"That the customer should be--indeed, must be--at the heart of any service company's strategy is certainly not a cosmos-altering revelation. But the equations, formulas, research, and just plain common sense that three Harvard Business School professors apply to the process of creating a lifetime customer is definitely worth attention."

Pine and Gilmore posit that every business, whether on the Web or on Main Street, USA, must treat their operation as a stage for engaging customers like audience members. Like Pine's award-winning classic Mass Customization, The Experience Economy takes a slash at the business status quo and makes you think beyond your product.

No one has done more than this energetic trio to insist that service quality must be defined from a customer-driven perspective. The research findings described in this book yield a practical, commonsense structure to help managers close the gaps that separate customers from the quality service experiences they seek.

The president and CEO of Scandinavia Airlines (SAS) shows how to adapt to the new customer-driven economy. This book traces the author's spectacular turnaround successes with three major corporations and spells out his trendsetting approach on meeting the demands of today's service economy.