Listening to the Customer OpenCourseWare: A Free Online Graduate Study Class on Customer Service Management by MIT

Published Jan 15, 2009

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Explore qualitative approaches to market research, such as focus groups and surveys, in this free OpenCourseWare from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management. 'Listening to the Customer' is an MBA-level OpenCourseWare aimed at management professionals.

Listening to the Customer: Course Specifics

Degree Level Free Audio Video Downloads
Graduate Yes No No Yes

Lectures/Notes Study Materials Tests/Quizzes
Yes Yes No

Listening to the Customer: Course Description

The first step in giving customers what they want is determining what, exactly, the customers want through qualitative market research using interviews, surveys and other tools that produce non-numeric data. 'Listening to the Customer' considers the fundamentals of these techniques with an eye toward current managers and students contemplating careers in management, particularly brand management or product development. This practical course familiarizes students with market research tools, concerned with how those tools work rather than academic or theoretical discussions of why they work. Emphasis is placed on using customer opinions in product development and pricing. The reading list suggests comprehensive marketing textbooks to supplement the course's focused readings on Customer Service Management. Lecture notes from Sloan School of Management professor Drazen Prelec outline a step-by-step guide to conducting and analyzing attribute-based market research. Assignments encourage students to consider both the benefits and the drawbacks of focus groups and other consumer feedback. This OpenCourseWare is available in a simplified Chinese translation and is the companion course to 'Strategic Marketing Measurement,' which explores quantitative market research.

'Listening to the Customer' includes presentation slides from lectures, assignment overviews, textbook recommendations and web-based readings. To download materials from this OpenCourseWare, visit the Customer Service Management course page.

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