Portfolio Optimization and Performance Evaluation : An Application to a Customer Portfolio

Based on an exclusive business-to-business database comprising nearly 1,000 customers, the applicability of portfolio analysis is documented, and it is examined how such an optimization analysis can be used to explore the growth potential of a company. As opposed to any previous analyses, optimal customer portfolios are determined, and it is shown how marketing decision-makers can use this information in their marketing strategies to optimize the revenue growth of the company. Finally, our analysis is the first analysis which applies portfolio based methods to measure customer performance, and it is shown how these performance measures complement the optimization analysis