Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Sprint aims to layoffs for economic solution

New chief executive of Sprint Nextel Corp. reportedly plans to lay off "several thousand" workers as part of an effort to reduce costs at the struggling wireless-phone company, which has been losing thousands of key subscribers to rivals. The aim for new hired members if sprint is to gain control over corporate expenses and increase excitement in investors according to an article in the Wall Street Journal on Monday. Sprint, which has around 60,000 employees, already cut its payroll by about 5,000 jobs last year. Many of the loss of jobs is not all focused on the down spiral of the economy but because of sprints competitors like AT&T and Verizon Wireless, which are the two largest US mobile operators. Sprint still supplies to nearly 54 million subscribers, but AT&T and Verizon have widened their base of operations and now serve more than 64 million customers each. Cutting prices could be a possible solution, but that still doesn’t make a big enough dent in the competitions supplies and advantages. The sprint customers will continue to stay away from sprints products as long as news like this continues and its reasonable poor customer service.
As a Nextel user myself, I agree with horrible complaints and comments, that other users claim. The reception is horrible, every text comes in slow, and its overhaul experience is weak and un attractive. When I first heard the news of the released job from sprint, it came in no surprise. They haven’t spread market ideas into technology like other companies have, which also gives other companies an edge over sprint.

6 comments:

  1. Too bad the new chief executive of Sprint didn't agree to take a massive pay cut in order to curb layoffs. I wonder how customer service will improve if fewer, not more, employees are available to solve problems. This seems to be the issue many of these big giants are not willing to confront. Customer service is something that most businesses regard as unimportant; many assume that clients will put up with plenty of abuse. Maybe the recession will allow smaller companies to gain an edge on their well-financed competitors by offering exceptional customer service. Sprint might consider this as a way to distinguish itself from AT&T or Verizon. Of course, those fired employees would have to come back for customer service to improve.

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  2. It sounds like Sprint has made some poor marketing decisions and I feel this is just another one to add to the list. To lay off thousands of employees is not the answer tot heir prayers…it is the easy way out. They should learn how to be pro-active and come up with a solution rather than a cop-out. If they are losing thousand of subscribers to their rivals than a marketing plan of attack should have been enforced. This is definitely the wrong angle for the company…because people talk and this will absolutely get around to everyone!

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  3. Apparently someone in Kansas City is not doing their job. Kansas City is Sprint's headquarters. But seriously, I am an Alltel subscriber, who actually agrees that laying off people is not the solution to the problem. This is just another domino in our poor economy.

    I disagree with Wendy on the issue in regards to Customer Service. I think it is a big issue if a company is to survive, especially retail companies. If retail companies have no customers who shop at their stores then they can't make any money. Sprint needs to do a better job in regards to customer service if they are going to survive this recession. Great post.

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  4. Yes, we are in a recession. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs due to both the downfall of the economy, poor managing, and the rise in success of rival companies. Sprint is no different and has been loosing it's customers for some time due to the popularity of upcoming devices that are exclusive to competitors, prices, and clarity. Customer service is an important part of keeping a successful and growing business. But with networking giants like Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T i don't believe it is of the utmost importantce to the executive board (who more than likely makes a few million dollars a year more than they should). My advice to Sprint is, if they want to get back on top cut the corporate spending, decrease the cost of phone planes, and come out with something just has innovative and high tech as the iphone.

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  5. Like most big companies these days who are laying off so many people due to lack of funds, I blame the top executives for not managing their moneies properly. And, because of this many are loosing their jobs, homes and much more. Sprint is just another company that did not take care of their finances. Yes it might be that they are in competion with other companies, but it should not have come to this. If the layoffs continue, maybe they will get help from the government like so many others are hoping for. Stop spending money on unnecessary thing and you want have to layoff your employees.

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  6. I never like hearing the news of an organization laying off thousands workers because of all the families involved. The reason why sprint fell so far behind is because they have very good marketing skills like Verizon or AT and T. I'm a sprint user myself and I don't have many problems with my phones such as drop calls, slow text messaging, etc. But then again, I'm old fashioned and I feel that as long as I'm able to talk on it, it's good enough for me.

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