Relationship Management Quality and Brand Image - Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Relationship Management Quality and Brand Image. Answer: Introduction The Walt Disney Company which is known as Disney, is a multinational entertainment and mass media based organization which is of American origin. The headquarters of the organization is located at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. Disney has acquired the position of the worlds second biggest conglomerate of the media field in terms of the total revenues of the organization. The company was established on 16th October, 1923by Roy O. Disney and Walt Disney (The Walt Disney Company. 2018). The organization has become a leader in the industry of animation before it expanded the business operations in other fields like, television, film production, theme parks. The company further started its operations under other names like, Walt Disney Production and The Walt Disney Studio. Disney has also acquired many corporate divisions so that they are able to market content that is more mature and is associated with its flagship brands. The three other major divisions of Disney are C onsumer and Experiences Products and the parks of Walt Disney (The Walt Disney Company. 2018). The report will be mainly based on the case study of the Walt Disney theme parks where new technologies have been used for the purpose of customer relationship management. The ways by which the organization has formulated various new strategies for the management of customer relationships will be discussed and analysed in the report in detail. Problems and opportunities faced by Disney The major problems that were faced by Walt Disney in the year 2002 were related to the long lines that were formed by the customers at the rides and at the restaurants that operate inside the park. The problem was faced at all the theme parks of the organization and the highest issues were found in the Magic Kingdom which was one of the oldest theme parks of Walt Disney. These issues were not only being faced by the theme parks of Walt Disney, this has been a major issue in the amusement park industry. The long lines and the high prices have been major reasons behind the loss of customers of the various amusement parks. The revenues of the Walt Disney theme parks were found to be lower by 8% in the year 2002 as compared to the revenues that were earned in the year 2001 (Akram, Rana and Bhatti 2017). The major reason behind the lack of revenues of the park were found to be decline in the attendance of customers and the lower occupancy rates at the various hotels. The rise that has bee n seen in the prices of the tickets have also caused a lack of revenues for the theme parks of Disney. The prices of the tickets have gone through a rise of 20% in the year 1998. The range of prices have already reached the limit up to which the customers are ready to spend for amusement and entertainment related activities (Aryee et al. 2015). Disney has been trying to attract customers to its theme parks by reducing the prices of tickets by 42%. This had increased the attendance of customers in the park, however, had immense effects on the operating income of the organization. The income of Disney fell by 18% in the year 2003 from the year 2002. The costs of the company on the other hand continued to rise after the attacks that had taken place on September 11. The organization has a huge employee base of 54,000 people and the health care related costs of these employees amounted to around 250 million dollars. The main goal of the organization is to increase its revenues with less capital that is available (Brenner et al. 2015). The CIO of the organization, Roger Berry is therefore planning to implement cutting edge and high level technologies to further increase the revenues of Disney. The aim of the management is also to restore the lustre of the aging brand which can boost the attendance of employees and increase their efficiencies. The mission the management was to use to Walt Disney as the test area for the business experiment which was ambitious in nature namely, the IT convergence. The concept of IT convergence included the combination of the smart sensors, satellites for global positioning, mobile devices and wireless technology. The goal of the management is to reduce the hassles that are faced by the customers while they wait in the lines (Chang, Wong and Fang 2014). This was aimed at enhancing the experience of the customers and influence the behaviour of the various visitors. The organizations need to integrate technology in their various processes in the modern business environment as the deploy ment of technology is not enough. The implementation of modern technologies in the various processes of the organization had provided huge opportunities to Walt Disney (Choudhury and Harrigan 2014). Nature of enterprise system adopted by Disney The first system that was implemented by the management of Walt Disney to enhance the experience of the customers to the highest levels was the stuffed doll named Pal Mickey which was around 10 inches tall. The doll was made with the help of the latest and modern technologies which can be used effectively for the purpose of customer relationship management. The doll was used by the organization to provide tips to the customers about the rides which have the lowest waiting lines and the information related to various events were also provided by Pal Mickey. The research and development team of the organization was able to develop this doll so that it can provide various types of information to the customers waiting in the lines of the rides (Cioinsight.com. 2018). The doll was filled with 700 messages which enabled it to say something in the various situations. The product was mainly developed to provide entertainment to the kids and encourage the customers who are waiting in the lin es of the rides. The technologists and experts have commented that Pal Mickey was an initiative taken by Disney to bridge the gap between that static data of the customers that is held by the company and the process of dynamic data management. The innovative stuffed doll of Walt Disney was able to collect the real time data of the customers and the various processes in the organization. This further help them to analyse the behaviour of the customers and provide the type of information that is required by them (Eichorn 2017). This exchange of information was helpful for the customers and the management of the organization as well. The coordination of information was helpful in increasing the efficiency of the organization and the various processes. The innovation that was implemented by Disney was considered to be the next big thing in the technological market. The data of the customers thereby helped the organization in analysing the behaviour and offer them the appropriate strateg ies. The company has been trying to experiment with strategies that which goes beyond the current CRM related processes (Fidel, Schlesinger and Cervera 2015). Another major enterprise strategy that was implemented by Walt Disney to enhance the results at the various theme parks was named Destination Disney Strategy. The was the new strategy that was related to the experience that was provided to the customers by the organization. The company has aimed to leverage the technologies both in the front line and behind the scenes to personalize the experience of customers. The technology was implemented in such a manner so that the management of the organization is able to organise the entire vacation related plans of the customers (Fjermestad and Cho 2015). The vacation plan included hotels in which the park visitors are planning to stay and the restaurants where they are about to visit. The PDA of the customers will remind them about the various parts of their vacation plans beforehand so that they do not miss any part of the plans. Disney has also planned to make the data related to the customers accessible for all the levels of the business so that the employees belonging to any level can access the customer data and try to act accordingly (Forbes.com. 2018). A major initiative was also taken by Disney which was able to tie the Destination Disney strategy. This initiative was a website named, Magical Gatherings which was aimed at boosting the new revenues of the organization. The new revenues were earned from the group bookings that were made for the group events or reunions of the business organizations. The strategy of Destination Disney did not stop and the researchers of the organization have started rolling out the location-aware and interactive programs which have been helpful for the executives to cut the costs on the back end operations. The efforts taken by the organization were mainly related to the management of the parking fleet of more than 260 buses. The technology related to mobile internet and GPS help Disney to manage the fleet of the organization in an effective manner. The organization is further planning to expand the services related to digital imaging (Hasanian, Chong and Gan 2015). This will help the guests who are staying at the Disney hotels to use the television sets in their rooms to review the photographs that were taken by them and then purchase these from the company. Disney has implemented data-smart cards which have helped them to pay for the rides as they avail each of them. This service helps the organization to decrease the lines at the various ride counters. The e-ride approach of the company was designed to charge the customers for the best and the most famous rides of the Disney theme park. The data-smart cards were linked to the database of the customers and were able to provide all the relevant information related to their preferences and choices. This concept was implemented as a part of the various efforts that were made for the purpose of attracting customers towards the amusement parks of Walt Disney (Hassan et al. 2015). The various mobile applications that have been implemented by Walt in the recent years are, the Walt Disney World Maps, which has the map of the entire space of the theme parks of the organization. The Disney World Dining was also formulated which had the entire menus of all the restaurants that located nearby. The Disney World Park Hours, the Disney World Notescast, The Disney World Wait Times Free and the Mouse Memo are all the major applications that have been formulated by Walt Disney for the purpose of providing the best services to the customers (Kasemsap 2015). Difficulties faced by Disney in adopting the system The creation of the mobile CRM related device by Walt Disney had helped the organization in serving the customers in a much better way as compared to the traditional methods. The customers were provided with entertainment while they waited for their chance in the long lines of the rides and the restaurants that operated in the theme parks. The implementation of the various processes by Walt Disney had to face issues that were related to the privacy related concerns of the customers. The visitors of the park were quite uncomfortable about location tracking services that were employed by the organization. The technologists have said that the persuasive technologies have sometimes crossed the lines privacy which have further led to discontentment among the customers (Khodakarami and Chan 2014). This has been major barrier that was related to the implementation of integrated technologies in the theme parks of Walt Disney. The organization had to therefore discontinue Pal Mickey after 6 y ears of its implementation in the various theme parks. Disney had some major concerns about the ways by which the customers were going to take the implementation of Pal Mickey in the processes of the organization. The main aim was to place the product in such a manner so that it is able to become the friend of the customers rather than becoming a supervisor. The customer-friendly technologies can further help the organization in gaining their trust effectively (Navimipour and Soltani 2016). The company had also implemented various other high technology based mobile applications which have the aim to assist the customers for the purpose choosing the rides that are most preferable for them. The company mainly relies on the various guests so that they are able to receive the real-time information about various processes that are implemented in the organizations. This is a major drawback as the customers are not always reliable in case of providing correct information to the management of the organization which can enable them to update the information present in their database (Nyadzayo and Khajehzadeh 2016). Assessment of success of the adopted system The implementation of technologies has affected the revenues and the profitability of the Walt Disney theme parks in a positive manner. The innovation in the services and products of the organization have been affected by the new technologies. The expectation levels of the customers of Disney have also increased in the process. The talented team of the company has been able to use the various Disney experiences and stories to make them social and interactive in nature. The organization has made some major developments in the interactive areas of the theme parks. For example, the Mickeys Fun Wheel which is located in the adventure park of Disney California comes alive during the World of Colour (Romano Jr and Fjermestad 2015). The guests can use the personal mobile devices and access the Wi-Fi network and become a part of an interactive pre-show game. Another example of the innovative initiatives is the top-secret mission which comes into operation in Epcot at the Walt Disney World. T he guests at the Disney Resort and Spa at Aulani leads the customers through a scavenger hunt which employs high technologies. The customers and their families are provided with various opportunities to search for the hidden statues, solve riddles and discover the surprises. This helps the organization in engaging the customers of the different age groups (Santouridis and Veraki 2017). The entertaining and captivating activities that are offered by the company with the help of technologies have helped them in attracting more customers and increasing revenues. The future operations of the organization have been based on the attention that is provided by Disney to the experience of the customers and the details. The environment in which the organization is operating is going through continuous changes and it is quite tough for the research team of the company to implement these changes in their product offerings. The parks of the organization are heavily influenced by the usage of var ious technologies for the purpose of customer service enhancement. This has helped the organization in increasing its revenues and reducing the waiting lines that used to be present for their rides (Trainor et al. 2014). Conclusion The report can be concluded by stating that the modern technologies are always helpful for enhancing the revenues of various organizations. The revenues of Disney theme parks had decreased due to the long waiting lines and the high prices of the tickets. The organization had aimed towards enhancing the customer experience which can help in increasing their visit in the theme parks. The price levels of the tickets have also been decreased so that the customers are able to enjoy the various facilities of the theme parks without spending money which is over their limits. References Akram, M., Rana, R.A. and Bhatti, U.T., 2017. Impact of customer relationship management and social media on sales performance by considering moderating effect of sale personnel capabilities. Aryee, S., Seidu, E.Y., Sacramento, C.A. and Martinaityte, I., 2015. Proactive Customer Service Performance: Test of a Team-Level Model. InAcademy of Management Proceedings(Vol. 2015, No. 1, p. 11002). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management. Brenner, W., Kolbe, L.M., Schierholz, R. and Bueren, A., 2015. Improving Customer Interaction with Customer Knowledge Management. InElectronic Customer Relationship Management(pp. 123-140). Routledge. Chang, H.H., Wong, K.H. and Fang, P.W., 2014. The effects of customer relationship management relational information processes on customer-based performance.Decision Support Systems,66, pp.146-159. Choudhury, M.M. and Harrigan, P., 2014. CRM to social CRM: the integration of new technologies into customer relationship management.Journal of Strategic Marketing,22(2), pp.149-176. Cioinsight.com. (2018).Page 2. [online] Available at: https://www.cioinsight.com/c/a/Past-News/Case-Study-Walt-Disney-World-Resorts-and-CRM-Strategy/1 [Accessed 16 Apr. 2018]. Eichorn, F.L., 2017. Internal customer relationship management (IntCRM) a framework for achieving customer relationship management from the inside out.Management (open-access),2, p.1. Fidel, P., Schlesinger, W. and Cervera, A., 2015. Collaborating to innovate: Effects on customer knowledge management and performance.Journal of business research,68(7), pp.1426-1428. Fjermestad, J. and Cho, Y., 2015. Using Electronic Customer Relationship Management to Maximize/Minimize Customer Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction. InElectronic Customer Relationship Management(pp. 48-64). Routledge. Forbes.com. (2018).Forbes Welcome. [online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/sethporges/2015/05/11/how-disney-parks-are-using-familiar-technology-to-shape-the-future/#78fe51955c62 [Accessed 16 Apr. 2018]. Hasanian, G., Chong, C.W. and Gan, G.C., 2015. Application of knowledge management factors on customer relationship management process.Library Review,64(8/9), pp.583-596. Hassan, R.S., Nawaz, A., Lashari, M.N. and Zafar, F., 2015. Effect of customer relationship management on customer satisfaction.Procedia Economics and Finance,23, pp.563-567. Kasemsap, K., 2015. The role of customer relationship management in the global business environments. InTrends and innovations in marketing information systems(pp. 130-156). IGI Global. Khodakarami, F. and Chan, Y.E., 2014. Exploring the role of customer relationship management (CRM) systems in customer knowledge creation.Information Management,51(1), pp.27-42. Navimipour, N.J. and Soltani, Z., 2016. The impact of cost, technology acceptance and employees' satisfaction on the effectiveness of the electronic customer relationship management systems.Computers in Human Behavior,55, pp.1052-1066. Nyadzayo, M.W. and Khajehzadeh, S., 2016. The antecedents of customer loyalty: A moderated mediation model of customer relationship management quality and brand image.Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services,30, pp.262-270. Romano Jr, N.C. and Fjermestad, J., 2015. Electronic Customer Relationship Management: An Introduction. InElectronic Customer Relationship Management(pp. 17-32). Routledge. Santouridis, I. and Veraki, A., 2017. Customer relationship management and customer satisfaction: the mediating role of relationship quality.Total Quality Management Business Excellence,28(9-10), pp.1122-1133. The Walt Disney Company. (2018).About - Leadership, Management Team, Global, History, Awards, Corporate Responsibility - The Walt Disney Company. [online] Available at: https://www.thewaltdisneycompany.com/about/ [Accessed 16 Apr. 2018]. Trainor, K.J., Andzulis, J.M., Rapp, A. and Agnihotri, R., 2014. Social media technology usage and customer relationship performance: A capabilities-based examination of social CRM.Journal of Business Research,67(6), pp.1201-1208.