SZTC: Customer-Preferred to Customer-Centric

SZTC: Customer-Preferred to Customer-Centric

Mr. Phillips, CEO of Sunder-Zealand Telecom Corporation (SZTC), a Government-owned Telecom Service Operator in Sunder-Zealand, was in a dilemma as the revenue and profit were plummeting continuously. SZTC provides telecom services for example, basic telephone, mobile services, etc., catering to retail and corporate customers all over the country. Customers were not satisfied with its services which resulted in declining market share, revenue and profit. SZTC registered loss for the first time and lost its No.1 position. Mr. Phillips called for a meeting of the Board of Directors and informed that the Minister of Telecom Affairs, Government of Sunder- Zealand had called to caution that in case SZTC fails to regain business within two years, it would be sold and the Minister had also insisted on a revival roadmap at the earliest.

Mr. Phillips sought advice from the Directors on how to go ahead. One of the Directors suggested that SZTC should hire a reputed consultancy and seek advice. Few others were against the idea and demanded an internal assessment through brainstorming and discussions at various levels while focusing attention and resources to enterprises and retail customers separately, with emphasis on marketing particularly to corporate customer segment. After long deliberations on both the ideas it was finally decided that SZTC would hire Anantya Consultancy.

Anantya Consultancy conducted an exploratory research on the telecom industry and SZTC as the first step in the direction and then sought data on the number of complaints against SZTC and its competitors. They examined how SZTC handled complaints and customer feedback forms. Additionally, researchers from Anantya Consultancy interviewed industry experts, competitors and randomly selected SZTC customers to have extensive information on SZTC and to identify the loopholes in SZTC’s services..................

SZTC: Customer-Preferred to Customer-Centric

Synopsis

This case study is a hypothetical interpretation to explain the concepts of Service Delivery, Service Quality, and Ways of Service Recovery Options. The case study is about a Government-owned telecom company Sunder-Zealand Telecom Company (SZTC), in an emerging market (Sunder-Zealand). SZTC was passing through a tough phase. After being the market leader for a couple of decades, SZTC was losing out to competition on the count of inefficient service delivery. Customers of SZTC were opting out of SZTC services and subscribing to services of competing firms. The predicament with the CEO, Mr. Phillips, was about the process of transforming the organization from a monopolistic environment to a customer centric service oriented company in the present competitive environment.

Prerequisite Conceptual Understanding (PCU)/Before the Classroom Discussion

• • Valarie A. Zeithaml, et al., “Chapter 2: Conceptual Framework of the Book: The Gaps Model of Service Quality”, Services Marketing : Integrating Customer Focus Across the Firm, 5^th Edition, Tata McGraw Hill, 2011
• • Valarie A. Zeithaml, et al., “Chapter 8: Service Recovery”, Services Marketing : Integrating Customer Focus Across the Firm, 5^th Edition, Tata McGraw Hill, 2011
• • Philip Kotler, et al., “Chapter 12: Designing and Managing Services”, Marketing Management: A South Asian Perspective, 14^th Edition, Pearson Education, 2013

Case Positioning and Setting

The case study can be used at the Post Graduate level in Principles of Marketing, Services Marketing and Customer Relationship Management courses. The target audience would typically be management students in their first year who are taking the basic course in Marketing Management or Services Marketing. The case study would also be useful to highlight the Need of Service Orientation and the Need of Retaining Existing Customers for Success in Service  Economies.

Expected Learning Outcomes

• • Understanding the importance of listening to customers and providing what is promised – This is more important in service contexts, where customer uses the services of the company for a long duration and hence is a continuous source of revenue.
• • Understand that environmental changes such as changing consumer preferences and increased competition may force firm to differentiate themselves on the basis of service provided – In today’s global economy monopoly hardly exists. In such a situation not paying attention to customer complaints may cost a firm in terms of reducing profits and revenues.
• • Understand the strategies to retain existing customers and ways to regain lost customers – This case discussion will help students in understanding that not all customers are profitable, but which one to serve is a question to be researched deeply. For a government-owned organization, this aspect is more pronounced, because they may be forced to serve different sections of the society despite of their profitability. SZTC is one such organization, which till early 90s was having the largest market share, but later on lost its market share to new private players on account of better services and customer orientation.

Assignment Questions

• I. Inferring from the case facts and SZTC customers feedback, is there a gap between customer’s expectations and perceptions of the service provided? Is there any analogy between the gaps discussed in the case and the Gaps Model of Service Quality1?
• II. Why retaining customers is more important for SZTC than acquiring new customers? What are the benefits of retaining exiting customers for SZTC?
• III. What challenges can be anticipated by SZTC in the process of transforming it into a customer centric service organization?
• IV. ....................

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