Marketing Professor at Mays Business Publishes Research to Improve Health Care Services

Leonard Berry, marketing professor for Mays Business School at Texas A&M University, has recently been published in the Harvard Business Review for his article “When the Customer is Stressed”. In the publication, Berry and his colleagues address the high emotions that can be triggered by certain services. In addition, the article includes advice for organizations to better design their services to serve the emotional needs of customers.

Research for the article was conducted by Berry with assistance from Jody Wilmet, vice president for oncology, diagnostics and hospital physicians at Bellin Health Systems (Green Bay, WI) and Scott W. Davis, a postdoctoral fellow at Rice University’s Jones School of Business.

The article in particular focused on patients currently undergoing treatment for cancer. The topic was chosen as a result of Berry’s existing research in the field- currently, Berry is working on an ongoing study attempting to improve the service received by adult cancer patients and their families throughout the process of diagnosis, treatment and recover. His current work involves interviews with over 350 cancer patients and their families, oncologists, surgeons and additional medical staff, as well as leaders of health care organizations across 10 well-known cancer centers across the United States.

Berry, a Senior Fellow with the Institute of Healthcare Improvement located in Cambridge, Mass, is a Distinguished Professor of Marketing at the Mays Business School. He is additionally the founder of the Center for Retailing Studies at Texas A&M.

Berry’s article can be found here and will be released in print in the October 2015 issue of the Harvard Business Review.

regions: Houston

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