photo credited to The BBC
The example in the previous post of Arriva trains in the UK is a classic case of corporate social irresponsibility that is discussed in a really interesting article titled The Joys of a Crushed Commuter by Mark Steel who describes the reality of so called 'service' provision that is typical of poorly led organisations that find themselves in a quasi-monopolistic situations.
I wonder if the obviously 'techno-financial' mindset of the Arriva management team recognises the irony of their behaviour in the notion of customer journey and the way they think about their business? Clearly 'we' the paying passengers, are, in their eyes are merely 'items' that need to be logistcially shunted (sic) around the railnetwork (should that be notwork?) according to some operational research algorithm. Whereas a marketing orientated senior management team would be driven by offering value (profitably, of course) by a deep understanding of the customer journey. How gullible are the inept Arriva management team to think that avoiding the provision of good customer service will secure their tenure of the rail franchise. Clearly they are in it for the short -term, as evidenced by their short-term thinking.
Customers might be 'dependent' on the service but they are not Gullible, and to underestimate the critical-thinking of your customers will become an increasingly critical :) issue for companies in the 21st century. Smooth words about service commitment will not be believed without evidence and un-questioning acceptance of supposedly 'authoratative' statements from so called business leaders will be ridiculed.
A £20 penalty fare is simply the tip of a huge ice-berg that is in the path of any fat, arrogant, complacent organisation.
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