Generic Benchmarking
University of Phoenix
MMPBL/520
June 7, 2010

Generic Benchmarking Introduction Organizations and companies face many new and increasing complex challenges in today’s complicated business world. Because of the nature of our society and changes in our workforce resolving these challenges are becoming more and more difficult for today’s managers. Today, if a company is to be successful, management and the leadership groups must consider many things besides the bottom line. Management must ensure that their vision and mission statements reflect the true meaning of the company’s goals and objectives. This communication of the goals and objectives can be done in several different methods. Organizations must take a hard look at their management and leadership styles and if fits into the culture the organization. Management must also ask themselves if they are developing company loyalty from the employees and if the working environment is encouraging employees to be committed to the fulfilling the goals and objectives of the company, thus being about motivated employees for the success of the company. Management should also be willing to solicit feedback from employees, shareholder and customers to determine how they are communicating a common message of what management desires the organizational culture to be and to ensure that the vision and mission statement is clear for all to see. This paper will look at two leaders in the communications field, Comcast and Starband Communications. We will look at issues that each company has in common with Gene One, and how they choose to deal with similar growth and employee loyalty issues. In each company’s analysis, we will indentify issues and problems, similar to which Gene One experienced. Then we will highlight how the company handled the issue, what strategies were developed and impleted and the outcome of the action taken by management.

Comcast Ralph J. Roberts, Daniel Aaron and Julian A. Brodsky, founded Comcast in 1963 as a single system operation company. As of 2010 Comcast is one of the country’s largest provider of cable services and communications. The company continues to provide high quality service and technology such as digital service, broadband cable, internet, phone service and programming. Comcast Corporation is one of the nation's leading providers of cable, entertainment and communication products and services, with 23.5 million cable customers, 16.3 million high-speed Internet customers and 7.9 million Comcast Digital Voice customers. Comcast is principally involved in the development, management and operation of cable networks and in the delivery of programming content (comcast.com). On June 4, 2010, Comcast announced its financial results for the 1st quarter ended April 30, 2010 of the fiscal year ending January 31, 2011. Revenue for the 1st quarter was $1,083,000 compared to $945,000 last year (Finance.comacst.net). There is no doubt that Comcast is a leading company in its industry, as its revenue proves financial stability through these hard economic times. Comcast continues to strive to provide quality service and continue to grow financially. Comcast has partner with other fortune 500 companies such as Wal-Mart to offer video, phone services and broadband to Wal-Mart’s Connection Centers in efforts to expand in its industry. In 2009, Comcast and General Electric announced that they have signed an agreement to form a joint venture that will be 51 percent owned by Comcast, 49 percent owned by GE and managed by Comcast. The joint venture, which will consist of the NBC Universal (NBCU) businesses and Comcast’s cable networks, regional sports networks, certain digital properties, and certain unconsolidated investments (Finance.comacst.net). Comcast accomplishments are based on a collaborative, innovative and a creative effort from it is an entire organizational staff. Comcast Employees about 100,000 individuals nationwide; that consist of call centers personnel, engineers, sales representative, cooperate staff, field workers, account executive, etc. With an industry of high demands, stressful work environment and an operation that’s open twenty four hours a day and seven days a week, Comcast maintains is values. Comcast COO came from Disney Corporation, which brought many of Disney institute to Comcast. He selected one hundred highly successful Comcast employees to develop for Comcast. They developed The Credo, The Promise, and the Touchstones. The Credo is when the company connects people to what is important in their lives and the promise is how the company will deliver on the Credo. The value and beliefs system were establish by the company’s founding fathers, which are still actively working in Comcast four days out of the week and are very much involved in the company. Comcast believes in building community relations with high ethical and professional standards. Many companies unless you have a title behind your name, your opinion does not matter, yet in Comcast everyone’s opinion matters and corporate acknowledges that this process is effective and simply works in their organization. The company’s beliefs and values are part of the organizational culture, and of every Comcast employee. Comcast call centers are set up in group’s settings. One group will consist of fifth-teen employees and one supervisor. These teams are the direct connection to Comcast Customer base. The teams are focus to maintain customer satisfaction, problem-solving, sales, retention, and service. The teams are quickly introduce and able to manage high customer’s demands and the rapid business growth. Comcast employees recognize they must work effectively and most importantly in a collaborated effort. All team members work towards the same goal, happy customer, product satisfaction and sales. Comcast has put in place in house training facility called “Comcast University” where most of the trainings are offered such as diversity training, orientation, promotion trainings, and mainly creating effective groups to merge in to Comcast Culture. Comcast is well aware that the group setting; is what determines a productive and healthy work environment. A well functioning team is constantly improving their behavior and work process; they key is to maintain professionalism and an open mind to all conflicts and its resolution. Many Comcast employees are satisfied with their work environment, yet there is no disguising their long work hours and weeks. The company’s lack of flexibility with its employees is evident as the company’s rapid growth and high demands have driven many employees to burn out quickly. In the Miramar Call Center in South Florida, the company has acknowledged the efforts of its employees, due to the center being the number one call center nationwide. The center has a full state of the art gym, catering facility-serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. The facility also has full showing facility, lunchroom, media center, phone area and a dark room for quiet moments. It’s evident that Comcast has placed amenities for its employees in efforts to reduce stress and provide accommodations free of cost. Management provides employees with ongoing opportunity to express their concerns and feedback openly, the leadership team continues to strive to accommodate employees and maintain a successful company. The company has experienced much recognition such as in 2006, Comcast was named one of America's Top 50 Corporations for Multicultural Business Opportunities by Hispanic Business magazine. Institutional Investor magazine named Comcast one of America's Most Shareholder- Friendly Companies in 2006 and in 2009; Comcast CEO Brian L. Roberts was named one of America’s Best CEOs by Institutional Investor magazine for the sixth year in a row (Comcast.com). As Comcast evolves as a fast growing communication company, they continue to look to the future by seeking new technology, products and business opportunities. “We want to continue to provide people with the communications products and services that connect them to what’s important in their lives” (Comcast.com).

StarBand Communications The ability to expand a business cost money. There are several of ways to raise money to make this goal a reality, but taking a privately held company public is one of the most popular ways to do this. GeneOne has decided to do just this but has found themselves in an unsure position about how, and if they should make this happen. Unlike StarBand, GeneOne is an attractive company who would find it easy to gain investors but may lose operational freedom, as they will be under pressure to satisfy investors. StarBand wants investors but market instability has them looking for other options. In order to maintain creativity control, GeneOne may want to adopt some of the options that have helped Starband survive and raise the money for future endeavors. “StarBand Communications is based in Mclaen Virginia. StarBand is the first company to deliver two-way, high-speed Internet access via satellite to consumers. StarBand service is satellite based, it is always on and it is available virtually everywhere. StarBand is head quartered in McLean, Virginia. StarBand began operations in April 2000 with assistance from their strategic partners: Gilat Satellite Networks, Microsoft Corporation and EchoStar Communications Corporation”. (sta.hrdpt.com) “Gilat Satellite Networks owns 45 percent of StarBand, while Microsoft Corp and Echostar Communications Corp own 19 percent each”.(ebscohost) Just like Gene One, Starband was interested in expanding the company’s opportunities and products. In order to raise Capital for future growth and expansion, Starband decided to take the company public. “This move was reported to raise about 287.5 million dollars”. (ebscohost) The decision to move from a private company to an IPO is a very difficult decision. Just as the Management team at GeneOne was apprehensive about the thought of going public, StarBand too needed input from outside sources in order to understand the complexities of going public. In this case, they enlisted the help of Merrill Lynch & Co as the lead manager of the IPO with Credit Suisse First Boston, Salomon Smith Barney, CIBC World Markets and ING Barings as co-managers. Starband’s initial move was to test market 25,000 new subscribers and they adopted a plan to use partners to sell their products to overseas markets. The major problem is that markets are not keen to accepting and providing funds for new start-ups, Starband not being the exception. Currently, Starband is experiencing the same reluctance that has kept other satellite communications companies such as Global L.P., Iridium LLC and ICO Global Communications from being able to gather up the financing to expand their operations. “As a matter of fact, all three companies were forced into bankruptcy court before new investors could be found to acquire their assets at a fraction of their original value”. (ebscohost) Due to the changes in market stability, even a reputable company like StarBand found difficulty finding investment in their company, so they withdrew the IPO and decided to take other routes to raise money. StarBand, has found itself in a position where they must remain flexible in order to survive. Starband searched for other opportunities to raise capital and expand product brand. One of their best moves was signing an agreement with the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) gives StarBand 1,000 new sales distribution points by using the rural telephone cooperatives. This move is significant because this now gives StarBand access to provide service to remote locations where regular internet service is not available. NRTC's involvement has benefitted other companies as well. For example, its arrangement with DirecTv has helped it become one of the largest U.S. satellite TV providers by developing a subscriber base in rural areas. Another move made to increase profitability and raise money was that StarBand announced the signing of a three-year renewal of its distribution agreement with Echostar. StarBand also has a new strategy to enter Latin American and European markets on a wholesale basis by teaming with prominent telecom carriers, in-country ISPs, portals and communications service providers to gain immediate access to the markets. The wholesale strategy will provide StarBand with market expansion, growth and positive financial returns while eliminating reliance on outside capital. This is a win win situation and allows them to maintain creative organizational control of the company too. Maybe by benchmarking some of the techniques from Starband, Geneone can also raise capital and maintain operational control of its organization. Contrast

Comcast and Starband Communications are the two largest pay television companies in the USA today. Both companies have endured the market at difficult times and have maintained its lead in its competitive industry. Comcast founders believe in fundamentals of employee satisfaction. Comcast Cooperation truly believes in empowering its employees to become successful leaders by providing professional and educational growth. Conclusion This paper showed how the benchmarking process could assist organizations in developing strategies to improve their management styles, empower employees, develop strong lines of communication and exhibit a strong organizational culture that motivates and encourages employees to educate and grow within the company. Both of these companies did this while experiencing continued growth and excellence in the communications industry. By striving for effective leadership and management companies and organizations can usually develop a working environment that encourages teamwork, empowerment, is fun and rewarding for employees, while also very productive and shows a profit for shareholders.

References Comcast Corporate. (2010). Comcast. Retrieved from http://finance.comcast.net/www/news_body.html?ID_SUPPLIER_CATEGORY=17225&ID_NEWS=146639666

According to Comcast Corporate (2010),"[ Comcast Corporation is one of the nation's leading providers of cable, entertainment and communication products and services, with 23.5 million cable customers, 16.3 million high-speed Internet customers and 7.9 million Comcast Digital Voice customers. Comcast is principally involved in the development, management and operation of cable networks and in the delivery of programming content (comcast.com).]”(para)

According to Comcast Corporate (2010), "[ On June 4, 2010 Comcast announced its financial results for the 1st quarter ended April 30, 2010 of the fiscal year ending January 31, 2011. Revenue for the 1st quarter was $1,083,000 compared to $945,000 last year]” (para.).

Finance Comcast Corporate. (2010). Comcast. Retrieved from http://finance.comcast.net/www/news_body.html?ID_SUPPLIER_CATEGORY=17225&ID_NEWS=146639666

According to Finance Comcast Corporate (2010), "[ In 2009 Comcast and General Electric announced that they have signed an agreement to form a joint venture that will be 51 percent owned by Comcast, 49 percent owned by GE and managed by Comcast. The joint venture, which will consist of the NBC Universal (NBCU) businesses and Comcast’s cable networks, regional sports networks and certain digital properties and certain unconsolidated investments]” (para. )

Comcast Corporate. (2010). Comcast. Retrieved from http://www.comcast.com/corporate/about/pressroom/comcastspotlight/comcastspotlight.html

Retrieved on June 6, 2010 from http://sta.hrdpt.com/
Retrieved on June 6,2010 from University of Phoenix Library (ebscohost: Starband files)