Strategic Planning & Strategy Formulation Case: Strategic Planning & Strategy Formulation

Case Assignment -- Comcast

Comcast's Current Strategy

Current Event Blog

Discussion Question: Strategy Planning and Formulation

Case

Strategy Implementation & Evaluation

Current Event Blog 4 -- Strategy Implementation & Evaluation

Discussion Question: Strategy Implementation and Evaluation

Reflective Discussion

Case: Strategic Planning & Strategy Formulation

Case Assignment -- Comcast

Comcast's Current Strategy

Comcast has developed a current business strategy that is completely focused on the customer. The company has positioned itself at the "intersection of media and technology" (Corporate.comcast.com, 2016). The company seems to be doing well and in 2015 the company had raised their dividend by 10%, for the eighth consecutive year.

The present strategy of the company is to focus on innovation and enhancing of customer experience and being innovative at the same time. The company claims that this strategy has paid off well for them. In fact, this business strategy of the company was adopted less than a year ago in May. To give their customers a unique experience when they deal with the company, Comcast started off by announcing hiring 5,500 new customer service executive over the next three years. The company also incorporated the customer service courteousness and helpfulness that us visible in the hospitality industry. Historically, Comcast is not very well-known for its customer service and its rivals like AT&T U-verse, Verizon FiOS and Century Link Prism were better known for their after sales, service, and customer handling professionalism. Hence this was a significant strategic change by the company.

As part of the enhanced customer service facilities and reduction of customer complaints, the company introduced a system where a customer can simply leave a message and an agent would call back the customer within a 15-minute time frame. The company has upgraded the communications system and call waiting has reduced by a staggering 18 times.

Increased remote monitoring the proper functioning of the set-top boxes and its routers has helped the company to keep the call volume under manageable limits even with a customer base of over 23 million. This customer centric strategy of the company has helped it to reduce customer complaints and increase customer satisfaction. An example is that the remote monitoring and control has enabled the company to solve problems before they happen as the company is able to know about the problem before it is about to happen. Another example is the targeting of tardy technicians so that they do not arrive even a minute late which draws a fine of $20 subtracted from the office where the technician works. This has reduced late appointments by 29%. The company also has equipped many of the trucks of technicians with GPS (Carter, 2016).

The company has been able to achieve healthy operational metrics and added 666,000 customer relationships which is 86% more compared to a year earlier (Corporate.comcast.com, 2016). The company also managed to achieve lower repeat tech visits and faster answering of phone calls. This strategy has helped the company to make gains in customer support and service in almost all the segments of video and internet.

Another strategic customer centric change is the forceful implementation of X1 service which is a cloud-based service and the company is hence able to easily and quickly update the platform to incorporate new features and enhancements.

To enhance the experience of the customers, the company recently introduced the Xfinity TV app that allows customers to turn their devices -- laptops, mobile or tablets, into TVs. Hence customers are able to view nearly the entire channel line-up on their devices. Even while customers are outside their homes, they are able to watch approximately 100 streamed live TV networks and get access to their DVR recordings.

The results were visible in the internet customer number where 1.4 million new high speed data customers were added in 2015 alone and was the best in the last 8 years. As a result of the above strategy the company claims that it has managed to drive growth of the company and increase revenue by 20% in 2015.

Analysis of the Current Strategy

The capability of an organization to anticipate and then adjust to the environmental changes is referred to as strategy or strategic change and is based on an open system of models. The preparation and how to respond to environmental changes in the future is the essence of strategic change and strategy (Collins & Winrow, 2010). The...

With the rivals seemingly doing good in terms of customer satisfaction, the company chose to strategize its operations with customer satisfaction at the ore. The company formulated strategies and means so that they are able to serve customers better and reduce customer complaints ("Strategic business planning: a dynamic system for improving performance & competitive advantage," 2003).
For this purpose, the company chose to be innovative. Realizing that satisfying customers was the ultimate in the cable business, the company adopted the strategy less than a year ago and claims to be successful in the results it got. While the revenues increased, customer calls became manageable and customers are reportedly more satisfied.

In any form of business, customers are the ultimate deciders. Customers are the ones who purchase products and services and help companies and firms to generate revenues. In competitive markets and industries, the companies and firms that can attract and hold on to customers more than other succeed and attain sustainability compared to those who cannot do so. Customers are the ones who help create or damage brand image and company reputation. In competitive environments and industries, creating a loyal band of customers is very critical and goes a long way in establishing companies financially (Jeyarathnam, 2008). A prime example is Apple whose loyal band of customers has kept the company at the top of the smart phone industry.

Hence to succeed in the highly competitive U.S. cable and entertainment industry, Comcast's decision to adopt a complete customer centric strategy is apt. the company has also sought to be innovative in attaining this. Apart from hiring 5,500 customer care executives, the company has undertaken a number of innovative strategies. The remote monitoring and control of set top boxes and routers and the solving of problems even before they occur to ensure reduced customer complaints and calls is an example of innovation. Another innovative step is the installation of GPS in the tech's trucks so that they can be monitored and ensure 100% call time adherence.

Recommendation

From the above discussions it is clear that the latest business process strategy adopted by Comcast is apt for the competitive U.S. cable industry. The strategy adopted by the company would go a long way in reestablishing its market share and lapping up more customers. It is advised that the company continue with the present strategy and conjure up more innovative solutions for the satisfaction of customers.

Current Event Blog 3

For this part of the question we select the news of the merger of Pfizer and Allergan which appeared in an article titled "Pfizer, Allergan Agree on Historic Merger Deal" in The Wall Street Journal on November 22, 2015. The article talks about the merger to two pharma companies Pfizer and Allergan and the value of the deal was more than $150 billion. The merger which is to be completed in 2016 would end up creating the world's biggest drug making company maker (Rockoff & Mattioli, 2015)

The deal between the two companies is very strategic. Pfizer is one of the larger pharma companies that is based in the U.S. In comparison Allergan is a smaller company and is based in Dublin in Ireland. This deal is what analysts call a reverse merger where the smaller company buys out the larger company 0- in this case Allergen buys out Pfizer. While this might sound somewhat surprising for many, this is one of the trends in modern business and a very strategic business move. Though technically the smaller company buys out the larger one, in truth the reigns of the new company formed by the merger or the takeover remains at the hands of the bigger company -- in this case Pfizer (Cooper & Finkelstein, 2009).

The strategic reason for the move by the American company Pfizer is to save taxes. Through the merger with Allergan, Pfizer would be able to move abroad and out of the U.S. and take advantage of the lower rates of corporate tax overseas. In this case the headquarters of the new company would be based in Dublin where the rates of corporate taxes are significantly lower than that in the U.S. The strategy by the U.S. company is to be able to save taxes and thereby generate more profits.

In the article, Pfizer Chief Executive Ian Read has been quoted to be saying that the high rates of corporate tax in…