Abstract: | This article develops the concept of customer com- mitment, and then deals with the frequency with which CEOs of publicly-held companies express commitment to customers in the president's letter section in their corporate annual reports. The au- thors' research findings show that only a small percentage of compa- nies take this opportunity to communicate customer commitment to customers and employees. While other CEOs thank customers or make incidental mention of customers, nearly one third fail to refer- ence the "customer(s)" at all. In addition to the benefit of promoting customer commitment to customers and prospects, the authors dis- cuss the opportunity for a company to promote customer commit- ment to its own employees in the context of internal marketing. |