Building and Leading Customer-Centric Organizations

Thank you for your interest in Executive Education at Harvard Business School. The Building and Leading Customer-Centric Organizations program is no longer offered in our program portfolio. You may wish to consider the new course: Leading Growth Through Customer Centricity – India.

For a complete list of the most current HBS Executive Education programs, please bookmark the program finder.

You also may contact our client service specialists at 1-800-427-5577 (outside the U.S., dial +1-617-495-6555) or at executive_education@hbs.edu.

In the face of growing competition, scarce resources, and more demanding customers, smart business leaders are striving to increase profitability by becoming more customer-centric. But few companies—even those with a deep understanding of their customers—really know how to achieve this.

Attaining true customer centricity requires a fundamental, enterprise-wide shift in thinking and reorientation of your value proposition. At the same time, your company must realign itself around the customer—moving away from a business organized around functions or products.

This program explores how customer centricity can offer a proven path to growth and profitability. By examining the strategies and resources needed to create a customer-driven organization, you will return to your company with a blueprint for building capacity and capabilities to drive innovation, profit, and growth in any environment.

What You Can Expect
Through lectures, interactive case studies, and small-group project work, you will learn how to align an organization's processes, incentive and control systems, leadership and culture, and formal organizational structures to attain customer centricity. Case studies will feature real-world examples of customer relations management from the banking, hospitality, retail, transportation, technology, insurance, and medical device industries. Designed for both individuals and cross-functional teams, this leadership development program provides you with the necessary tools and frameworks to implement change throughout your organization.

Your Course of Study
The program curriculum has been specifically designed by HBS faculty to address three critical and interrelated areas: why customer centricity is vital, what it takes to configure the ecosystem of a customer-centric organization, and how to manage the process of change to deliver on the promise of customer centricity.

Who Is Right for the Program
Designed for senior executives in business-to-business or business-to-consumer companies, this program is highly beneficial for individuals who have the authority to initiate change across the organization. A key benefit of the program is that participants will spend much of their time developing strategies to address their own company-specific challenges around customer centricity. With that in mind, we invite both individuals and cross-functional teams from operating companies to apply to the program.

What You Can Expect

This intensive, highly focused program presents the vision, strategy, and leadership imperatives for building and leading a customer-focused organization. By exploring such topics as what defines a customer-centric organization; how customer centricity varies in business-to-business versus business-to-consumer companies; strategies for preventing commoditization; leveraging IT systems for competitive advantage; and leading a customer-centric organization, you will gain critical insights into the steps required to align your organization around your customers' needs. As a result, you will return to your organization better prepared to:

Develop a comprehensive blueprint for a customer-driven organization
Foster a culture of customer centricity within your organization

Leverage employees, control systems, and operating strategies
Disseminate and utilize customer information effectively
Bust traditional product/service or functional silos by nurturing collaborative initiatives

Effectively lead your organization through the change process required to attain customer centricity

How Will My Organization Benefit?

Executive Education programs at Harvard Business School are a significant investment for both you and your organization. Going far beyond the basic transmission of skills and theories, each leadership development program provides applicable lessons in the classroom that can be implemented successfully within your organization. You will acquire a fresh perspective on global business from our groundbreaking curriculum, world-renowned faculty, and an accomplished group of elite peers from around the world.

"I wanted to better understand the leader's role in driving customer focus. This program helped me look at my organization and my leadership through a different lens. Mayo Clinic is a special place today, but clearly we need to improve systems and processes to take full advantage of our outstanding people and culture. The faculty are excellent communicators who share their wisdom and perspective with sincerity and passion. All in all, it was an outstanding experience."
Sreenivas Koka [Department Chair], Mayo Clinic, U.S.

Your Course of Study

The curriculum has been designed by HBS faculty to address crucial areas that hold serious implications for product and service companies seeking to increase growth and profitability. By examining each issue from varied vantage points, you will gain an in-depth understanding of the steps needed to achieve customer centricity. The agenda focuses on three critical and interrelated areas:

Customer Centricity

Why It Is Important

Increasing commoditization, shifting markets, and expanding globalization not only make it more challenging for companies to innovate and grow their customer base, but also strengthen the imperative for customer centricity. In this module, you will:

Analyze the differences between customer-centric and customer-focused organizations
Learn why the entire organization must realign to attain true customer centricity
Gain strategies for avoiding commoditization and improving product and service innovation

What Is Involved

Providing differentiated value that customers are willing to pay for requires a systemic shift in the way an organization delivers its products and services. In this module, you will:

Gain a holistic view of the customer ecosystem and its various components
Discover what is required to move away from a business that is organized around functions or products to one that is aligned around an organization's customers, internal stakeholders, channel partners, organizational processes, structures, and systems
Identify the challenges associated with a customer-centric organization

How To Achieve It

Achieving true customer centricity demands a realignment across all areas of the business—from structures, processes, and culture to leadership, control systems, formal organizational structures, and key constituencies. In this module, you will:

Develop a strategy for leading and managing change within your organization to achieve customer centricity
Identify landmarks and landmines inherent in implementing customer centricity
Assess the effectiveness of key metrics and milestones that companies use to quantify and measure their success
Explore the best ways of leveraging human capital to foster product and service innovation

Ranjay Gulati, Jaime and Josefina Chua Tiampo Professor of Business Administration. Head of the Organizational Behavior Unit; and faculty cochair of "Leading Growth Through Customer Centricity—India."

Rajiv Lal, Stanley Roth, Sr. Professor of Retailing. Member of the Marketing Unit; faculty chair of the "General Management Program" and faculty cochair of "Leading Growth Through Customer Centricity—India."

Admissions

Because a diverse participant mix is an important part of every HBS Executive Education program, we look for candidates who reflect a broad range of industries, functions, countries, and backgrounds to enrich the learning experience.

Fees, Payments, and Cancellations

The program fee covers tuition, books, case materials, accommodations, and most meals.

No payment is necessary until you have been accepted into an HBS Executive Education program. After admission notification, we will send you an invoice via email; payment is due within 30 days of the invoice date. If admission is within 30 days prior to the start of the program, payment is due upon receipt of the invoice. Payment is required prior to the program start date. We accept payment by company check, bank wire transfer, or credit card (American Express, MasterCard, Visa). Details are included on the program invoice.

If you need to cancel or defer participation, you must submit your request in writing more than 30 days before the start of the program to receive a full refund. Due to program demand and the volume of preprogram preparation, cancellations or deferrals received 14 to 30 days prior to the start of the program are subject to a fee of one-half of the program fee. Requests received within 14 days are subject to full payment.

Requirements

Although there are no formal educational requirements, admission is a selective process based on professional achievement and organizational responsibility. We look for professionals who have demonstrated business talent and leadership potential.

HBS Executive Education programs enrich both participants and their sponsoring organizations, and require full commitment from each party. While participants devote time and intellect to the learning experience, sponsoring organizations agree to relieve individuals of their work responsibilities during the program.

Language Proficiency

We deliberately design our programs to encourage individual growth and to foster productive interaction among participants. For that reason, proficiency in written and spoken English is essential. If English is your second language, or if you have less than one year's experience working in an English-speaking environment, HBS requires a brief statement documenting proficiency in English-language skills, both conversational and written. This may include a list of the English-language certification programs that you have completed; the degrees you have earned at English-speaking colleges and universities; or the results of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) exam. The Admissions Committee also may request a telephone interview.

Team Attendance

This program is appropriate for individuals as well as teams of executives from the same organization. When colleagues attend a program together, the organization benefits from their shared knowledge and common vision. This, in turn, enables participants to enhance their ability to pursue business goals as a team, effect critical transformations, and transfer knowledge. HBS client service specialists are available to advise on optimal team composition. The application for each team member must be received before the team's materials are reviewed by the Admissions Committee.

Application Process

Program participants must be nominated and sponsored by their current employer. HBS must receive your application and all required documents in order to prepare the application for review by the Admissions Committee.

To apply, you may use our online form or download an application. You also may request a brochure by mail.

If you submit your application online, we will promptly acknowledge receipt of your submission via email. In the unlikely event that an email acknowledgment is not received, please contact the Admissions Committee by email: exed_admissions@hbs.edu, phone: +1-617-495-6226, or fax: +1-617-496-1731.

If you choose to submit a printed application, be sure to type or print legibly and sign your application. Send the application to the address or fax number listed on the form. Mailed or faxed applications are processed and acknowledged promptly upon receipt via email.

Complete Your Application

Please answer all questions thoroughly—the Admissions Committee will only consider completed applications. After reviewing your application and making the necessary edits or corrections, print or copy the application for your records.

The application for each team member must be received before the team's materials are reviewed by the Admissions Committee.

Meet the Deadlines

We request applications at least four weeks in advance of the program start date. Early application does not guarantee admission. Programs often fill to capacity, so early application is recommended.

Notification of Acceptance

We acknowledge receipt of all applications and maintain all application information in strict confidentiality.

To optimize the learning experience and maximize the exchange of ideas, the Admissions Committee selects a class that balances each participant's experience, the scope of his or her current responsibilities, and the type of organization.

The Admissions Committee begins reviewing applications four months before the start date, and qualified candidates are admitted on a rolling, space-available basis. Once the review process has begun, applicants are notified within three weeks via email regarding Admissions Committee decisions. If your application is received within three weeks of the program's start date, the Admissions Committee will notify you of their decision as soon as possible.

Need help?

For further assistance, contact our client service specialists at: 1-800-427-5577 (outside the U.S., dial +1-617-495-6555).

Industries		Nationalities
6%	Chem/Pharm/Bio	17%	Asia/Pacific
5%	Communications	34%	Europe
7%	Consumer Products	13%	Latin America
21%	Financial	36%	North America
6%	High Technology
7%	Manufacturing
8%	Nonprofit Services
8%	Other Services
10%	Professional Services
3%	Raw Materials/Energy
2%	Real Estate/Construction
6%	Retail Services
11%	Utilities/Telecommunications

Executive Education