Chapter 11. Customer

What is the focal point for everything that a business does? Who is even more powerful than the board of directors in influencing the future of a business? Which is the most important entity on whose patronage the survivability of a company depends? The answer to all of these questions is straightforward: the customer. As obvious as this may seem, it is quite surprising that many enterprises overlook or even ignore this blatant fact, intentionally or otherwise. If this seems too extreme, it can at least be said that most organizations see the customer as being "on the other side of the table."

The aforementioned mindset toward the customer can lead to a belief that delivering value to customers and generating value for the enterprise are two different objectives. The potential misalignment between these two objectives can result in trading off one for the other, which will result in an overall suboptimal outcome. A business must view customers as an integral and critical...