Business Marketing:

Business Marketing: Understand What Customers Value

by James C. Anderson and James A. Narus

Harvard Business Review

Reprint 98601

HarvardBusinessReview

NOVEMBER – DECEMBER 1998 Reprint Number

Michael e. porter daniel golem an carl shapiro and hal r . varia n stewart d. friedm an, perry christensen, and jessica d e gro ot bob zider henry mintzberg

CLUSTERS AND THE NEW ECONOMICS OF COMPETITION WHAT MAKES A LEADER? VERSIONING: THE SMART WAY TO SELL INFORMATION WORK AND LIFE: THE END OF THE ZERO-SUM GAME HOW VENTURE CAPITAL WORKS COVERT LEADERSHIP: NOTES ON MANAGING PROFESSIONALS

HBR CASE STUDY

98609 98606 98610 98605

98611 98608

andy bl ackburn, m at t halprin,

and ruth veloria

THE CASE OF THE PROFITLESS PC

ideas at work

98603

ja mes c. anderson and james a. narus

BUSINESS MARKETING: UNDERSTAND WHAT CUSTOMERS VALUE

first person

98601

bill gross

THE NEW MATH OF OWNERSHIP

PETER F. DRUCKER hbr cl a ssic

98607 98604 98602

THE DISCIPLINE OF INNOVATION

peter l . bernstein bo oks in review

ARE NETWORKS DRIVING THE NEW ECONOMY?

I D E A S AT W O R K

Gauging – and communicating – what your products and services are worth to customers has never been more important.

“Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it.”

Publilius Syrus, first century b.c.

Business Marketing: Understand What Customers Value

by James C. Anderson and James A. Narus

H

ow do you define value? can you measure it? What are your products and services actually worth to customers? Remarkably few suppliers in business markets are able to answer those questions. And yet the ability to pinpoint the value of a product or service for one’s customer has never been more important. Customers – especially those whose costs are driven by what they purchase – increasingly look to purchasing as a way to increase profits and therefore pressure suppliers to reduce prices. To persuade customers to focus on total costs rather than simply on...