Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul?
The general manager of a chauffeured limousine transport company is concerned about underperformance at the company's customer service call center. The eight-person call center handles almost all customer interaction including discussing company services with prospective customers, scheduling pickups, providing pricing, confirming appointments, and handling billing inquiries. Customers have complained about extended wait times to speak with someone and about abandoned calls. On the other hand, customer satisfaction with the firm's fleet vehicles and drivers is extremely high. The general manager worries that call center service quality will limit the company's ability to expand operations into new markets. The company's founder has asked the general manager to look into the problems and propose solutions. Students must analyze the capacity utilization and demand for the call center while also considering the costs of problems including abandoned calls.
Swot Analysis of "Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul?" written by Michael J. Roberts, Paul E. Morrison includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Call Center facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Customer service, Economy and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, technology disruption, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Call Center, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Call Center operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Call Center
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Technology & Operations field.
4. Making a Technology & Operations topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Call Center
Strengths Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Call Center in Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Call Center has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field
– Call Center is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Call Center in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Call Center in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Call Center has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Call Center has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Call Center in the sector have low bargaining power. Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Call Center to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Call Center is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Call Center has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Call Center
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Call Center does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Call Center is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Call Center to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Call Center to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Call Center has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Call Center needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Call Center 's lucrative customers.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Call Center is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Call Center is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Call Center supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul?, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Call Center vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul?, in the dynamic environment Call Center has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Call Center has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Need for greater diversity
– Call Center has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Call Center has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul?, is just above the industry average. Call Center needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul?, it seems that the employees of Call Center don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Call Center has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Call Center even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Opportunities Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Call Center can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Call Center can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Technology & Operations segment.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Call Center can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul?, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Call Center to increase its market reach. Call Center will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Call Center can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Buying journey improvements
– Call Center can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Call Center has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Call Center to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Call Center can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Call Center can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Call Center to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Call Center to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Technology & Operations industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Call Center can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Call Center can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Call Center has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Call Center to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? case study. Call Center can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? are -
Regulatory challenges
– Call Center needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Technology & Operations industry regulations.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul?, Call Center may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Technology & Operations .
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Call Center.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Call Center business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Call Center can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? .
Environmental challenges
– Call Center needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Call Center can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Call Center needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Call Center will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Technology & Operations field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Call Center can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Call Center demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Increasing wage structure of Call Center
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Call Center.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Call Center can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul? is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Call Center needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
