Only the right people are strategic assets of the firm
Abstract
Purpose
In service‐based industries employees are in direct contact with customers, either personally or electronically, completing transactions that are part tangible and part experiential. In such industries, people have become integral to the value proposition. This paper aims to investigate this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
Case examples show how innovative service providers are learning to reconsider their service delivery employees as critical contributors to the value of the firm's offering. The paper focuses on two key questions: Is there a way to tell how people in a service firm are viewed and managed as strategic assets? How can they become strategic assets if they currently aren't?
Findings
To make people strategic assets of the firm: Criteria for selection and retention of people must be consistent with company values. Performance management must be linked through measurement to the firm's strategic goals.
Originality/value
The paper shows how in today's service‐based companies, employees are “the center of organizational performance.” Where people drive low‐cost service (Walmart) or where they become inseparable from the service (JetBlue and Starbucks), employees feel they are valued because they possess an acute awareness of the impact they have on their company's strategy.
Keywords
Citation
Crain, D.W. (2009), "Only the right people are strategic assets of the firm", Strategy & Leadership, Vol. 37 No. 6, pp. 33-38. https://doi.org/10.1108/10878570911001471
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2009, Emerald Group Publishing Limited