Comcast Essay

Comcast is a global telecommunications company that primarily earns revenue from its cable communications business, Comcast Cable, by providing cable, internet and voice services as one of the largest cable TV services in the U.S. Headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, the corporation also owns NBCUniversal through which it operates cable networks and broadcast TV as well as film entertainment and theme parks (Comcast Corporation, n.d.).

The most critical factors in Comcast’s macro-environment are the economy, technology, and socio-culture aspects. When the economy declines, consumers have less disposable income to spend on luxury services that aren’t necessities, which can have a negative impact on cable providers. During a recession many consumers

are more cautious with their spending which can lead to customers canceling or downgrading their subscriptions, as well as seeking cheaper alternatives to cable TV (Worden & Kumar, 2009).
With the continuous advancements in this industry and creation of new digital and streaming services, technology is a very important factor in the Comcast’s general environment.

As new technology developments are made, consumers are given more choices when it comes to video, internet and phone services than ever before. This can cause a decline for cable providers such as Comcast if the company doesn’t adapt to these changes and loses its competitive advantage.

The sociocultural factor including the demographics, behavior and attitude of people also has an impact on cable providers such as Comcast. The younger generation of consumers have grown up in a digital era and have contributed to the recent trend of customers preferring to receive TV and video content through the internet instead of tradition cable

television
(Hughes, 2016).
The competitive environment factors that impact Comcast are direct competitors, advocacy groups, and industry regulation. The telecommunications industry is strictly regulated by the Federal Communications Commission as well as state and local governments. Extensive polices create entry barriers that make it difficult for potential competitors to enter the market, which has been beneficial to Comcast and allowed the company to become a monopoly in many areas of the United States (Harrington, 2015).
Although Comcast has operated as a monopoly for years and has lacked intense direct compaction with other cable providers, the company does face increasing competition from other kinds of businesses that offer similar services such as satellite companies such as DirectTV, streaming services such as Netflix, as well as wireless companies such as AT&T. Public advocacy groups have been urging the FCC and congress to reestablish net neutrality laws that were created to ensure broadband internet providers allow the same internet access to all users. If these advocacy groups are successful in their attempts to create an open internet with more regulation, Comcast could be negatively affected (Hughes, 2015).
Comcast faces multiple threats, including regulatory changes, customer dissatisfaction, and the strongest being the creation of new platforms through which consumers can receive similar services the company offers in a more digital way. In response to these threats, Comcast is doing everything they can to keep customers subscribed, even though this approach is just leaving customers unhappier with their service (Harrington, 2015). The company is providing employee incentives for employees based on the number of services sold, or customers they convince to stay with the company, rather than how satisfied customers are with the company after a call with a customer service employee.
Based on the fact that Comcast pays its representatives largely by commission and sets unrealistic goals for these employees to meet, these workers are most likely motivated by lower level needs of making enough income to live on. Although there are several needs theories, according to Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, a person’s physiological needs must be met before one can move up to higher level needs, such as esteem and self-actualization. Motivation at this level is not optimal, as employees must have the opportunity to move up and have higher needs fulfilled in order to remain satisfied with their job (Williams, 2017). Comcast’s reps are mainly motivated by the extrinsic reward of the financial benefits they are given for the work. It doesn’t appear that these employees receive intrinsic, natural rewards from their job performance. Factors that contribute to the lack of intrinsic rewards include lack of employee training, support, and unreasonable metrics in which they are evaluated by (Gavett, 2014).
If Comcast decided to make changes to its performance appraisal process, I would recommend that first and foremost the company evaluate performance by using qualitative measurements by tracking how well the representative takes care of a customer’s problems and leave them with a positive view of the company.

I believe this would lead to employees performing better than with their current system of using quantitative measures, some of which they don’t always have control over, such as the number of customer conversions, or the amount of time spend on a call (Feinberg, 2014). The company also shouldn’t base the majority of its pay on commission, but instead give employees a fair salary and use performance measures as incentives that employees can work towards to earn bonuses, benefits and advancement opportunities. In order to increase employee’s intrinsic rewards, the company should consider involving employees in decision making and allowing them to have more responsibility and control over the work they

do.
In my opinion, Comcast could be benefit from creating a team-based work environment for its customer service representatives by promoting collaboration and motivating employees to work together and help each other solve problems. One way the company could implement such an approach is by establishing small groups of representatives who have different roles and experience. Customer service can be improved if employees have the opportunity to share their knowledge, not only within the customer service role, but across other functions, such as sales and marketing (“Building a culture of teamwork in customer support,” 2017). There are several advantages that come with implementing teams, including increased efficiency, service quality, as well as both employee and customer satisfaction. Teams can be a great opportunity for many companies, but there are also some disadvantages that come with this option. It can be difficult for some employees to adjust to a team organization when the change is first implemented, which can lead to increased turnover. Other problems team-based companies might face include social loafing, and groupthink. (Williams, 2017).