OPPapers.com

Benchmarking

Global Communications finds itself at a crossroads. Faced with a declining market share it looks to increase profitability using a double-pronged approach. First, it plans to diversify its product line through an alliance/partnership with a growing satellite company. This alliance will allow Global Communications to offer more than just phone service to its customers. Secondly, it looks to reduce its overall labor costs by reducing its United States based workforce through the outsourcing of some its technical call centers to India and Ireland where labor costs are traditionally lower. Before choosing any single course of action, Global would be wise to examine the following concepts and their success and/or failure when attempted by other corporations. These concepts are:
1. Customer service and reliability
2. Elimination of communication barriers
3. Looking to the long view
4. Carefully research the target customer base and brand the right way
5. Create strong alliances between partners
6. Increase employee loyalty through effective communications, avoid the grapevine as the communication corridor at all costs
7. Cultivate an environment of trust and employee involvement.

The first concept is customer service and reliability. This is something that the first company, Southwest Airlines, built its foundation on. To the executives at Southwest their most important customers are their employees. Their philosophy is that if you treat your employees right then they will treat your outside customers right. By focusing on the concepts of customer service and reliability, Global can avoid laying off workers.
Ford Motor Company faces many of the same issues that Global is dealing with. Like Global, they are utilizing a dominating conflict style to ensure their survival. Unlike Global, they are educating their employees and keeping them involved in the process. Instead of simply saying, they are eliminating thousands of jobs they are offering...