For Research PRo only

Zachary A. Lawrie

L23334061

BUSI 411-DO4 LUO

DB Forum 1 Initial Post

24 March 2014

Visa:

Demonstrating Agility to Make Changes in Service Strategy

Throughout the world, consumers pay for their purchases with the use of a handy piece of plastic found in their wallets. One of the most recognized pieces of plastic is the Visa Credit Card. To many of these consumers, it is a sign of comfort to see the well-known sign “Visa accepted here” pasted to the entrance doors. This sign guarantees that the individual will walk out of the store with a desired product because Visa will be there to temporarily pay the bill. Even the slogan for Visa implies this comfortable feeling by stating: “Everywhere you want to be.” How does Visa lead the market in credit card acceptance and provide consumers with this feeling of comfort?

“Visa Inc. (Visa) is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and electronic payments”(Visa Company, 2014). Since 1958 Visa (originally National Bank Americard) has been on the leading edge of delivering what consumers want for financial freedom and continues to do so today. In 50+ years, Visa has marked 30 distinct changes in strategy to keep up with technology, changes in customer needs and changes in the economy.

One of the more recent keys to the organization’s success can be found in its willingness to become sleeker and faster in marketing and payment options. In marketing, Visa identified a disconnect with its commercials and consumers after the economic recession of 2008. “Visa has had to change its company strategy due to the weakened economy. Credit card customers have used their cards for more common purchases in the weakened economy, so Visa changed its commercials to ones that show people making common, less-expensive purchases” (Kelly, 2014). Upon further review, the marketing department even changed its globally recognized slogan from “Visa, it’s everywhere you want to be” to “Visa, everywhere you want to be.” This minor change may seem insignificant compared to many other strategic changes Visa has made but it reflects the willingness of the company to consider the minutest details in order to reflect the direction consumers are headed. In that particular case, Visa wanted to relay a sleeker motto that reflected its growing options by removing ‘it’s’ to signify there are more options than cards.

Along with changes in marketing strategy, Visa has changed its product services strategy by teaming up with Samsung to “allows users to tap their phones against a payment terminal to exchange information (Chen, 2013).” This reaction to faster technological advances not only responded to future needs but spearheaded a “big step to helping mobile payments gain traction” (Chen, 2013). This type of ability to respond to technological advances as well as lead future innovation ensures Visa’s hold on the financial services market as an industry leader.

From all of this, one can surmise that Visa markets that comfort feeling through agility with regards to strategy. As “agility refers to the ability of an organization to respond quickly to demands or opportunities” (Stevenson, 2012, pg. 26) Visa has consistently demonstrated this ability and looks to do so in the future. This will enable success throughout the future.

References:

Visa Company, I. (2014). Visa Inc. Company Information. Retrieved from http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/visa_inc/index.html

Kelly, J. (2014, March). Example of companies that change their strategies. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/examples-companies-change-strategies-14307.html

Chen, B. (2013, February 15). Visa teamsup with samsunong mobile paymnts. Retrieved from http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/25/visa-teams-up-with-samsung-on-mobile-payments/?_php=true&_type=blogs&ref=visainc&_r=0

Stevenson, W. (2012). Operations management. (11th ed., p. 26). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Please write 150 words long response to this discussion and ad up few more content to his post with references. Merely appreciating his post is not acceptable. Thanks