The Impact Of Digital Technology On Domino's Pizza Business, Essay.

Question A:
You are required to choose a company from the following list of Public Limited Companies, and describe the impact of innovation and changes in technology on the company. 

List of companies:
Domino’s Pizza
Dixons Carphone
Countrywide
First Group
Hastings Group
Sainsbury’s
Royal Bank of Scotland
Rolls Royce

Question B:

For your chosen company, please demonstrate your understanding of the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It is recommended that you apply Archie Carroll’s CSR model to your answer. Please illustrate

Technological innovations in the business world

The business world was somewhat stagnant for over a century or thereabouts following the Industrial Revolution. However, one can now confidently assert that this will never be the case again. Technology is adapting, mutating, and developing at an exponential rate that one cannot help but be moved by the wave of progress. Technological innovations have significantly transformed the operations of organizations (Morrison, 2016 p.10). On the same note, technological innovations have changed the way people operate around the world. For instance, the onset of the internet has outfaced telephone calls as a means of communication. A business owner no longer needs to dial the supplier’s number to get things done; all that is needed is an internet empowered device along with an internet connection to contact suppliers or customers. Another technological aspect that is tremendously gaining pace is the cloud storage (Ferraro and Briody, 2013 p.50). It may be hard to imagine that technology has brought business this far, but taking a journey back to five years ago, one will be shocked to discover the following facts:

1.    Social media was experiencing a difficult time trying to merge with consumerism.
2.    Mobile phones were not being utilized for business or commerce purposes. Rather, they were utilized for casual pursuits.
3.    The relative absence of cloud-based alternatives for mid and small-sized businesses.
4.    Apps were primarily used for games, poking, and other trivialities.
5.    Omni-channel marketing was marred by bumbling incompetence.

In essence, technology has transformed each and every aspect of business operations than ever seen before. 

For the better part of the past decade, Domino’s pizza primarily focused on chasing every digital option to get its pizzas delivered. Over the years, Domino’s pizza tried its best to stay relevant in terms of technology (Wetherly, 2014 p.30). One of the notable digital features that were used by the Domino’s is the toppings on a pizza. Currently, the company has created an app that enables customers to locate the whereabouts of the pizza upon ordering. In other words, the app can locate the exact location of the pizza. Besides this, there is Dom, a Siri-like voice, and an option that enables customers to make orders through Twitter. It is because of such ideas, and many more, that make Domino’s stay on top of the business ladder in regards to global revenue, subjecting its close rival Pizza Hut to fierce competition.

According to Domino’s chief digital officer in Ann Arbor, Dennis Maloney, Domino’s used to be an online company that sells pizza, but the company’s objective was to transform into an e-commerce company specializing in the sale of pizza. Maloney describes the objective to become an e-commerce company as one of the remarkable a-ha moments that sparked a lot of discussions in the company. Domino’s has not only managed to scoop 60% of its market via digital means, but also managed to capture a generation of pizza fans (Hamilton and Webster, 2015 p.26). Multiple customers have been quoted saying that the company understands what their customers’ desire, when they need it, and most importantly, uses the appropriate channels to reach them.

Domino's pursuit of digital options

A decade ago, the company initiated its digital transformation through the launch of the Pizza Tracker. This was a system that points out the location of a pizza all the way to its destination. Through the years, Domino’s formulated all types of innovations. In the initial stages, the company experienced a lot of skepticism and ridicule in equal measures. Surprisingly, some of the ridicule emanated from the company itself. In 2013, the company decided to set a camera in the kitchen to cover the activities (Harrison, 2013 p.18). This development was named Domino’s Live. It could not be described as a reality TV, but rather a video with no audio which covered the behind the scenes activities. The reason behind this innovation was to entertain the customers. To many, this new feature was not entertaining. However, this video greatly impacted the general public and even hit the headlines for some time. As a consequence, the people were touched by Domino’s commitment to technology.

The following year saw the company create an app that allowed customers to make orders and pay whilst in the comfort of their Ford vehicles. This was the moment when Domino’s CEO was quoted saying that the app one of the best innovations for the company. He further added that more than 40% of the company’s sales could be attributed to orders done online. Certainly, this innovation created headlines for the better part of the year (Kasemsap, 2014 p.184). Domino’s ended the year 2014 in style by offering yet another technological advancement named Dom. This was Domino’s Siri-like order-taking voice purposed to transform online ordering so as to make it more conversational. Also, the innovation lifted the company to the levels of Apple and other well-known tech innovators. The company continued to invest in new methods of placing orders online and also went a step further to try and impress the customers who were eagerly waiting to use new technology.

Later, the company took another twist and now focused more on delivery innovations. In 2015, Domino’s launched a retrofitted subcompact called DXP. This remarkable innovation was tailored to store up to 80 pizzas and keeps them warm at the same time. This meant that pizzas remained warn from the store to the destination. This gave birth to yet another innovation in 2016 whereby the company initiated a campaign dubbed the AnyWare campaign. In brief, this meant that customers could make orders via multiple platforms including making calls, tweeting, using the smartwatch, texting, and through the computer, voice commands to Dom just to name a few. According to the company’s executives, the technology was not only applied to selling pizzas but also to reach out to new customers and keep the existing ones. Moreover, the technology was used as a bait to capture investors who were hungry for the technology used by the company.

The use of new innovations in capturing the market

By 2017, the company had surprised its customers with enhanced and outstanding technologies. During the year, Domino’s began providing a pizza wedding registry and even offered drone deliveries to their New Zealand customers. In Ann Arbor, the company made driverless car deliveries and even plans to stretch the same services to Florida. According to Domino’s, the industry is headed to a driverless-car delivery alternative. In fact, Domino’s rivals are set to also look into the automated delivery technology. Pizza Hut, for instance, is working closely with Toyota to launch a set of delivery vehicles. 

After undergoing a downward moment in 2009, the year when Domino’s CEO gave a public apology for producing bad tasting pizzas, the company has continuously restructured itself and transformed into a powerhouse for the 21st-century pizza business. Domino’s stock price has boomed by 700% since 2010, beating its closest rivals such as Papa Johns and Pizza Hut (Adekola and Sergi, 2016 p.60). In comparison, Domino’s is way above its competitors and this tremendous success was achieved as a result of the continuous innovations evident in the company. Domino’s overhaul of its ingredient lists, recipes and menus was essential but an insufficient factor for the company’s overwhelming growth.

 Indeed, the real factor that can be traced back to the company’s success is the unwavering prioritization of mobile and digital technology around its model of operation, thus transforming it into an unlikely winner. Domino’s has relentlessly applied digital technology into the process of ordering pizza, developing friendly and manageable apps that are compatible with nearly all smartphones. As of 2015, more than half of the company’s revenues could be attributed to the mobile/online business ("Domino's Pizza, Inc. - AnnualReports.com," n.d.). In the process, the company noted the benefits that came along with the development of their e-commerce platform. For instance, the company noted that orders made online were significantly higher than those placed by phone. On the other hand, Pizza Hut made the same observation and even claimed that the sales made online were 30% larger than those made instore (Parhizgar, 2013 p.15). Besides this, studies reported that customers were more comfortable making orders via digital means.

Through Digital sales, the company managed to create a value for its clientele by putting more emphasis on usability, delivery speed, and more importantly, using a more modern method to enhance the delivery speed and usability. In this process, Domino’s was able to capture more recurring clients who often purchased pizzas from the company. While the capital expenditure and supply costs related to stores had not escalated for the past ten years, the company acknowledged that there was an impending problem of raising the minimum wage ("Results, reports & presentations | Domino's Pizza Group plc," n.d.). Recently, legislation was passed that saw the company’s employees pocket more per hour, and in addition to that, the legislation required the company to award employee benefits.

The impact of digital technology on Domino's Pizza success

The employees needed to manage digital orders were relatively few thus creating worthwhile labor savings. In addition, the tracking apps of the company enabled customers to track their orders and get all the information they wanted to know, reducing complaints significantly. Lastly, the platforms enabled the company to gather more information about the trends of users, making it possible to predict demand. The figure below shows how Domino’s profits have been growing year after year due to the massive incorporation of digital technology into its operations.  

By definition, corporate governance refers to a series of practices, processes, and rules that dictate the direction and control of a company. Essentially, corporate governance entails managing the interests of the stakeholders including the management, suppliers, customers, shareholders, financiers, community, and the government. Corporate governance encompasses all the managerial spheres as it creates the framework needed to clinch the objectives of the company (Rasche, Waddock and McIntosh, 2013 p.10). Looking at Domino’s business, it is operated by managers, officers, and team members, who receive oversight from the Board of Directors and also receive direction from the CEO. Notably, the board executes its judgment so as to act in the company’s and stockholders best interest and to improve the company’s value. It is the responsibility of the board to frequently monitor and give the necessary advice regarding the effectiveness of strategies, decisions, and policies applied by the management (Sanchez-Runde, Nardon, and Steers, 2013 p.670). Both the management and the Board of Directors acknowledge the manner in which the long-term needs of stockholders are improved by carefully focusing on the interests of the customers, members of the team, suppliers, communities, service providers, and the public as a whole.

The company’s board acknowledges the evolution of corporate governance standards and, accordingly, exhibits commitment to review the basic corporate principles at least once per year. First, the management and Board of Directors have a role to play. Secondly, the Board of Directors is selected and composed in a systematic manner (Schwartz, 2017 p.19). For instance, the directors of the company should have excellent professional and personal ethics, values and integrity. Additionally, they should be dedicated to representing the stockholder’s interests. The stockholders are responsible for electing their new directors upon nomination by the Board of Directors (Cheng, Ioannou and Serafeim, 2014 p.12).  Third, Domino’s has identified a guideline to be used to determine the performance and compensation of the board. A board compensation policy has been put in place to ensure that benefits are competitive. Fourth, the Board of Directors has established a particular method and timeline to conduct its meetings. In essence, the CEO, in collaboration with the board, determines the agenda of meetings and passes on the same to the members of the board. Fifth, the Board of Directors has instituted committees. The Board of Directors establishes committees often so as to make execution of its duties easy. Currently, the company has three committees namely the Compensation Committee, the Audit Committee, and the Corporate and Nominating Governance Committee. 

Despite the fact that the presence of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can be traced back to the 1950s, its relevance and application started much later. The foundation of what is considered the modern denotation of CSR is based on Archie Carroll’s “Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility.” In reference to the pyramid, a company is tasked with four sorts of responsibilities. The first, and probably the most obvious and essential is the economic role for profit purposes (Servaes and Tamayo, 2013 p.1046). Secondly, corporations have the responsibility to abide by the laws stipulated by the society. The third responsibility, which seemingly connects to the second, is the responsibility to follow the set ethical guidelines. Fourth, is the philanthropic responsibility, also known as the discretionary responsibility (Ruggie, 2017 p.34). In essence, this responsibility is appropriately described by the contributions made by companies towards certain purposes including cultural, recreational, educational, social, and so forth.                                                 

For over 20 years, the pyramid has remained very crucial and relevant. Often, it is referenced, criticized, modified, and debated by the politicians along with the social commentators and corporate leaders. However, to comprehend the real relevance of the pyramid, there is need to overlook the debate and give more emphasis on its practical application (Grayson and Hodges, 2017 p.30). The relevance of the pyramid continually thrives given its simple yet fundamental nature which allows the company to understand the essential concepts of social responsibility and also proposes how the company will act to achieve each of the four steps.

On this note, companies must take upon themselves to define CSR via their actions and Domino’s pizza took this action in 2009. In that year, the company experienced what was popularly referred to as the Great Booger Scandal. A simple Google search of the term “domino’s booger” will portray the videos of Domino’s workers doing all sorts of awful things in the kitchen, to say the least (Aydalot and Keeble, 2018 p.21). Of course, the video went viral in less than 24 hours, sparking a serious PR challenge for the company. However, instead of denying the video, the company took full responsibility and offered a public apology (Eason, 2014 p.50). The company thereafter took serious measures including closing and sanitizing the store as well as restructuring the hiring process to ensure that such employees do not enter the company’s stores.

In brief, Domino’s considers itself privileged to act upon the wishes of the communities and customers. On the same note, the company works hard to realize its vision which is to become the best pizza company in the world. The values of the community have always been in the heart of the company (Camisón and Villar-López, 2014 p.2894). In addition to this, the company acknowledges that responsibility in business entails more than just being charitable. It entails ensuring high quality of food, considering the impacts of the company on the environment, and ensuring that the people are treated well. For the purpose of ensuring that a sustainable business is built, the company has put a key focus on its corporate responsibility activities which include the food, community, colleagues, and the environment. 

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