Dish Network Corporation - Essay Example

?Dish Network Executive Summary Dish Network Corporation is one the major player in the satellite broadcasting, cable services, video and high-speed internet facility. It is a public company and considered to be among the Fortune 500 companies. About 34,000 employees work in Dish Network. The company was among the first companies in the world to introduce the system of pay-TV services to its customers. The mission of the company is to provide best entertainment services at affordable price, add more entertainment channels and offer high value services such as high-speed internet. The company being large is facing certain problems such as employee dissatisfaction, few legal cases, high expenditure due to such legal cases, weak distribution channel, cut throat competition, entry of new companies in the industry and customer complaints with regards to service and payment issues. The company can create problem solving team also known as the steering committee to follow a step wise method for developing a business case. This would include the identified problems relating to Dish Network. The team would mention the problems and causes of the problems. Then alternatives solutions for the problems would be identified and proper cost/benefit analysis is done to check their viability. Feasibility analysis of the solutions is done to evaluate the economic, social, environmental and legal factors of the external and internal resources of the company. After testing the solutions on these scales, the final implementation is done. The implementation includes steps such as time allocation and preparation of work schedules to estimate the time frame of implementation. Then the last or the evaluation step is carried out. In this step the company analyses the affect of such implementation and formulates new guidelines for the company. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Company Overview 4 Business problems of Dish Network 5 Methodology 7 Position 8 Sense 10 Uncover 11 Solve 13 Build 14 Achieve 15 Conclusion 16 Reference 18 Bibliography 19 Company Overview The Dish Network Corporation is one of the largest satellite broadcasters in United States. The company provides service to about 14 million subscribers. The clients of Dish Networks are in hospitality sector, retail, restaurants, etc. They provide services like on-demand videos, local, international and specialty sports channels, blockbuster movies and pay per view facilities in addition to the basic program package. Dish Network as almost 34,000 employees. The corporate office of Dish Network is mainly based in Meridian, Colorado. The company provides internet and voice services through its partners. About 90 percent of the company is controlled by Charlie Ergen, the chairman of the company (“Is DISH Network a great company, or what”). The customers of Dish Networks can access hundreds of audio & video channels, international channels and Interactive TV applications. The company also provides more than 280 basic video channels to its customers, 2500 local channels and about 30 movie channels. It covers about 93 percent of the United States household. The customers receive the programming through in-house equipment which includes a satellite dish and a set-top box. Some receivers are also internet-protocol compatible. It allows the customers to view programs through the internet connection (“Investor relations dish network”). There is stiff competition in the satellite market. The nearest competitor of Dish Network is DirecTV Group. DirecTV is one of the largest pay-tv in US. It is larger in size and stronger capital base than the Dish Networks. Moreover, the network of DirecTV is stronger than Dish TV and it is sold in more stores than Dish Networks. There are also some large providers of cable service successfully competing with Dish Network, they are Time Warner Cable and Comcast. The Time Warner Cable Inc. is a cable service provider in US. It offers video channels, voice services and high speed data through its broadband services. Whereas, Comcast is also a service provider offering entertainment channels, information and communication channel services and high-speed internet facility to the commercial customers and residents (“Dish Network Corp. (DISH): Competitors”). Business problems of Dish Network The whole satellite market is involved into stiff competition. Companies which can provide high-speed internet facilities and lots of entertainment channels in one package are the market leaders. Apart from this the geography also matters. The company with a higher geographical coverage is also giving tough competition to the other service providers. Dish is facing competition in expanding its customer base, so it facing difficulties in competing with other service providers. Dish Networks had remained ignorant in these aspects and it has focused more in offering high-speed internet services to its customers. However, AT&T along with Verizon is now offering high-speed video services along with internet facilities. So AT&T is also acting as a partner as well as competitor to Dish Networks (“DISH Network Corporation”). The customer service facilities of Dish Network are also not so prompt in few places. There are many complaints from the side of customers regarding poor customer service. The bill charged by Dish Network is often wrong and customers often get harassed for this issue. Dish Networks also faced two significant legal cases. The first was the copyright infringement of TiVo (TIVO) for manufacturing and selling own digital video recorder. This was a huge blow for dish Networks. The legal fees of about $ 128 million were spent by Dish Networks for this case and $ 105 million was part to TiVo for such infringement (Yao). The second legal case was related to the expiration of the Cable Act in 2007. This act prohibits any contracting practices with the cable programmers. Dish Networks purchase large percentage of such programming. It was about to end in 2007. But it extended for a period of another five years. Due to this reason the cable companies filed a case against Dish Network. The business in satellite broadcast sector is very risky because satellites are highly affected by solar storms. Accidents in space can cause heavy damage to the satellite in space. The satellite of Dish Network Launches has a life span of 12 years. If it gets destroyed by solar rays, the satellite may breakdown and stop transmission. Launching replacement satellites can be very costly, time taking and risky. Though Dish Network is one of the market leaders in satellite broadcasting business, but the work culture is terrible in the company. The salaries are below average and employees are treated badly by the seniors. The employees in the company are treated like children and they have no freedom of expression. This is a major drawback of the company. Moreover, the customer satisfaction rating system is complex and often affects the pay of the employee due to the ignorance of the customers. Methodology Everyone wants to be good at problem solving. The core elements in the framework of problem solving consist of identifying the problem areas, finding out the alternatives, evaluating each alternative on the basis of the available arguments and choose the best alternatives as solution. This approach has certain difference from the traditional approach. The problem solving framework depends on certain criteria, they are as follows: It starts before the problem arises. By focusing on the mission and vision of the organization, and the structural factors managers keep track of the problems that might arise in future. It helps to choose between real problems and simple difficulties. Simple difficulties go away with time but problems need to be solved. Creative methodologies can be used in finding alternative solutions. It helps to consider the economic, environmental and social consequences on the company. Implementing the solution in the organization and ensure its continuous improvement for better problem evaluation and control. Now it is the responsibility of the manager to take into account all these factors to conduct a research on the problems of the organization. The manager must adapt and use information to find and solve the problems prevailing in the organization. It has been often argued that managers need to know much more than just content knowledge. They must have such skill set to apply the solutions for the problems (Yuthas 5-6). Position Problems come suddenly and managers in such situations do not have many alternatives to choose the best solution. In these situations managers often divert all their resources towards solving such problems. Though this approach solves the problem but the resources allotted to fulfill important goals of the organization gets wasted. So managers need to find alternative solutions to meet such contingencies. For following this method managers have to explore the mission, vision and the values of the company, evaluate the position of the stakeholders, formulate the decision-making models accordingly and check the barriers that might arise in this process. Dish Network had always worked on the philosophy of being and staying competitive. Their goal is to improve their products and services continuously and introduce advance technology. They always added more channels for their customer entertainment and invested good amount of capital in providing the best customer service. Dish Network always aims to hire the best technicians, installers and those professionals who can dream big. The philosophy of Dish Network is to fix problems quickly and if it does not work out then reinvent something new. It is a specialty of Dish Network to provide excellent cable services at affordable price. Their mission is to provide affordable services to the customers but of great value. Dish Network's vision of being the best in the industry has always kept them among the top players in the industry. They aspire to provide the best entertainment experience to their customers. The relationship of the organization with its stakeholders is very important and it must be managed effectively. The stakeholders' and shareholders' objectives and values should be carefully analyzed and considered with great importance. The stakeholders are mainly interested in the proper functioning of the operational activities of the company. They are the rule makers. The shareholders are more interested in profitability of the company. They are mainly the dividend takers. In the year 2011 Dish Network paid a dividend of $ 2 per share to its class A and class B shareholders. Along with these factors, the short-comings of the company should be also taken into account. Dish Network faced many challenges in the market along with the stiff competition from other satellite broadcasting companies. Legal cases due to infringement of certain laws and a copyright act of TiVo. Employee dissatisfaction Customer Complaints for poor customer services in few places. Wrong Cable bills were often sent to customers. Strong competition with DirecTV. Geographical spread is lower than a few popular brands. Not so strong channel of distribution. Sense The common mistake that most of the managers make while solving business problems is identification of the right problem. Whenever managers detect symbols of malfunction they quickly assume common causes for such disorientation. But assumptions taken in haste may not be correct sometimes. So in order to sense the real issue behind the malfunction of systems or confusion, problems should be prioritized. The problem areas should be identified, among them the core problems should be taken into account. Then the structural barriers within the organization have to be located and accordingly prioritized. This would help the manager to solve the problem one by one and every problem will get equal attention of the management. While in the problem identification stage, the manager will come across normal problems and urgent problems. The normal problems are those which do not require extra resource allocation. They can be solved with the available resources; only proper guidance in terms of management is required. Urgent problems are sudden and serious issues which generally arise due to the changes in the external environment. For solving these issues specially, the managers need to plan a structure to allocate proper resources keeping in mind the core visions and goals of the company. Dish Network was facing many issues relating to the business, competition, customer services and legal cases. The normal problems for Dish network was the customer service issues. The customers had several complaint regarding the payment and service s of Dish Network. But these problems could be solved through right management of the customer care department. The major or urgent problems were the stiff rising competition level in satellite broadcasting industry. The growing network of DirecTV and the rising popularity and services of companies like AT&T and Time Warner Inc. So priority should be given to combating competitors and introducing innovative technology. Uncover Once the problems are identified, the reasons behind such occurrence should also be identified. Once the causes and the sub-causes are identified, the company can map a fish bone diagram. Here the problem is mentioned at the head of the fish. The causes are mentioned in the spines and the sub-causes (smaller factors) are mentioned in smaller spines that lead out from the key spine. This diagram would help the company to identify the primary causes and also the secondary causes which are leading the primary causes. Information is gathered on the alternatives through survey within the organization. Figure 1 shows how a company can design their fishbone diagram to detect the causes of the problems. Figure 1 Source: (“Problem Solving” 22) Dish network ranks among the first few cable network providers in the market of satellite broadcast market. But it still could not climb to the same level of DirecTV. DirecTV is available in most of the stores in comparison to Dish Network. Dish Network never paid ample attention towards building a strong network and spread its geographical boundaries. Dish Networking is also trying to curb the marketing budget of the low income group and trying to shift its focus towards the high-paying customer segment. This will not only reduce the customer base of Dish Network but also push the company downwards in terms of revenue. The primary motto of the company was to make high quality cable services affordable for everyone. But it seems that the company is getting deviated from its mission and values (Mallory). Solve When it comes to solving the problem, both qualitative and quantitative analysis is done to check the feasibility of the proposed solution. This is a lot of difference between presenting and idea and giving physical shape to it. The situations would be completely different and resources may respond adversely in practical implementation of the chosen solutions. So firstly, qualitative analysis also known as descriptive analysis is done. It includes the values of the company, results of the survey conducted, the statistical data derived from the questionnaires and the factors effecting the internal and external environment. The numerical data would conclude the financial projection of the company which would also include the cost of implementing the alternative solutions for the problems. Finally through proper numerical and descriptive analysis the cost of implementation and process can be formulated and further processing can be done. Dish network is facing spectrum problems. AT&T has come forward and shown interest in buying Dish Network. This would not only boost the position of the Dish Network in the broadcast industry but also solve the spectrum that the company is going through. AT&T being a market leader in telecom sector would be buying Dish Network with a good sum of money. Thus this solution would be lucrative for dish Network. Apart from this Dish Network will also be able to get the benefit of provide its customers excellent high-speed internet services with AT&T. The issues that are facing with regards to the customer care services can be solved through proper management of employees and assignment of tasks in a systematic manner. Customers unsatisfied with the services can be called and 24 hours help lines can be created to help them 24X7. The customers to whom high bills were wrongly charged could be given discounts on their present and future bills to adjust those extra amounts. Build In organizations, problem solving teams or committees are formed to address problem within the organization and issues directly or indirectly related to the organization. These teams are also known as steering committee. This committee prepares a business report for each case they undertake. The business report contains the position of the company, the problems that the company was facing, alternative solutions for the problems and a framework for successful implementation of such alternatives. The framework includes the cost/benefit analysis of the solutions, the ethical issues related to the implementation of the solution, feasibility analysis of the alternatives and argument supporting each alternative. Dish Network ensures that being a public company their tax filings are done on time with accuracy. They ensure that the directors and employees work with full honesty for the company. The company always makes it a point to disclose true and accurate factors in the financial statements. They comply with the government laws, rules and acts, but Dish Network was the news for a few law infringements relating to the Cable Act of 2007 and violating the copyright of TiVo (“Notes to condensed consolidated financial statements — continued”). The cost benefit analysis is important to assume the monetary cost and the benefits of the proposed solutions. While formulating the cost/benefit structure, the team should consider the mission, vision and the values of the company. The values and the interests of the stakeholders should also be considered because the stakeholders are the actual owners of the company. The cost/benefit analysis can be done in two forms: It can be laid down in a single format stating the cost and befits of each individual solution. Secondly, it can be formed in a comparative format in which comparison between all the alternatives are shown to state the best solution. This second approach is found to be more realistic and easy to understand (Boardman et. al. 17). Other than this feasibility analysis of proposed solutions are done. The feasibility analysis would include the economic analysis, market analysis, environmental analysis and legal analysis of the alternatives (“Introduction”). Dish Network can conduct proper feasibility analysis of the merger plan if they have with AT&T. The company can evaluate the various factors and decide its approach toward such decision. It can also plan to push the geographical limitations and spread its business in other countries, so as to capture maximum market share. The decision to focus mainly on wealthy class would be a good idea for Dish networks. This would deviate the company from its predefined objectives. Achieve The final step in the process of problem solving is to implement the chosen solutions and evaluate their effects on the company and the progress. After the implementation is done, the outcome of the project can be seen. If the solutions bring out a successful result then they should be improved from time to time for better results and if the alternatives fail to bring out desired results then again analysis can be done following the same steps to find better solutions. The implementation process would include proper formulation of GANTT charts which would include the process to implement the solutions and time required for each activity. This how the management can estimate the total time required for successful implementation of the solution. Dish Network has often neglected its weak network of distribution. The DirecTV is available in larger number of stores than Dish Networks. Dish Network has always focused on providing best service and value for money to its customers. But if the product is not made available to most of the customers then provide good service would not serve the purpose of the company. The employees are the most important resource in a company. But employees in Dish Network are spoon-fed so much that they do not have the freedom of speech within the company. The employees are paid less for more work and appraisal systems are not followed. So the human resource department should take care of such vital things rather than just penalizing employees for breaking rules. The previous conditions and the situation after implementation of the solutions is compared and analyzed. The guidelines and the policies of the company are studied and if required changed according to the present conditions. This would be done to clearly specify the deviations between the past and present scenario. Ultimately the organization would want to develop best guidelines for its employees as well as for its stakeholders. Conclusion Dish Network is among the top most satellite broadcasting service providers. The company’s main motive is to provide the best entertainment services and high-speed internet facility to its customers. Their target customers are those, who prefer affordable cable services that are the middle income level group. The company lags behind only one of the companies in this industry, the DirecTV. DirecTV has a strong distribution channel and a large capital base. But these are the two main ingredients when it comes to cable service providing. Dish Network always neglected this important area. It is mainly concerned with quality service and adding more entertainment channels for its customers. Dish Network has also incurred huge losses from infringement of copyright act and other illegal activities. Due to this fact the company had to face financial setbacks. Dish Network is among Fortune 500 companies, but the employees are not treated in such manner according to its reputation. So the functions relating to human resource management are not strictly followed. The company is also facing spectrum problems. Business problem solving methodology can be applied by the company to identify the problem areas, the causes being these problems and solutions for such problems. In this method alternative solutions are also formulated to support the core solution. This is done to eliminate the rate of any failure. After the complete structure is made, the solutions are implemented in the organization and results are analyzed to check the rate of success or failure of injecting the solutions. Reference Boardman, Anthony. E., et. al. Cost Benefit Analysis: Concepts and Practice, 3/E. New Delhi: Pearson Education India, 2008. Print. CNN Money. “Is DISH Network a great company, or what?” Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company, 2012. Web. 22 May 2012. Dish DBS Corporation. “Notes to condensed consolidated financial statements — continued.” Dish Network, 2011. Web. Print. Dish Network. “Investor relations dish network.” DISH Network L.L.C., 2012. Web. 22 May 2012. FAO Corporate Document Repository. “ Introduction.” Conducting a feasibility Study, n. d. 22 May 2012. Hoovers. “DISH Network Corporation.” Hoover's Inc., 2012. Web. 22 May 2012. Mallory, Kenneth. “Dish Network CEO Suggests That Low-Income Telecom Customers Are Less Desirable.” Broadband Social Justice, 6 Sep. 2011. Web. 22 May 2012. Yahoo Finance. “Dish Network Corp. (DISH): Competitors.” Yahoo! Inc., 2012. Web. 22 May 2012. Yao, Deborah. “TiVo prevails in patent rights case against Dish.” Phys.Org., 2012. Web. 22 may 2012. Yuthas, Kristi. “Problem Solving.” Problem Solving Handbook. Portland: Portland State University, 2005. Web. 19 May 2012. Bibliography AEI Dish Network. “Why Dish Network is better than Direct TV?” Word Press,9 Aug. 2010. Web. 22 May 2012. Albarran, Alan. B. The Media Economy. Abingdon: Taylor & Francis, 2009. Print. Christopher. “Good news out of Utopia.” Community Broadband Networks, 11 Mar. 2012. Web. 22 May 2012. DISH Network Corporation. “Code of Ethics for Financial Reporting.” n. p., n. d. 22 May 2012. Mohr, Jakki. Marketing of High-Technology Products and Innovations. New Delhi: Pearson Education India, 2011. Print. Read More