Designing the Customer-Centric Organization

Studies show that, because sales to existing customers are more profitable than sales to new customers, today’s businesses are recognizing that establishing long-term customer relationships is the best way to ensure the long-term profitability they seek. Thus, in an effort to become more customer focused or customer driven, most have put the customer at the top of their priority “to-do” lists. Galbraith (considered the foremost authority on organizational design) has found, however, that many companies are still missing the mark. Preferring to keep it simple (for management), and to create uncomplicated autonomous business units, they fail to understand that the capabilities required for true customer-centricity go far beyond a mere “cosmetic gloss of customer focus sprinkled around the edges” of product-centricity.

Designing the Customer-Centric Organization is offered to show business leaders an effective means of creating the right infrastructure for truly organizing around the customer. Drawing on the evidence culled from his three-years of research with McKinsey Organization Design Practice, Galbraith presents a variety of case studies, which together form a practical roadmap for transforming the corporation, based on what the customer demands.