Revenue Management Saves National Car Rental by M.K Geraghty and Ernest Johnson
In the January/February 1997 issue of INTERFACES magazine, M.K. Geraghty and Ernest Johnson were presented as finalists of the Franz A. Edelman award for their presentation on a state-of-the-art Revenue Management System that would turn a huge money losing rental car company, National Rental Car, into a profitable business within two years.
In 1993, General Motors took a $744 million dollar charge against earnings related to its ownership of National Car Rental Systems. National was facing liquidation and a layoff of more than 7,500 people unless it could post a profit in the near term and prove that the car rental business was worth saving.
Before National began using the Revenue Management System, it faced the same issues as its competitors. The car rental industry relied heavily on corporate customers that paid fixed rates and only traveled during the week leaving most rental car companies with large fleets of idol cars on the weekends. Whereas the competition was making adjustments to try and capture leisure weekend customers to generate more revenue, National remained solely focused on the business renters missing out on potential opportunities. National also planned its fleet in one-year cycles as opposed to shorter cycles more often, which led to failure in meeting changing customer demand.
The bottom line was that National did not have the proper communication tools in place to be able to react to the industry’s changing environment. National did not pursue leisure weekend customers even for break-even profit, was not able to adjust for increased or decreased car demand when planning its car fleet and had a tremendous number of missed opportunities because of a lack of supply in areas that had high demand. National was also faced with the fact that their competitors were much more nimble at making short-term pricing changes ultimately increasing their competitor’s profitability.
National quickly put together a team to assess and experiment on processes that its competitors were already implementing. Realizing that they could also raise prices and increase revenue and not erode customer satisfaction, National brought in the help of turn-around specialists to understand National’s business, quantify revenue potential, recommend organizational structure and staffing requirements, estimate costs, provide cost/benefit analysis and prioritize an implementation plan.
Using the information gained from the evaluation, National began a revenue management system that would centralize their capacity management, pricing and reservations control.
There is also no form of standardized training throughout the organization. Employee morale and employee relations are lower than should be expected, due to miscommunication and lack of an established strategy. There is an absence of consistency in various ways regarding branding and identity as well. No two stores appear to be alike, names vary and locations are unpredictable. Customers also complain that the menus are inconsistent. It is also evident that reliable communication is lacking. For example, GC3 has customer comment cards, but, as the case study explained, GC3 management is not sure if they are being reviewed or taken into consideration. More so, GC3 remains unclear if they are considered one company, or three separate companies. GC3’s product portfolio is becoming stagnant, and there is an apparent need to refresh the menu and align it with their competitors. Profits are falling behind, and there is nothing in place to enable GC3 to understand what products and what stores need to be evaluated. Lastly, GC3 management is becoming disgruntled. This aggravation is evident within the Pittsburgh locations. Due to this insubordinate behavior, corporate culture in the Columbus locations has started to
Regarding strategic control, they were faced with determining how to move forward, and with what mix of product offerings? The leadership realized that with shrinking profits and increased competition the status quo would not guarantee long-term survival. Execution via their previously successful marketing channels would be problematic without either some sort of peace offering to dealers and installers, or a total shift in the advertising and sales process. The dealers and installers interacting with the customer were more likely to understand the customers concerns. Unless the company rebuilds their relationship with these front-line sales force, the customer service will suffer and ultimately the brand equity will continue to erode. The idea that the dealer is treated as the most valuable link to the customer and feels completely supported by the supplier, is exactly what enabled Caterpillar to survive in the late 1990’s. (Fites, 1996). Regardless of how the company addresses their root problems, a marketing channel analysis will undoubtedly conclude that both order getting and order servicing expenses will initially increase. In the short-term, the relationships must be rebuilt. In the long-term, they must shift overall strategy to remain profitable. If they elect to maintain their high-end product mix, customer expectations will increase demanding more from
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The seventh largest major domestic airline in the United States (US), Southwest Airlines, is commonly known or referred to as a low-cost carrier. Southwest Airlines is the only major airline that provides short-haul, point-to-point service in the United States. In fact it was the first airline of its type ever started; it has become the archetypical low-cost airline. The idea has proven itself so well, that other start-up airlines have based their company strategies upon the basics of Southwest. Today, there are two other low-cost air carriers (the other two airlines are considered national airlines and not major airlines) that are actively and aggressively competing with Southwest Airlines for business and profit turning. The three American low-cost air carriers are currently posting profits even in light of the US economy’s current state of affairs, with Southwest Airlines first, JetBlue second, and Air Tran third, in profits. How is this possible when the major six airlines are reporting losses of millions and millions of dollars each quarter? The answer to this question begins about 30 years ago.
Despite the growth in the market, Qantas International’s market share has been falling over the past 10years, from 34% in FY02 to 16% in FY13. The entry of Virgin Australia in 2000 in part explains this, however Virgin’s growth also coincided with the demise of Ansett in 2001 “… Virgin Blue will initially increase capacity on existing routes while evaluating what c...
...Bank’s Chairman set-forth guidelines to be met for the new focus of the division. Part of the plan involves reaching out to employees and steering new behaviors towards the new visions is clearly a good way towards opening the lines of communication between staff and customers. Also, rewarding employees fairly and equitably will help aid NOC in their redesign efforts. As outlined throughout the paper NCO has their work cut-out for them, but the plan highlights on the major areas that need revamping.
However, the biggest problem was to figure a way to resolve its failure towards meeting their target volume/sales by reconstructing their distribution channel to successfully push Coracle in the residential market to end consumers.
Soman,D & Marand, S (2009). Managing Customer Value: One Stage at a Time.: World Scientific Publishing. p9-14.
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Northwest Airlines is one of the pioneers in the airline transportation industry and is ranked at the fourth largest air carrier in the United States today. The success of the carrier depends on the quality and reliability of the service at a reasonable price. Close competitors force Northwest to innovate their services by increasing efficiency. This essay will try to examine different perspectives in the services needed to successfully complete the company’s objectives. The analysis will explain historical and financial perspectives that may give a better understanding of the current market trend of the organization.
The Merrymen’s dilemma is that they must overcome their largest competitor, the Sheriff, who is growing stronger and becoming better organized. The Sheriff has gained the money and men and is beginning to cause problems for the Merrymen, looking for their weaknesses. The Merrymen have several strategy options in order to triumph over the Sheriff. There are three approaches we will focus on to find a strategy to overcome the Sheriff and his band. First, Robin and the Merrymen can find ways to improve their internal operations in order to compete. By finding internal strengths and weaknesses the Merrymen can capitalize on their strengths and improve their weaknesses. Second, the Merrymen can focus externally on market opportunities, competitive advantages, consumer expectations, competitor’s actions, and technological advances. Third, Robin could chose to mix internal and external focus and perform a SWOT analysis to find the complete standing of the Merrymen compared with their competitors.
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