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2020/2021  KAN-CSAMO2003U  Customer and Firm Profitability

English Title
Customer and Firm Profitability

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Mandatory
Level Full Degree Master
Duration One Semester
Start time of the course Spring
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Study board
Study Board for MSc in Economics and Business Administration
Course coordinator
  • Pall Rikhardsson - Department of Accounting (AA)
Main academic disciplines
  • Finance
  • Marketing
  • Accounting
Teaching methods
  • Blended learning
Last updated on 26-06-2020

Relevant links
Learning objectives
  • Explain how financial value is created in firms and how financial value creation and profitability can be measured at the firm-, market- and customer-level respectively.
  • Select, explain and apply relevant customer-based metrics and models covered in the course to analyze financial value creation in a firm.
  • Analyze and describe how sales/marketing managers and business developers could use relevant theories and models covered in the course to manage the financial value of customer relationships in a specific case setting.
  • Present a clear and coherent argument for your selection of key theories and models and follow academic conventions in your oral presentation.
Prerequisites for registering for the exam (activities during the teaching period)
Number of compulsory activities which must be approved (see s. 13 of the Programme Regulations): 1
Compulsory home assignments
The student must get 1 out of 2 assignments/activities approved in order to attend the ordinary exam.

1. Weekly quiz: Every week a mandatory multiple-choice test is administered. The purpose of the test is to provide students with an overview of which topics they master and which not. More specifically, the multiple-choice test examines students’ capabilities with respect to (i) knowledge, (ii) comprehension, (iii) application, and (iv) problem solving for the topics covered in the course. This helps students to better prepare for the final exam.

2. Interactive case: During the course students will work on an interactive case. The purpose of the case is to provide students with skills on how to apply theories and tools and reflect on its use. This helps students to better understand theories and prepare for the final exam.

Students will not have extra opportunities to get the required number of compulsory activities approved prior to the ordinary exam. If a student has not received approval of the required number of compulsory activities or has been ill, the student cannot participate in the ordinary exam.
If a student prior to the retake is still missing approval for the required number of compulsory activities and meets the pre-conditions set out in the program regulations, an extra assignment is possible.

The extra assignment is a 10 page home assignment that will cover the required number of compulsory activities. If approved, the student will be able to attend retake.
Examination
Customer and Firm Profitability:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Oral exam
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Duration 20 min. per student, including examiners' discussion of grade, and informing plus explaining the grade
Preparation time With the listed preparation time: 20 Minutes
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) Internal examiner and second internal examiner
Exam period Summer
Aids Open book: all written and electronic aids
The student is allowed to bring to the preparation room: Simple writing and drawing utensils, laptop/tablet as a reference book (NB: there are no electric outlets available), any calculator, books including translation dictionaries, compendiums, notes. PLEASE NOTE: Students are not allowed to communicate with others during the preparation time.
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

Aim
Students will achieve a solid understanding of customer related costs, profitability, and value creation tools and techniques that provide a transparent, fact-based financial foundation for strategic sales decisions with the purpose of driving business performance in terms of customer equity, customer profitability, and customer lifetime value. This general financial understanding is a key asset to sales/ marketing managers and business developers alike as they are increasingly expected to identify the financial potential of sales development strategies. Students will also learn how to strategically approach key accounts management and understand that every customer has different expectations and needs that must be translated into how the sales force engages with the customers.

 

Content
The course is divided into three main parts:

 

The first part establishes how financial value is created in firms. The students are introduced to key concepts such as shareholder value, cost management, different types of firm profitability measures, net present value, and customer profitability measures.

 

In the second part of the course students will be exposed to some long term measures of financial value creation at customer level such as customer lifetime value and customer equity and the use of customer analytics with relation to these metrics will be demonstrated.

 

The final part of the course deals with the management of customer accounts for value. Generally, the insights generated by analyzing the financial value of customer accounts must be converted into actionable customer management strategies. 
Description of the teaching methods
This course is delivered in a blended learning format. That is, we combine online material and lectures with in-class discussions and workshops. A high level of interaction is expected from the students. In class we will deploy a mix of lectures, discussions, and interactive case studies. Moreover, several guest speakers will be invited to share their perspectives from practice.
Feedback during the teaching period
Quizzes are used to give students a better overview of whether they are following the expected learning curve. During the interactive case students will get feedback from peers and the teachers. At the end of the course a Q&A session is planned.
Student workload
Teaching 33 hours
Preparation 123 hours
Exam 50 hours
Expected literature

Research paper based (Indicative literature - more literature will be announced upon enrollment):

 

  • Berger, P.D. & N.I. Nasr (1998): “Customer Lifetime Value: Marketing Models and Applications”, Journal of Interactive Marketing, 12 (Winter).
  • Blattberg R.C. & J. Deighton (1996): “Manage Marketing by the Customer Equity Test”, Harvard Business Review (July-August).
  • Gupta, S., Lehmann, D.R., Stuart, J.A. (2004): “Valuing Customers.” Journal of Marketing Research, 41 (February), 7-18.
  • Gupta S. et al. (2006): “Modeling Customer Lifetime Value.” Journal of Service Research. 9.2 (November), 139-155.
  • Hanssens, D.M., D. Thorpe & C. Finkbeiner (2008): “Marketing When Customer Equity Matters.” Harvard Business Review (May).
  • Harris, R.S. (1997): “Value Creation, Net Present Value and Economic Profit”, Darden Business Publishing.
  • Holm, M., V. Kumar, and C. Rohde. (2012): “Measuring Customer Profitability in Complex Environments: An Interdisciplinary Contingency Framework.” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 40 (3): 387-401.
  • IMA (2010): “Customer Profitability Management.” Statement on Management Accounting Business Performance Management.
  • Kaplan, R.S., Anderson, S.R. (2004):”Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing.” Harvard Business Review, November, 131-138.
  • Kumar, V., Petersen, A., Leone, R.P. (2007): ”How Valuable Is Word of Mouth?” Harvard Business Review.
  • Kumar, V., Shah, D. (2009): “Expanding the Role of Marketing: From Customer Equity to Market Capitalization.” Journal of Marketing 73, 119-136.
  • Kumar, V. et al. (2008): “The Power of CLV: Managing Customer Lifetime Value at IBM”. Marketing Science 27(4), 585-599.
  • Kumar, V. (2018): “A Theory of Customer Valuation: Concepts, Metrics, Strategy, and Implementation.” Journal of Marketing82(1), 1-19.
  • Nenonen, S. & Storbacka, K. (2008): “Customer Roles in Shareholder Value Creation – An Empirical Investigation of Customer Asset Management Strategies.” Working Paper.
  • Rust, R. T., K. N. Lemon, and V. A. Zeithaml. (2004): "Return on marketing: Using customer equity to focus marketing strategy." Journal of marketing 68.
  • Ryals, L. (2005): “Making Customer Relationship Management Work: The Measurement and Profitable Management of Customer Relationships.” Journal of Marketing 69, 252-261.
  • Ryals, L. (2007): “Profitable relationships with key customers: how suppliers manage pricing and customer risk.” Journal of Strategic Marketing 14(2), 101-113.
  • Venkatesan R., Kumar V. (2004): “A Customer Lifetime Value Framework for Customer Selection and Resource Allocation Strategy.” Journal of Marketing 68(4), 106-125.
Last updated on 26-06-2020