Case study 1 Virgin mobile USA has reason to believe some people will cut back on food before

they give up their cell phones. In talking with thousands of their customers who are part of a special online panel, virgin mobile found that 6 ! of their customers say they are keeping their cell phones, but are cutting back in other ways, for e"ample, ! are dining out less fre#uently and $%! are deferring big ticket purchases. &he information from the panel warranted a press release. 'ress is a high priority for building awareness about the company and its prepaid value( )ustomers who *oin the panel are asked if they are willing to talk to the media. +hen the )hicago &ribune e"pressed interest in the story, virgin mobile directed the newspaper to ,su-ame. Su-anne peace to talk about her e"perience as a customer. She used to spend /0%1 per month on her cell phone with sprint. She switched to no2contact with virgin mobile USA to pay by the minute and has never looked her back. 3uestions4 /. +hat is the impact of global recession on the telecommunication industry5 &here has been no impact or very less impact on the telecommunication industry across the globe. &elecom industry is more or less recession proof. )ommunication is a necessity today than a lu"ury, and consumer would allocate a budget ,generally unplanned. for communication services which makes the industry survive like any 67)8, unlike I&. It is the only industry that is taking or hiring more people in the industry than any other industry. +e also see increase in the subscriptions in the telecom industry. 6or e"ample, when 9eliance and &A&A got into the already crowded 8S7 market the subscription base grew. &elecommunication is now a global service, drawing the attention of the international service providers and managing their services off2shore. &he services are rendered to the corporate and retail customers. &hough the world economic situation has hit the companies of varied sectors, the telecom sector has seen little or nil fluctuation.

:owever, the fear of recession in the globe will eventually creep down into the telecom industry too. &here is already reduction in spending and a lack of enthusiasm for ;8 technology seen in the global market and undoubtedly margins have reduced to an e"tent to #uestion survival of several &elecom vendors while operators strive to break even their costs. <. +ill Virgin mobile able to survive in the present crisis5 As stated earlier the telecom industry is not affected to a very large e"tent by global recession. 6 ! of its customers still preferred keeping their cell phones and global recession would not last very long for it to affect the industry very badly. :ence, virgin mobile would definitely be able to survive the crisis. In order to improve performance during the crisis period, virgin mobile could do the following4 9educe tariff rates and introduce new plans Increase customer base =nter new markets 'rovide schemes such as pay per second etc. ;. 8ive some remedies to tackle the global recession. A few remedies to tackle recession are as follows4 &o concentrate into increasing one>s competitiveness &o concentrate on the core competencies &o retain the customers &o up sell &o reduce costs through various cost reduction and cost control techni#ues &o concentrate on providing good #uality products and services to customers ?uilding customer relationship

@. :ow do you deal with the unemployment problem during the recession5 9ecession has lead to a huge number of *ob cuts and high rate of unemployment. ?ut it is not the time to panic. Ane could deal with unemployment problem during recession in the following ways4 Ane should try to strengthen hisBher skills and knowledge Ane could probably take up further studies and increase one>s knowledge Ane should be realistic and stop *ust thinking negative Ane could try and apply for *obs through employee referrals from friends in the industry Using an agency during the recession period to look for *obs also helps. Agencies have contracts in various organi-ations and can refer a good employee in the company. Ane of the best ways of dealing with the problem of unemployment during recession is to start one>s own business or to become an entrepreneur. &his would not only help self but would also help in providing employment to a few others looking for *obs.