Discuss the case study questions in your team, and use your collective ideas and knowledge of Enterprise Rent-A-Car to create a 10-minute presentation addressing the key issues. Your classmates and tutor will provide helpful feedback and suggestions

CASE STUDY
Measuring & Managing Customer Satisfaction

Synopsis

This case presents an overview of the customer-focused strategy that has catapulted Enterprise Rent-A-Car into position as the largest rent-a-car company in the industry. As of 2005, when the case is set, Enterprise had $8.2 billion in revenue, approximately 818,000 vehicles, more than 6,500 locations, and more than 61,000 full-time and part-time employees. From 1980 through 2005, the company’s revenues grew at a compound annual rate of 20.5 percent.

Now well into their 5th decade of doing business, Enterprise was founded in 1957 by Jack Taylor, who began leasing cars while working with a car dealer in St. Louis, Missouri. When his customers lost the use of their cars due to accidents or the need for repairs, Jack saw the opportunity to rent them replacement vehicles. This led to the creation of Enterprise Rent-A-Car in 1962, a company which for much of its history focused exclusively on the "home-city" rental replacement market – local branches near our customers’ homes and businesses rather than at the airport.

From the beginning, Enterprise has based its growth strategy on a simple philosophy. Jack Taylor believed that by taking care of customers and employees first, profits would take care of themselves. Taylor focused on doing "whatever it took" to satisfy customers. He hired primarily university graduates and promoted them rapidly, putting them in charge of branch offices that they ran basically as independent businesses. Managers earned most of their compensation based on the profitability of the branch or branches for which they