American Express Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

American Express - Case Study Example American Express is perceived as a premium brand product and the principles listed above are reflected in their credit card business. Though the service credit cards are directed at several different income and status levels, they have been able to maintain a mystique of exclusivity. The cards cover the range of the common inexpensive credit card to the 'cause marketed' Red Card which donates a share of the profits to fight AIDS. High income levels are targeted with the Black Centurian Card costing $2500 and made out of titanium. Their peripheral businesses, such as car rental and hotel reservations, have benefited from this brand recognition and customer loyalty. Teamwork has allowed American Express to become a truly global company. They entered the international market at the beginning of the 20th century with the introduction of internationally accepted Traveler's Checks. Their cards are now recognized around the world. While much of American Express's success has come from their innovation in financing, they have also been able to cultivate and manage relationships based on their reputation. When the company went through organizational restructuring in the middle of the 1980s to confront the growing competition from Visa and Mastercard and the loss of merchant services, they turned to their core business and its principles. "Rebuilding relationships with merchants became a top priority, as did significantly increasing American Express Card acceptance across a wide range of industries and geographical markets" ("Our History"). Years later, the company's chief executive would say, in retrospect, "If not for the strength of our brand name, American Express would have collapsed by the late 1980s" ("Our History"). For American Express, it was not the product but their brand reputation that saved the company. Today, many other products compliment the financial card segment. They have co-branded with Citi Bank and other financial institutions to offer bank issued credit cards. They offer a wide range of personal and business travel services that fit well with the financial card unit. They have become a one-stop-shop for the personal or business traveler. In addition they offer an array of business services from financing to taxes that once again are based on, and linked to, the business credit card unit. A business can arrange all their financing, financial planning, lines of credit, travel, lodging, and airlines, and have it all billed through the payment service unit. These services would not have been possible for American Express without the unique position and reputation of their financial card product. Works Cited "Our

Persussive Speech Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Persussive Speech - Essay Example I will briefly discuss how adoption of technology, especially in the business sector, influences positive changes. One way is that technology has brought about the innovation if machines and equipment that works automatically. Work automation is a process that seeks to reduce the amount of work done by employees and the time used to accomplish a task (Comin & Miesteri, 2010). By implementing the adoption of technology, work becomes achievable in minimal time and with little labor force. However, technology compares not at all to the need for human labor and is therefore, not a replacement to employees. In other words, automation puts fewer burdens on employees by reducing their workload. As a result, workers focus on other projects and achieve better quality output plus doing so in a shorter time. Consequently, introduction of technology in the organization provides easy storage. With the need to document every single process, the amount of paperwork in the company increases by the day. With limited space, storage becomes a burden. Nevertheless, technology provides a solution for virtual storage of documents in secure clouds. This greatly reduces the need for hardcopy paper work thus saving on storage space. Moreover, the need to hire storage space from outside diminishes significantly saving on costs. Technology also spearheads the organization’s target to improve security of information, a vital requirement in any organization’s success. Information stored virtually, allows access only to authorized individuals through password protection. Furthermore, enhancing security within the network by using protocols that encode classified data diminishes security threats especially during transmission of data. Very importantly, virtual storage of data in clouds creates data backup. Therefore, any information lost or unintentionally deleted becomes retrievable via data recovery methods. This in turn, creates credibility for a firm because of proper and