Introduction
Businesses do not operate in a vacuum. Rather, they operate in the community whereby they become part of the society. A business influences and is influenced by the society in which it operates and the two have symbiotic and complementary relationships. Verizon is one of the businesses that operate in the global society. This paper is going to examine the performance of Verizon with respect to its stated values encompassing the summary of the company’s primary products and service, how primary stakeholders can influence the company’s financial performance, the critical factors in Verizon’s external environment, as well as the biggest missed opportunity to respond to a recent social issue.
Primary Products and or Services
Verizon wireless offers a wide range of products to individual and business customers among them mobile phone, internet services and home cable telephones. Verizon wireless offers wireless phones that are powered by Google’s android and Apple’s IOS, as well as basic phones. Verizon wireless smartphones use 4G LTE and 5G and offers different plans for data and voice services to different customer segments. Verizon wireless also deals with wireless home telephones among them Wireless Home Phone and Phone Connect that uses cellular network rather than the conventional landline cables to provide home telephone services (SEC, 1). Verizon also deals with mobile Wi-Fi and broadband services with Wi-Fi hot sport branded devices being sold under the Jetpack Brand. Verizon is also offering multichannel video services in a bid to compete with video streaming competitors like Netflix (SEC, 1).
Three Ways the Primary Stakeholders can Influence Financial Performance.
Every organization has a group of people who affect and affected by the organization’s actions directly and indirectly. There are two categories of stakeholders; the primary stakeholders and the secondary stakeholders. Primary stakeholders are also known as internal stakeholders because they directly impact or are impacted by the decisions of the company and they include employees, the management, customers, suppliers, and board of directors. Primary stakeholders can be a source of competitive advantage or disadvantage (Lawrence, 2).
One way in which stakeholders can affect the success of Verizon wireless is through good stakeholder relations. Employees come in handy in ensuring that Verizon has good stakeholder relations with other group of stakeholders. Employees can help sustain Verizon for long by providing great customer service in a manner that makes clients satisfied and purchase more products (Lawrence, 2). An example of a company that has gained competitive advantage from good relations with workers is the virgin group of companies. Virgin group of companies’ chief executive officer Richard Branson notes that the success of the group is attributable to its employees. According to Branson, the philosophy of “treat employees well and they will take care of the rest” works well and has borne fruits (Wagner, 3).
The second way in which primary stakeholders can impact the financial performance is that primary stakeholders can help a company to bounce back to profitability. In the event that a business experiences a downturn, a good relation with primary stakeholders can help the business to bounce back faster. The case of Malden Mills is a good example of how backing by customers and contractors helped the company to recuperate within a short period. The company experienced financial difficulties in 1995 following a severe factory accident, but thanks to the team of dedicated contractors, customers and employees that Malden Mills was able to get back to profitability in less than 1 year (Paul, 4)
Thirdly, primary stakeholders provide unique capability to support a company to rebound back such as the example of Starbucks Corporation. Starbucks was on its knees when the co-founder initiated a transformation journey for the coffee maker. Howard Schultz initiated a journey to train employees in a bid to position them in a strategic position to offer great customer service. Employees supported the initiative and the Starbucks bounced back to profitability (Wagner, 3).
Two Critical Factors where the External Environment can affect Success.
Competition
The modern marketplace has become competitive now more than even. The telecommunications industry in which Verizon wireless operates is no exception. Verizon faces still competition left, right and center from traditional and non-traditional participants. Competitors such as AT&T Inc. and T-Mobile have become a thorn in the flesh in the traditional cable and wireless services. Other competitors are technologically advanced providers of video streaming services such as Netflix, which reduce Verizon wireless market share. Verizon also faces competition from phone making companies such as Alphabet Inc. Microsoft Corporation, Apple Inc. among others that offer alternate ways of making wireless voice calls (SEC, 1).
Technological forces
The modern times are known as information and technology age. Technology has become a determinant in the manner in which companies conduct business. Verizon wireless is founded on the basis of technology and its products and services are informed by the latest technologies. While the company takes pride in using the latest technologies to deliver value to its customers, technology also serves as a thorn in the flesh and poses an immense operational risk (SEC., 1). Cyber-attacks on Verizon wireless networks and systems can have an adversarial impact on the business. In the recent years, cybercriminals have also upped their game and cyber-attacks against businesses like Verizon have increased in incidence, latitude and potential damage in recent years in a bid to take sensitive customer information. Loss of customer information could pose serious legal issues and security concerns among customers. Verizon wireless experienced negative publicity following a cyber-attack on its systems and millions of customer data was leaked (SEC, 1). Such occurrences adversely impact Verizon’s investor and customer, and result in material adversarial effect on the company’s operation and financial condition.
Biggest Success or Missed Opportunity to Respond to a Recent or Current Social issue
The world experienced a historical occurrence whereby the outbreak of covid-19 disrupted people socially and economically. Many people lost their jobs as companies halted operations and governments initiated movement restrictions to curb the spread. During the time, many people experienced economic hardships as a result of lost earnings. The pandemic time was a time or corporates to step up and demonstrate their concern towards their customers and the world in general. However, Verizon wireless missed a great opportunity to offer its customers products and services are friendly prices. Rather, the company went ahead to charge higher prices for data and other services. For instance, Verizon insists on charging more for extra data but customers want to pay for what they have consumed. Lack of customer sensitivity and awareness saw Verizon lose more wireless subscribers than it expected in the first quarter of 2021 as it continues to battle fierce rivalry from AT&T Inc. and T-Mobile US Inc (SEC, 1). Reuters (5) highlights that Verizon lost 178,000 wireless phone subscribers, which severely decreases the average revenue per user and general profitability. Losing 178,000 customers is not something to be taken slightly as the number is too large to ignore.
Businesses do not operate in a vacuum. Rather, they operate in the community whereby they become part of the society. A business influences and is influenced by the society in which it operates and the two have symbiotic and complementary relationships. Verizon is one of the businesses that operate in the global society. This paper is going to examine the performance of Verizon with respect to its stated values encompassing the summary of the company’s primary products and service, how primary stakeholders can influence the company’s financial performance, the critical factors in Verizon’s external environment, as well as the biggest missed opportunity to respond to a recent social issue.
Primary Products and or Services
Verizon wireless offers a wide range of products to individual and business customers among them mobile phone, internet services and home cable telephones. Verizon wireless offers wireless phones that are powered by Google’s android and Apple’s IOS, as well as basic phones. Verizon wireless smartphones use 4G LTE and 5G and offers different plans for data and voice services to different customer segments. Verizon wireless also deals with wireless home telephones among them Wireless Home Phone and Phone Connect that uses cellular network rather than the conventional landline cables to provide home telephone services (SEC, 1). Verizon also deals with mobile Wi-Fi and broadband services with Wi-Fi hot sport branded devices being sold under the Jetpack Brand. Verizon is also offering multichannel video services in a bid to compete with video streaming competitors like Netflix (SEC, 1).
Three Ways the Primary Stakeholders can Influence Financial Performance.
Every organization has a group of people who affect and affected by the organization’s actions directly and indirectly. There are two categories of stakeholders; the primary stakeholders and the secondary stakeholders. Primary stakeholders are also known as internal stakeholders because they directly impact or are impacted by the decisions of the company and they include employees, the management, customers, suppliers, and board of directors. Primary stakeholders can be a source of competitive advantage or disadvantage (Lawrence, 2).
One way in which stakeholders can affect the success of Verizon wireless is through good stakeholder relations. Employees come in handy in ensuring that Verizon has good stakeholder relations with other group of stakeholders. Employees can help sustain Verizon for long by providing great customer service in a manner that makes clients satisfied and purchase more products (Lawrence, 2). An example of a company that has gained competitive advantage from good relations with workers is the virgin group of companies. Virgin group of companies’ chief executive officer Richard Branson notes that the success of the group is attributable to its employees. According to Branson, the philosophy of “treat employees well and they will take care of the rest” works well and has borne fruits (Wagner, 3).
The second way in which primary stakeholders can impact the financial performance is that primary stakeholders can help a company to bounce back to profitability. In the event that a business experiences a downturn, a good relation with primary stakeholders can help the business to bounce back faster. The case of Malden Mills is a good example of how backing by customers and contractors helped the company to recuperate within a short period. The company experienced financial difficulties in 1995 following a severe factory accident, but thanks to the team of dedicated contractors, customers and employees that Malden Mills was able to get back to profitability in less than 1 year (Paul, 4)
Thirdly, primary stakeholders provide unique capability to support a company to rebound back such as the example of Starbucks Corporation. Starbucks was on its knees when the co-founder initiated a transformation journey for the coffee maker. Howard Schultz initiated a journey to train employees in a bid to position them in a strategic position to offer great customer service. Employees supported the initiative and the Starbucks bounced back to profitability (Wagner, 3).
Two Critical Factors where the External Environment can affect Success.
Competition
The modern marketplace has become competitive now more than even. The telecommunications industry in which Verizon wireless operates is no exception. Verizon faces still competition left, right and center from traditional and non-traditional participants. Competitors such as AT&T Inc. and T-Mobile have become a thorn in the flesh in the traditional cable and wireless services. Other competitors are technologically advanced providers of video streaming services such as Netflix, which reduce Verizon wireless market share. Verizon also faces competition from phone making companies such as Alphabet Inc. Microsoft Corporation, Apple Inc. among others that offer alternate ways of making wireless voice calls (SEC, 1).
Technological forces
The modern times are known as information and technology age. Technology has become a determinant in the manner in which companies conduct business. Verizon wireless is founded on the basis of technology and its products and services are informed by the latest technologies. While the company takes pride in using the latest technologies to deliver value to its customers, technology also serves as a thorn in the flesh and poses an immense operational risk (SEC., 1). Cyber-attacks on Verizon wireless networks and systems can have an adversarial impact on the business. In the recent years, cybercriminals have also upped their game and cyber-attacks against businesses like Verizon have increased in incidence, latitude and potential damage in recent years in a bid to take sensitive customer information. Loss of customer information could pose serious legal issues and security concerns among customers. Verizon wireless experienced negative publicity following a cyber-attack on its systems and millions of customer data was leaked (SEC, 1). Such occurrences adversely impact Verizon’s investor and customer, and result in material adversarial effect on the company’s operation and financial condition.
Biggest Success or Missed Opportunity to Respond to a Recent or Current Social issue
The world experienced a historical occurrence whereby the outbreak of covid-19 disrupted people socially and economically. Many people lost their jobs as companies halted operations and governments initiated movement restrictions to curb the spread. During the time, many people experienced economic hardships as a result of lost earnings. The pandemic time was a time or corporates to step up and demonstrate their concern towards their customers and the world in general. However, Verizon wireless missed a great opportunity to offer its customers products and services are friendly prices. Rather, the company went ahead to charge higher prices for data and other services. For instance, Verizon insists on charging more for extra data but customers want to pay for what they have consumed. Lack of customer sensitivity and awareness saw Verizon lose more wireless subscribers than it expected in the first quarter of 2021 as it continues to battle fierce rivalry from AT&T Inc. and T-Mobile US Inc (SEC, 1). Reuters (5) highlights that Verizon lost 178,000 wireless phone subscribers, which severely decreases the average revenue per user and general profitability. Losing 178,000 customers is not something to be taken slightly as the number is too large to ignore.
