Enterprise as One of the Leading Car Rental Services in the Country - Essay Example

Enterprise has remained one of the leading car rental services in the country and has earned a reputation of being a customer-focused organization. Over the period of time, it has been able to achieve a consistent level of growth by adapting innovative management policies and a relentless focus on customer services. It has been able to put in place a system that allows it to actually understand what its customers require and deliver the same through a cost-effective service to its customers while still being strictly local. It matches the experience of its customers by offering them timely services; clean vehicles and easy local accessibility which can reduce the cost for its customers while at the same time ensure that customer expectations are met.
One of the key assets, the firm has been able to develop over the period of time is the strong Human Resource Base. The quality of HR is considered as one of the key assets because the firm is not only the largest recruiter of the graduates but also puts them through systematic training which helped employees to understand the business from the bottom up. Apart from this, the firm has been able to develop better customer services, a large fleet, local management and true customer focus. However, considering the overall change in dynamics, the management of the firm may use the following strategies to achieve further growth :
1. Firm needs to develop alternative delivery channels to further penetrate into the market. Currently, though it is following all local strategy, however, it needs to focus on developing alternative channels to achieve growth. The changes in the technology may help the organization to achieve the required level of growth therefore firm can use online web portals as well as mobile applications as alternative booking channels for its services. This can help the firm to specially target those customers who are mobile and want to use rented cars for commuting long distances.
2. The current strategy of the firm is focused upon delivering local solutions to the customers through effective services, clean vehicles and cheaper rides. This strategy, however, may not be viable as the overall demographics and consumer orientation change. The current breed of customers requires strong reviews, online social acceptance before they make any purchase decision. In order to cater to the needs of a customer base that is too mobile and has loads of information at access, it is critical that the firm shall match the desired experience of such consumers. It needs to move out of its strictly local strategy and focus on a growing segment of those customers who are urban, mobile and have a diversified range of activities to pursue. It also needs to make sure that it does not serve the limited purpose of the customers i.e. serving those customers who require rented cars for a temporary period of time as their vehicles are being repaired. The firm needs to focus more on exploiting other opportunities and connect the same through improved online and social experience.
3. Considering the historically high turnover rate of the employees, it is quite plausible that the employees may not be entirely satisfied with the overall career path offered by the firm. Though the employees are being offered training across all the areas of operations before they are being promoted and given other assignments, however, it is quite clear that the employees may not be entirely satisfied with the limited career progress choices available.
The firm has to re-evaluate its HR strategy in terms of performance management and offering career choices. Linking the compensation with the branch profitability may not be a viable strategy as business may be dependent upon certain locations and all locations may not be operated profitably. As such, the firm needs to focus more on selecting profitable locations rather than linking the compensation with the Branch performance. Though it may be a good strategy to boost employee productivity and ensure that operations remain profitable, however, before evaluating employees on a performance basis, the firm also needs to focus more on identifying the profitable locations for its operations.
A major weakness of the overall HR strategy of the firm is allowing employees to actually come in liaison with the insurance agents to generate alternative avenues for sales and revenue. However, this may result in a lack of focus on the core functions of the branches i.e. serving customers through excellent customer services. Such a strategy may force the employees to divide their time between two sales-generating channels and may result in a loss of productivity and sales.
4. Considering the changes in the laws and given more preferences to the customers to actually have a choice in terms of choosing the replacement rentals, it is quite possible that the firms with enough advertising and innovative ideas can take away the market.