Are banks and retailers overlooking the power of delight?

The recent crisis and potential recession have forced companies to focus on reducing costs, increasing their digital presence and driving more substantial margins to “plan for the worse and expect the best” scenario. However, a focus on operational efficiencies and not driving customer delight based on the recent book, “Better, Simpler Strategy: A Value-Based Guide to Exceptional Performance” by Felix Oberholzer-Gee, the Andreas Andresen Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, is a recipe for failure.?

Companies that drive a greater customer willingness to purchase (value) beyond the company’s desire to sell (margin) have demonstrated more excellent overall market performance. In his book, Professor Oberholzer-Gee illustrates how this simple model has helped drive market leadership and customer loyalty for brands such as Apple, Jet Blue and Amazon. He demonstrates how his value creation process emphasizes taking a holistic view of the customer needs as part of the entire purchase journey and how to create value at each stage to deliver exceptional profits. The book demonstrates a simple structure to consider and a series of great questions that companies need to ask when the focus is less on driving delight and more on operating margin. Ultimately, the difference between value creation and value capture where the latter only leads to short-term profits.

This summer, Better, Simpler Strategy book is a must-read if you are looking at a book to help define how you derive value and grow.