HBR
Essential Reads
Case Center
Syntheses of landmark HBR articles and case studies — the ideas that every serious marketer should have internalised, with India context and practitioner implications.
Live Syntheses
HBR · December 2005
Marketing Malpractice: The Cause and the Cure
Why 90% of new products fail — and it's not execution. Companies segment markets around products and demographics instead of the job the customer is trying to get done. The Jobs-to-be-Done framework, the milkshake study, purpose brands vs feature brands, and the non-consumption opportunity.
HBR · June 2006
Eager Sellers and Stony Buyers
The 9x problem — why consumers overvalue what they have by 3x and companies overvalue what they offer by 3x, creating a 9:1 psychological barrier to adoption. The 2×2 adoption map (Sure Bets, Long Hauls, Smashes, Doomed) and three strategies for overcoming switching resistance.
HBR · October 2007
How Valuable Is Word of Mouth?
High-value customers and high-referral customers are not the same people. Customer Referral Value (CRV) must be tracked alongside Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). The finding that reshapes how brands should think about segmentation, loyalty investment, and customer equity.
Coming Soon
HBR · December 2003
The One Number You Need to Grow
The paper that introduced Net Promoter Score. Why the single question "Would you recommend us?" predicts growth better than any customer satisfaction metric, and what companies have done wrong with NPS since.
HBR · June 2009
The Consumer Decision Journey
The paper that killed the purchase funnel. The loyalty loop, the initial consideration set, and why post-purchase experience is more important than pre-purchase advertising. McKinsey's model that reshaped how every CMO thinks about brand investment.
HBR · May 2007
Marketing Myopia (Revisited)
The 1960 HBR classic that asked "What business are you really in?" — and why railroads died because they thought they were in the railroad business rather than the transportation business. Still the most important question in strategy.