- Customer Satisfaction -Paradox of Choice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO6XEQIsCoM

Dr. Schwartz's basic premise is that too many choices do not necessarily lead to happier consumers. How do you reconcile this with the notion that role of marketing is to meet consumer's needs and wants. If consumers have multiple wants, isn't it the role of marketing to offer products to meet those needs? Explain and support your points with one or more examples.

- Customer Lifetime Value

1. What is Customer Lifetime Value?
2. Describe a situation where a company should focus on CLV to cultivate their customer relationships.
3. Describe a situation where CLV and customer retention will not be important.
4. Define and describe Database Marketing and CRM. What are the pros and cons of Database Marketing and CRM? Provide an example in which each approach is used effectively.

Personal Application

Discuss how the theoretical concepts covered during this week can be related to your organization. In particular try to address the following aspects

• Who are your customers?

• How does your company attend to or measure customer satisfaction?

• Is the customer feedback process effective?

• What additional steps the organization could and should take to better address customer expectations/needs?

- "Why Customers Matter" by Prof. Earl Sasser

Here is the link to a video lecture by Professor W. Earl Sasser on "Why Customers Matter."

http://epmedia.ebscohost.com/media/HarvardVideos/1490c/1490c.html

Readings

Discussion Topic

Marketing in Organizations

Required Reading

1. Definition of Marketing

2. Defining Marketing

3. Grainer, M., Noble, C. H., Bitner, M. J., & Broetzmann, S. M. (2014). What unhappy customers want. MIT Sloan Management Review, 55(3), 31-35.

4. Kotler, P., Calder, B. J., Malthouse, E. C., & Korsten, P. J. (2012). The gap between the vision for marketing and reality. MIT Sloan Management Review, 54(1), 13-14.

Recommended Reading

• Bettencourt, L. A., Lusch R. F., & Vargo, S. L. (2014). A service lens on value creation: Marketing's role in achieving strategic advantage. California Management Review, 57(1), 44-66. doi:10.1525/cmr.2014.57.1.44

• Webster, F. E. (2002). The role of marketing and the firm. In B. A. Weitz & R. Wensley (Eds.), Handbook of marketing (pp. 66-83). doi:10.4135/9781848608283.n4

• Kumar, V. (2006). Customer lifetime value. In R. Grover & M. Vriens (Eds.), The handbook of marketing research: Uses, misuses, and future advances (pp. 602-627). doi:10.4135/9781412973380.n29

• Jacobsen, J. (2015, April). Reaching today's consumers. Beverage Industry, 24-28. Retrieved from http://www.bevindustry.com