Monthly Archives: October 2014

No limits on length of calls with customers, a very lenient return policy and the ease at which employees can upgrade customers to VIP status all contribute to the exceptional customer service offered by Zappos, “America’s leading online shoe retailer.”

Now these tactics can be quite expensive on the firm, however do the costs outweigh the benefits? In the case of Zappos, who focus most of their attention on customer service, the advantages have exceeded the disadvantages.

Not only have they found that having good service helps retain customers, with the 160 hours of customer loyalty training their employees receive has also proven to improve their organizational culture within the business.

One thing that stuck out to me after reading this article was that a lot of business’ at times focus more on customer service and less on organizational culture. In fact, if the firms spends more time on helping to improve, diversify and strengthen their organizational culture, into a welcoming environment which favors equality and respects the time, wants and needs of everyone present in the working environment they may find it easier to provide better customer service. This is because employees will be more satisfied and motivated to do their job better.

A mind map connecting customer service and company culture.

Works Cited

Jacobs, Alexandra. “Happy Feet – The New Yorker.” The New Yorker. 14 Sept. 2014. Web. 29 Oct. 2014. <http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/09/14/happy-feet>.

Shnall, Tal. “Does Your Company Have Culture Ambassadors?” Leadership Cafe. 20 May 2014. Web. 29 Oct. 2014. <http://leadershipcafe.org/2014/05/20/does-your-company-have-culture-ambassadors/>.

MLA formatting by BibMe.org.

Henry Zhang’s blog post “Unlimited Vacation Days for Virgin Personal Staff”, surrounds a very interesting and often debated concept, the idea of a firm giving it’s employees the freedom to make their own decisions regarding their holidays and work hours. This topic is often debated as it pits an employee’s personal gain against the employee’s professional gain in the workforce. It questions whether an employee will or will not take advantage of such freedom at unsuitable times resulting as a cost to the business.

Henry, highlights in his post that Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Group’s boss has recently enforced this policy, where his staff consisting of 170 people could “take off whenever they want for as long as they want” as long as they feel that their absence will not damage their career and business in any way.

Now Henry makes two very good points in reference to Sir Branson’s decision, which I am in agreement with.

1)   This decision boosts employee moral, and increases employee retention.

2)   Sir Branson places himself in a great position to publicize his company in a positive light for no cost.

However in addition to this, I feel it’s also necessary to draw attention to the fact that ultimately this decision isn’t a publicity stunt at no cost. There is a reason why not all businesses implement such means that are likely to increase employee motivation. There are bound to be people who will take advantage of this freedom and this rule may make it harder of managers to deal with such employees.

Hence, I feel that the decision made has its pro’s and con’s, but for the most part I agree with Sir Branson’s decision of taking this implementation slowly by only implementing it in certain branches to start of with. This is a good way to ensure its effectiveness before taking the big decision of implementing this decision in all it’s branches and subsidiaries.

Sir Richard Branson

Works Cited

“Branson Offers Staff Unlimited Leave.” BBC News. BBC Business News, 24 Sept. 2014. Web. 14 Oct. 2014. <http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29356627>.

Zhang, Henry. “Henry Zhang’s Blog.” Henry Zhangs Blog. UBC, 26 Sept. 2014. Web. 14 Oct. 2014. <https://blogs.ubc.ca/henryzhang/>.

MLA formatting by BibMe.org.

BC Hydro’s $8-billion Site C hydroelectric megaproject has been a controversial topic recently. BC Hydro’s wants to expand and create a dam and a 1,100-megawatt hydroelectric generating station on First Nation’s territory, the Peace River in northeastern British Columbia. This is a bold move. I say this in reference to the article, where a few of the First Nation leaders express their issue’s with BC Hydro’s proposal. This is in terms of this action harming the environment and the territory that “would impair the (aboriginals) rights to fish, hunt and use the area for ceremonial purposes”.

This example is crucial in presenting to us the relevance of the external environment in making business decisions. The business before even suggesting such ideas must do a PEST analysis to see whether this idea of theirs will be accepted in the environment they operate in. Their views can even be further strengthened by looking at the opportunities and threats in a SWOT analysis.

Hence, knowing the external environment, and in this case the social aspects of the production area being First Nation Land, BC Hydro should weigh out the benefits and costs of this move in terms of publicity and social influence and then arrive at a decision whether to pursue this idea, as even though they may believe that this may have some social benefit, it may be a biased point of view.

An image of the Peace River in BC.

Works Cited

O’Neil, Peter. “First Nation chiefs to stage Site C showdown.” www.vancouversun.com. N.p., 18 Sept. 2014. Web. 5 Oct. 2014. <http://www.vancouversun.com/news/First+Nation+chiefs+stage+Site+showdown/10215965/story.html>.

“Peace.” Peace Valley. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2014. <http://cdn.agilitycms.com/british-columbia-magazine/Images/Galleries/peace-river/peace_gallery-noborder.jpg>.

MLA formatting by BibMe.org.

Staples closes down 15 of its 331 retail stores in Canada. Borders goes bankrupt. Both these companies got let down by the evolution of our modern day society into ecommerce. More and more stores are selling products online, even food is sold online. And hence, this progression is affecting many businesses, as they no longer fulfill the customer needs.

When I hear such news, I realize the importance of customer relationships to a business. A business having good customer relationships not only increases loyalty, but it also gives the business insight into the customer’s wants and needs, and this is critical for the business. It helps them innovate and improve their current or new products in order to keep up with the fast moving industries.

In the case of Staples, some stores of theirs didn’t do too well, especially as the industry became more online based, and Staples not so much. What is interesting to read however is how Staples is now tackling the issue and changing their methods in the tertiary sector, when it comes to actually supplying their product to the customers. They have innovated to have an in store pickup window for online orders etc. and hence analyzing the customers mindset is crucial, as they are the ones buying the products and need to be pleased.

Staples

Works Cited

News, CBC. “Staples closes 15 Canadian stores.” CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 1 Oct. 2014. Web. 5 Oct. 2014. <http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/staples-closes-15-canadian-stores-1.2783780>.

“Staples.” Staples. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2014. <http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/archives/sunnews/business/media/2011/06/20110621-130310-g.jpg>.

MLA formatting by BibMe.org.