Dell Inc.: Managing Reputation in the Blogosphere

Authors
Provenzano, N., Pulscher, S., Rand, C., and O'Rourke, J.S. (Editor)
Region
North America
Topic
Strategy & General Management
Length
9 pages
Keywords
Customer Service
open letter
emerging technological platforms
communicate information
crisis
Copyright Holder
Notre Dame
Student Price
$4.00
Target Audience
Graduate Students
Undergraduate Students

After deeming Dell’s customer service unsatisfactory, Jeff Jarvis, a well-known blogger, posted an extremely critical open letter to the company’s CEO. Within a matter of days, Dell had a full-blown crisis on its hands and was forced to reconsider how to deal with emerging technological platforms used by customers to communicate information and opinions.

Learning Outcomes
  1. To highlight the power and influence of emerging communication platforms;
  2. To illustrate how such platforms give individual customers a very powerful voice;
  3. To encourage analysis of how emerging communication platforms can be utilized to damage or enhance corporate reputation (from both corporate and consumer perspectives);
  4. To provide an example of a company forced to respond to the changing environment of consumer feedback.