Dear Editor,
If Dan Hesse has accomplished anything at all in his tenure as CEO of Sprint, he has managed to spark many conversations about Sprint’s pricing, technology, marketing, and brand approach.
The most recent announcement concerning the layoff of 8,000 workers, as a cost-cutting effort, has accelerated the specific discussion around Sprint’s long-term viability – do they have a strategy to move forward, given the global economy and market dynamics?
I believe the answer is yes, and for reasons that apply to Sprint’s competitors as well.
First, the “bad news:” press about layoffs and cost cutting are universal in nature. It’ everyone, not just Sprint, and is a matter of economic reality. Second, whether you like the technology or not, the legacy Nextel brand and platform is still viable – as measured by performance, subscribers, or market equity. Third, the Palm Pre launch should put Sprint squarely into the cutting-edge device landscape, and should provide enhanced subscriber adds as a direct result. We all know Sprint needs that sorely.
If there’s jeopardy in the Sprint strategy, it’s around these two major areas of concern: how do the cost-cutting initiatives affect their ability to execute across the business, and how does the negative media affect their ability to garner acquisition business? Both of these items are critical to overcome. Increasing customer satisfaction was a primary Hesse initiative, and the layoffs just cannot help that.
The negative media will undoubtedly inspire more scrutiny from both consumers and business alike, so the message and clarity on long term vision become very important. The wireless marketplace is doing fairly well given overall conditions – there’s reason to be bullish across the category.
Michael Voellinger
Telwares
