NCJ Number
189275
Journal
International Journal of Police Science and Management Volume: 3 Issue: 3 Dated: Spring 2001 Pages: 246-254
Date Published
2001
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article provides business planning tools for Australian police services to create a customer-centered environment.
Abstract
Despite claims of being “customer focused,” Australian police services have conceptualized customers as a unity rather than a combination of distinct groups. Police services also have not specified the desirable elements of a customer-focused organization beyond modest corporate statements. Nor have they created planning tools to achieve customer service excellence. The reinvention of communities as customers in corporate planning strategies is discussed, along with some of the business planning techniques that police services should apply. The first planning tool is defining customer segments. By focusing marketing efforts on particular segments, organizations are able to consider the common characteristics of important customer groups. They can assess customer needs and expectations and how well these needs are being met. The second planning tool is competitive positioning, which centers on the act of designing an organization’s offering and image so that it occupies a meaningful and distinct position in the minds of key customers. The third planning tool is “blue-sky planning” which asks the question “what if?” Blue-sky planning can take organizations beyond habitual approaches to planning and prepare them better for the future. These are useful techniques to move police organizations from their current position to a desired future position as customer-centered organizations. 18 references.