Operations Manager: Apple and Vodafone
Answer:
Introduction
Customer benefit is an important concept for any business. One fact that needs to be noted is that is customers are the source of profitability and growth for any business. Customer benefit is the value of the product that is beneficial to customer and refers to the elements and attributes of a product that gives something in value to a customer (Cina 2013). These benefits vary in magnitude and size and depend on the type of a product. Customer benefit is the yardstick and is directly correlation to customer satisfaction. The benefits provided by a product affect the customer buying behaviour.
Customer benefit package of a product determines the success, profitability and the growth of a company. A customer will prefer those product that will provide them maximum benefit and utility. In such circumstances, it will become important and critical that the product is beneficial to a customer. This differentiates a successful and reputed company from a small and unsuccessful company. It reflects the ability of the company to understand the need and preference of the customers. The report is prepared on telecommunication industry using Apple I Phone and Vodafone. It will conduct a comparative study between these companies.
Apple
Apple is a reputed American multination telecommunication company that deals in variety of products. The company is one of the leading names in the telecommunication industry. The company provides great utility and satisfaction to the customers and has earned a brand name in the process. Relatively good product portfolio and innovative technology of the company have made the company a trendsetter and a household name. The company enjoys a good profitability level and good brand loyalty. The company has a strong brand name and provides effective customer benefit scheme that makes the company have string customer base (Nolan, Mitchell and Doyle-Baker 2014).
Customer benefit package of Apple
|
Benefit |
Value given by customers |
|
Quality product |
10 |
|
Innovative Features |
9 |
|
Product portfolio |
7 |
|
After sales service |
7 |
One careful analysis, one can see that there various benefits that is provided to the customers and this reason makes the Apple a successful company and a household name. One of the major benefits that the company provides is the quality of the product. If it is evaluated, then it can be seen that the company has comparative advantage in terms of product value. The company incorporates innovative features in the product and makes sure that the product provide great amount of utility to the customers. The attractive and innovative features of the product are a contributing reason for the high demand of the company’s products. Another factor that contributes to the success of the company is the good product portfolio of the company. It is known that Apple offers various products to the customers. The customer can depend on the quality of the product and the value that a product provides to a company. The brand value also encourages the consumers to purchase Apple products. The customers derive major benefit from this fact. Online communication is possible through official website of Apple. The online channel provides the customers convenience in terms of purchasing and the choice that is available to them. Apple also provides customer benefit in terms of after sales service to the customers. The research and development team of Apple are efficient and cater to the needs and requirements of the customers.
Vodafone
Vodafone is a famous British telecommunication multinational company and its headquarter is situated in London. The company enjoys good reputation and has a good profitability index. It has a strong customer base. The company offers various benefits to the customer and its operation is majorly customer oriented. It conducts deep and intricate study on the customer taste and preference. This helps the company to cater to the needs and preferences of the company.
Customer benefit package of Vodafone
|
Benefits |
Customer Value |
|
Brand Value |
10 |
|
Exclusive offers |
9 |
|
Broadband connection |
9 |
|
Convenient payment method |
8 |
|
Efficient top up method |
8 |
|
Quality Service |
10 |
Vodafone is a British Multinational Company that is situated in London. It has a customer oriented approach and offers various benefits to the customers (Nalwaya, N. and Vyas, R., 2014).The customer benefit package include attractive and exclusive offers that are given to the customers. The broadband connection of Vodafone and provides great speed and internet connectivity to the customers. The Company puts a great stress on brand value and it enjoys the various benefits that it gets from brand recognition. The effective payment methods and top up methods are a source of boon to the customers. Customers do not have to stand in queue and can effectively pay online. The top up systems of the company is highly innovative and efficient for the company. The Company is based on customer satisfaction and thus, it embarks on the point that the customers get maximum benefit from the company. The customer care service is highly efficient and understanding. A very professional approach is taken to escalate the issues of the customers. The issues and concerns of the customers are heard and attended by the customer care officials. The queries of the customers are effectively answered by the officials. Thus, these are the customer benefit package provided to the customers.
Comparison of customer benefit package between Apple and Vodafone
One comparing the customer benefit package between Apple and Vodafone, one can see striking similarities and differences. Both the company enjoy good brand image and enjoys brand loyalty. On comparing the customer benefit package between the two companies, one can see the difference in the quality service and after sales service. The prices of the services of Vodafone are high. The reason behind this fact is that the quality of the services of it is supreme and provides quality services to the customers. On the other hand Apple offers major benefits to the customer by providing quality product. The company employs innovative features to its products strategies to encourage customers to buy more products and consequently increases the demand s of the product. The company has diverse product portfolio and offers different type of products to the customers (Kraus, K. and Strömsten, T., 2016). The innovative strategies of apple are comparatively high compared to Vodafone.
Value Chain Design of Apple
(Bergvall-Kåreborn and Howcroft 2013)The human resource management stresses on the need of employee motivation. The employees are encouraged to participate in the decision making process. The feedback of the employees is regarded. The incentive and remuneration system is properly arranged and fixed to increase the morale of the employees. Proper training programs are made for the employees. The company has strong cash positions (Hollensen 2015).
The IT element is linked with the supply chain. There is instant availability and access to sales information of all the stores due to high level of technology. Patent filing is another technological advancement of the company.
The company has cross border relationship with China. There is proper contact and positive relationship with suppliers. The in-bound logistics of the company is highly integrated and linked with the distribution (Melnyk, Narasimha and DeCampos 2014). There are automated receiving systems in the in-bound logistics. It delegates raw materials acquisition. The outbound logistics is very efficient and effective. There is direct shipment. There is effective conceptualization of the product. Good quality of the product is also an element of effective value chain design. Environmental conservation practices are encouraged and customer service is major element of the value chain design.
Flaws in the value chain of Apple
Flaw in the value chain design is the high price in comparison to the rivals. The company needs to improvise in this field.
Value Chain Design of Vodafone
The value chain design is integrated and efficient. The company banks on the brand image that it enjoys and has strong customer loyalty. The customer is luxurious and offers premium quality services to the public. The human resource management plays vital role in the value chain design of the company. Attractive and good remuneration package is provided to the employees and the staffs are effectively trained that allow them to provide high quality service to the customers.
Technology has a major role in the value chain design of the company. 4G connection is one of the major results of technological advancement of the company. The company has good online payment schemes and effective top cup schemes.
The company has improved broadband connection and uses good promotional activity. Social media is one of the major advertisement platforms for the company. It maintains good public relations and provides premium quality service. Good promotional activities and updated public relations are highlighting factors of the company (Kraus, K. and Strömsten, T., 2016).
Flaws in value chain design of Vodafone
There are certain flaws in the value design of Vodafone. High price is the major flaw in the value chain design. The high price of the service is the major flaw in the value chain design of the company.
Comparison of value chain both the companies
Both the companies are global giants and work in the same industry. Both the companies stress on customer satisfaction and profit. However, Apple needs to focus on reducing price, while Vodafone needs to stress on price reduction (Yue, Rao and Ingram 2013).
Operational Strategy of Apple
The mission of Apple is to help the company gain competitive advantage through improved product features and customer satisfaction and good profitability index. The company stresses on heavy research and development strategy to improve the innovative features to the public. The company focuses on quality goods and unique design of goods. The company focuses on efficient leadership by managing inventories and minimizing stock outs. The company invests in technology to improve the online channel. The company focuses on strategic relationship with suppliers. Quality management is one of the major attentions given by the company. The company also focuses on human resource and employs the correct person for the correct person so that the company can reap the benefit (Holweg and Helo 2014). The company focuses in inventory management and supply chain management so that the stocks are maintained and the company can expand and grow in the process.
The focus of the company is product, customer satisfaction and operational activity and technology.
Operational strategy of Vodafone
The operational strategy of Vodafone is to improvise business so that it can provide customer satisfaction. The company intends on improvising on pricing strategy. The company wants to improvise the pricing strategy by introducing new offers at low prices. The company intends on improvising the brand value (Nalwaya and Vyas 2014). The company depends on quality management. The company makes a conscious effort on improving the brand value of the company. Effective service and cost leadership are two major focus of operation of the company (Proctor 2013).
The focus of the company is customer, operation, finance and innovation. The company wants to maximize profit and reduce costs.
Conclusion
It can be seen that customer benefit package is an important element and both the companies lay stress on product value and the benefit that a product provides to a customer. The customer benefit package depicts the fact price, quality, after sales service, brand value and reliability are some of the benefits that the company provides to the customers. The value chain design also depicts the success factor of the company. The operational strategy depicts customer oriented approach and strategies adopted focus on customer, profitability and innovation by both the companies.
Reference List
Bergvall-Kåreborn, B. and Howcroft, D., 2013. ‘The future’s bright, the future’s mobile’: a study of Apple and Google mobile application developers.Work, Employment & Society, p.09
Chen, W., Kucukyazici, B., Verter, V. and Sáenz, M.J., 2015. Supply chain design for unlocking the value of remanufacturing under uncertainty.European Journal of Operational Research, 247(3), pp.804-819.
Cina, C., 2013. Creating an effective customer satisfaction program. Journal of Consumer Marketing.
Claycomb, C. and Martin, C.L., 2013. Building customer relationships: an inventory of service providers’ objectives and practices. Journal of Services Marketing.
Hollensen, S., 2015. Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.
Holweg, M. and Helo, P., 2014. Defining value chain architectures: Linking strategic value creation to operational supply chain design. International Journal of Production Economics, 147, pp.230-238.
Kotler, P., Keller, K.L., Manceau, D. and Hémonnet-Goujot, A., 2015.Marketing management (Vol. 14). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Kraus, K. and Strömsten, T., 2016. Internal/inter-firm control dynamics and power—A case study of the Ericsson-Vodafone relationship. Management Accounting Research.
Kundu, A., 2013, December. Specific Absorption Rate evaluation in apple exposed to RF radiation from GSM mobile towers. In Applied Electromagnetics Conference (AEMC), 2013 IEEE (pp. 1-2). IEEE.
Melnyk, S.A., Narasimhan, R. and DeCampos, H.A., 2014. Supply chain design: issues, challenges, frameworks and solutions. International Journal of Production Research, 52(7), pp.1887-1896.
Menguc, B., Auh, S. and Yannopoulos, P., 2014. Customer and supplier involvement in design: The moderating role of incremental and radical innovation capability. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 31(2), pp.313-328.
Nalwaya, N. and Vyas, R., 2014. Merger and Acquisition in the Telecom Industry: An Analysis of Financial Performance of Vodafone Plc and Hutchison Essar. Journal of Marketing & Communication, 9(3), pp.67-73.
Nolan, M., Mitchell, J.R. and Doyle-Baker, P.K., 2014. Validity of the Apple iPhone®/iPod Touch® as an accelerometer-based physical activity monitor: a proof-of-concept study. Journal of physical activity & health, 11(4).
Proctor, T., 2013. Internal marketing and its basis for sound customer relationship management. Journal of Management & Marketing in Healthcare.
Simatupang, T.M., Piboonrungroj, P. and Williams, S.J., 2014. The Emergence of Value Chain Thinking. Proceedings of T-LOG.
Weill, P. and Woerner, S.L., 2013. Optimizing your digital business model.MIT Sloan Management Review, 54(3), p.71.
Yue, L.Q., Rao, H. and Ingram, P., 2013. Information spillovers from protests against corporations a tale of Walmart and target. Administrative Science Quarterly, 58(4), pp.669-701.
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