Case Study for Total Quality Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Case Study for Total Quality Management - Essay Example Ever since 9/11 this industry has seen radical changes and movements towards downsizing and cost cutting. A company in this industry that was able to maintain a high level of customer service is Orbitz Corporation. This paper provides two answers to discussion questions of the case study Customer Service Processes at Orbitz. Mr. Patton was very satisfied with the level of service that he received. Corporations that provide good customer service are able to achieve higher levels of customer retention (Achievemax, 2009). There were various aspects of the experience Mr. Patton encountered which made him happy. First of all when he approached the company about the double billing problem the company was apologetic. After a short verification process which took a few minutes the firm admitted they were wrong. This is somewhat unusual because companies love to blame the customer. I once had a problem at an ATM that stole my money. I went to the bank and they claimed it was not their fault because they were the owners of the ATM and the protocol was for an investigation to occur. I was not satisfied with this response at all since all they had to do was contact the other bank that owned the ATM to check the video camera in order to verify that cash was not disbursed. Mr. Hatton was surprised that the company ad mitted the wrong doing so fast. Another dimension of the customer service at Orbitz that impressed Mr. Hatton was the short waiting time on the phone and the efficiency of their voicemail system. Inefficient voicemail system that keep routing the customer through way too many options typically anger customers to the point that at times the customer prefers to hang up than to continue the ordeal (Crestcapital, 2006). Another aspect of the customer service that impressed Mr. Hatton was that the company apologized for the mistake on various occasions. At the end of the process Orbitz send Mr. Hatton a letter apologizing with a

Toy Central Corporation Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Toy Central Corporation - Case Study Example People with variety of roles, such as those who formulate and implement policies and those monitor systems are accountable for the success or failure of the process. The findings from interim audit procedures conducted in July and August 2007 reveals that the controls over the purchase and payments systems are managed efficiently. However, the delayed production to satisfy the enormous demand during 2006 holiday selling season had also created a lag in the smooth running of the business. Though a fair quantity of this product was sold out for Valentine’s Day 2007, rest of them was returned to TCC for a full refund. This created an adverse situation within the firm in managing the inventory. But it does not sound nice to go into the holiday season selling with the same stock again. This control issues must be looked into by the management. The physical environment in which companies conduct their business continues to change dramatically, and it requires the firms to make chang es in their policies. Economic factors, advances in technology, and increasing global competition are some of the elements that force the management into greater challenges to control and manage liquidity while increasing sales (Preparing for internal control reporting, 2002). TCC executive have been putting efforts to boost the sales in September, the month that is â€Å"quiet before the storm† by negotiating with the Fathom Studios to obtain the right to produce the plastic-cast of the movie Delgo. Even though TCC had accrued $500,000 of sales revenue in September 2007 as expected while making the agreement, it had a delay in reaching the objectives. There was a delay in reaching the final licensing agreement which in turn delayed the final completion of the character toys. In the same way, TCC had invested nearly $150,000 in creating state-of-the-art software tools to develop Linux games. This decision seems to be a wrong one and shows the weakness of the control over fina ncial reporting of the firm. On the other hand, the companies who hold the intellectual property rights to produce popular games currently produce consoles and computers that run on Windows based software. Therefore, investing too much on developing games for Linux based consoles may not bring the expected return over the investment. Most of the disbursements made by TCC were for purchase and of raw materials from suppliers in Taiwan. Though all items were properly accounted, there was inaccuracy in the accounts. One item seemed unusual in comparison to the sample. The transaction involved a $10,000 payment to the International Transport Union, requisitioned by TCC’s VP-Operations and approved by the CFO. The VP explains that the payment was â€Å"a gesture of support for U.S. transport workers—a gesture we believe is important these days, as transport workers believe they are significantly underpaid and talking about organizing work stoppage and strikes† (Earle y &Philips, 2008). Though it was a non-operating expense, it shows a too much expense on the non-productive functions. The TCC’s management had fallen short in making correct financial analysis and preparing effective financial reporting. The findings of the interim report reveal that the retailers dramatically reduced the quantity of toys that they were willing to undertake in 2006 and sustained it through 2007. This reduction in the supply had intensified competition among all manufacturers of consumer