CASE STUDY
Ahmed Al Hameli sat in his large office overlooking crowded Shiekh Zaid road. As CEO of The Grand Idea (TGI) Advertising company, he seemed to always be confronted with one problem or another. Today was no exception. Ahmed had just come out of a long meeting withMark Williams, head of the Board for the small advertising agency. Mark was concerned about a growing problem with lowered sales expectations and a decreasing customer base. Mark warned Ahmed that something had to be done quickly or Mark would have to go to the Board for action. Ahmed acknowledged that sales were down but attributed this to general economic conditions.
He assured Mark that the problems would be addressed immediately. As Ahmed pondered his next course of action, he admitted to himself that the customer base of TGI was slowly decreasing. The agency did not quite understand the reason for this decrease. Many regular customers were not coming back and the rate of new customers seemed to be slowly declining. TGI's competitors seemed to be doing well. Ahmed did not understand the problem.
What Do Customers Want?
TGI was a Dubai-based advertising agency that developed campaigns and promotions for small- and medium-sized firms. Their expertise was in the retail area, but they worked with a wide range of firms from the food service industry to the medical field. TGI competed on price and speed of product development. Advertising in the retail area was competitive and price had always been important. Also, since retail fashions change rapidly, speed in advertising development was thought to be critical. Ahmed reminded himself that price and speed had always been what customers wanted. Now he felt confused that he really didn't know his customers. This was just another crisis that would pass, he told himself. But he needed to deal with it immediately.
Case Questions
1. What is wrong with how The Grand Idea Advertising measures its quality? Explain why TGI should ask its customers about how they define quality.
(Answer within 1 page max. with standard format of Times New Roman, Font Size 12, double line space)
2. Offer suggestions to Ahmed Al Hameli on ways of identifying quality dimensions TGI's customers consider important.
(Answer within 2 pages max. with Standard Format Of Times New Roman, Font Size 12, double line space)
3. Develop a short questionnaire to be filled out by TGI's customers that evaluates how customers define quality.
(May include 10-15 general and specific questions).