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  • August 2010 (Revised November 2020)
  • Module Note

Integrating Around the Job to Be Done

By: Clayton Christensen, Rory McDonald, Laura E Day and Shaye Roseman
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:14
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Abstract

Unlike traditional market segmentations that are based on a correlation of product sales or service with the attributes of the purchaser (such as age, gender, income level, and education level), jobs-based segmentation seeks to understand the causal roots of purchase—when a buyer needs to "hire" a product or service to get a "job" done. This note details the thought process and the methodology behind a jobs-based segmentation and provides numerous examples. It highlights three levels in the architecture of a job: 1) What is the fundamental job or problem the customer is facing? This includes political, functional, emotional, and social dimensions; 2) What are the experiences in purchase and use that, if all provided, would sum up to nailing the job perfectly? (The "hiring criteria"); and 3) What do we need to integrate, and how must we knit those things together, so that we can provide these experiences?

Keywords

Integration Planning; Jobs; Market Segmentation; Customer Satisfaction; Marketing; Jobs and Positions; Marketing Strategy; Segmentation; Integration; Planning

Citation

Christensen, Clayton, Rory McDonald, Laura E Day, and Shaye Roseman. "Integrating Around the Job to Be Done." Harvard Business School Module Note 611-004, August 2010. (Revised November 2020.)
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Related Work

    • August 2010 (Revised November 2020)
    • Faculty Research

    Integrating Around the Job to Be Done

    By: Clayton Christensen, Rory McDonald, Laura E Day and Shaye Roseman
Related Work
  • Integrating Around the Job to Be Done By: Clayton Christensen, Rory McDonald, Laura E Day and Shaye Roseman
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