Read Core Curriculum Reading: Creating Customer Value. Question 1: Summarize "Feature Fatigue" on page 12. What are potential ways to overcome it? Provide some real examples (other than those cited in the Reading). Question 2: Why are front-line employees critical to customer experience and value creation? Question 3: Provide at least three real examples of network effects (other than those cited in the Reading). Question 4: According to the Reading, what points should be made regarding EVC? Recall that the Reading made six points - read Sec 2.1 very carefully. Question 5: What emotional benefits could customers perceive or experience? Feature Fatigue It is tempting for companies to pack products with more and more features to gain competitive advantage. The BMW 745's dashboard alone has more than 700 features. LG Electronics sells a refrigerator with a built-in touchscreen in the door. From your refrigerator, you can now stream TV shows, see who is at the door, request an Uber ride, and order takeout. Is this "feature creep" or "feature bloat" really good for consumers? A recent study found that, as more features are added to a product, its perceived capability to consumers increases, but its perceived usability decreases. Before they use a product (as is often done in a typical market research study), consumers say that capability matters more, but usability becomes far more important after they get a chance to use the product in real- life circumstances. Companies such as Apple and Philips explicitly focus on simplicity in their product design to avoid this feature fatigue. Mercedes-Benz decided to remove more than 600 electronic functions from its cars after carefully considering capability and usability aspects. Source: Adapted from "Defeating Feature Fatigue" by Roland T. Rust, Debora Viana Thompson, and Rebecca W. Hamilton, Harvard Business Review 84 (February 2006). Copyright 2006 by the Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation all rights reserved