Research Articles Base: British Telecommunication Essays

British Airways

Dissertation Title: How do Airlines face the new challenges from the Internet World: Case Study of British Airways.   Introduction Internet is a powerful resource which still leads the field in fostering understanding of telecommunication networks in society. As the number of Internet user is growing up, online advertising is a trend for the advertiser. Brands are realizing the potential afforded by the Internet to reach consumers in an innovative and highly targeted manner. As broadband penetration grows, more innovative use of Internet for advertising purposes is inevitable, as evidence in the success of some forms of viral marketing.   Hypothesis Media affects the airlines brand positioning.   Aim and Objective The overall objectives of this dissertation are to investigate the challenges brought by Internet advertising to traditional airlines and how they turns challenges into business opportunities, with a particular focusing in British Airways as a case study example.   It seems obvious that putting advertisement on the Internet should bring in new business opportunities such as setting up a new media of service promotion. However, it may not be true if we apply this model into traditional airlines. Recently, there are a number of low-cost airlines established around the world. are two successful examples in UK. Different from traditional airlines, these low-cost airlines use Internet as the only one channel of selling ticket while traditional airlines such as British Airways is still relying on travel agents. As a consequence, customers easily get the impression of “low-cost” or “cheap service” when they think of buying ticket from the Internet. This is good to  but bad to British Airways. The reason is simple. The market positioning of British Airways is the quality of service instead of price-cutting. It is understandable for people to mark it equivalent between “cheap” and “low quality service”. Nowadays low-cost airlines put one more equal sign to it, “The Internet”. Thus customers will make an assumption that those tickets selling in the Internet should be cheap and with low-quality service, which is evidently contradicts to the positioning of British Airways. On the other side, if British Airways does not put any advertisement on the Internet, they may loss a certain portion of customers who like to purchase service online. This situation puts British Airways into a bay. Research Methodology This dissertation will mainly focus on the solutions that British Airways is employing to solve this dilemma. Qualitative research, questionnaire and focus group will be used in the investigation.   Literature searches and Review Several marketing models and theories of consumer behavior and brand positioning will be applied in the research, such as: ABE model by . They describe the ABE mode, which is referring to Attributes, Benefits and Emotions. According to this model, a market needs time to mature in order to make it possible for brand-related communication to focus solely on emotion. More models and theories will be refined to suit the online advertising area.   Problems and Solutions There are several problems may likely to occur. For example, an accurate quantitative research cannot be achieved solely by one person. This maybe overcame by running mainly qualitative research or start any quantitative research as early as possible and narrow down the research target group, such as LACK students and online travel discussion forum participants.   Preliminary Study <li class="MsoNormal"> (1998) Online Marketing Handbook. New York: Wiley. </li> <li class="MsoNormal"> (1997) Marketing on the Internet. New York: Wiley. </li> <li class="MsoNormal"> (2000) Brand building on the Internet. London: Cogan Page. </li> <li class="MsoNormal"> (2000) Internet Marketing. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall. </li> <li class="MsoNormal"> (2002) Online Branding. London: Laurence King. </li> <li class="MsoNormal"> (2002) The online copywriter’s handbook. London: McGraw-Hill. </li> <li class="MsoNormal"> (2003) Brand Management. London: Pearson Education Limited. </li> <li class="MsoNormal"> (1998) The Relationship between advertising and content provision on the Internet. European Journal of Marketing. [Internet] vol.32(7/8) pp.677-687. Available from: <http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0263-4503.htm> [Accessed 27 Sept, 2005] </li> <li class="MsoNormal"> (2002) Consumer response to Web sites and their influence on advertising effectiveness. Internet Research. [Internet] vol.12(4) pp.318-328. Available from: <http://www.emeraldinsight.com/1066-2243.htm> [Accessed 27 Sept, 2005] </li> <li class="MsoNormal"> (2003) Web advertising vs. other media: young consumers’ view. Internet Research. [Internet] vol.13(5) pp.356-363. Available from: <http://www.emeraldinsight.com/1066-2243.htm> [Accessed 27 Sept, 2005] </li> <li class="MsoNormal"> (1998) World Wide Web banner advertising copy testing. European Journal of Marketing. [Internet] Vol.32(7/8) pp. 703-712. Available from: <http://www.emeraldinsight.com/1066-2243.htm> [Accessed 27 Sept, 2005] </li> <li class="MsoNormal"> (2003) The relationship between consumer characteristics and attitude toward online shopping. Marketing Intelligence & Planning. [Internet] vol.21(1) pp.37-44. Available from: <http://www.emeraldinsight.com/1066-2243.htm> [Accessed 27 Sept, 2005] </li>   Action Plan W/C Date Task Week 3 24-Oct-2005   -confirm proposal topic and content with tutor -complete dissertation proposal 26-10-2005 -check validity of dissertation in POD seminar 28-10-2005 -dissertation proposal hand in Week 4 31-Oct-2005 to Week 6 14-Nov-2005   -literature review started -establish research objective and hypotheses -progress review by Tutor and dissertation proposal returned (week 6)   Week 7 21-Nov-2005   -complete presentation material -progress review by Tutor Week 8 28-Nov-2005 to Week 10 12-Dec-2005   -work-in-progress presentation (date to be confirmed) Week 10 12-Dec-2005 and Christmas   -progress review by Tutor (week 10) -complete write up of literature review -establish research methodology -secondary data collection Week 11 16-Jan-2006 to Week 17 27-Feb-2006   -progress review by Tutor after Christmas (week 11) -Work-in-progress Presentation feedback by tutor (week 13) -primary data collection -data analysis and write up Week 18 06-Mar-2006   -overall write up completed -final progress review by Tutor Week 19 13-Mar-2006   -final grammar check by professionals -2 final copies printed and CD produced Week 20 20-Mar-2006 24-3-2006 -dissertation Hand in (2 copies + CD)   *The dates written in red signified a deadline of a task. Task will be complete approximately 1 week before these dead lines to allow any incidents happens *The week number shown above can be referred to the academic calendar provided in the BAMA3 course hand book Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

British Airways

Dissertation Title: How do Airlines face the new challenges from the Internet World: Case Study of British Airways. Introduction Inte...

Sample Essay The British Broadcasting Corporations Represents a formof Broadcasting which is Informed by the Principle of Public Services

British Broadcasting Corporation Overview The British Broadcasting Corporations represents a form of broadcasting which is informed by the principle of public services. It is a pioneer in broadcasting and for many years has become a public monopoly. Fundamentally, the organization embarked on the policy of giving the public what they thought is good for them rather than what they want (Eldridge et al, 1997). Today, it exists in a competitive world with its future evaluated in the global contexts. Its domestic programmers and broadcasts generates fund from the levy of television license fees and from its commercial activities. For the license fee of BBC to be justified, it is required to produce high rating shows which are not normally broadcasted by the commercial broadcasters. The BBC management is free from direct intervention of the government with its activities supervised by the BBC Trust, the former Board of Governors. The Direct General appointed by the Trust holds the general management of the corporation (‘BBC”, 2007). PEST Analysis Political Factors Ø      Government restrictions on license fee agreements Ø      Government legislation on outsourcing programmed production Ø      Restrictive legislation from other governments towards the nature of new media Ø      European Union Competition Regulation prohibiting the agreements that restrict competition within the free market Ø      European Union Competition Regulation prohibiting the abuse of dominant position which may affect the trade between member states Ø      Regulatory policies promoting competition Environmental Factors Ø      Geographical divide which limits access to technology Social Factors Ø      Increasing consumer demand on content Ø      Disadvantage of the poor population to access different types of services Technological Factors Ø      Innovations in new media forms and channels Ø      Digitization and Media Integration Ø      Merging of consumer devices SWOT Analysis Strengths Ø      Global brand name Ø      Reputation in global leadership in broadcasting Ø      Global Scope in terms of audiences Ø      Massive and guaranteed funding Weaknesses Ø      Bureaucratic management styles and practices Ø        Inability to distinguish its commitment to public service broadcasting from its commercial activities Opportunities Ø      Increasing access to international audiences Ø      Alliances and mergers to exploit new markets Ø      Additional revenues from commercial activities Threats Ø      Increased competition Ø      Growth of terrestrial and satellite channels   BBC’s Advantages and disadvantages As a Programmed Producer Over the years, BBC has earned the reputation of producing high quality and creative programmers. Its functional areas including structure, culture and the management systems are to some extent designed to support programmed making projects. Nevertheless, the company ha been faced with the risks of coming out as inflexible and bureaucratic. The recent years showed the pressure on the part of the BBC to adapt a commissioning model which makes them less of the programmed creator and more of the designer of programmers made by independent production houses. These two differs in terms of the skills, structures and cultures required.  While the first needs programmed schedulers, managers and commissioning staff, the other entails the creativity and talent to make programmers (Tierney, nod, p.53). Among the many advantages of the BBC is its inherent creativity. However, this essential element has declined and become marginalized during the past years. Historically, the BBC is run under a hierarchical and bureaucratic structure that is characterized by strong values encompassing the public service ethos. New employees adapt these working practices along with a comprehensive training period. There is also a division of labor which allows the development of creative processes. However, these practices are changed gradually. Eventually, the BBC was described to be an elitist, expensive and lacking of customer focus. This kind of criticism led to an organizational restructuring including the adoption of a commissioning model (Tierney, nod, p.55). During the first few years of implementation, this move has caused the increased loss of key talents in all the key function areas of the organization. The staffs have undergone a culture change as they have to shift to marketing and accounting roles. Aside from this, the continuing pressure on the part of the BBC resulted in selling production facilities to concentrate more on the commissioning programmers. With the commissioning model, majority of BBC’s producers work for a project contracts. The advantage of this set up is that the organization will pay only the time used instead of having unproductive staff idled. Producers are also free to work in different companies. In this regard, the company has taken an approach presenting the creative opportunities available to producers whilst encouraging them to also work with others (Tierney, nod p.57) Furthermore, these changes undermine the core strength of the BBC.   As a Competitor for Ratings Prior to the complete adoption of the commissioning model, the organization is faced with the dilemma of choosing the kinds of programmers it will offer to the audience. Some events reflect the competition of BBC in ratings with other channels such as the ITV. For instance, the bidding on television rights for football highlights and the decision to move the timeslot of news programmers indicate this trend. This gesture is a clear manifestation of maximizing the audience number though justifying decisions that reaches that goal. It also suggests the importance regarded to the mass audience as compared to those of the specialist audiences. The existence of competitors from around 200 channels poses clear threat to the BBC. The rising prices for talent and broadcasting fees make it even more difficult for the organization to keep pace with the competition. With this, the strategy was to exploit the opportunities associated with technology and the launching of new channels as well as websites. However, the revenue for talents and sporting rights was reduced by the investment on digital channels. Additionally, terrestrial channels are faced with the accusations of chasing ratings (p.59) BBC was accused of adopting market popular programs such as those of the ITV to acquire more audiences. The popularization of the UK broadcasting industry also led to lesser ground breaking programmers because they are too risky in an industry that has become obsessed in ratings.  Hence, good quality programmers are less likely to be produced. Football is considered a potential source of ratings. However, it is catered for on other channel which questions the bidding of huge amounts of license fee money to increase the ratings. Another source of ratings is the talent pool for the broadcasting industry. During the recent years, BBC find it particularly difficult to retain its key names due to the huge payments offered by independent companies. While these companies can afford the prices of big names, BBC cannot justify the attempt to rival with the figures. Although, BBC had the advantage against other competitors in terms of the opportunities they can offer through the range of their services (Tierney, nod, p.66). Key actors have the chance to perform and develop in the various programmers and take advantage of the BBC brand. Moreover, BBC products and British talents are showcased in the new channels for UK and the global audiences. Furthermore, the restructuring shifted the focus to cost reduction. While the retention of key talents is essential, BBC has failed to develop its stars. Conversely, it is also believed that key talents are overexposed in the organization rarely giving opportunities for new talents to emerge. The BBC Talent Campaign addressed the problem of scarce talent while it endeavors to retain its established talents as well (Tierney, nod, p.68). The uneasiness in the balance of ratings against public service appears to influence the decisions made by BBC. As a Global Provider             The role of public service broadcasting such that of BBC is important in a world where fewer organizations dominate the global media. It maintains diversity and the independence of its news. In addition to this, the freedom from market pressures allows it produce high quality programmers to suit the range of audiences. Lastly, it ensures the free availability of quality news and current affairs programmed to the general public (Tierney, nod, p.88)             However, it becomes a problem for public service broadcasters to find a clear role in this landscape. With its massive and guaranteed funding, BBC is better positioned to succeed than others. It has expanded in the international market while operating in the national framework. One of the factors that led BBC from its niche role is the licensee fee funding mechanism. This encouraged various organizations to compete for more audiences. Therefore it needs to offer entertainment that will attract audiences, competing with other commercial organizations to reduce its public service remittance. Also, BBC promotes a worldwide respect for the quality of its programmers and its factual reporting through the World Service. This service is independent from government interference and has been the source of news in other countries.             Indeed, the global reach of the corporation continue to expand. Through the commercial efforts of the BBC Worldwide, the corporation gained access to more international audiences with its new alliances. In as early as 1997, BBC has signed an agreement with Discovery to create a strong force in factual broadcasting. The UK was also launched in Australia showcasing BBC’s entertainment and drama. Based on the BBC figures, about 280 million people around the globe are regular audiences to their services (Tierney, nod, p.70). Because of this BBC became one of the largest broadcasters worldwide.             The BBC is optimistic that these activities will supplement the revenues needed for the license fee. However the expansion of its commercial activities questions the corporation’s commitment to public service broadcasting. It is claimed by many that the management wanted to turn it into a commercial organization. Another argument was the attempt to make the corporation a public service broadcaster and commercial company all together.             Ultimately, the success of the corporation as a national broadcaster impedes its effort to penetrate the global market. For one, the commissioning in six to ten top programmers in the British tradition is against the needs of foreign buyers of 26. Additionally, the requirement from the government to include parts of the programmers to be done in the region holds back the export. This is due to the difficulty of the international viewers to understand them. In general, the media industry has failed to make use of new markets which resulted to others gaining access. The demand for content was eventually filled by US broadcasters since UK broadcasters failed to supply them. The increasingly competitive media landscape supports the expansion programmers of the BBC to sustain its existence. On the other hand, the degree of its expansion weakens the corporation’s public service role as well as its justification for the license fee. Recommendations on the Decision Making Process for BBC BBC has been and continues to become one of the most significant players in the new knowledge drive economy. It is rich in terms of intangible and intellectual assets; has a strong brand name at least among the older consumers; a strong culture and values which is hard to imitate for the competitors. Today, the question that challenges the organization is how to make use of these assets given that so much of its aspects is changed and shaped to the pre digital economy. Within the next few years, the corporation will certainly face a new range of competitors. As such, the BBC must demonstrate the justification for their license fee in terms of innovation. The public investment on BBC should deliver pay off with their ability to innovate. This does not only mean innovation in the content but the creation of content which cannot be delivered by the market. The BBC can develop new forms of media and delivery through digital and broadband services that distribute the content among different platforms to the whole population (‘The BBC in the Knowledge Economy’, 2000). The digital world also offers opportunities for the BBC to become the world’s most trusted guide to information. Because of its funding, BBC can provide high quality content which helps strengthen its reputation. Along with this, BBC will also have to innovate its business models. Thus, becoming an innovator of the media products entails the innovation of the organization to offer incentives and rewards for talents. The pay off with these innovations will manifest not only in high quality programmers but also in the creation of jobs and businesses (‘The BBC in the Knowledge Economy’, 2000)             While making the most of its reputation, it must also develop a greater capacity for entrepreneurship. First, it must develop is ability to sense opportunities that may be overlooked by other competitors. Due to the focus on the large markets, corporations oftentimes fail to notice emerging opportunities. In this regard, BBC must invest in learning systematically about the appearance of market places, technologies and customers. It must also be able to mobilize resources to embrace these emerging opportunities through funds that will back talents and ideas. Additionally, the BBC will have to rethink the kinds of rewards it can offer to its talents. The past years have indicated the failure of the corporation to retain its key talents thus leading to enormous loses. It must realize that the competition lies not on the product but on the labor market. Remembering the lessons from the past will ultimately prevent the occurrence of flawed decisions for the corporation.             The relationship between the old and the new BBC is also a crucial factor. While the old practices may guide the corporation in making decisions, it must not strangle the new ones by imposing outmoded procedures. For the management, there will be issues regarding the incentives for the staff working in the different aspect of the business. In the new business, talent will be rewarded increasingly. However if such opportunities are provided to the minority of its staff this may cause conflict with those working in the old part of the business.             Moreover, the ability to bring traditional public service using old and new formats will depend on the ability of the corporation to generate funds from its commercial activities. Critics of BBC may accuse it for using the public money in funding new businesses. This question has continued to haunt the corporation over the years. However, the future of the corporation will also depend on its ability to bridge commerce and public service which signifies the old and the new media(‘The BBC in the Knowledge Economy’, 2000). Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Sample Essay The British Broadcasting Corporations Represents a formof Broadcasting which is Informed by the Principle of Public Services

British Broadcasting Corporation Overview The British Broadcasting Corporations represents a form of broadcasting which is informed by th...

BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS ( BT )

Introduction The report is about British Telecom and presentation of the core activity that it should implement during hard times.  This largely includes definition of the project that is proposed with few reasons for selecting the approach adopted.  Further, it also reviews justification for the project with the project’s proposed methodology.  With this, it is expected to produce planned outcomes and financial implications for the organization.   The Current Problem British telecommunications (BT) is a UK-based company that operates in 170 countries with principal stakes in networked IT services, telecommunications services and other broadband/ internet products ( 2007).  In December 2006, it admitted that it has difficulties in managing the pension fund as life expectancy of pensioners has improved ( 2002).  At least £3.4B had added to its pension burden and the problem was intensified by BT’s failure to resolve government negotiations regarding saving BT’s liabilities in case of collapse ( 2006).  Pending approval of splitting BT’s pension fund to mitigate the situation, the strategy would prevent the telecommunications giant from spending up to £3B over the next decade.  The split will specifically classify guaranteed pension to non-guaranteed ones in to two companies for BT to extend payment of the other half beyond ten years.  However, the split is not yet approved by shareholders, government authorities and most especially the pensioners themselves. The Current Solution BT is operating in an international environment and also invested its pension fund in many countries among others such as US, Canada, Italy, UK, Switzerland and Japan while holding cash reserves in respect of the asset ( 2007).  In effect, the pension fund of the company is exposed to different and wide-range of risk and return scenarios.  The political, social, technological and the social characteristics of such countries are variables affecting the ability of the fund to protect pension holders.  Different rules in these countries have their own purposes particularly adjusting to what the country requires.  As a result, the pension fund undergoes implications that can diversify its risks given a specific level of return.    By going international, BT is able to take advantage of exploiting different country characteristics.  Pensions are vital part of the economy and also cornerstone of why the working class is sharing voluntarily some part of their income for their future retirement.  In effect, pension funds should not go bankrupt or the company and government regulators would face criticisms from the people.  Through internationalization of pension funds, BT is able to hedge risks such as the current situation.  This is specific to the company and UK economy.  By letting the fund circulate in different economies, the need for splitting the fund is not too sudden.  Most importantly, BT has other options when negotiations fail to approve its proposed split.  Diversifying in different countries let BT to increase it alternative strategic decisions.   On the contrary, long-term risks such as conflict between two main destination of pension funds like US or say Switzerland can cause devastating effects to the supposedly advantages of international pension funds.  For example, US holding to such funds are 40% due to its stable economy while Switzerland holds 20%.  In the advent of future conflict, these huge investments can be disrupted and their return-risk performance can be adversely affected.  However, such hypothetical case is a very extreme case.  It may only happen in case of war between developed countries or disunity among Western and Eastern groups in terms of fighting terrorism or nuclear threats.    Industry Five Forces   General Forces Specific Forces Rating Threat of new entrants Barriers to entry   ·   Economies of scale High ·   Product differentiation Medium to High ·   Capital requirements High ·   Switching costs Medium to High ·   Access to distribution channels Medium to High ·   Cost of disadvantages independent of scale High Governing policy High Expected Retaliation High Bargaining power of suppliers   Low Bargaining power of buyers   Low Threat of substitute products   Low to Medium Intensity of rivalry among competitors ·   Numerous or equally balanced competitors High ·   Slow industry growth High to Medium  ·   High fixed costs or high storage costs High ·   Lack of differentiation or low switching costs Medium to High ·   High strategic stakes High ·   High exit barriers High     As explained, an attractive industry is one that can provide the platform for a firm to earn above average returns from its invested capital ( 2001).  An attractive industry has high entry barriers, low bargaining power of suppliers and buyers, low threats of substitute products, and not-so-fierce rivalry among competitors.  As shown by the ratings, BT would likely be able to obtain positive outcomes in global telecommunications industry disrupted mainly from high intensity of rivalry among its future competitors and partly the threat of substitute products like NTL.  NTL is also a UK-based company and operating in UK soil but is headquartered and listed in the US ( 2005 ).  Its businesses are broadband, digital television, telephony, content and communications services with 50% consumer and 85% business customers within UK.  In effect, the focus of proposed solution to ease the financial difficulty of BT should be something that is customer-oriented to minimize rivalry and maintain leadership not only in UK but also in the world industry.    The Proposed/ Re-Enforcement Solution             Customer service is a source of competitive advantage ( 2000).  According to  (cited in  1997), quality is an insufficient source of best net value that makes customer service an augmentation of the uncompleted value strategy ().  In this veil, the ACA Group definition of customer service can be accepted all throughout this paper.  Excellent customer service (ECS) is the ability to exceed customer expectations in a continuous manner (cited in ).  The first part of our discussion will identify customer service requirements for firms to operate within the borders of ECS.  The second part will lead us to develop and apply different methods for evaluating customer service quality in different industries.  It should be clear that proper planning, implementation, measurement and improvement of a certain customer service strategy is implied in this paper.  Also, it is assumed that firms are rational, that is, they build bounded strategies.  Further, they are operating under perfect competition to settle market power issues that could deem ECS less useful.                Understand the customers.  This is the most obvious and primary task for a firm.  There are four basic consumer aspects to know, also called four C’s; namely, customer solution, cost, convenience and communication ( 1990 ).  Customer solution is related to differentiation business-level strategy.  The latter is a condition in which firms should offer products that customers perceive to be valuable at an acceptable price ( 1980 ).  However, when a firm aspires for ECS, customer solution should not end after delivery of the product even the firm is confident of its design and quality.  ECS triggers extended customer evaluation process, that even after sales, the buyer is continuously testing the quality of the product especially in the aspect of durability.  In effect, the firm should include before-sales ECS features such as free-test, security seals in products packages and product description.  These are not only for eye-catching purposes, but more importantly, to aid customers to build rational expectations.  Further, the point-of-sales should include knowledgeable and confident salespeople in order to maintain the expectation initially created.  Lastly, there should be an after sales service like service-warranties, money back offers and return-exchange policies to resolve complaints which could arise from the first two stages, or possibly from, the product/ service (P/ S) itself.               Customer cost is related to cost leadership business strategy in which firms should offer P/ S with lower-than-competition cost at acceptable features ( 1980 ).  Through efficiency of and cost-savings from primary and secondary activities in the value chain, cost leadership can be attained (, ,  2003 ).  Cost requirement in ECS, however, could involve additional cost relief for customers outside plant operations and efficiency reasons.  This becomes possible within marketing rationale implemented through P/ S discounts, bulk-buying incentives and freebies.  Such would actually mean aggressive advertising or even an indication of a price war to protect margins from competition.  On using cost as an ECS mechanism, in the contrary, firms should prevent to overtake the market of an industry leader, trail in innovation feats or get its P/ S under perceived devaluation in quality.                           Customer convenience is the counterpart of place or distribution channel in firms’ view.  According to  (2000), having a strong channel can lead to success in marketing ().  There are different kinds of channels to choose from; namely: direct selling, telemarketing, e-commerce, wholesaler, retailer or through agents.  Each of these has their own strength and weaknesses.  For example, selling through retailers can support ECS in terms of costing as there is stiff competition and players want to gain market share.  But as the P/ S of the firm is scattered over a large geographical area and sold in different markets, lack of monitoring would lead to mishandling and wrong advertising.  The efforts of before-sales discussed earlier will be undermined and P/ S would be perceived with less value.  However, convenience is a common remark for retailers due to accessibility, over-the-counter payment and chance to bargain.               The task of a firm is to choose channels that provide the highest contribution to ECS.  Channels have varying customer privileges like accessibility (retailers), security (wholesalers, malls), interactivity (e-commerce) and support (direct selling, agents).  Aside from general privileges, complementary services of such channels need to be evaluated like the payment process, building ergonomics, staff attitude and other channel-specific policies.  And finally, customer communication reciprocally refers to the promotion and advertising system of a firm.  This last element of customer understanding endeavor (see figure 1) is at the heart, if not the brain (in literal terms), of the process.  This is because it addresses the questions such as “Do customers kept informed about the P/ S features in an understandable manner?” and “Do firms listen to the customers?” ( 2000 ).                                    Imperfect information is written all throughout economic books and other applicable academics.  Communication minimizes imperfect information for the firm to advance, although in smaller distance, towards perfect costumer relations.  Thus, it is crucial to choose specific communication media that provides the platform which effectively support the two questions of .  For example, in resolving the former, advertising media (print-ad like billboards and magazines, audio and video, internet, commercials, etc.) should suit the general environment (see below) above anything else.  Without such caution, the P/ S communication may only be viewed as taboo, unhealthy ad and would not serve its purpose ( 2003).  ECS requires firm messages to be sent according to the resources and capabilities of the firm.  To do this, the cost of advertising media and the content should be balanced to the core competencies of the firm.                      Understand the general environment and competition.  After determining the nature of expectation about the P/ S of a firm, the planning stages of ECS is half-finished.  It is likely that meeting what customers expected would lead to increase in demand after implementation.  However, time is not stagnant as the environment and competition continues to change that “shocks” bound firm strategies to mediocrity.  Of course, it should be prerequisite that a firm planning on ECS has financial and business capability to survive during environmental transitions to continue the strategy.  People are naturally non-contended in improvements as time passed-by that addressing four C’s under ECS tend to be costly, complicated and evolutionary.  However, when a firm can protect itself from (even exploit) the outside forces, it can minimize (even eradicate) these obstacles against ECS and still tap its benefits.    Protective actions can be done in two ways.  In a reactive manner, firms can lobby in the government to impede the entrance of dump products within the national borders.  This can sustain ECS practices of local firms since product features and prices are according to local standards and competition.  The ECS competition is more predictive and is hindered by foreign advancement that can cause strategy distortions and loose of focus.  In a pro-active manner, they can use economic indicators and industry statistics to have a deeper look in the level of consumption, price of raw materials and cost of borrowing.  This can enhance production scheduling, financing of different projects and formation of alliances as well as rationalizing ECS.  Without shield to outside forces, the internal operations of the firm can become vulnerable as it has always had to react (. 2003 ).  External monitoring and internal reorganization (if necessary) should be the mind-set to maintain ECS plan.   Exploitative actions can take two forms.  First, firms can formulate principled move to purchase the latest technology available in the industry to gain first mover advantage.  By doing so, customer expectation will be exceeded instantly without creating organizational stress through innovation.  In addition, this state can be sustained as long as the mass technological acquisitions are delayed relative to the original acquirer.  This is in accordance to the indefinite satisfaction rule of consumers.  Second, the firm can consider corrupt move especially at times of tight rivalry (. 2003 ).  It can “pirate” key managers from its immediate competitors by offering higher salaries and more lucrative benefits.  In doing the former, customer service will be likely perceived as above expectation as P/ S, especially the technology-based ones, are new to customers while the second can add worth in decision-making and implementation of ECS.  In the contrary, the firm should be able to have liquidity and persuasive ability including plans to mitigate publicity and litigation regarding ethical practices.   Keep corporate direction closer to Direct Marketing.  According to  (cited in  1997), a firm should have business logic that address methods of customer access, emphasis on P/ S differentiation and approach of economic opportunities ().  Direct marketing (DM) can improve and maintain the logic towards ECS.  DM is like a face-to-face (B2B and B2C) approach only with the use of efficient platforms and streamlined corporate system ( 2003).  When combined, the ECS requirement discussed above leads to DM.  Its core strength and firm benefit is derived from communication outcomes (see figure 1 again) wherein the responses of consumers and communication performance of the business (the two vital questions of ) are kept in a database.  The environmental condition is exploited because interactivity from e-commerce is necessary to maximize DM capability (like Dell).  Customer solution, cost and convenience are easier to resolve as DM is bound to minimize complaints that subsequently builds learning curve.  As customers are the most reliable source (but also the most dynamic) of environmental and competitor survey, DM can eliminate research costs and risk of litigation and reputation (in corrupt moves).                                                It is common to hear a customer comparing the service of one firm to another.  In addition, they oftentimes argue about the improvement in economic indications or consumer rights.  Above all, points of improvement and maintenance in terms of customer service strategy can be easily derived from the recorded complaints.  Four C’s and outside forces can be readily directed to what customer wants and needs.  In an effective way, expectations are resolved without deteriorating trust ( 1997 ) while monitoring for consistent excellent service is possible due to real-time communication of any deviation to ECS.  Actually, DM is the perfect environment to successfully and efficiently implement before-sales, point-of-sales and after-sales information and services.  In addition, customer services are approached with the use of single corporate culture which will not only serve as a source of consistency but also sustainable competitive advantage due to its intangible property.              Conclusion By having competitive products, BT should be able to increase profitability and lessen the risk of being bankrupt.  Pension funds are very essential for a firm that employs thousands of workforces worldwide.  But if BT can increase the productivity of its workforce by focusing operations and strategies towards customer satisfaction, the risks attached to pension funds will be supported by increasing returns to the bottom-line.  Since pension fund issues affect the overall structure and strategy of BT, the most efficient way to solve it is to relate the problem to the solution, that is, relate the human resources to productivity by having a customer-oriented tactic.  The focus on customer service is the core step BT would implement to ease financial burden as well as continue to be competitive in the global telecommunication industry against rivals.               Bibliography Books   Discussion Paper     Journals/ Magazines     Electronic Sources   Appendix Attach 1: Customer Understanding Endeavor and ECS Diagram         Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS ( BT )

Introduction The report is about British Telecom and presentation of the core activity that it should implement during hard times. This...

Success Story of British Telecom PLC in Strategic Employee Management

Success Story of British Telecom PLC in Strategic Employee Management Globalization in the midst of developing trends in internet technology users inducing a paradigm shift in employment practices in the corporate workforce. Most companies, in particular corporations, focus to meet their allotted budget limits motivate the added concerns in downsizing company costs. Recent years witnessed the debilitating effects causing drastic increase in unemployment in the course of the global crisis. To effectively respond towards minimizing unemployment as the strategic approach to mitigate these debilitating effects and for companies to survive for their existence operating within their respective financial bounds implemented payroll cost cutting as a primary mechanisms to meet budgets for medium to large companies. To an effect payroll cuts allotted to employees even in the biggest firms effectuated a degenerating trend for the employee workforce. The impact these trends generate surface financial issues in addressing family needs while entrapped to meet social responsibilities with limited income and a constrained lifestyle that affect their children’s social welfare to an extent. Studies show a solution customized to save company costs surfaces the idea of telecommuting among the workforce yielding a chunk to cost savings and save the costs of stress to the environment by eliminating commutes to the workplace and meeting work efficiency. This also enables companies on their part to help their employees mitigate the increasing complexity of meeting family needs if otherwise commuting daily to work. Resolving family issues of employees contingent on corporate decisions whether to adopt the trend of telecommuting as a reliable solution attributes to the growing difficulty in filling family needs that challenge them in a unique way should they have minor dependents below a threshold age. In addition due to the economic effects of a globalized economy, acquisition of human resources entails high cost for the purpose to aid employees in caring their children while away, for example, should employees work in the conventional workplace remains a challenge. The wide angle swing of globalization constitutes has impaired to an extent the work-life balance and the less burdened lifestyle employees use to be accustomed to.  New life trends that result from these given circumstances still demand social responsibility of parents while working to meet financial needs of families at a reasonable margin, is evolving to be in a substantial risk. Thus it is imperative to address the work-life balance needed to maintain corporate social responsibility by meeting effectively with mechanism family needs while maintaining corporate governance integrity through a changed environment employing new work practices of the employee workforce in the corporate hierarchy. This is the goal precisely British Telecom PLC employs to strike a fine balance for employee sustainability while giving the incentives to employees to reap benefits of a comparative, paradigm work environment improved to efficiency. The company finds success upon implementing this evolving strategy into policy to achieve work-life balance while capitalizing human resources for corporate success. This ability attributes to the migration towards new work practices into a breakthrough enabling internet and mobile technology implementation (Quillinan, 2004,p 2). Liberalization of internet, voice and data communication technologies at increasing affordable cost margins and usage enable the feasibility of change to new forms of work environments. Derivative technological solutions from the Internet proliferate to the extent security mechanisms and enhance to more complex features resulting to a high capability enough to encrypt communication channels and transmit real time electronic data delivery with less sophisticated methods to set up. With this feature as a critical corporate asset, the added value draws the flexibility to shift the trends to install communication and security networks in virtual places without the necessity to perform work in conventional office spaces and to advance towards a more pervasive diversification but adopting with more cost effective solutions and reducing cost margins. Solutions like Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Personal Data Assistants, WiFihave deployed real time stream data to scales like those installed in office spaces showing evidence of technological advancement enabling to comply the demands corporate structures require. Developed facilitation for Local Area Networks and Virtual Private Networks enable businesses to interact flawlessly as network medium enclaves in the course of information flow and exchange at global scales employing these communication solutions. Being able to acquire and access the same pool of information at high speeds sought from the exogenous character of the Internet enable the possibilities to generate diverse exchange and download software platforms by Internet to access streamline media to promote unlimited information sharing and dissemination in workplace environments which usually require a complex connective network is employable now with efficiency-sized gadgets simply integrated in any virtual location. This encourages the flexibility to accommodate telecommuting by set ups which do not require a complex wiring network. Wireless solutions facilitated to address these problems eliminate office space needs then subsequently minimize overhead costs like rent is needed and set up data and voice communication solutions through broadband access. It only takes a virtual space to have it all for an office set up (British telecom, 2008,p.7). In addition internet technologies facilitated their capabilities further by derivative breakthrough features they naturally possess in terms of their magnanimous impact to generate real time data access among other business segments altogether that function through voice and data communication solutions on a global scale at a fingertip touch for corporate decision-making purposes. An example best illustrates this apply to technological solutions by Bloomberg software downloadable by Internet that employ all critical and time sensitive financial and company information at few steps to install that financial analysts rely on to extract and analyze data critical to the decision-making process in investment banking on  minute update intervals in the markets.   Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Success Story of British Telecom PLC in Strategic Employee Management

Success Story of British Telecom PLC in Strategic Employee Management Globalization in the midst of developing trends in internet techno...