Sprint
Sprint’s Inflexibility Hindering Growth
SCENARIO
Continuous and rapid customer growth is what will make a company successful and key to beating any leading competitors. Unfortunately for the Sprint Corporation, the numbers in customer growth are not where they need to be in order to keep up with their main competition, Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. Sprint is quickly losing their old customers faster than they can contract new ones. This lack of growth could be for a number of reasons, but specifically examined are the pricing wars. It isn’t that Sprint is not doing their part in customer satisfaction or keeping up with the changing technology and listening to their customers. Sprint revolutionized the next step in global technology by being the first company to provide 4G to their carriers. So why are they having issues growing their customer base or struggling to even retain the customers they do have?
ANALYSIS
“Sprint Corporation provides wireless communications services to consumers, businesses, and government users in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands” (Sprint Corporation Profile, 2014). These are all considered critical customers to the Sprint Corporation. A critical customer is defined as having “the greatest impact on product design, sales, and future growth opportunities” (Swink et al., 2011, p. 12). It is important that Sprint recognizes that their customers are considered critical customers because they are in a business where the customers shape the product and growth of the company. Having the ‘latest and greatest’ is so important to the materialistic society that is the United States and if a cell phone company cannot keep up with these demands, they will not hold the attention of the customers.
“It is important for operations managers to know what product features and delivery terms critical customers consider important, what they are willing to pay, and what they consider acceptable” (Swink et al., 2011, p. 29).
SCENARIO
Continuous and rapid customer growth is what will make a company successful and key to beating any leading competitors. Unfortunately for the Sprint Corporation, the numbers in customer growth are not where they need to be in order to keep up with their main competition, Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. Sprint is quickly losing their old customers faster than they can contract new ones. This lack of growth could be for a number of reasons, but specifically examined are the pricing wars. It isn’t that Sprint is not doing their part in customer satisfaction or keeping up with the changing technology and listening to their customers. Sprint revolutionized the next step in global technology by being the first company to provide 4G to their carriers. So why are they having issues growing their customer base or struggling to even retain the customers they do have?
ANALYSIS
“Sprint Corporation provides wireless communications services to consumers, businesses, and government users in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands” (Sprint Corporation Profile, 2014). These are all considered critical customers to the Sprint Corporation. A critical customer is defined as having “the greatest impact on product design, sales, and future growth opportunities” (Swink et al., 2011, p. 12). It is important that Sprint recognizes that their customers are considered critical customers because they are in a business where the customers shape the product and growth of the company. Having the ‘latest and greatest’ is so important to the materialistic society that is the United States and if a cell phone company cannot keep up with these demands, they will not hold the attention of the customers.
“It is important for operations managers to know what product features and delivery terms critical customers consider important, what they are willing to pay, and what they consider acceptable” (Swink et al., 2011, p. 29).
References: Brown, A. (2013, JULY 13). Sprint 's problems, brought into new clarity. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2013/07/30/sprints-problems-brought-into-new-clearity-fall-to-billionaire-led-softbank-to-solve/ Fortune 500. (2013). Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2011/full_list/ Handford, R. (2014, February 11). Sprint reports $1b loss as growth suffers. Retrieved from http://www.mobileworldlive.com/sprint-sees-gain-net-adds-shrinking-postpaid-subs Sprint corporation profile. (2014, March). Retrieved from http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=S Profile Swink, M., Melnyk, S. A., Cooper, M. B., Hartley, J. L. (2011). Managing Operations across the Supply Chain. McGraw-Hill Irwin, New York, NY