General Electric (Josh Dodd & Caitlin Moran

Overview

Under former General Electric CEO Jack Welch, the quadrants GE awarded most were compete and control: deal-making, cost-cutting and efficiency. They reinforced a culture of continuous improvement. That mindset helped give GE consistent earnings and growth over several decades.

In 2001 CEO Jeff Immelt was announced as Jack Welch's successor. Now in a vastly different business environment, Jeff Immelt is turning GE's culture upside down. He admits to having two fears: that GE will become boring, and the top people might act risk aversive. He worries that the obsession with bottom-line results will make managers shy about taking risks. In order for GE to remain competive in today’s every changing market, Immelt is pushing a cultural revolution. He's on a mission to transform the process-oriented company into a creative machine, driving growth through innovation.

Red (control) Quadrant

The red quadrant emphasizes doing things right. Through GE’s EHS department and Six sigma practice, the company is insuring that the company is compliant and as efficient as possible.

Example 1: Environmental Health & Safety

- Leaders

o GE’s Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) leaders are responsible for ensuring the companies remains compliant with environmental regulations

o Expect 100% EHS compliance wherever GE operates or sells productions

o EHS leaders from each business meet two times each year to discuss programs and priorities and to exchange best practices

- Organization

o EHS leaders are trained in programs to reduced workplace injury and hazard, as well as minimizing GE’s carbon footprint. These tools and processes drive accountability and ensure results.

o EHS has also established global standards to ensure consistency in all GE operations

- Outcomes

o To facilitate compliance with tens of thousands of EHS laws and regulations across the entire range of GE’s operations throughout the world, the company has developed and regularly updates online, web-based modules containing EHS legal requirements in 51 jurisdictions in 13 languages.

o In 2010, GE’s training objectives include focusing, translating, updating and streamlining existing EHS training course content

Example 2: Practice Six Sigma

- Leaders

o Six Sigma is used by all leaders within GE, not simply manufacturing. Francis X. Taylor, CSO, uses applies process improvement methods to minimize security risks.

- Organization

o Six sigma is a philosophy that is part of the GE business culture

o GE practices Six Sigma, which is a process that helps them to achieve near-perfect product and services. The idea behind this process is that is you can measure how many defects you have in a process, you can systematically figure out how to eliminate them.

o Every GE employee is trained in Six Sigma

- Outcomes

o Most employees have at least a Green Belt Certification

o In 1998 GE had $350 million in Six Sigma related savings, this then later grew to over $1 billion in savings

Blue (compete) Quadrant

GE has always been a very blue company, and they have continued this trend. They aim to service their customers while increasing market share and improving the economic value of the company.

Example #1: Mergers & Acquisitions

- Leaders

o Jeffrey Immelt stated, “Two years ago, in the depths of the global economic collapse, I promised that GE would emerge from the recession a better company. We have. Our financial performance is accelerating. We have extended our competitive advantage, while investing in growth.”

- Organization

o GE is the world’s oldest conglomerate

o GE competitive strategy aims expand their portfolio while acquiring other companies in order to grow.

- Outcomes

o GE energy recently announced in March 2011 that it will be acquiring Converteam, a leading provider of electrification and automation equipment and systems

o In the last six months, GE Energy has announced the acquisition of 5 high-tech companies to compliment their business

Example #2: Maximize Shareholder Value

- Leaders

o GE leaders have built shareholder value throughout the years by continuously driving profit and delivering results. In the 2010 annual report, GE’s leadership team confidently states, “Our aim in 2011 and beyond is to continue the progress.”

- Organization

o GE as an organization has financial strength, especially noted in their available capital, which allows them to make the investments to drive the business forward. For example, since they are drastically diversified, when GE capital was performing poorly due to the recession, the company overall did not suffer.

o GE is the industry leaders in numerous businesses

- Outcomes

o Achieved a 15% return on growth in 2010

o 24% shareholder return in 2010

o In 2009, when many other companies were weathering the global recession, GE was able to achieve earnings of $11.2 billion.

o Business week named GE “Best Global Brand” (#4) in 2008 and 2009.

Yellow (Collaborate) Quadrant

GE is heavily yellow in the sense that they believe the investment in human capital will yield organizational success. They are committed to developing their employees, while providing them opportunities to grow within the company.

Example #1: Learning & Development

- Leaders

o Susan Smith, Chief Learning Officer – “If you think about education, it is a fundamental and very deeply rooted part of our corporate culture. We spend about $1 billion a year in training at GE.”

- Organization

o GE has a culture of continuous learning, thoughtfully designed to enable employees to grow their personal capabilities and reach their full potential. They invest in employee education, provide access to experienced colleagues and give opportunities to work with intelligent people.

§ Crotonville Leadership — named after the original location of the executive education center — fosters forward-thinking skills in leaders at all levels.

§ The Functional Skills program provides tools for leading specific functions, from finance and human resources to operations and engineering.

§ Business Knowledge courses enhance employees’ business acumen and their knowledge of GE products and services.

- Outcomes

o GE invests about $1 billion every year on training and education programs for people of GE.

o The results can be measured in the increased leadership capabilities of their employees and ultimately in the value and opportunity generated for their customers and communities.

Example #2: Human Capital Cultivation

- Leaders

o Steve Bertamini, CEO for GE’s Australian & New Zealand Operations – “If a person is promoted or is not performing, we know who the right person is to put in their place. We also track who is ready to move to a different business in order to accelerate their career development. We also drive diversity to ensure we have a strong diverse pipeline of future leaders we are developing at every stage of their career.”

- Organization

o Session C Planning:

§ Talent discussed at all levels, from up and coming executive talent, through to promising new hires.

§ Identify those with the potential to assume greater responsibility in the organization

§ Provide critical development experiences to those that can move into key roles

§ Engage the leadership in supporting the development of high-potential leaders

§ Build a data base that can be used to make better staffing decisions for key jobs

o With a strong focus on leadership, the succession planning process within GE has been developed and refined to an extent probably unmatched by any other organization. At the heart of its succession planning process are its annual “Session C” leadership and organizational talent reviews.

- Outcomes

o 90% of GE’s top 600 leaders are promoted from within

Green (Create) Quadrant

The green quadrant is the one GE is most focused on present day. Their current motto is “Imagination at work”. In the recent years GE has focused primarily on R&D and emerging opportunities outside of the United States.

Example #1: Investment in Research and Development

- Leaders

o Mark Little, Senior Vice President and Director, GE Global Research – “GE Global Research is the hub of technology development for all of GE's businesses. Our scientists and engineers redefine what’s possible, drive growth for our businesses, and find answers to some of the world’s toughest problems.”

- Organization

o GE is committed to investing heavily in technology development. GE-funded research spending was $3.3 billion, $3.1 billion and $3.0 billion in 2009, 2008 and 2007, respectively.

§ GE also has made capital investments totaling more than $335 million since 2001 to expand four global research centers in Niskayuna, New York; Bangalore, India; Shanghai, China; and Munich, Germany.

§ Recently announced a new $100 million Advanced Manufacturing and Software Center in Michigan that will employ some 1,200 employees.

- Outcomes

o Increasing GE’s R&D presence has greatly enhanced the company’s ability to accelerate their growth in the United States and emerging markets around the world.

o With over 20,000 patents filed over the last decade alone, BusinessWeek ranks GE among the world's top 25 inventive companies.

Example #2: Product Innovation in Emerging Markets

- Leaders

o Jeff Immelt, CEO – “The global economy is getting better, but in the near term, consumers in the United States and Europe will be more focused on saving, and the emerging market will be the real engine of growth. As a result, we are poised to launch more new products at more prices than at any time in our history — and we plan to sell these products in every corner of the world.

- Organization

o Geographic regions are part of organization matrix (Business Unit, Function, Region)

o Major businesses headquartered outside of the US (GE Global Operations, GE Healthcare, GE Oil & Gas)

- Outcomes

o In 2010, non-US revenue totaled $80 billion, US revenue totaled $70 billion

o In 2009, US employees totaled 47% while non-US employees totaled 53%

Bob Fish, CEO of Biggby Coffee (Carol Mugo & Kevin Beard)

Bob Fish, also know as “Biggby Bob”, is the CEO of Biggby Coffee. We looked at the Biggby operation, its evolution over the past 16 years, and Bob’s role in the company during that time period. Bob was kind enough to grant us an interview thus providing us with insight of how Biggby came to be and why it has become so successful. Bob sold his Flap Jack Shack restaurant in 1993 and developed the Biggby concept (it was known as Beaners when it first opened). He opened his first shop in 1995 and a second in 1997. The first franchise store was opened in 1999. Bob’s role has evolved from “chief cook and bottle washer” requiring very long days to one of coach, trainer, marketer, and promoter as new shops open under the franchise.


1. How is the Green (Create) Quadrant demonstrated in terms of:

a. Leaders values and behaviors
- Left Flap Jack (a limited concept) and started his own store.
- Demonstrated perseverance and commitment to his vision– applied for financing 8 times.
-Took an existing product and created a naming and marketing scheme based around quality and customer relations for all socio-economic levels.
- Created unique and amusing flavor names, e.g. Sugar Bear and Caramel Marvel.
- Developed a unique marshmallow sauce over a four-month period of trial and error with the help of Ohio-based Phillips Syrup, a leading manufacturer of specialty syrups and flavorings. Biggby was the first retailer to introduce the marshmallow to the gourmet coffee segment.
- Expanded vision when he realized franchising was realistic after seeking local expertise from Mary Ellen Sheets (Two Men and a Truck).

b. Organizational culture in terms of norms, values, practices and processes
- Energy, excitement, and enthusiasm; all three are equally important.
- Franchise owners had successful but boring careers, wanted to personally own something that was visionary and exiting and not just be part of a “suit and tie” culture.
- Emphasis placed on the customer’s experience and satisfaction.

c. Outcomes, or the bottom-line value the organization intends to achieve
- Obvious in the early days of Bearers when idea was just getting started – survive another day.
- Thrive and open additional stores. 25 of the 35 area coffee shops are Biggby stores.


2. How is the Blue (Compete) Quadrant demonstrated in terms of:

a. Leaders values and behaviors
- Bob is focused on bottom line results and competing. He is up at 5 am every morning to look at store performance sheets in order to ensure that the stores are performing and bringing in enough revenue.
- Changing company name from “Beaners” to “Biggby” – Market based decision; very Blue in terms of attracting a customer population that had been left out.
- Emphasis is on operation not location. “Location is important, but we have a store in Kalamazoo that is not on the best piece of real estate," Fish said. "However, word of mouth marketing, great operators, and a great product can make a B or a C property perform like an A site."
- Measure competitiveness through customer counts (sales in market and repeat business) and beverage checks (volume in a store).

b. Organizational culture in terms of norms, values, practices and processes
- Top-line driven. The goal is to make more today than was made yesterday.
- Revenue solves all problems. But that is done by focusing on the customer. "The way to do this is to convince people to come in more often and tell others to come in," Fish said.
- Measuring store performance to identify which stores need help.
- Fast communication between stores and corporate office. No problem can be hidden for long.
- Biggby continues to double in size every two years.
- 100 stores in nine states generate $40 million in revenue; 66 more are in some stage of completion.

c. Outcomes, or the bottom-line value the organization intends to achieve
- Maximize profit; continue to grow on a day to day basis and in terms of opening more stores; (Benedetti, Crain’s Detroit).
- “Without profit there is no value” (Slowik, G.R Business Journal).
- Growth rate was almost 10% in 2010
- Continue to experience increased sales per store
- Open more stores
- Happy customers mean repeat business and “word of mouth” sales.


3. How is the Red (Control) Quadrant demonstrated in terms of:

a. Leaders values and behaviors
- Willingness to work extremely hard to see the company be successful and expect the same from employees and franchisees.
- Writing down all things. Documentation of policies to ensure nothing is forgotten.
- Simplicity through systems. Having a system allows a small business to grow while enabling corporate to keep an eye on store performance.
- Create the backbone of the organization; established policies and operations manual.
- Very black or white way to set up, organize and execute everything.
- Dedication, dependability and desire. There needs to be an insatiable desire to improve; "The finish line is never there” Fish said.

b. Organizational culture in terms of norms, values, practices and processes
- Consistency of how things get done in the store will get repeat business…more important than store location.
- Consistent training across stores and franchises. Everyone is continuously working to improve performance.
- Corporate pays for all training.
- Training standard: whether or not training is transferred - measured by a score card (1 or 0, doing or not doing)
- End of day performance from each store immediately sent to head office for review – consistency and control
- PERC (an acronym to highlight some of Fish's business mantras, which are Perception by the customer, Every customer leaves the store in a better mood, Recognize each customer as an individual, and Consistently provide a high-quality beverage) and Core values; emphasis of PERC and core values is on the importance of the customer.

c. Outcomes, or the bottom-line value the organization intends to achieve
- Excellent standard of quality across all stores and a level of customer service consistent in all locations.
- Ties back to company’s cultural and core values.


4. How is the Yellow (Collaborate) Quadrant demonstrated in terms of:

a. Leaders values and behaviors
- Changed company name from “Beaners” to “Biggby” to avoid racist connotations and educate his company's current customer base. Managed change in a very Yellow way to achieve a very Blue outcome.
- Mr. Fish loves interacting with customers and occasionally pops into the stores where he buys customers coffee once a week; came up with the 21st-century version of a folksy attitude for marketing a coffee place that's designed for people who have never been to Seattle.
- Personally engages and gives back to the community, e.g. supporting the Coppell Cowboys Little League baseball teams, a division of the Coppell Baseball Association (CBA) in Texas, taking part in the Madison Heights, MI concert to benefit Animal Welfare Society "Santa Paws Java Jam", and partnering with Mel Trotter Ministries for their Easter Outreach Operation called “Hope Tote!” to collect basic personal hygiene items and distribute them to the homeless and needy in Grand Rapids, MI.
- Uses social media to keep it touch with customers (Facebook and Twitter). Uses criticism as a teachable moment; posts criticism from customers on Twitter (Asmus blog).
- Faith, confidence and courage. Fish called these the most important personal aspects to succeed in the business.
- uses intuition as much as track record to assess franchise applicants when determining if they have what it takes to successfully run a store

b. Organizational culture in terms of norms, values, practices and processes
- Engaging the community - giving is getting. "For us, ROI is return on involvement," Fish said. "We're in a constant state of give”.
- Fish is very collaborative with his franchisees - maintains significant contact with them through store visits, phone, and email. Also maintains considerable interaction with customers by visiting and buying coffee for customers. When it comes to big changes in the organization, Bob seeks advice from his team but maintains final decision making.
- The franchisees themselves exhibit a lot of yellow (Youssef, Detroit News). They exhibit a lot of the same characteristics as Bob thus work well together to ensure the success of the business.
- Corporate office feels like a coffee shop and contains a lounge to help reduce employee tension and stress during work hours.

c. Outcomes, or the bottom-line value the organization intends to achieve
- Happy customers who feel they can influence the company with their critiques and suggestions will become return customers since the company actually pays attention to them.
- Expect to have happy franchisees that find corporate helpful, and in turn will put their best foot forward for the success of the company.


5. To the extent that your chosen organization is deficient in one or more of the Four
Quadrants, please discuss how the organization could improve upon them.

Green Quadrant
- Hard to determine what the next big vision for the company is other than adding to the number of franchises.
- There is a natural limit to the food and beverage market without constant reinvention and repackaging. Bob admits he entered the market as coffee was ascending in popularity.
- The very nature of franchising does not encourage creativity in the front line where a corporate template is expected to be followed.
- Difficult to determine how much innovation is being generated by the franchisees and how much by corporate.

Southwest Airlines: Gregory Takyi & David Froelich

Southwest Airlines

Yellow (Collaborate) Quadrant

There is no doubt that the yellow quadrant is Southwest’s strongest quadrant on the competing values framework. Its foundation is built upon the concept of treating others as you would want to be treated. The company believes in a dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit.

Leaders Values & Behaviors:

· Southwest Airlines has always tried to foster the spirit of fun in the workplace, has been exhibited past and present CEOs. Herb Kelleher, Executive Chairman from 1978 - 2008 and Ceo from 1981 - 2001, adopted a visible, hands on, and friendly style in his time running the company. He was always was ready to promote a party and have fun, much like the culture of the organization.

· He believed work was important, but not to spoil it with seriousness.

o Kelleher believed fun stimulated employees, caused them to enjoy their work more, and work more productively.”

o His strategy was to make sure all the staff had the right information needed in order to make decisions, as well as to encourage and promote family and fun environment for staff and customers.

· Southwest’s current Ceo, Garry Kelly, carries the same torch. He encourages collaboration among employees and builds trust through consistency. He believes that his employees are the company’s single greatest asset, giving the company an advantage over their competitors.

Culture:

· Southwest invests a lot in its employees including planning FUN and spirit parties that assist in motivating employees, making them proud to work hard for the Company they love!

· The People Department (Formerly the HR Department) views employees as “internal” customers and their goal is to make their internal customers happy, ultimately leading to happy external customers. They have a strong belief in serving with compassion and common sense. They also believe that people need to be the right fit in order to succeed within the company, which is why the company is so particular about recruiting. To ensure proper fit:

o Emphasis on peer recruiting

o Customers are sometimes involved in interviewing flight attendants

o Pilots hire other pilots

o Other employees are allowed to interact with applicants

o Process focuses on positive attitudes and teamwork

· The Southwest Way

o A Servants Heart

§ Follow The Golden Rule: “Treat others how you want to be treated.”

§ Adhere to the Principles

§ Treat others with respect

§ Put others first

§ Be egalitarian

§ Demonstrate proactive

§ Customer Service

§ Embrace the SWA Family

o A Fun-LUVing Attitude

§ Have FUN

§ Don't take yourself too seriously

§ Maintain perspective

§ Celebrate successes

§ Enjoy your work

§ Be a passionate Team-player

Outcomes:

· One of the company’s goals is to be the “Best Place to Work”

o It is only fitting that the company has received multiple recognitions for places to work and topped the glassdoor.com “50 Best Places To Work” list this past December.

· Southwest Recognizes that our their employees are the competitive advantage, so they deliver the resources and services to prepare their employees to be winners, to support the profitability and growth of the company, as well as preserve the values and special culture of the company.

· The bigger the company gets, the smaller the company wants employees to act. The team aspect is HUGE at Southwest.

Blue (Compete) Quadrant

Southwest demonstrates the Blue Quadrant through its strategic understanding of the airline industry. As a result the company is consistently at the top of its marketplace in terms of process execution and financial performance. On the other hand there are some Blue aspects of its strategy that seem to contradict its values.

Leaders Values & Behaviors:

· Strategic awareness of the market:

· Constantly seeking out new markets with only careful, considered expansion

· Aware of competitive threats and seek to maintain what makes them unique: trust, information sharing, non-adversarial labor relations, high productivity, low fares, and great customer service

Culture:

· Cost saving measures:

o Lower wages at all levels:

· increase with seniority

· pilots and flight attendants paid per trip

· executive compensation is also comparatively low

· Transform customer experience in the face of competitive threats:

o Compete/conform, but also differentiate with:

· reserved seating

· new fares and products

· onboard services

· “bags fly free”

· The Southwest Way

· The Warrior Spirit

o Work Hard

o Desire to be the best

o Be courageous

o Display urgency

o Persevere

o Innovate

Outcomes:

· Cost structure/Financial position within industry:

· Consistently the lowest cost per available seat mile

· Consistently profitable during every year of operation and delivering shareholder value: i.e. from 1972-1992 Southwest’s LUV stock earned highest returns among all publicly traded U.S. stock (compounded return of 21,000%)

· Revenue grew from $5.9 million in 1972 to $5.7 billion in 2000=compound annual growth rate of 25%

· Various other outcomes:

· Over time a waiting list for airport managers who are seeking the airline to initiate service at their locations

· Consistently winning the Triple Crown award given out by the DOT (on-time performance, fewest lost bags, fewest customer complaints)

· Imitation by startups and smaller airlines-within-airline; still no one has been able to get near them in terms of performance

Blue quadrant deficiencies:

Higher traffic destinations are more expensive to serve due to regulations and fees involved. This may lead to higher prices for customers. It also increases turn-around time of aircraft, increases delays, and reduces utilization due to congestive nature of these locations. Southwest is still comparatively the fastest at turn-around and addressing delay problems in these situations, but this does indicate that they are willing to loosen their standards and the finer aspects of their Compete Quadrant for the sake of expansion/competitive position.

In a hypocritical move, Southwest has lobbied against the installation of high-speed rail in Texas. One is reminded that its competition stalled the establishment of Southwest operations through litigation meant to block the company’s entrance into the Texas marketplace when it was first established in the 1970s.

Red Control Quadrant

Southwest Airlines is well grounded in the Red Quadrant given its adherence to low-cost, efficient operations. The company has also done a great job of balancing this control with its need to stay competitive by being flexible with its procedures and infrastructure. Unfortunately, its customer focus may be interfering with more practical infrastructure concerns.

Leaders Values & Behaviors:

· Established with a deliberate low-cost, highly competitive strategy:

· Incorporates best in class utilization of human capital and other resources

· Provides a cheap, customer centered experience

· Low-fares for customers

· Low cost, no frills flying

· Point-to-point service

· This founding strategy has been consistently used throughout the airline’s

history and has been altered strategically when needed to maintain the company’s competitive edge as it grew.

Culture:

· Efficiency of processes:

· Low cost, simple fares based on automobile as competition

· Fleet of only Boeing 737s (very fuel efficient)

· Consistently on-time

· Short plane turnaround for greater utilization

· Short 2 way flights = greater frequency of flights

· No interline connections (except int’l)

· Targets underserved locations near metro areas:

· Help ensure efficiency and turnaround ability

· This practice has gradually grown to include and be able to handle high traffic destinations

· Recently code-sharing has been integrated into Southwest’s customer service strategy:

· Technical systems/infrastructure make it possible to include code-sharing and connections (int’l) with others

· Airlines they partner with must qualify with/adhere to similar culture and performance metrics (customer service and on-time rates)

Outcomes:

· Fuel hedging to save money leads to:

· Lower fuel expenses

· Easier/better planning of cash flows

· Better planning towards profitability

· Various other outcomes:

· Code sharing=greater utilization and customer convenience

· Quick turnaround and lower head counts = higher levels of employee productivity (smaller ground crews and fewer agents per gate and more efficient/cross-functional teams)

· Over time Southwest has become the airline serving the most U.S. Customers with the most flights and seats.

Red quadrant deficiencies:

Tremendous aircraft utilization may compromise safety and reputation given the on-going problems with older 737s (i.e. frame stress and cracking on outer hull). Similarly the company has gotten in trouble several times with the FAA for not fulfilling their inspection schedule obligations.

Some critics say that Southwest gets the same kind of complaints and accolades that any airline accumulates during the course of operations. They claim the difference is that Southwest and its fans do a better job of capitalizing upon and marketing positive praise and stories while overlooking and even denying negative outcomes by leveraging savvy marketing, brand reputation, and a very loyal customer network.

Green (Create) Quadrant

Southwest is the number two most innovative company in its industry. The company is continually looking for new ways to deliver the best products and service possible to their customers, as well as encourage input from creative, passionate, and energetic employees.

Leaders Values & Behaviors:

• Company executives encourage and applaud out-of-the-box thinking from all employees of the company, from flight attendants to top-level executives.

• Company leadership ensure that employees feel free to communicate whatever they may please.

Culture:

• Southwest has a rule within the company that allows any employee can send an idea to anyone at any time. It can be conveyed orally, or in writing; it does not matter who it is. Because the company wants to show employees that they respect them enough for submitting their idea, responses are sent within 1 week.

• Never will an employee be given a simple “no.” If an employee’s idea is turned down, they are likely to receive a page and a half explaining why their idea will not work at that point in time.

• This method fashioning an open door policy keeps ideas coming because employees know that their voices will be heard and their ideas taken into consideration.

Outcomes:

· Southwest is working with Spigit, a software management company to assist with streamlining innovation and collaboration among its employees. The company hopes to identify and implement revenue generating ideas, as well as reducing operation costs and improving customer service.

· Spigit assists Southwest in defining, measuring, and analyzing employee-submitted ideas, and determining whether or not these ideas will generate a return on investment.

· This strongly encourages employee participation by offering incentives for top participants and top-rated ideas. The medium for which ideas are submitted is referred to as the ideas runway:

o Since Southwest Airlines' implementation of Idea Runway in September 2009, 98% of the ideas submitted have received responses and comments from other members of the community.

· With respect to taking care of its customers, Southwest is also making innovations that will allow customers to have a better experience. A few of these innovations include:

o New Destinations

o New Non-Stop Services

o Boarding Process Re-Engineering

o Fuel Savings

o Rapid Rewards Program

· Southwest also has a large social media network. The company has a social media team that works around the clock to promote Southwest’s brand as well as answer customer’s questions in real time.

o 12 million monthly visits to its website

o 1 million Twitter followers

o 1.3 million Facebook “likers”

o 29,000 reviewers on its Travel Guide

§ Surprisingly, its social media team only consists of 5 individuals. The social media team often collaborates with outside partners, brainstorming new and effective was to reach customers. The company also has its very on blog offering information about new city and route announcements, new product offerings, etc.