Customer Service at Woodson Chemical Company

Introduction

In an industry that is highly volatile, customer service presents a prime opportunity to carve an organization’s business niche (Bowersox, Closs, Cooper, & Bowersox, 2010). In the chemical manufacture and distribution sector, customers desire instantaneous access to real-time order information. Instant information access is vital across divisions and throughout the supply chain: from production, shipment, and arrival at the end destination. Therefore, the prime goal of customer service is to monitor inventory from the time that the customer places an order.

Case Analysis

1) Woodson Chemical Company is experiencing a few critical problems. a) In most divisions, sales are falling or dropping to break even points. b) There are communications and management challenges with expansion of operations. c) The company recognizes the value of effectiveness and efficiency attainable through integration.

2) In order to gain competitive advantage, WCC should integrate some functions across the divisions. Other actions may include efficient resource utilization, and cooperation with supply chain partners to ensure appropriate flow of material supplies and delivery of products. In addition, the company needs to forge effective relationships with customers through improved information and technology among stakeholders.

3) The changes bear potential benefits and risks. In relation to the WCC Corporate Management, benefits include enhanced competitive advantage and functional relationships across the division. The potential for risk include loss of competitive edge, and diminishing returns from investment. In relation to WCC line distribution management, the benefit comprises improved customer, supplier, and transporter relations. This is possible because of enhancement of communication technology.

There is the risk of change failure due to resistance to change. In relation to customers, the company will benefit in terms of improved customer relations due to the enhancement of response to orders and inquiries. The risk involved is the likelihood of access to confidential information due to expansion of communication technology networks.

4) The impacts of successful implementation of changes include reduction in costs, improvement of services, and high income through a rise in sales.

5) In relation to information processing arrangements, Woodson chemical company should expand its information handling and sharing capacity so that it can increase the number of customers and other stakeholders attended to at any one time.

6) Ms. Melinda Sanders properly understands the problems at WCC. She joined the company six years ago and served in customer service, distribution, and sales. Therefore, she has enough experience to diagnose and contribute to development and implementation of solutions. In addition, she has a master of business administration degree in marketing.

7) The North America unit of WCC covers the headquarters at St. Louis. Therefore, it is likely that the problems facing the North America unit can easily spread across the global locations, which are only a small proportion of the company.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Chemical manufacturing, distribution, and sales are highly sensitive to environmental factors (Ibid). Customer support must ensure instant access to inquiries and order status information. The case demonstrates the need for smooth, consistent, and timely information passage, in line with inventory flows. The recommendation is that WCC should commit and monitor inventory flow. The company should integrate logistics across divisions. In addition, it should ensure adequate information systems and organization structure to support information flow and logistics integration.

Reference

Bowersox, D., Closs, D., Cooper, M., & Bowersox, J. (2010). “Supply Chain Logistics Management (4^th ed.)”. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

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