Among the issues facing organizations these days, attracting and maintaining a pool of quality workforce in a competitive environment are not an easy-to-find solution to this intricate topic. Likewise, the emergence of technology in business sector, especially Internet, has changed how companies and individuals do business in 21st century. The aims of this paper are to acknowledge of the role of e-service can play in business-to-consumer environment and to illustrate some common methods for attracting and maintain talents through these two articles: "E-services and their role in B2C e-commerce" by Mohini S. (2002) in the journal Managing Service Quality, 12, 6, 434-446 and "How to Get & Keep the Best Employees" (2006, December) edited by Susan, F. S., published in journal HR Focus; 83, 12; 1 & 11-15.
II. E-SERVICES AND THEIR ROLE IN B2C E-COMMERCE.
Since the emergence of World Wide Web in 1990s, the number of companies moving from the "bricks-and-mortar" to "bricks-and-clicks" or operating fully in electronic environment has exponentially increased. Hence, e-commerce has growth largely since then. Therefore, we should understand how e-services play vital role in customer's mind about e-commerce recently.
E-search provides an always-available online support for customer to easily access information on Web sites as well as search for a product based on attributes, catalogues or categories. It also facilitates the search by providing additional information in forms of opinions from previous customers, in price range or in product description using keywords or search engines included in the site. Some enhance the services by keeping track of customer's purchase habits or analyzing previous orders to propose relevant products, instead of disturbing them because of unnecessary information. As Mohini suggests, a responding to customer about queries, delivery, payment by either automated software agents or e-mail is greatly appreciated, which is a significant tool that enhances customer relationship with e-business even in a great distance. A personalized e-respond apologizes for a delay, a thank-you for a purchase, and an ad of new pertinent products or service based on customer profile database will highlight the value added for each patron in the e-business.
An indispensable service that cannot be excluded from customer's mind is the e-transaction or e-payment function. An online transaction done in a standard forms included multi-payment system will improve reliability of the order and convenience for purchasers. Besides, privacy is the most important factor when making decision to purchase from a Web site. E-business organization should provide an assurance seal from a renowned security organization, like TRUSTe and VeriSign Inc. (Joel, E. C., & Carol, C. B., 2006) to assure that their recorded personal information will not be exposed to another third party, resulting in improvement in number of transactions and revenues. Any business organizations operate on a customer-centric theme: "The customer is king". Thus, they have to build an e-technologies system to support customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with regularly maintain and update the latest information to attract and keep customer visit their sites again. One of the finest features is to let customers use free trials before actually purchase the product or service. Besides, customers highly value an easy-to-navigate Web site with a multimedia application can present information of the company more clearly and more impressive than just post in traditional way. The key is make customers perceive the business is acting on a one-to-one basis when actually the procedure is mostly automated (Evans C., 2005).
III. HOW TO GET AND KEEP THE BEST EMPLOYEES.
Human resource management, or HRM, "is all about - attracting, developing, and maintaining a talented and energetic workforce. If an organization can't do this right and doesn't have the right people available to do the required work, it has very little chance of long-term success" (Victoria Management School, 2010). Here we just focus on one side of HRM: attracting and keeping a quality staff. As mentioned above, these are two of the challenges of HRM for employers because any business has to depend on human capital to succeed. 83% of overall companies and 95.5% of the largest companies with more than 7,000 employees are concerned with this matter (Susan, F. S., Ed., 2006). This article illustrates top strategies to catch the attention and retain the best ones in a fierce talent war.
Attracting a pool of qualified workforce requires the best practices of HRM in business organization. Susan brings out that bonuses can be the top strategy. By using bonuses, staff members will feel satisfied and contribute more to ensure the organization's overall mission. However, awarding bonuses might not be enough since companies have to do much more to be staying ahead. Paying higher than the market or offering better benefits are the next-best strategies favored by many corporations. Some organizations use a judicious tactic such as propose higher wage for some key roles and market-competitive wage with extra benefits packages for other functions. It is clear from Table 2 in the article that generous benefits package, for instances, health-care, loan-forgiveness, discount programs, concierge services, etc. as an attraction tool was cited by most companies come from South Central and Southeast regions than in other places (Susan, F. S., Ed., 2006). Employers can also offer sign-on bonuses, retention bonuses, or mentoring program for workers to develop their expertise and some particular useful bonuses, like covering travel and commuting costs.
A low-cost approach for drawing and retaining qualified workforce is "to sell current and potential employees on the workplace environment, lifestyle, and company reputation" (Susan, F. S., Ed., 2006). Different workers have different expectations about their careers. Many people appreciate working in a friendly workplace environment that also provides workers the opportunities to learn and grow in professions, rather than the high salary and bonuses. Off-the-job and on-the-job trainings like mentoring and coaching programs are important for organizations for catching the attention of people in the war for talent. As the article Employer of Choice: Attracting High-performance Talent (John, C. R., 2007) suggests, an useful continuous learning program received by staff can help a company gain some benefits: recruitment as well as retention of staff, enhanced performance, improved customer service, and better financial performance. Several companies used combined strategy included workplace environment to ensure employees feel satisfied and valued as a critical success factors of the organization.
To improve the ability to recruit more people, companies place the available positions on online job sites, for example, Job-hunt.org or Monster.com. The use of Internet for recruiting worker is no longer restricted to anyone and it is very commonplace these days. Alternatively, manager can let employees refer potential candidates for vacant poses or ones that they want to co-operate with. Even though quality workforce is scarce, various actions, for instances, interview, pre-employment reference check, etc. could be taken place to ensure that the chosen one is the best that fit into the organizational culture in an attempt to reduce the rate of worker turnover.
Some companies cannot offer large bonus or salary because of costs concern. Instead, they allow employees think about the whole compensation package of payment, bonuses, and benefits and let them choose how they want to divide the compensation. Freedom benefit, which emphasizes work-life balance, is also favored by many. This low-cost strategy gives staffs extra vacation time, more flexible work schedule and working outside the office, and more time to deal with their personal problems or an important appointment. Some smaller companies design a career path and training as a means of attracting because in these places, the gap between positions is not much different. "These developments do not necessarily suit all types of business and all types of job positions. It is a trend, however, that appears not only irreversible but also likely to advance much further," said Kevin, A. (2005). It suits the diversity of workforces and let individuals have more devotion, more motivation to deliver better performance.
IV. THE NEXFLIX CASE.
Netflix Inc., the world's largest subscription service streaming movies and TV episodes over the Internet and sending DVDs by mail, was founded in 1997 and the headquarter is located in Los Gatos, California. The company has been well-known for its leading breakthrough in video rental service because it has prominently changed the way people rent DVDs nowadays. Currently, the company is in relationship with more than 13 million subscribers (Second-Quarter Financial Results, 2010) with a library contents over 100,000 titles making a revenue of $1.67millions in 2009 (2009 Annual Report, 2010).
Although there are already some huge names in the rental service, like Blockbuster and Redbox, Netflix can still make it happen because it has applied e-commerce theory facilitated by many stand-out customer e-services mentioned in article above. First and foremost, Netflix offers a very low flat-monthly fee: just $8.99 per month to become a member and enjoy compelling values. Customers have a hybrid option when joining the service: either having DVDs mailed directly or watching online streamed videos without commercial interruption. No more going to stores to rent a new DVDs just released, customer now can just sit at home, click on a movie, and the DVD will be sent by e-mail direct to their houses. Plus, since Netflix joined with Roku Inc. to produce a set-top box that let subscribers have more choices to view streamed movies and episodes right on televisions through broadband connections.
Secondly, Netflix is a pioneer in making policy that let customers keep the discs as long as they like without any due date and late fees. With this policy, it has attracted many customers to use the service and make other competitors, such as Blockbuster and Amazon, imitate. Moreover, the ability to deliver DVDs in within one day business and convenient return without shipment fee has contributed to the success of Netflix. Thus, subscribers now can enjoy as many movies as they like with just at least $8.99 monthly and two more bucks for Blu-ray disc option. Recently, Netflix has invested deeply in technology and the investment has paid off: the introduction of Instant Viewing application that allows customer to stream any of 10,000 movies and shows to their PCs with an extreme download speed - just thirty seconds and you can watch the opening credits (VMS, 2010) - and especially, no additional costs is needed because the application is included in service from the beginning. The viewing experience is also made possible by Netflix controlled software that can run on consumer electronics devices called "Netflix Ready Devices". These devices include Blu-ray disc players, Internet-connected TVs, digital video players and game consoles (2009 Annual Report, 2010). Not only that, Netflix enhances customer relationship by building a proprietary recommendation and merchandising technology that can keep track of each subscriber's renting habit. By quickly recommending relevant movies matched their preferences, the company not only increases revenue because "approximately 60% of Netflix members select their movies based on movie recommendations tailored to their individual tastes" (Press Kit, 2010) but also give customers satisfaction. Thriving to be the top subscription service, Netflix holds contests to gather various notions from subscribers to improve its technologies. These high-tech investments have driven Wal-mart out of business in video rental market.
Other factors also play key roles in Netflix e-commerce business: an easy-to-navigate and simple design Web page without excessive use of animations, build-in FAQs providing answers for general matters, search engines based on genres or keyword, and a customer service available 24 hours a day. Also, the company offer two-week free trial to ensure customer's satisfaction and trust. Netflix, hence, maximizes customer values by applying these wise strategies to become one of the most successful e-commerce companies with many competitive advantages make it expensive for others to displace Netflix from subscription segment leader.
Not only renowned for its e-commerce, Netflix's HRM strategies are also staying ahead of the war for talent. To achieve great success, a lot of efforts are put in hiring and maintaining the best people for contribution to the company. It promises to have the best compensations and working environment for employees around the industry; thus, if you are an average person, you cannot have a post in this place. Top performers in Netflix can have many privileges than in other competitors: top salaries, severance packages, plus fringe and flexible and freedom benefits to carry out their ideas and enjoy work-life balance. Netflix also gives them the options to choose how much compensations they want to receive payments in cash and in stocks. Additionally, it always strives to maintain a highly-productive working atmosphere for talent agents to perform the best. With limit work rules, maximizing freedom, making everyone involve and responsible for decisions they make, and encouraging workers to refer three people whom they want to work with, Netflix makes its staff feel that they are a critical asset of the companies. As a result, with the advance in e-commerce technologies and the right HRM strategies, Netflix will strive to be a paramount name in the in-home entertainment video market.
V. BLOCKBUSTER, INC. - REFLECT AND CONTRAST.
Here we examine one of the biggest Netflix's competitors in the movie rental industry: Blockbuster, Inc. Blockbuster, a world leading provider of in-home-entertainment market like movies and games, established in 1985 and headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It operates internationally with more than 5,000 stores throughout North and South America, Europe, Mid-east, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
In e-commerce aspect, Netflix and Blockbuster are both famous names that appear first in any customer's mind when deciding to participate in movies rental services. Same as Netflix, Blockbuster provides various plans depend on customer viewing habits, such as low monthly fee of $8.99 for one DVD at a time or $15.99 for three DVDs in Blockbuster's plans (Joe, F., 2008), all with fast one-day-business delivery, free shipping and convenient return through US Postal Service. Both sites have queue features where DVDs are waited to be mailed. Both make strategic alliances with others as well: Netflix partners with Apple's iPad, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, TiVo, etc. as Blockbuster allies with Samsung, Motorola, and Tivo (Corporate Overview, 2010).
However, there are many differences between these two companies. First of all, founded since 1985, Blockbuster operates widely in many countries but Netflix just manages only inside US and Canada. While Netflix is still a virtual store renowned for its subscription online, Blockbuster has not only online services, but also DVD rental outlets and kiosks that its opponent does not have. Besides, Blockbuster offers more plans and discounts than Netflix, especially the Total Access Plan that permits subscriber either receive DVDs by mail like Netflix's service or exchange DVDs in one of any 5,000 stores like traditional way. Therefore, if subscribers do not feel like using mail, they can drive downtown and take home a DVD. However, DVDs in-store exchange can be charged a late fee if they are returned beyond due dates. In addition, Blockbuster allows subscribers to rent games and Blu-ray discs apart from movies without additional fees whereas Netflix charges two more bucks for Blu-ray option.
On the other hand, Blockbuster does not stand a chance against Netflix in the technologies fields. Netflix has invested heavily in technology in order to best serve customers whereas Blockbuster had just transforming itself from bricks-and-mortar into bricks-and-clicks to compete in the same market segment so it could be a disadvantage. The library is smaller than its opponent. Although Blockbuster has been around for quite some times, it still lacks innovation, and integration across divisions is low. It did not pay enough attention in developing the online subscription like Netflix and building the communities, which causes a lot of its customers switch to Netflix for better experience.
In HRM aspect, both companies use the same competitive pay and benefits as each other. They both strive to attract a qualified workforce and maintain a healthy environment for working and learning mutually. According to Crystal, S. (2010), like Netflix, being an employee in Blockbuster earns you not only well salaries but also many benefit packages: Fringe benefits comprise of mental, medical, dental, life and even pet insurances; Flexible benefits includes parental leave and flexible schedule for work-life balance; Bonuses and tuition assistance for motivating employees. And the best thing of all is that workers can get free movie and game rentals and store discounts.
VI. CONCLUSION.
Not only Netflix and Blockbuster has succeeded in online subscription and video rental market, other companies can also easily advance into e-commerce because the breakthrough of the Internet has changed the way people deal with each other nowadays. Taking advantage of this trend, companies should do their best by applying above suggestions to attract potential customers and manage long-term relationship with them. Furthermore, companies must understand that their imperative HRM can be a critical success factor for success. A quality workforce can be recruited only by offering employees appropriate human resource strategies with attractive compensations and unique workplace environment.
