Attrition 10

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 17, 2016

Don’t engage in over-the-top discounting that trains customers, both in B2C and B2B markets, to buy cleverly on price and price alone. The choice of the price position affects the overall business model, the product quality, branding, and how to innovate. They focus on core products. Don’t start price wars.

Price 8

Price Airlines Govindarajan Advertising 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 4, 2016

” “Craft brand identities that position products and companies to capture #1 category positions. Attained #1 position in composite rail tie category and became the standard by which all other rail tie manufacturers’ products are measured throughout the U.S., Combine big-picture thinking with rigorous execution.”

Brand 8

Brand Press Release Marketing B2B 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 6, 2013

You must move from B2C to B2B, or vice versa. You must slash the price of your product or service by 50%. They began grouping clients by practice and focused sales associates on developing industry trends and insights. Beside each operator was a large pile of partially assembled furniture.

Disruptive Innovation 9

Disruptive Innovation Hotels B2C Price 9

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 16, 2014

When a team works well together, it’s because its members are operating from the same mindset and are clear about their goals and their norms,” says Schwarz. One of your goals is to develop your team’s capacity to give feedback and help people get used to articulating how they feel the team is doing.” Set expectations early.

Team 11

Team How To Case Study Open-book 11

N2Growth Blog

NOVEMBER 30, 2010

It’s because you don’t get it…It’s not about you, your company, your products or your services. The problem with many sales organizations is that they still operate with the same principles and techniques they were using in the 60′s, 70’s and 80’s. It’s because you’re talking and not listening.

Blog 409

Blog Ryan B2C Brand 409

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 5, 2015

These changes are driven by seismic shifts in consumer behavior and an explosion of both consumer- and B2B-facing technologies. When and how do we shift our businesses from legacy operating models to ones that better reflect the future? How do we maximize our creativity as an industry while integrating data-driven approaches?

Media 8

Media Advertising Audience Technology 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 12, 2016

The 300,000 companies in the association’s data set have more than doubled their profits from operations over the past 13 years, outpacing their corporate counterparts in the country. This level of dedication to their mostly B2B customers demands especially strong investment in innovations and R&D. This success is no blip.

Industry 8

Industry Long-term Short-term Class 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 29, 2015

Today’s cloud IT vendors have both the buying power and the operational discipline to minimize the cost to the customer of a unit of data storage or computing power. Tomorrow, the best segment to own might be the B2B buyers who are buying at massive scale. In transportation, networks create value in a couple of ways.

Industry 8

Industry Transportation Automotive Software 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

In most larger companies, you'll need to generate roughly 200+ responses per operating unit per period. Bain research shows that leading companies can achieve 60% or better response rates in B2B companies and 30% or more in most B2C situations. Unless you have achieved stability, you're in for some fun at compensation time.

Incentives 10

Incentives Sample Customer Loyalty Metrics 10

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 10, 2018

Those analyses rely on publicly available data sources, but software providers have accumulated growing amounts of private data on almost every aspect of their customers’ technology, operations, people, and strategies. It is even possible to hold up the data mirror to individual technology users.

Benchmarking 8

Benchmarking Software B2B GAAP 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 24, 2017

Finding, developing, and retaining this talent is hard — so much so that the business press refers to a “war” for talent. Based on our research , inspired employees are three times more productive than dissatisfied employees, but they are rare. Energy, too, is difficult to come by.

Human Capital 15

Human Capital Management Company ROCE 15

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 25, 2014

Digital channels have upended the well-trod ruts of sales and marketing organizations — already, nearly a third of all B2B purchases are done digitally. Our analysis of 73 B2B technology companies shows that across sectors, the top 25% of companies achieve more than twice as much return on sales investment compared to the bottom 25%.

Marketing 11

Marketing ROI B2B Team 11