Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 9, 2011

It may seem counterintuitive, but smart companies need to routinely rid themselves of less profitable customers, the same way an asset manager or rebalances an investment portfolio or a Major League Baseball general manager trades a declining player. So how does one take full advantage of a 'window to winnow'?

P&L 14

P&L Supply Chain Retail Price 14

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 24, 2016

In September 2016 we undertook a survey of nearly 300 endowment and foundation managers. Given their size and appetite for diversification, these gigantic investors are a significant source of financing for many companies and governments in the developed world, and their investment activities can and do move markets.

Operations 8

Operations Intangible Assets Venture Capitalist Hedge 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

TIAA-CREF, the big financial services company, includes customer loyalty score improvement in senior executive compensation. Phones4U, a UK mobile phone retailer, announced a big increase in the weight of Net Promoter scores in its frontline pay plan. Your CFO and finance team can take a leadership role here.

Incentives 10

Incentives Sample Customer Loyalty Metrics 10

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 3, 2018

The firm had outdated segmentation frameworks and loyalty programs, weak customer contact management, and suboptimized client identity management, so she championed and launched a customer relationship management initiative to revamp them. She also began paying more attention to projects that would drive future growth.

CFO 8

CFO CEO Agility Marketing 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 27, 2016

One pharmacy retail chain CEO who wasn’t particularly good at investor relations simply hired people who were better and entrusted them with that duty. Of course, every organization needs professional managers, and many of the great value-creation stories of business can be traced to their efforts. This is poppycock.

CEO 8

CEO Class Chief Executive Officer Strategy 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

Whether developing a new venture, managing an internal corporate innovation initiative, or working to develop globally successful product and service designs (my profession), nothing is more important than understanding what people need and desire in context of what the competition is providing.

Benchmarking 13

Benchmarking Maslow Analysis Trends 13

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 27, 2017

At some of the world’s most successful enterprises — Google, Netflix, Amazon, Alibaba, Facebook — autonomous algorithms, not talented managers, increasingly get the last word. Elite MBAs (Management by Algorithm) are the new normal. Top management would have to trust its computationally brilliant bidding software.

Outsourcing 8

Outsourcing Software CAPEX Competitive Advantage 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 20, 2016

I’ve found that managers who fully embrace a superconsumer strategy learn more from their consumers through increased empathy. These managers are more persuasive at getting buy-in from the leaders in their organization, make better strategic decisions, and achieve more stable, more predictable, and longer-term growth.

Airlines 8

Airlines Energy Self-aware Learning Curve 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 5, 2014

“We’ll spend a lot of time bringing product to market, but we need to plan for the fact that a launch gives us a six-month head start and no more,” says Gary Booker, CMO of Dixons Retail. That helped account managers focus their pitch on the client’s business issues and build rapport. That bottom line sensibility is crucial.

P&L 10

P&L Banking Marketing Call Center 10

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 26, 2015

But in the aftermath of the financial crisis, risk managers have become increasingly involved in business strategy and decisions. After the recession, for instance, one large lender made a practice of looking for “rehab” customers whose credit suffered in the downturn but who had since managed to achieve more stable incomes.

Credit Scoring 8

Credit Scoring Risk Management Finance Marketing 8