Endless Customers: Sobering Lessons From Harvard University

by Sean D'Souza

Published on April 27, 2004

Tags: Brand Positioning, Customer Engagement, Lead Generation, Sales, Thought Leadership

$19.2 billion.

If you take the annual budgets of 142 countries, including Cuba, Jordan and Lithuania, and add them up, they won't amount to $19.2 billion.

Yet in the year 2000 that sum was Harvard University's endowment. If you're thinking, “Wow! That's amazing!” there's another “wow” coming up.

In 1999, Harvard's endowment was $14.4 billion. In one amazing year, Harvard University's wealth jumped nearly a third. What's fascinating is that the $4.8 billion dollar increase alone was larger than the total endowments reported last year by some of the nation's other top universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ($4.3 billion), Columbia University ($3.6 billion) and Dartmouth College ($1.7 billion).

So What's Harvard University Doing That You Aren't?

Mmm… Good question. And one worth answering. Because Harvard's structure and marketing system can teach us one heck of a lot.

→ end article preview
Read the Full Article

Membership is required to access this how-to marketing article ... don't worry though, it's FREE!

WANT TO READ MORE?
SIGN UP TODAY ... IT'S FREE!

Your email :

We will never sell or rent your email address to anyone. We value your privacy. (We hate spam as much as you do.) See our privacy policy.

Sign in with your existing account. Simply click your preferred account below!

Sean D'Souza uses age-old psychology, marrying it to modern technology, on his Web site, psychotactics.com. Can "psychological tactics" make a difference? Go there and find out.

NOTE: MarketingProfs does not allow its content to be lifted wholesale and republished elsewhere without a licensing agreement. For more information on copyright and licensing, see here.