Seán Meehan

Professor of Marketing and Management and Dean of Faculty

Seán Meehan is Professor of Marketing and Management and Dean of Faculty. He is an award-winning author on customer-centricity and how organizations can deploy customer-led strategies to deliver superior performance. He works with senior executives from companies across the globe to help them deliver strong results through a tireless focus on customer value creation.

Meehan’s work shows how businesses that believe putting customers interests ahead of those of all other stakeholders perform better for all stakeholders. While this might seem obvious, it is incredibly difficult for organizations to become truly customer-led, and even harder to maintain, as he shows in his 2021 book, The Customer Copernicus. The book’s insights won praise from former Unilever CEO Paul Polman, Danfoss President and CEO Kim Fausing and DBS CEO Piyush Gupta, among others.

This research provides a toolkit for how businesses can become and stay truly customer-led, particularly as they face the new challenges of the post-pandemic period. The key component is an outside-in approach that involves taking a lead from customers and pioneering on their behalf, rather than the prevailing inside-out belief systems of most organizations, who see things from their own perspectives and are driven by their own internal agendas and more immediate, proximate and accessible concerns.

Over two decades I have developed unique insights into customer-centricity and how difficult it is to do well. I can show companies how to achieve it and maintain it.

Meehan has applied this analysis to companies such as Amazon, Deliveroo, easyJet and Sky, which have all succeeded by putting the customer at the center of value creation, but also to Tesco, O2 and Wells Fargo, former customer-led successes that ended up losing their way.

He has co-authored two other important books on the subject: Simply Better: Winning and Keeping Customers by Delivering What Matters Most and Beyond the Familiar: Long Term Growth through Customer Focus and Innovation. The first of these was named Marketing Book of the Year by the American Marketing Association in 2005 after it challenged the widespread notion that companies succeed by small differentiations in their offering and showed that getting the basics right was far more important.

He has also been published in Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, Business Strategy Review, strategy+business, Marketing Research, Marketing Science Institute Reports, the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal.

At IMD, Meehan has designed and delivered leadership development programs for companies such as Agricultural Bank of China, Air France-KLM, Caterpillar, COFRA, Geberit, Hilti, Julius Baer, Lindt & Sprüngli, MasterCard International, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings, PWC, Sandvik, Schindler, Swiss Re, Telefonica, Toyota, and Vodafone.

He has also directed the IMD MBA program, IMD’s Chief Marketing Officer Roundtable, its flagship program Orchestrating Winning Performance, and its most senior leadership program Breakthrough Program for Senior Executives.

Meehan joined IMD in 1997, having previously worked with Deloitte where he was a Marketing Director and Arthur Andersen where he also worked in consulting and qualified as a Certified Public Accountant.

Selected publications
The Customer Copernicus: How to be customer-led
Book
The Customer Copernicus: How to be customer-led
Customer Centricity
The Customer Copernicus directly addresses the customer-led reality gap – the profusion of claims versus the paucity of real examples. The crucial element explaining this is belief – people’s share...
16 May 2021
Article
How customer-led beliefs lie behind Handelsbanken’s extraordinary success
Customer Centricity
Handelsbanken is an extraordinary organisation. It is probably the most successful bank you’ve never heard of. It is one of Sweden’s leaders with over 750 branches in six home markets (Sweden, Denm...
24 May 2021
Article
Leaders of the future will need to be socially aware, and entrepreneurial: Seán Meehan
Leadership
IMD Business School's Martin Hilti Professor of Marketing and Change Management and Dean of MBA Program, talks about the challenges plaguing the Indian society and the need to revisit the lessons o...
10 August 2018
Beyond the familiar: Long-term growth through customer focus and innovation
Book
Beyond the familiar: Long-term growth through customer focus and innovation
GrowthStrategyCustomer Centricity
Strong customer-focused companies have a clear, relevant promise which they obsessively deliver day-in, day-out. At the same time, they relentlessly drive the market by evolving the offer in the fa...
1 January 2011
Article
Why Nokia's collapse should scare Apple
CompetitivenessTechnology Management
Nokia's inability to field a credible response to the launch of the iPhone in 2007 and Google's Android operating system in 2008 has precipitated a freefall in its share price. Today, Apple is ridi...
25 April 2011
Article
Die Kunden verstehen lernen
Consumer BehaviorMarketingBrand ManagementTechnology Management
Warum Konsumenten etwas kaufen, ist eine der wichtigsten Fragen für Unternehmen. Mit den neuen Medien gibt es erstmals Werkzeuge, um die Motive der Zielgruppe live zu analysieren. Eine Anleitung.¦W...
1 February 2011
Article
The one thing you must get right when building a brand
Technology ManagementMarketing
As usual, marketers are turning hype into hyperventilation. This time, it’s about the supposed end of marketing as we know it, thanks to the rise of social media and the shift of power to consumers...
1 December 2010
Book
Simply better: Winning and keeping customers by delivering what matters most
Customer CentricityMarketing
In their relentless quest for differentiation, many companies have poured their energies into making their offerings distinctive from competitors. Yet, according to marketing experts Patrick Barwis...
26 August 2004
Article
The customer puzzle
Customer CentricityMarketingBrand Management
It's time for a fresh look: keep it simple and think inside the box.
18 March 2005
Academic publications
The Customer Copernicus: How to be customer-led
Book
The Customer Copernicus: How to be customer-led
Customer Centricity
The Customer Copernicus directly addresses the customer-led reality gap – the profusion of claims versus the paucity of real examples. The crucial element explaining this is belief – people’s share...
16 May 2021
Case Study
Danfoss Core & Clear (A)
The case series documents the transformation of Danfoss from a debtladen fragmented industrial holding company close to bankruptcy in 2008 to a high performing, financially robust group with a clea...
11 August 2017
Case Study
Danfoss Core & Clear (B)
The case series documents the transformation of Danfoss from a debtladen fragmented industrial holding company close to bankruptcy in 2008 to a high performing, financially robust group with a clea...
11 August 2017
Case Study
Danfoss Core & Clear (C)
The case series documents the transformation of Danfoss from a debtladen fragmented industrial holding company close to bankruptcy in 2008 to a high performing, financially robust group with a clea...
11 August 2017
Case Study
DBS transformation (A): Becoming a world-class multinational bank
DigitalAgilityOrganizational Transformation
This case series examines the two stage transformation of DBS 2009- 2017. In both stages the bank places the customer as the centre of its thinking about how to structure, resource and play in the ...
7 July 2017
Case Study
DBS transformation (B): Going digital and creating a 22,000 person start-up
AgilityStrategy
This case series examines the two stage transformation of DBS 2009- 2017. In both stages the bank places the customer as the centre of its thinking about how to structure, resource and play in the ...
7 July 2017
Case Study
DBS transformation (C): The world’s best digital bank
DigitalAgilityOrganizational Transformation
This case series examines the two stage transformation of DBS 2009- 2017. In both stages the bank places the customer as the centre of its thinking about how to structure, resource and play in the ...
7 July 2017
Case Study
Ryanair strategic positioning (A): July 2013
By 2013, after over near 30 years, Ryanair has become the largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers flown internationally. It outperformed its low cost rivals on most operational dimensions....
24 March 2017
Case Study
Ryanair strategic positioning (B): Always getting better
By 2013, after over near 30 years, Ryanair has become the largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers flown internationally. It outperformed its low cost rivals on most operational dimensions....
24 March 2017
Beyond the familiar: Long-term growth through customer focus and innovation
Book
Beyond the familiar: Long-term growth through customer focus and innovation
GrowthStrategyCustomer Centricity
Strong customer-focused companies have a clear, relevant promise which they obsessively deliver day-in, day-out. At the same time, they relentlessly drive the market by evolving the offer in the fa...
1 January 2011
Article
Is your company as customer-focused as you think?
CompetitivenessGeneral ManagementMarketingCustomer Centricity
This article discusses ways that companies can ensure that their products or services remain relevant to customers. The article cites management consultant Peter Drucker's marketing concept that th...
1 April 2010
Article
ACORN in the political marketplace
PoliticsMarketing
A study was undertaken to examine A Classification of Residential Neighborhoods (ACORN), a relatively new segmentation tool for use by management. The proposal that ACORN was a suitable basis for s...
1 January 1986
Insight for Executives
How to make life better for customers and create a more successful organization
Article
How to make life better for customers and create a more successful organization
Customer CentricityInnovation
In the quest for efficiency many organizations have forgotten the human side of customer service, says John Sills, author of The Human Experience. If in doubt, be human
25 May 2023
The future of customer-centricity, with Professor Sean Meehan
Article
The future of customer-centricity, with Professor Sean Meehan
Customer CentricityMarketing
In episode 4 of ManagementCast, Professor Sean Meehan tells listeners just what to expect when dealing with the consumers of tomorrow.
12 May 2022
Maintaining market position with Professor Seán Meehan
Article
Maintaining market position with Professor Seán Meehan
General ManagementMarketingStrategyCustomer Centricity
In episode 3 of ManagementCast, Professor Seán Meehan describes the pitfalls of pursuing customer-centricity, and how to avoid them.
28 April 2022
Seán Meehan on how to become customer-centric
Article
Seán Meehan on how to become customer-centric
LeadershipGeneral Management
In episode 2 of ManagementCast, Professor Sean Meehan gives an insight into how to become customer-focused.
14 April 2022
The origins of customer-centricity
Article
The origins of customer-centricity
Customer CentricityLeadershipStrategy
Professor Sean Meehan, the Dean of Faculty at IMD, speaks about the origins of Customer Centricity
31 March 2022
Article
How Transport for London became a pioneer in customer-led innovation
Customer Centricity
Launched in July 2000 with overall responsibility for keeping London moving across multiple forms of public transport, Transport for London has boldly innovated with a series of potentially risky m...
19 November 2021
Article
When personality beats skill set
Customer Centricity
What matters in a customer-facing role? What do customers want from someone they deal with directly, in person or on a call? It’s not rocket science. Literally. Rocket, or any other form of scienc...
1 October 2021
Report
Customer-led success stories
Customer Centricity
Some companies are great for customers – not only do they care but they change whole markets to work better for the customers they serve. The Customer Copernicus answers the question that follows –...
25 August 2021
Article
Switch sales targets for happiness targets: How to foster customer-led employees
Customer Centricity
While 62% of businesses claim being customer-led is critical to success, only 24% are truly customer-led. Why is it so hard? And why do organisations fail to maintain a customer-led strategy? Charl...
30 June 2021
Article
How AO.com underwent a customer-led transformation to become a £1bn success story
Customer Centricity
From start-up to a £1 billion valuation in 15 years, online retailer AO.com is a remarkable success story. And it has achieved this by fostering a customer-led ethos. Seán Meehan and Charlie Dawson...
23 June 2021
How to create and sustain a customer-led business
Video
How to create and sustain a customer-led business
Customer Centricity Marketing Strategy
Ultimately, the success of any company whether it is serving consumers or other companies is their customers. This is why customer-led companies tend to outperform, and why so many people seek to b...
21 June 2021
Article
The end of Amazon? Can a new CEO follow Jeff Bezos and maintain its customer-led success?
Customer Centricity
Even though Amazon is experiencing extraordinary growth, has plentiful reserves and is much admired, is Andy Jassy inheriting a poisoned chalice when he takes over as CEO next month? Can he emulate...
17 June 2021
Tesco’s dramatic fall and how to avoid it
Article
Tesco’s dramatic fall and how to avoid it
Customer Centricity
Keeping the customer satisfied is key to creating a ‘super’ brand, but maintaining that success is notoriously difficult
17 June 2021
Article
Five successful customer-centric companies – and the lessons we can learn from them
Customer Centricity
We shouldn’t take customer-first exaltations at face value. They are common. But true customer-led success is not, according to Seán Meehan and Charlie Dawson. What leaders say (and perhaps think) ...
15 June 2021
Article
Customers not CEOs decide whether companies succeed
Customer Centricity
Some companies are great for customers – not only do they care but they change whole markets to work better for the customers they serve. Think of Amazon, easyJet and Sky. They make things easier a...
1 June 2021
Article
Why a customer-led approach is hard to sustain for companies
Customer Centricity
Some companies are great for being customer-led, not only do they care but they change whole markets to work better for the customers they serve. Think of Amazon, easyJet, and Sky, they make things...
27 May 2021
Article
How customer-led beliefs lie behind Handelsbanken’s extraordinary success
Customer Centricity
Handelsbanken is an extraordinary organisation. It is probably the most successful bank you’ve never heard of. It is one of Sweden’s leaders with over 750 branches in six home markets (Sweden, Denm...
24 May 2021
Clarify customer centricity and your business will flourish
Video
Clarify customer centricity and your business will flourish
Customer Centricity Strategy
We hear the buzzword customer centricity all the time, but does it really mean anything anymore? At OWP liVe, Professor Seán Meehan will outline how to recalibrate your organization to be a custome...
21 May 2021
Article
Lest so viele Rankings wie möglich
LeadershipEntrepreneurship
Our ambition is to offer our MBA candidates the best leadership development experience in the world. Our graduates should be best prepared for their role as leaders in a global enterprise. And we ...
13 September 2018
Article
Leaders of the future will need to be socially aware, and entrepreneurial: Seán Meehan
Leadership
IMD Business School's Martin Hilti Professor of Marketing and Change Management and Dean of MBA Program, talks about the challenges plaguing the Indian society and the need to revisit the lessons o...
10 August 2018
How to be Customer-Led