The catastrophic events that led to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has left BP with one of the biggest natural and human disasters since the Ixtoc oil spill of 1979.

However, the case of BP is an interesting one due to the strategic decisions made before, during and after the disaster but could they have managed it better?

Although they have spent over £67.5bn to clean up the oil spill, as of October 2010, there was still 93 miles of shore line still suffering moderately to heavy oil pollution with 7% of the gulfs fishing area still closed affecting not just the local communities in the area but the whole supply chain associated with the industry.[1]

According to report by Moody’s Investment Analytics, the oil spill is predicted to impact 17,000 jobs and cost $1.2 billion dollars to the local economy.

What would CSM do?

In a hypothetical situation, how would CSM help? What research tools would we use and how could we make them understand the opinions held by their stakeholders, increase sales and the reasons why people would do their business with them rather than not.

The problem presented to BP is identifying how this natural disaster has affected the choices their customers are making when filling up their vehicles and getting the voice of those lapsed/defected customers from a grass roots level and into the executive board meetings where the right strategic decisions can be made to build back BP’s positive brand equity to levels before the disaster.

Although this may be a set a long term strategic decision made over several years, in our opinion, having the voice of the customer central to any decisions made should ensure that any steps taken are always aligned to the hearts of consumers.

About Dr Kelly Page:

Kelly Page is a distinguished lecturer in Digital Marketing at Cardiff Business School, UK.  Her research in the academic field primarlirly explores all facets of digital media, both knowlege and theory to it’s practical applications in the workplace.

As well as her academic life, she has also enjoyed much success in the commercial world working for organisations such as TLE Research as well as starting her own initiative Case Insights which serves as great place to learn more about the intricacies that make up and deliver customer service.

Key Points:

So what are focus groups? How should they be conducted and what value can it delivery your organisation?

A group of individuals selected and assembled by researchers to discuss and comment on, from personal experience, the topic that is the subject of the research. (Powell, 1996)

Richard Branson has been as influential in the business industry as what Marshall Amps have been for the music industry.

With business empire that spans from music to health care to formula one race teams, what can we learn from one of the most poignant figures in business today?

1. Define your approach

Surveys can take many different forms and serve many different purposes and getting a high response rate can depend on how you initially engage with your research initiative.

When designing research for customer satisfaction surveys, it is important to start with a “clean sheet” as by tailoring your questions to your customers trigger points, you will be sure to yield higher response rates you need as you will be speaking more on the same level.

Would you like to deliver a WOW customer experience at every customer touch point?

Let me tell you about a company that does, it’s a great customer success story… it started by someone giving… let me explain…