The Service Value Chain of The Knights of Columbus - Case Study Example

The Knights of Columbus Objective The objective of this study is to discuss the Knights of Columbus organization and the services provided to the members in order to improve on their living standards. It also analyses, explores and evaluates the way services can create value in the service interaction and the relationship processes. Introduction The Knights of Columbus is an international organization that provides different kinds of services to its members. It was established in February 1882 by a group of men who were Roman Catholics. The headquarters are based in New York City. The organization consists of assets that are worth over $1.3 billion and insurance cover of over $65 billion dollars. The company has over 1200 employees and a revenue turnover of over $1.2 billion .The services provided are insurance and financial services that are aimed at supporting the families that are affected by the death of their loved ones (Plant 2000). The organization has over 1.7 million members and over 13000 councils in countries such as the Philippines, Canada, Mexico, Guam the Bahamas, Virgin Islands, Cuba, Poland Dominican Republic amongst other states (Bayse2008). Terms of references The main purpose of its existence is that of instilling practical catholic discipline on its members so that they can understand the norms and beliefs of the religion. Knights of Columbus also promote catholic education and charity to its members so that they can learn how to carry out their activities in the future. The core values of this organization are charitable work, Catholicism and acts of volunteering. For example in the year 2003, over $130 million efforts were contributed and over $ 60 million hours were contributed to the church and other projects. They promote the intellectual and social integration to its members through the provision of education, charitable work, social welfare and relief in both the war and the public domain. With time Knights of Columbus was able to venture into the insurance industry whereby they were to offer financial compensation to its members in case a financial loss occurred. According to Anderson, the main mission of the Company is to protect the interests of the catholic families with life insurance. A service refers to the work done by people on behalf of their customers so that they can derive some benefit from it. The management of the organization issues insurance policies to its customers in form of thousands of dollars who are of ages 18 to 60 years so that they can benefit from the services provided to them within the stipulated period of time. It also ensures that its members do not have financial difficulties when they face problems that are related with death or illness (Knight 2004). The ways in which services creates value in service interaction and relationship process: The service interaction refers to the process of identifying a service that can allow a provider to question the principal concerning pertinent information so as to clarify principals’ preferences of different kinds of information that can improve on their living standards. These services are provided to the customers so that they can fulfill their needs and desires within a stipulated period of time (Plant 2000). The management of Knights of Columbus is expected to compensate the members who incur losses since they contribute on a monthly basis to cover for any uncertainties that occur during their stay in the organization (Bayse 2008).Service Chain analysis is a strategy that is used by business organization so that they can have a competitive advantage over their customers. The organization must be able to identify the activities that they would want to deliver their services and then decide how to add value for it. In order to stay competitive in business any organization must be able to evaluate all its activities, take control measures and put a plan of action so as to be able to meet its objectives. It refers to the process that assists an organization in determining its strengths and weaknesses so that it can be in a position to develop an appropriate strategy for the organization. It is divided into four parts namely: customer acquisition, customer support, customer fulfillment and customer continuance support elements. The service chain value is very crucial and important for any organization and the economy as a whole as it addresses issues to do with creation of employment, development and creation of skills, diversification of existing products and services together with addressing with issues that relate to the growth and development of the whole economy. To improve on its activities and delivery on services, the organization should concentrate on improving in areas such the process, product provision, functional areas and the value chain. In the process function, the organization can increase its efficiency and effectiveness of its internal processes so that they can have a competitive advantage over their rivals. For example, Knights of Columbus can still stay ahead of their competitors by making sure that they can quickly document their products so that customers do not wait long for their documents. The primary activities include all those activities that a company undertakes in the development, processing and delivery of the final products to the end user. Figure 1 and 2 analyzes some of the activities involved in the creation of the company’s products. Figure 1: Primary Activities Primary activities Description Inbound logistics Activities concerning receiving and filing of members’ data and application. Operations Provide insurance benefits to children who seem to be uninsurable, benefits to parents who have had miscarriages and still born benefits to the orphans and spouse and member death benefits. Outbound logistics Activities associated with finishing contracts. Marketing and sales In the provision of investment opportunities, they do not have stockbrokers thus the investors are assured of maximum returns on any investments made. Service All the activities involved after the contract has been executed. Figure 2: Secondary Activities Secondary Activities Description Human Resource Management All activities which include recruitment, training, motivation and reward of the workforce. Training assists new members of the organization to be able to understand any new software and technology that could actually come up. Technology development Maintenance of Information Technology. It includes investing in research and development of services that will appeal to its potential customers, development in modern technology and proper automation to support the organizations activities. Infrastructure These are support systems of management. It also involves the finances that are to be used to finance these activities, any legal services required in acquiring these contracts and quality management to assist in delivering of proper services. Strategic planning and control activities carried out in the Accounting department. The management of Knights of Columbus must be able to come up with a strategic plan on what their objectives are and how to achieve the objectives within the stipulated time frame. All the departments within an organization are inter linked and it imperative that if the organization has to meet its set objectives then the management must work in conjunction with all the departments in the organization such as the finance, IT, marketing and sales and Human resources departments The managers of the company can be in a position to produce the goods and service for its customers through identifying the high potential technology intensive business opportunities and also in gathering resources such as cash in order to undertake their tasks within a specified period of time. Employees should be given an opportunity to imagine and create a structure in which their activities should be carried out so that comprehensive research work can be carried out within their organizations. The sales agents of Knight of Columbus are well trained to ask the relevant and right questions to the customers to avoid wasting a lot time asking and answering irrelevant questions. The agents are involved in acquiring of customers by going out to the field to convince the customers on the need to take insurance cover and once they convince them then the data is taken to data entry clerks for them to keep proper data (Plant 2000). Knights of Columbus have engaged the services of over 1200 professionals to assist in the provision of their Services. The professionals are assigned exclusively to a group of families or members and they make sure they the assist the affected persons in the appropriate manner. The professionals are usually members of the organization and they share in the company’s corporate values and culture. To assist in the provision of better services to its customers, Knights of Columbus has trained its own personnel in handling and protection of personal information and data that pertains to any particular client. No personal data is disclosed to any outsider of the company so as to maintain the highest level of confidentiality. Access to records is only available to the employees of the organization working on the file or any company that works together with knights of Columbus and they adhere to their privacy policy (Knight 2004). In order to support other departments the IT department has invested in a marketing tool known as the web-based smart office solution o be used by Knights of Columbus as it ensures that security of data is maintained in the right way. The facility also ensures that member’s data is centralized such that it can be accessed at anytime and reduces the cost of running the affairs of the organization. The usefulness of this system is that customers are served in the right manner thus enhancing the achievement of its goals and objectives within a specified period of time. Knights of Columbus should invest the premiums collected from the insurance industry so that in the long term they can generate returns that thus can compensate their clients who have invested heavily in the industry. Being a fraternal society, the Company does not engage in any activities with stockbrokers and this ensures that their policy and shareholders get good returns out of the investments that they have invested in the insurance company. They also ensure that customers are able to get the death benefits to the family members of the deceased person. Findings Amongst the over 1468 life insurance companies that were rated in that industry, it was rated `AAA` because of its strong capital and liquidity base together with its being very competitive in the market. It provides insurance benefits for the Knights of Columbus (K & C) families’. In addition to the life insurance service, other services that Knights of Columbus provides include the Retirements plan services, Long term care services, Living wills, Funeral arrangement plans, savings accounts and annuities. To add value to is insurance services they have been able to other kinds of insurances such as those issued to the members that involve guaranteed life insurance benefits that are meant to serve all the uninsurable children, death benefits to parents who have had still births and miscarried children as well as benefits for orphans and members or spouses that would like to benefit from the accidental benefits. In the permanent plans, the Insurance Company ensures that you are insured and assured as long as you continue living. While the term plans are either renewable or convertible, they ensure that you are covered within the specific period which you have applied for. Their annuities plans guarantee a person an income for a life time while the long term care services ensure that you are taken care of even when you are outside a hospital (Bayse 2008). Conclusion and Recommendations Value Chain Value Factors Changes Needed Marketing and Sales Added information and sales efforts. More point of sales and follow up of field agents. Also focus on the marketing mix and communication to the clients. Service After sales follow up to avoid lapses of contracts. Fast payment of matured loans and payment of benefits. Duties of field agents should include these services to clients. After sale services should be included, service any complaints that have been raised by customers and engage the sale teams in more training activities In the area of product provision, the organization should be able to provide new products or improve on the existing ones to its customers. Having invested so much in research development and training, the organization should be able to deliver new and a wide range of better services to its clients. It is therefore imperative that the company should be able to link both the individual value links with different value links so as to be able to be more competitive. Innovation cannot be ignored in this industry if the company has to be ahead of its competitors. The company should be able to come up with products of the highest quality at a cost that is low and affordable to its target and potential market (Knight 2004). The product that is introduced in the market cannot have any value to the customers if the organizations do not know how to take the responsibility of enhancing the product. Therefore, the company should be able to get involved in activities such as outsourcing, investing in new designs and proper logistics so as to ensure proper delivery of the product to the customers. Investing in new technology would also enhance the delivery of its services as evidenced by internet marketing hence the company is able to be in a position to reach a wider range of customers (Bayse 2008). Competition is very high within the insurance industry and for the Knight of Columbus to be succeeful in it provision of the insurance service it must be able to invest more in the research and development department which will assist in identifying more areas in the industry that have been left out. Therefore the department has to be more innovative so that it comes up with new products that will meet the requirements of the customers. The growth and development within an organization can take place through carrying out research work on how to improve on the performance of an organization. Establishment of innovative ideas enhances the attainment of goals and objectives that have been stipulated by an organization. The organization must also be able increase on its point of sale so that it can increase on its customer base and be able to cover a wider region and eventually they will increase their sales. Insurance provision plays a crucial role of ensuring that the members are restored back to their financial position before a loss occurred to them. Financial loss can occur at any time and it is imperative that Knights of Columbus should be able to be at the top by releasing the member’s benefits once the calamity has occurred. Therefore the organization should work out a policy whereby its members are able to receive their benefits as soon as possible without much delay. Therefore proper scheduling and meeting of the customer’s requirements must be strictly adhered to, to avoid inconveniencing the customers. Knights of Columbus must invest in a human resource strategy that takes into account proper training and recruitment of new staff members .The right and qualified personnel should be employed in order to run the operations of an organization .Qualified employees are said to be innovative people because they have vast knowledge acquired at their different institutions to manage and run the operations of the organizations, thus lead to generation of greater returns for their organization. Proper trained staff are trained to listen to the customers demand in exchange they are able to guide the customers to make more informed decisions. Teamwork must be encouraged as it is an important aspect of the human resources strategy as it assists the employees to work towards the achievement of common goals and objectives for the organization. The management must also encourage independent thinking amongst its staff so that they can also come with diverse ideas to improve on the organization. The managers of knights of Columbus should also seek for assistance from experts and consultants in the field of management and business on how to manage their activities in order to remain competitive in this field of business and the management of Knights of Columbus must also conduct a survey on whether its members are satisfied with the services that are provided to them. In case the members are dissatisfied with services provided to them then they should inform the management so that proper policies are implemented in order to overcome the problems in the future. Complaints that are raised by clients must be addressed as a matter of urgency so as not to lose potential clients. It’s also important that the company invests in updating its client on any new products that they may come up with. This can be done mainly by use of brochures, advertising in the media and on the internet so that people are made aware of new products. 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