How Do They Know Their Customers So Well?

Synopsis:
Many firms know about their customers, but few know the customers themselves or how to get new ones. Davenport, director of the Institute for Strategic Change, Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) and coauthors Harris, also from Accenture, and Kohli, professor of marketing at Emory University, report results from interviews with 24 leading firms and describe seven practices that the leaders share. The companies interviewed — including Harley-Davidson, Procter & Gamble, and Wachovia Bank — have undertaken specific and successful initiatives centered around the management of customer knowledge. Source: MIT Sloan Management Review