Sprint’s Inflexibility Hindering Growth Essay Example for Free

bolts Inflexibility Hindering Growth EssayContinuous and rapid client harvest-festival is what will make a go with successful and key to beating any in the lead competitors. Unfortunately for the Sprint bow window, the numbers in node growth ar not where they need to be in order to keep up with their main competition, Verizon, ATT, and T-Mobile. Sprint is quickly losing their old customers faster than they merchantman contract tender ones. This lack of growth could be for a number of reasons, but specific bothy examined are the pricing wars. It isnt that Sprint is not doing their part in customer satisfaction or safekeeping up with the changing engineering and listening to their customers. Sprint revolutionized the next step in global technology by being the first company to provide 4G to their carriers. So why are they having issues growing their customer base or struggling to regular retain the customers they do have?ANALYSISSprint Corporation provides wireless co mmunications services to consumers, businesses, and government users in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands (Sprint Corporation Profile, 2014). These are all in all considered decisive customers to the Sprint Corporation. A critical customer is defined as having the greatest impact on product design, sales, and future growth opportunities (Swink et al., 2011, p. 12). It is important that Sprint recognizes that their customers are considered critical customers because they are in a business where the customers shape the product and growth of the company. Having the latest and greatest is so important to the materialistic community that is the United States and if a cell phone company cannot keep up with these demands, they will not think about the attention of the customers. It is important for operations managers to know what product features and delivery terms critical customers consider important, what they are willing to pay, and what they consider acce ptable (Swink et al., 2011, p. 29).This is where Sprints major competitors like ATT and Verizon are beating them. toll is really the bottom line, which is why the once underdog, T-Mobile is fighting to take Sprints number threeposition in the cell phone provider rankings. One of Sprints current weaknesses is that they are not adapting to what the critical customer is willing to pay, and it is obvious their clientele does not think the prices are acceptable, hence dropping their Sprint contract and moving to a divergent company that swirls the same reportage, the same products, but for a rase price. This makes Verizon Wireless and ATT the order winners (Swink et al., 2011, 29), that is to say, customers are choosing their offers over Sprint because they offer the lower price. Sprint is a bendable company when it comes to responding to the efficiency to change their product and processes (they are always coming up with new and different data plans and the new framily plan) but t hey are completely inflexible in adapting quickly to the competitory price environment (Swink et al., 33).Unfortunately, Sprint is far behind its competition and customer growth is suffering. Fierce competition in the US operator market led to number three player Sprint reporting a US$1billion loss for the fourth quarter of 2013 as it experienced the slowest customer growth of the countrys four major carriers (Handford, 2011 ). They are definitely a strong enough company to retain customers and start growth again they have the quality products, the nationwide coverage, and the name. However, they are not taking the opportunity to do so. In one quarter, Sprint lost one one million million contracted customers. Meanwhile, in the same quarter, Verizon wireless added nearly a million customers while ATT racked in an new(prenominal) half million (Brown, 2013). The profitability of Sprint has gone down -8.5% while the top two continue to thrive and do well.CONCLUSIONSIt is safe to sa y just about everyone in the United States has a cell phone these days. So which provider do you chose? Verizon, ATT, and Sprint are the top three leading cell phone carriers and all rank in top 100 Fortune 500 companies (Fortune 500, 2013). Sprint has its strengths, there is no doubt they are still a successful company, but their weakness lies within their ability to array market prices to satisfy and retain their current customers as well as bring in new clientele. If they have any hopes of beating out Verizon Wireless and ATT and keep T-Mobile off their heels, they will need to adjust their operation management, reevaluate their systems and what they think is important versus what their customers thinkis important. If the customer does not think they are getting the best deal they can, they move on. Sprint cannot afford to continue the one million customer cliff per quarter and hope to remain in the business much longer.RECOMMENDATIONSSprint needs to become more than than fl exible and more focused on interconnected prices than on anything else at the present time. Price matching is what is hurting the company. Although they are adapting quite well to the changing technology and keeping up with data coverage and especially the leader in 4G LTE, it is not enough. Sprint needs to become more flexible and more focused on matching prices than on anything else at the present time. Price matching is what is hurting the company. Although they are adapting quite well to the changing technology and keeping up with data coverage and especially the leader in 4G LTE, it is not enough.Of course if they were to fall behind in one of these other factions, they would suffer even further. Good data and the newest gadgets are expected by customers. The price matching is what is going to continue to disparage the company. Sprint needs to take the opportunity to reevaluate their operations and get on track with the other three major cell phone providers (Verizon Wireles s, ATT, and T-Mobile). There was talk of Sprint putting in an offer to merge with T-Mobile and absorb them as they previously did with Nexus. Though that did not work out well with Nexus, it could be beneficial for this merger to take place, for both companies. Both are almost neck and neck with severally other, and this could be the push they need to attempt to beat out the big top two.REFERENCESBrown, A. (2013, JULY 13). Sprints problems, brought into new clarity. Retrieved from http//www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2013/07/30/sprints-problems-brought-into-new-clearity-fall-to-billionaire-led-softbank-to-solve/ Fortune 500. (2013). Retrieved from http//money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2011/full_list/ Handford, R. (2014, February 11). Sprint reports $1b loss as growth suffers. Retrieved from