StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

United Airlines Breaks Guitars - Case Study Example

Cite this document
Summary
United Airlines is one of largest companies in the airline industry. Recently the firm encountered a problem with a young musician which escalated because the company did not satisfy the customer’s needs. The bad press the company received hurt the public image of the company which devalued the price of the company’s common stocks. …
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER92.2% of users find it useful
United Airlines Breaks Guitars Case
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "United Airlines Breaks Guitars"

?Introduction United Airlines is one of largest companies in the airline industry. The airline industry is an oligopoly. Despite its experience the firm has been going through some harsh times. In order to reduce costs the company has been implementing a series of initiatives that are hurting the customer service the company offers. Recently the firm encountered a problem with a young musician which escalated because the company did not satisfy the customer’s needs. The bad press the company received hurt the public image of the company which devalued the price of the company’s common stocks. Issues The company has a workforce of 50,000 employees worldwide (Deighton & Kornfeld). Despite the firm’s resources the company has not been able to effectively use its workforce to provide excellent customer service to its clients. The lack of customer service has grown and the firm has been losing clients due to its lack of care for the needs of the customers of the company. Dave Carroll made a reasonable request when his guitar was damaged due to the mishandling of his property by the employees of the company. A second issue that must be considered by the company is how to implement collateral damage in order to stop the Dave Carrols incident to continue to escalate any further. The company cannot afford for this issue to continue to be in the mainstream media for months or even years. The consequences of the song being a hit that lingers into the popular culture for a long period of time would be devastating for United Airlines. Alternative solutions The firm currently faces a major dilemma due to the Dave Carroll situation. A way to face the problem and find a resolution to eliminate the spillover effect the video can have in the long term is by reaching a confidential settlement with Dave Carroll to compensate him for punitive damages. The basis of the agreement would involve Dave taking the video off YouTube and other sites and for him to make a public announcement that the issue was settled with United Airlines and he was satisfied with their final resolution. The company would pay Dave Carrols a lump sum payment of $250,000 to $500,000. A second alternative solution to deal with the problem is to apply avoidance. Avoidance involves ignoring the problem by pretending a problem does not exist (Schermerhorn & Hunt & Osborn). The company would let time fix the issue as people forget about it and move on the next piece of news. This alternative solution can be applied at a very low cost to the company. The risk associated with the solution is that YouTube serves as a video database. If the firm is unlucky the popularity of the song may linger for a long period of time. A third alternative solution is to disregard the short term problem associated with the Carroll incident and to implement a solution that will prevent the company from facing similar issues in the future. The firm has to begin to gain the trust of its customers by drastically increasing the level of customer service. For starters the policy of eliminating all free snacks to customers must be reversed. People get anxious during flights and offering a light snack free of charge is a way for the customer to know that the company cares. The firm would implement new rules and guidelines protocols to deal with damage goods incidents. The policy of reporting the damage within 24 hours will be changed to 30 days to allow sufficient time for the travelers to finish their vacation and get back home to file out the complaint. A fourth alternative solution is for the company to create a new insurance service to protect their luggage valuables. The insurance could be purchase to insure items at different value ranges such as $1-500, $501-1000, and $1001-$10,000. The cost of the insurance would be paid for when the customers purchase their tickets or at the airlines prior to the flight. If the customer purchased the insurance with the tickets they would received a 10% in the purchase of the insurance. This solution would provide a way to satisfy the needs of travelers such as Dave Carroll that travel with expensive merchandise that requires special protection. Optimum Solution The alternative of avoidance was not selected because this alternative does not insure that the issue will not continue to linger for a longer period of time. There was as estimate in the media that claimed that the broken guitar song had cost the shareholders of the company over $100 million in loss of equity value. The solution of making new changes to the policies and guidelines of the company in regards to customer service was also rejected. The reason it was rejected was because the solution was too vague and did not directly address the Dave Carroll issue. The optimum solution to solve the problem was a combination of solutions. The combination of solution selected was to pay off Dave Carrols in order to get his cooperation removing the online videos of the song and related material and to create a new insurance plan to protect property. The solution helps the firm in the short and long term. Implementation Plan The optimum solution selected was to pay off Dave Carroll and to create a new insurance plan to protect your luggage. Dave Carroll would meet with the lawyers of the firm to sign the paper work related to confidentiality agreement and the terms of the compensation package. This step should be complete within one week. The next step is to start a media campaign in which Dave tells the media that that matter between himself and United Airlines is resolved and he is satisfied with the resolution. This media tour should take three weeks to complete. The firm should have a proposal for the new insurance service within 30 days. The proposal would be send to finance and accounting in order to determine the prices of the different insurance services. This step should take two week. The project would be send to the board of directors for final approval. The total elapse time for implementation of the project is 60 days. Work Cited Page Deighton, J., Kornfeld, L. 2010. “United Breaks Guitar.” Harvard Business School. Schermerhorn, J., Hunt, J., Osborn, R. 2003. Organizational Behavior (8th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“United Airlines Breaks Guitars Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/management/1417463-united-airlines-breaks-guitars-case
(United Airlines Breaks Guitars Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 Words)
https://studentshare.org/management/1417463-united-airlines-breaks-guitars-case.
“United Airlines Breaks Guitars Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/management/1417463-united-airlines-breaks-guitars-case.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF United Airlines Breaks Guitars Case

Impact on Information Availability to Business - Use of Social Media

The united airlines, being a Fortune 25 company, did not take heed of the concerns of the young musician, Dave Carroll.... The united airlines ignored his claim that his guitar was damaged and devalued by the united airlines personnel during the journey as a result of mishandling of his guitar and baggage.... In this case, the preparation of the video by the musician, which cost hardly $200 helped him to send the message of his dissatisfaction with the customer service provided by the united airlines (Harvard Business School, 2010)....
6 Pages (1500 words) Case Study

Mackenzie and Marr Guitars Marketing Strategy

The author of the present case study "Mackenzie and Marr Guitars Marketing Strategy" states that the problem at hand for MMG is to find ways to improve revenues and margins, and to strategize properly for the launch of the new dreadnaught model in June.... million people, while the sales target is 1,200 guitars annually out of total potential sales of 146,000 acoustic guitars.... Meanwhile, among age groups, those between 15 and 24 years and over 55 years had the most leisure time, and they are natural potential target markets for guitars, as a leisure product (Finnbogason)....
9 Pages (2250 words) Case Study

SouthWest Airlines Case Analysis

Southwest airlines operates a low-fares, high frequency scheduled passenger airline serving short haul, point to point routes between 68 cities in the United States.... (Southwest airlines Co.... Southwest airlines was established in 1971 in Texas with three Boeing 737 planes and routes between Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.... (Southwest airlines Co.... With President Lamar Muse at the helm, Southwest airlines took off on its maiden voyage in 1971 and began service between Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio....
13 Pages (3250 words) Case Study

Managing Operations In Emirate Airlines and Cathay Pacific AirLine

The study "Managing Operations In Emirate airlines and Cathay Pacific AirLine" focuses on the two airline industries and how external and internal environmental factors influence  decisions and operations.... The airlines companies own the airplanes or may lease them.... Emirates airlines has been credited with building a strong human resource relationship which has enhanced the success of organization.... Emirates airlines have embarked on recruiting professionals that produces global culture....
7 Pages (1750 words) Case Study

First Time Guitar Buyer: Washburn Guitars

In the paper “First Time Guitar Buyer: Washburn guitars” the author analyzes the demand for Washburn guitars by a first-time buyer, which will be affected by the price of other companies' guitar prices.... A Washburn guitar as a choice by the first-time buyers is likely to be influenced by current taste and preference of various guitars from different companies.... (a) Examples of shifting the demand curve to the right to get higher prices;Advertising; Washburn factory can undertake advertisement programs of its guitars in the market to influence the taste and preference of consumers towards buying their guitars (Hartley and Rudelius, 2010)....
2 Pages (500 words) Case Study

Southwest Airlines Case

With the market crowded with major carriers mainly interested in hub-to spoke destinations due customer densities and in taking advantage of large… Another factor was the strategy to ensure its fleet was fully utilized by ensuring no plane was grounded for more than 10 minutes in Southwest Airlines case Questions Follow the instructions provided in your assignment when responding to the following questions To what do you attribute the success of Southwest Airlines?... With the market crowded with major carriers mainly interested in hub-to spoke destinations due customer densities and in taking advantage of large scale of economies (Yilmaz 2010), Southwest airlines embarked on a different service aimed at serving short routes with many number of trips....
2 Pages (500 words) Case Study

The Internet as Social Media

This paper "The Internet as Social Media" focuses on the fact that social media is now a revolutionary kind of media channel which works differently from other advertising media channels.... It helps to generate multidimensional messages from different sources of parties or individuals.... nbsp; … The development of social media networks has helped in the growth of virtual communities discussing their views and ideologies based on a particular topic....
5 Pages (1250 words) Case Study

Strategic Planning in Emirates Airline

… The paper " Strategic Planning in Emirates Airline' is a great example of a case study on management.... The paper " Strategic Planning in Emirates Airline' is a great example of a case study on management.... Emirates airlines is based at Dubai International Airport located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Summers, 2005).... Emirates airlines is based at Dubai International Airport located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Summers, 2005)....
7 Pages (1750 words) Case Study
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us