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Abstract
As part of my Demand Management (DM) research, I’ve spent a fair amount of time investigating company practices in customer segmentation and differentiated customer services. With DM defined as “the matching of supply and demand over time—including both during and between planning cycles,” these practices are strategic in nature since the alignment of services (that is, supply) to customer segments (that is, demand) is not frequently done. Optimal alignment involves a purposeful focus on sustained profitability growth and requires balancing the incremental costs of providing differentiated services with the long-term growth of revenues and margins generated.