Global Communications: Benchmarking

Global Communications: Benchmarking

With increasing consumer demand for products and services, many industries are experiencing exponential growth. With the increase in competition, many companies are finding it progressively more difficult to remain competitive. These companies may face numerous challenges, including a decline in profits. Companies are feeling increased pressure to make extreme changes and decisions that will likely affect the morale and productivity of their employees, but will boost profit and revenue. The following is a comparative analysis of how different companies implemented the use of organizational commitment, organizational communication, and emotional intelligence while executing plans created to increase profits and maintain competitiveness within their industries.

Companies Synopses

BellSouth

BellSouth is a telecommunications company that provides various services to over 46 million customers worldwide. BellSouth has four main divisions of operation covering the areas of communications, domestic wireless services, the Latin American market, and an advertising and publishing group. In 2000, the telecom industry hit hard times, with the industry losing in excess of $1 trillion in market value (ebstrategy.com, 2006). BellSouth was facing increasing competition and financial troubles. The telecommunications industry was, and still is, facing tremendous pressure to reduce capital and operating costs (ebstrategy.com, 2006). Comparable to the situation in the Global Communications scenario, BellSouth found it necessary to consider alternative solutions to cut costs and increase revenue.

In 2001, BellSouth faced a dilemma characteristic of many companies after the Internet Bubble popped: a dwindling IT budget with continued growth for IT needs. To combat the increasing cost of continual maintenance and development of IT applications, BellSouth began strategically evaluating its outsourcing capabilities to further trim down IT costs (ebstrategy.com, 2006). Outsourcing was not a new concept for BellSouth. In 1998, BellSouth selected Accenture as the IT outsourcing strategic partner to assist in improving service, budget consious performance, and on-time delivery (ebstrategy.com, 2006).

After making the decision to pursue outsourcing opportunities, BellSouth was faced with the undertaking of deciding just how to communicate their plans without causing uproar. Good communication is essential for the success of any company. BellSouth began by sending out an internal newsletter explaining what was to happen to the company, and the reasoning behind it. Bellsouth then issued a press release to national media outlets. In doing this, BellSouth was able to announce the information to the public using language that conveyed the changes in a positive way.