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  • 2020
  • Book

Experimentation Works: The Surprising Power of Business Experiments

By: Stefan Thomke
  • Format:Print
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Abstract

Don’t fly blind. See how the power of experiments works for you. When it comes to improving customer experiences, trying out new business models, or developing new products, even the most experienced managers often get it wrong. They discover that intuition, experience and big data alone don’t work. What does work? Running disciplined business experiments. And what if companies roll out new products, customer experiences or business models without doing so? They fly blind.

That’s what Harvard Business School professor Stefan Thomke shows in this rigorously researched and eye-opening book. It guides you through what constitutes best experimentation practice, illustrates how that works at leading companies and answers some fundamental questions. What makes a good experiment? How do you test in online and brick-and-mortar businesses? In B2B and B2C? How do you build an experimentation culture? Moreover, best experimentation practice means running many experiments. Indeed, some hugely successful companies, such as Amazon, Booking.com and Microsoft, run tens of thousands of controlled experiments annually, engaging millions of users. Thomke shows us how these and many other organizations have discovered that their experimentation capabilities provide considerable competitive advantages.

How can managers create such a capability at their companies? Essential is developing an experimentation organization that prizes the science of testing and puts the discipline of experimentation at the center of its innovation process. It used to take companies years to develop the tools for such large-scale experimentation but they are now at the fingertips of most organizations. By combining the power of software and the rigor of controlled experiments, today's managers can make better decisions, create magical customer experiences, and generate big financial returns.

Experimentation Works introduces you to the power of experiments and will guide you through its implementation in your own organizations.

Keywords

Experimentation; Experiments; Market Research; Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Customers; Research

Citation

Thomke, Stefan. Experimentation Works: The Surprising Power of Business Experiments. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2020.

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About The Author

Stefan H. Thomke

Technology and Operations Management
→More Publications

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More from the Author
  • Capture New Value from Your Existing Tech Infrastructure By: Stefan Thomke and Anthony Rodrigo
  • Act Like a Scientist: Great Leaders Challenge Assumptions, Run Experiments, and Follow the Evidence By: Stefan Thomke and Gary W. Loveman
  • High Velocity Business Experiments By: Stefan Thomke and Jim Euchner
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