Business today is changing more rapidly than at any time in history. From product ideas to supply chains, from marketing to sales, new technologies, techniques, and globalization have created incredible, disruptive transformations in every aspect of commerce. This will not change - change will be the only constant. Shaping the Future of Business Education answers the question of how to prepare tomorrow's leaders with a distinctive formula as wide as it is deep. Two dozen distinguished professors and leaders in business education argue that only a broad, rigorous and relevant education will work - a fusion of business knowledge with arts and sciences, technology, and ethical training that emphasizes integrated thinking, broad perspectives, and cultural awareness along with specific expertise. These educators demonstrate practical methods of including arts and sciences in the teaching of business knowledge, while also integrating the best of business into the arts and sciences. The result? Business leaders who can communicate, operate well in ambiguous and fluid situations, as well as liberal-arts students who have the business knowledge they need to work well in organizations.

As a leader in your organization, you will be very familiar with your organization's key financial statements and monthly management reports. You may have spent countless hours discussing budgets and expenditures. But how much time have you spent reflecting on the fact that these revenues are generated by actual customers-the people who pull out their wallets and pay for your products and services? In The Customer-Base Audit: The First Step on the Journey to Customer Centricity, experts Peter Fader, Bruce Hardie, and Michael Ross start you on the path toward really getting to understand your customers' buying behavior as well as the health of your overall customer base. A customer-base audit is a systematic review of the buying behavior of a firm's customers using data captured by its transaction systems. It will help you answer questions such as: -- How healthy is your customer base? How realistic are your growth objectives? -- How do your customers differ in terms of their behavior and value? -- How has the quality of your customers changed over time? -- What changes in customer behavior lie behind period-to-period changes in firm performance? -- What is important to your high-value customers? Which products help you acquire and retain your best customers? Fader, Hardie, and Ross present five "lenses" through which an executive can address questions like those above. The answers are often lurking in various parts of the organization, but it is rare to find all the relevant analyses in one place, let alone performed on a regular basis (as an audit should be). Yet without such a basic, systematic understanding of the foundations of the firm's primary source of cash flow, how can executives make informed decisions? Fader, a Wharton professor, is the author of Customer Centricity and coauthor of The Customer Centricity Playbook, both of which have helped businesses radically rethink how they relate to customers. In this first step of the journey, Fader, Hardie, and Ross assist leaders in gaining a fundamental understanding of their customers' buying behavior-and thus their company as a whole.

As a leader in your organization, you will be very familiar with your organization’s key financial statements and monthly management reports. You may have spent countless hours discussing budgets and expenditures. But how much time have you spent reflecting on the fact that these revenues are generated by actual customers—the people who pull out their wallets and pay for your products and services? In The Customer-Base Audit: The First Step on the Journey to Customer Centricity, experts Peter Fader, Bruce Hardie, and Michael Ross start you on the path toward really getting to understand your customers’ buying behavior as well as the health of your overall customer base. A customer-base audit is a systematic review of the buying behavior of a firm’s customers using data captured by its transaction systems. It will help you answer questions such as: -- How healthy is your customer base? How realistic are your growth objectives? -- How do your customers differ in terms of their behavior and value? -- How has the quality of your customers changed over time? -- What changes in customer behavior lie behind period-to-period changes in firm performance? -- What is important to your high-value customers? Which products help you acquire and retain your best customers? Fader, Hardie, and Ross present five “lenses” through which an executive can address questions like those above. The answers are often lurking in various parts of the organization, but it is rare to find all the relevant analyses in one place, let alone performed on a regular basis (as an audit should be). Yet without such a basic, systematic understanding of the foundations of the firm’s primary source of cash flow, how can executives make informed decisions? Fader, a Wharton professor, is the author of Customer Centricity and coauthor of The Customer Centricity Playbook, both of which have helped businesses radically rethink how they relate to customers. In this first step of the journey, Fader, Hardie, and Ross assist leaders in gaining a fundamental understanding of their customers’ buying behavior—and thus their company as a whole.

It is 1587 in Madrid, Spain, and Marcelo Espinosa is hiding a secret so dangerous that, if it were exposed, it would mean torture and death. Raised as a Catholic by Jewish parents forced to covertly practice their religion, Marcelo has no idea he is about to discover the perils of his true heritage. After his parents are summoned by the Inquisition for heresy, they seek to shield Marcelo from an inevitable death and make secret arrangements for him to enter the monastery. Nineteen-year-old Marcelo is left with no choice. During a stormy night, Marcelo and his guide leave on horseback; it is not long before Marcelo is unwittingly immersed in a life filled with prayer, meditation, plain food, and hard work. But after six months pass, Marcelo receives the horrifying news he has been dreading-his parents have been murdered. Now with his own life in grave danger, Marcelo once again has no choice but to escape. Disguised as a missionary, Marcelo sails to Mexico with two Franciscan priests and the hope that one day he will be free. In this captivating historical tale, Marcelo embarks on a journey through adventure, friendship, love, and danger in a desperate attempt to reconcile with the man he has always wanted to be.