MBM Handbook
Customer Value Blog
Insights on customer value, satisfaction, and market-based management by Roger Best, Vikas Mittal & Shrihari Sridhar
Customer StrategyMarch 19, 2026
Starbucks and the Danger of Spreading Value Too Thin
Brian Niccol left Chipotle — a brand famous for ruthless focus — to take over a Starbucks that had lost its way by trying to be everything to everyone. The turnaround lesson is straight from Chapter 1: when you spread value across too many drivers, you dilute it for everyone.
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Customer FocusAugust 29, 2025
Customer Satisfaction Isn't a Soft Metric – It Drives Profits
Extremely satisfied customers account for the greatest share of a firm's profitability, while dissatisfied customers often generate losses—and spread their dissatisfaction quickly, especially in today's social media environment.
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Voice of CustomerAugust 29, 2025
Your Customers Are Talking — Here's Why Their Voice Shapes The Market
How do companies unlock the real value drivers of customer loyalty and profitability? The answer lies in systematically listening to the people who matter most—the customers themselves.
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Customer ValueAugust 29, 2025
Customer Value Unlocks a Value Strategy For Lasting Advantages
What makes some brands consistently outperform their competitors? The answer lies in how they understand and deliver customer value—the foundation of any market-based strategy.
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Customer ExperienceSeptember 2, 2024
Customer Experience and Customer Value: Where AI Is Failing
Since 2016, the average customer experience score in the U.S. has decreased to its lowest point. Two main reasons drive this decline: underinvestment in customer experience and missteps with AI.
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Customer ValueAugust 26, 2024
Customer Value Showdown: How Walmart Can Close the Gap with Amazon
Walmart exceeded Wall Street expectations with total revenue climbing 4.8% to $169.34 billion, but its ACSI score of 70 still trails Amazon's 84 and Target's 74.
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Customer StrategyAugust 20, 2024
Starbucks' Leadership Shakeup: Will the Focus Finally Return to Customers?
Starbucks appointed Brian Niccol as its new CEO, replacing Laxman Narasimhan after a turbulent period marked by declining sales and pressure from activist investors.
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Marketing AnalyticsJuly 22, 2024
Marketing Budget & Performance Impact
CEOs and CFOs are often frustrated with spending a large percent of sales on marketing and sales expenses without knowing their impact. Three key metrics can change that.
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Customer ValueJune 17, 2024
Building Customer Value with Retail Locations
The ability to access a company's goods or services conveniently and at low cost is a value-added brand benefit. Despite the growth of online shopping, retail locations continue to provide many different types of customer value.
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Marketing AnalyticsMarch 24, 2024
How Can Companies Measure the Profit Impact of Their Marketing Budget?
Companies traditionally include marketing & sales expenses as part of SG&A—making it impossible to measure the profit impact. Net Marketing Contribution changes that.
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Competitive StrategyMarch 12, 2024
How Can A Company Differentiate Its Offerings From Competitors?
Differentiating a brand goes beyond simply adding more features. It requires careful consideration of customer needs and a strategy that is genuinely valued by customers.
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Market StrategyMarch 3, 2024
How Can Companies Achieve Their Market Potential?
Many new and global brands operate below their market potential. Companies can successfully achieve their market potential by helping customers enter markets and removing barriers to purchase.
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Pricing StrategyFebruary 25, 2024
Why Is Subscription-Based Pricing So Popular?
More than 51% of Amazon Prime members have used subscription-based pricing plans. Both customers and sellers benefit significantly from this model.
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DistributionFebruary 25, 2024
Why Distributors & Wholesalers Are Thriving in an Era of E-commerce?
With more people shopping online, many predicted the demise of distributors and wholesalers. Yet, distributors like Grainger are thriving today. Here's why.
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Voice of CustomerFebruary 25, 2024
How Can Companies Capture the Voice of the Customer?
Without capturing their customer's voice, companies risk alienating customers, lowering customer satisfaction, and slowing financial growth. VOC is the critical first step.
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Customer FocusFebruary 25, 2024
Why Should CEOs Worry About Customer Satisfaction?
Evidence from more than 1.16 million customers shows that satisfaction is a critical driver of customer loyalty, financial growth, and shareholder value.
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Product StrategyFebruary 5, 2024
How Does Product Positioning Drive Customer Strategy?
Product positioning is a systematic process to ensure that the benefits associated with a company's offering meet the target customers' most important needs in a way that satisfies customers and increases sales and profits.
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Marketing AnalyticsFebruary 4, 2024
What Are Marketing Metrics?
Marketing metrics help a company measure its marketing performance. CMOs, marketing executives, and brand managers can use them to assess and demonstrate marketing's contribution to profitability.
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Customer FocusJanuary 27, 2024
How Does Customer Satisfaction Impact Company Profits?
A summary of 40 years of research representing more than 1 million customers concluded that customer satisfaction predicts company profits. Extremely satisfied customers account for a disproportionately large portion of profits.
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