United States – Page 68 – understand-culture

What is good service?

On World Quality Day – November 14, 2013 – the German Society for Quality presented the results of their survey on service. Reliability, with 92 points, was ranked highest by German consumers in terms of most important aspect of service.

“When Germans think of service they think of classic German virtues: reliability, puncutality (meeting schedule), and quality,” said Dr. Wolfgang Kaerkes, the society’s head.

Reliability is one of the very top characteristics of the German product philosophy. It is no wonder that they focus on reliability when developing products.

„You’re gonna like the way you look”

In a competitive marketplace, service is how companies differentiate themselves from other companies selling similar products, especially if the products are of comparable quality (i.e. Toyota vs. Hyundai; Ford vs. Chevy). Americans expect good service after they have bought a product.

One service-related tagline is the Men’s Warehouse slogan: „You’re gonna like the way you look, I guarantee it.“ If there is a problem with the products customers purchase, Men’s Warehouse promises to take care of the problem to ensure they are happy.

Another distinctly American retailer is L.L. Bean, which grants a lifetime guarantee on everything it sells. If the customer ever finds the product to be unsatisfactory, it can be returned for a refund or replacement.

Americans also expect customer service to be accessible, friendly, and informative. Many companies have 24/7 call centers with toll free telephone numbers, as well as extensive websites with Frequently Asked Questions and other helpful troubleshooting information. These websites usually contain contact fields where customers can submit questions; American customers expect rapid responses to queries posed on a customer site, usually within 1-2 days.

Service: The occupation or function of serving; employment as a servant; contribution to the welfare of others; a helpful act; useful labor that does not produce a tangible commodity; a facility providing maintenance and repair. From Latin servitium: condition of a slave, body of slaves, from servus slave.

Malcolm Baldrige Award

This award was established in 1987 by the U.S. Congress in order to raise awareness of quality management and to recognize American companies that use successful quality management systems.

Initially, awards were only given in 3 categories: manufacturing, service businesses, and small businesses. However, in 1999 education and healthcare categories were added, and finally in 2007 a government and nonprofit category was added.

Up to 3 awards can be given in each category annually, and the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology manages the award. Recipients are chosen based on their performance in seven areas:

Leadership: How upper management leads the organization, and how the organization leads within the community.

Strategic planning: How the organization establishes and plans to implement strategic directions.

Customer and market focus: How the organization builds and maintains strong, lasting relationships with customers.

Measurement, analysis, and knowledge management: How the organization uses data to support key processes and manage performance.

Human resource focus: How the organization empowers and involves its workforce.

Process management: How the organization designs, manages and improves key processes.

Business/organizational performance results: How the organization performs in terms of customer satisfaction, finances, human resources, supplier and partner performance, operations, governance and social responsibility, and how the organization compares to its competitors.

QIC Awards

Every year the American National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) grants Quality in Construction (QIC) awards to any asphalt producer, paving contractor, and/or road owner in the United States who completes a project “that deliver(s) on the promise of high performance and drivability.“

In 2014, 205 projects were honored with a QIC Award, and of those 90 projects were singled out for their use for sustainable construction practices (such as using recycled materials). Some of the 2014 winning projects include:

Golden Gate Constructors of San Jose, California for work on the San Francisco International Airport. The company had to construct new taxiways to allow for installation of an engineered material arrestor system. Crews worked round the clock to produce a high quality pavement under budget and 30 days ahead of schedule, allowing an early reopening of the runways.

Everett Dykes Grassing Co. Inc. of Cochran, Georgia for work on SR 27 in Appling County. The project included milling, resurfacing, and shoulder rehabilitation, and through the use of careful paving techniques and careful quality control, the company produced a pavement that was 58 percent smoother than the previous road.

J.H. Rudolph & Co. Inc. of Evansville, Indiana for work on Evansville Regional Airport, which included rehabilitation, reconstruction and new construction work. Paving with multiple laydown techniques and employing strict quality control, J. H. Rudolph & Co. achieved a smooth pavement seven days ahead of schedule.

Earle Asphalt Co. of Farmingdale, New Jersey for work on SH 33 in Monmouth County. The project required the mill and overlay of both westbound and eastbound roads to achieve a 36.5 percent improvement in ride quality. Paving crews worked at night to limit traffic disruptions.

POSs

The book American Gods by Neil Gaiman, follows the adventures of a man called Shadow as he travels across America. At one point during his voyage, he finds himself stranded in the middle of the Wisconsin, attempting to rent or buy a car.

As it turns out, there is nowhere nearby for him to rent, so he has to settle for buying. In an attempt to find someone willing to sell him a car, he tries talking to a woman manning the till at a gas station:

“Car died a few miles down the road. It was a pieceashit if you’ll pardon my language,“ said Shadow.

‘Pee-Oh-Esses,’ she said. ‘Yup. That’s what my brother-in-law calls ’em. He buys and sells cars in a small way. He’ll call me up, say Mattie, I just sold another Pee-Oh-Ess. Say, maybe he’d be interested in your old car. For scrap or something.’”

Eventually, Shadow meets the brother-in-law, and although he has plenty of money with him, at this point in the story he only needs to drive about 500 miles, so he tries to buy the cheapest car that could take him the full way.

“The piece of shit he chose was a 1983 Chevy Nova, which he bought, with a full tank of gas, for four hundred and fifty dollars. It had almost a quarter of a million miles on the clock, and smelled faintly of bourbon, tobacco, and more strongly of something that might well have been bananas. He couldn’t tell what color it was, under the dirt and the snow. . . The piece of shit had a radio, but nothing happened when he turned it on.”

Nevertheless, despite the poor performance of the vehicle, Shadow was content with his purchase because it was cheap.

Designed in U.S. Made in China

American businesses have a history of designing products in America, but then sending the designs to companies abroad, especially to third world countries, to be assembled. Why would a first world country, with the capacity for better materials and production processes, outsource the building of their products to lesser developed nations? The answer is simple: cost.

One of the most common countries for assembling American-designed products is China. In 2011, there was an article in Forbes titled “Buying from China is in Fact Buying American.” In this article, the author talks about his friend Johnny, a middle class American who owns a couple of small restaurants.

Most of the cooking utensils and furniture in Johnny’s restaurants were made in China. Like most middle-class Americans, he shopped at stores that sold primarily Chinese-made merchandise. Johnny’s reason for using these Chinese-assembled products: they were cheap and “good-enough.”

The article went on to talk about different American companies that sell products that are made in China (Apple, Dell, Gap, Hasbro, Nike, etc.) and how, according to a San Francisco Federal Reserve study, an average of 55% of the value of American imported goods from China goes to American companies and workers.

This is compared to 36% for American goods in general. Not only can companies that outsource to China sell their goods at a cheaper price, but they actually make a lot more money in the process.

Products thinking with

Mitdenken – thinking with – meaning thoughtful, deliberate, reasoned action taking into consideration possible advantages and disadvantages, is clearly a German character trait. It should not be a surprise that there are How-to books advising managers on how to think with.

Along with people in Germany who think with there are also products in Germany which think with, developed to make life easier, safer and more comfortable.

They are often referred to in English as smart. Smart packaging which inform consumers about the product. Smart materials in eyeglasse which dim when sunlight is too bright. Smart wind turbines which turn automatically to the wind in order optimize electricity gain.

Smart automobiles whose steering wheel notices if the driver is falling asleep and sets off an alarm. Such cars also have smart headlights which adjust to oncoming traffic and read speed limit signs and inform the driver.

Adapt the Oreo?

Durable. Able to exist for a long time without significant deterioration. From Latin durare to last. Adapt: To make fit (as for a new use) often by modification. From Latin adaptare, to fit.

In the American marketplace, innovation is a constant force driving products towards ever greater efficiency and functionality. American products are constantly modified to meet the changing needs of American consumers.

One way to achieve this goal is to simply improve features that already exist. An example is redesigning the display of an alarm clock to make it more readable. Other products will be redesigned and features will be added to them. One example are the new features of each iteration of smatphones and tablets. Battery life is lengthened, screen quality is improved, and features will be adapted based on user feedback.

Americans rarely want to own a product for an extended period of time. There are many products which are constantly updated, changed, modified. These include: computers, electronics, gadgets, automobiles, and clothing styles. Even houses are torn down so that new ones can be built in their place. To the extent that a person is a „product,“ consumers also alter their own physical appearance via cosmetic surgery.

Companies leverage this sentiment by offering incentives for consumers to upgrade their current product. They may offer generous trade-in offers for cell phones or outdated electronics or special leasing deals for expensive items like cars or houses.

They even adapted the Oreo cookie.

First-mover advantage

First-mover advantage is gained by the first significant player in a market segment who gains control of resources that other participants in the market cannot match. Amazon had a first mover advantage over Barnes & Noble. Amazon maintained its advantage by partnering with Borders and extending product offerings into apparel, electronics, toys and housewares.

Rarely is a project, large or small, completed within schedule, within budget and meeting fully, much less exceeding, the specifications of the customer. The business world is seldom that simple. In the American business context quality is more likely to be sacrificed than schedule or budget. Americans expect products and services on-time, and at the price they agreed to. Quality – in the sense of completeness – can be made up for with extra effort.

When it comes to that magic triangle – schedule, budget, quality – the first two usually trump the third, in the U.S.

Trump. A card of a suit any of whose cards will win over a card that is not of this suit —called also trump card; a decisive overriding factor or final resource.

Easy, intuitive

Every B2C consumer, every B2B client, in every business culture, prefers products and solutions which are easy to use, user-friendly, intuitive. The term used in the past was „fool proof“, meaning even a person of low intelligence can use it. „Fool“ is a mean-spirited term which, thankfully, is rarely used.

But, what do Americans mean by „easy to use, user-friendly, intuitive“? Is it the same in all business cultures? How easy should „easy“ be? Intuitive for what level of intelligence?

Americans value, admire, and most tellingly honor with their money, products which are both sophisticated and user-friendly. In general, they consider it to be a high art form to make the complex simple. See Apple products.

America has many different types of people, backgrounds, mentalities, levels of education and sophistication. Also the largest single market. For products to be successful they have to be easy to use, user-friendly, intuitive.

The American product philosophy: ease of use. The American approach to persuasion: break down complexity into its component parts. Decision making: isolate individual decisions, focus on the essential. This is a pattern.