Interpreting the Success of Zappos.Com, Four Seasons, and Nordstrom: Customer Centricity Is But One-Third of the Job

Authors

Richard E. Kopelman, City University of New York
Andy Y. Chiou, City University of New York
Louis J. Lipani, City University of New York
Zhu Zhu, Montclair State UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-1-2012

Journal / Book Title

Global Business and Organizational Excellence

Abstract

Can organizations that are noted for outstanding customer service rely solely on their remarkable customer-centricity to achieve success? An analysis incorporating Internet-based surveys, traditional measures of customer satisfaction and financial performance, and an examination of the practices at three exceptionally successful customer-focused companies-Zappos.com, Four Seasons, and Nordstrom-shows that an emphasis on employee satisfaction and productivity also play key roles in organizational excellence. Management practices at these firms illustrate the validity of the Cube One framework, which posits that a combination of customer-, employee-, and productivity-directed practices drives organizational performance.

DOI

10.1002/joe.21457

MSU Digital Commons Citation

Kopelman, Richard E.; Chiou, Andy Y.; Lipani, Louis J.; and Zhu, Zhu, "Interpreting the Success of Zappos.Com, Four Seasons, and Nordstrom: Customer Centricity Is But One-Third of the Job" (2012). Department of Management Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works. 16.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/management-facpubs/16

Published Citation

Kopelman, R. E., Chiou, A. Y., Lipani, L. J., & Zhu, Z. (2012). Interpreting the success of Zappos. com, Four Seasons, and Nordstrom: Customer centricity is but one‐third of the job. Global Business and Organizational Excellence, 31(5), 20-35.