1. Explain in detail the technology-enabled processes and platforms that Dominos Pizza used for organizational learning and talent development.

2. Over the years Dominos Pizza has managed to transform its culture. What challenges did the company face, and how did the company counter these challenges with social changes required for efficient operations?

3. In detail, what are four key takeaways from the case study?

Domino's was started by brothers Jim and Tom Monaghan in 1960. They took out a $900 loan from the Post Office Credit Union to purchase a local pizza shop in Ypsilanti, Michigan, called DomiNick's. Within a year of opening, Jim traded his share of the partnership for an old Volkswagen Beetle from his brother, Tom. From that point forward, Tom Monaghan was the driving force behind the pizza chain. During the early years, he struggled to find the right business model as he experimented with sit-down restaurants and free delivery-based outlets. In 1965, the company was incorporated under the Domino's Pizza name and began to open franchises. By the end of the 1960s, Monaghan had the franchise model refined and was opening a new store every week. Growth soared in the 1980s, when Domino's opened an average of approximately 500 stores per year. By the end of the decade, the company boasted almost 5,300 locations spanning North America, Central America, South America, Europe, East Asia, and Australia. Despite the momentum, this period also brought challenges that would hinder growth in the following years. In terms of competition, Pizza Hut introduced a delivery channel in 1986, posing a direct threat to Domino's dominance in the market. In addition to this challenge, in 1989 Monaghan announced plans to sell the company. In 1990, the company cut its public relations and international marketing departments and implemented other cost-cutting measures to increase profitability. Unsuccessful in selling the company, Monaghan refocused on competing head-to-head with Pizza Hut and deterring challengers such as Little Caesars. The early 1990s were marked with internal restructuring and the closing of 155 stores. Domino's focused its attention on modernizing operations and implementing systems such as a single phone number for orders and a centralized computer system to track metrics. The changes resulted in increased earnings in 1993, and by 1997 the company was back on track to achieving steady growth. A year later, Monaghan successfully sold the company to the Boston-based private equity group Bain Capital. Growth continued under Bain management by focusing more on operational effectiveness and closing poorly performing locations. To drive traffic and increase penetration into the lunch market, Domino's introduced a variety of new menu items, including oven-baked sandwiches in 2008 and pasta bowls in 2009. Apart from enhancing product offerings, in the late 2000s Domino's also focused on enhancing the customer experience that it had developed over the past 48 years in the pizza-delivery market. In 2005, Domino's launched an online pizza-ordering Web site, and, in 2009, it introduced an iPhone-optimized mobile ordering and tracking system. These initiatives helped the company stabilize sales amid competition and also enhance earnings per share. Despite these innovations, the main challenges that Domino's faced were competition from low-cost local producers, a growing trend toward healthy eating in the U.S. market, and an increasingly diverse set of customer preferences in international markets. To differentiate business in the domestic market and satisfy local tastes in international markets, Domino's had to refine its internal business processes. To differentiate in customer experience and operational excellence, Domino's senior management identified the importance of a positively energized workforce and innovations in technology for customer engagement. They realized the need for deeper customer engagement to better understand customer needs and to find opportunities for new products. It was concluded that the company would have to leverage its technical architecture to implement the social change required for efficient operations. As Domino's focused on developing an edge in customer engagement, operational efficiency and real-time information access capabilities, the organization focused on two areas: operational innovation and technology-enabled processes to connect customers and internal operations. Operational innovation included aspects of physical design (e.g., optimal store design) as well as a distribution model developed around store workflows to leverage standardized equipment. Technology-enabled processes referred broadly to customer-centric services (e.g., the Pizza Tracker), internal management tools for reporting, human resources development, and internal employee-focused services for training and development. Domino's Image 2000 store design, which was developed and rolled out in the late 1990s, epitomized the deliberate and calculated planning used to optimize across the organization. Store design was the central focus of the optimization. The central component of Domino's store design was the Leaderboard. The Leaderboard was a ranking tool that was displayed on flat-panel screens at the front of the store, providing a store manager with easy access to performance analytics and operational metrics. Access to this level of data allowed managers to keep a finger on the pulse of what was happening at their locations relative to other stores in proximity. The same data was also available at Domino's headquarters and via a mobile phone application for regional supervisors, which allowed each store's status to be monitored remotely. The Leaderboard added transparency within the store so that all employees could keep track of key performance indicators and make corrections before any given issue was escalated. Because each store was connected to Domino's central integrated information systems, feedback received from customers could be used to make real-time contextual decisions at any time. For example, if a customer complained about pizza quality, the information could be relayed back to the appropriate store via the Leaderboard so that the store's manager could follow up with the customer immediately to address quality issues before they impacted other customers. Orders were processed in the following way at Domino's: An order appeared on the Leaderboard, which was positioned next to the food-preparation station (for cutting and preparing ingredients and assembling the pizzas and sandwiches). The refrigerator next to the preparation station contained ingredients, such as dough, that had to be kept cool. Dough in each store was supplied by the nearest of 17 Domino's dough- manufacturing and supply-chain facilities. The dough was taken out to proof (a process of leaving the dough to settle) for a set period of time, depending on the age of the dough. For example, a two-day-old ball of dough would need to proof at room temperature for 30 minutes before it was kneaded to prepare it for the baking process. A computer terminal at the end of the preparation station instructed store staff what to produce next and enabled staff to update the status of an order so that it could be accurately reflected in the Pizza Tracker Web application, which could be viewed by the customer awaiting delivery. Once the order was assembled, it was placed into the oven, which had a standardized conveyor belt speed that baked the food for exactly six minutes. Because all food had to pass through the same oven, careful recipe and design changes were made to conform to the sixminute rule. In addition to the processes that governed the preparation of the ingredients ( for example, the time the dough had to sit at room temperature to be cooked appropriately in six minutes), techniques such as covering breadsticks and sandwiches with foil or other insulating materials were used for specialized cooking. Once the food appeared at the end of the oven's conveyor belt, an employee stationed by the delivery area would box it. If the food was not retrieved, it would fall to the floor because, by design, there was no holding area. This forced employees to be constantly engaged with the order-preparation cycle. A computer terminal at the delivery station then allowed pizza delivery drivers waiting in the store to access in-process orders and see a map-based layout of locations for food ready to be delivered. This computer-generated analytical report also gave drivers optimal routes to make deliveries. This was further integrated with drivers' mobile phones. Like the data input from the previous terminal, the delivery terminal updated order status in the system so that the Pizza Tracker would reflect the latest status. The operational processes implemented in the company were complemented with specific technology- driven solutions that allowed for closer interaction with customers, increased transparency within the management team, and optimal employee development. One specific example of a Domino's technology-driven solution was Domino's Pizza Tracker, a Web application rolled out at the end of 2007 to address a common issue inherent in the food delivery model - customer engagement throughout the "dining experience." By implementing a system that allowed customers to remain abreast of the progress of their order from the time it was placed until the time it arrived, Domino's sought to not only increase customer satisfaction, but also open a communication channel to learn more about customers' concerns and suggestions. The Pizza Tracker added transparency to the delivery process and placed Domino's in a "virtual fishbowl" that allowed customers to peek in and get details on all aspects of their orders. With operational processes established, the status of an order was updated throughout the process with a high level of data granularity, such as the name of the person who assembled the pizza. An additional component of the Pizza Tracker allowed customers to quickly rate their experience and provide more detailed feedback to the local store throughout the process. Pizza Tracker was built on the PULSE point-of-sale system Domino's rolled out in 2003. The tracker augmented the operational data that PULSE used and managed. As previously mentioned, the Leaderboard was a key piece of technology that enabled increased transparency. The inclusion of regional data on the Leaderboard fostered increased competition among store managers on Domino's key metric: Out The Door (OTD) times. The Leaderboard provided insights to managers at each location as well as the management team at headquarters, which could monitor the activity at the stores remotely to spot trends on an aggregate level. Because the Leaderboard also ran on the live data used and updated by PULSE and Pizza Tracker, it could provide an up-to-the-minute holistic snapshot of the performance of each store. Lastly, Domino's focus on technology-enabled processes also facilitated talent development and organizational learning. Employees could access to a Web 2.0 platform with a plethora of resources, such as wikis, blogs, and discussion forums. This encouraged peer-to-peer resource sharing. The internal e-Learning portal offered online training series for continuous development of Domino's employees and a venue for sharing best practices among the employee community. In one of its recent innovations, Domino's launched a Facebook application called "Think Oven" to capture ideas from Facebook fans. Within 90 days, Domino's received over 10,000 ideas and grew its fan base to over 1 million. Over time, Domino's remained true to some of its earliest differentiators - speed of delivery, operational transparency, and sensitivity to customer expectations and emotions. The ability to leverage technology strengthened these core tenets. However, these increased capabilities also required thoughtful technical and cultural training and clear communication to employees for the company to effectively embrace an environment that was more transparent than ever before. Domino's still strived toward the lowest possible delivery time of any pizza delivery service on the market. The company had been measuring speed of service with its Out The Door time metric since the 30-minute guarantee was discontinued in 1993. The OTD metric was computed as time elapsed from order was placed until delivery in the computer system. However, in an effort to improve upon this metric, some employees tried to beat the system by dispatching orders in the system before they were actually ready for delivery. While this unintended side effect was difficult to detect in the past, a new level of transparency made possible by the technological platforms allowed the company to both enhance speed and manage the risk of deterioration of the customer experience. Customers could now monitor dispatch times via Pizza Tracker. Customers could see (and report) any unreasonable time between dispatch and when the driver arrived at their door. Domino's had to communicate to its employees that they were in essence inside a fishbowl and that customers were now virtually monitoring their progress inside the store. Competition between local stores on sales figures dated back to the company's early days. However, the Leaderboard took competition to a whole new level within the company. Whereas previously it had been difficult to motivate employees to provide faster OTD times, exposing stores' performance to their neighboring stores and across the company created a social incentive to perform. It became common for one store manager to phone a nearby store manager to proudly gloat over earning the number one position on the Leaderboard. This social pressure proved to be a more effective incentive for stores to perform than traditional management techniques and incentives of the past. Traditionally the store performances were aggregated and the usual quarterly numbers were reviewed. This made it difficult for specific stores to realize and respond in real-time to their performance lags. The new, transparent approach also allowed for a more positive competition among the stores. Domino's had offered a product satisfaction guarantee for decades. Still, it was historically rare for customers to contact the company directly with a complaint when they were dissatisfied. The more typical reaction was for customers to go to a competitor the next time they ordered pizza. The Pizza Tracker was designed to change this. It made it very easy for customers to rate their Domino's products and experience. While it was common for large enterprises to have a contact center that handled customer complaints, this tended to be a slow, expensive process to implement because Domino's processed several hundred thousand transactions per day, as did Domino's. So, Domino's chose to address high-volume feedback with strength in numbers - store employees. Feedback was routed electronically to the appropriate stores within seconds, where store managers were responsible for contacting dissatisfied customers to resolve problems. Many customers were quite surprised when their phone rang minutes after leaving a complaint online. Over time, this approach enabled Domino's to improve its customer satisfaction metrics as well. Domino's wanted the customer experience, which occurred millions of times per week, to feel more personalized. One way that the company achieved this was by including the name of the employee making each pizza and the name of the delivery driver. While at first many employees were uneasy about their names being used in Pizza Tracker, the company decided that exposing names would become an integral part of company policy. The initial resistance from employees was expected, and the Domino's management countered it in two ways. First, employees benefited from positive recognition from customers. Second, the company mandated this as a policy once it had a critical mass of win-win-win cases among customers, employees, and the company. Once employees became acclimated to the concept, Domino's heard anecdotal evidence that customers felt more comfortable in knowing the name of the driver who would show up on the doorstep of their home, and drivers got rewarded with larger tips as a result. Traditionally, pizza franchisees used regular passenger cars (either owned by the stores or by delivery people) as pizza delivery vehicles. The lack of standardization raised several issues relevant to customer experience. Domino's began collaboration with Local Motors to design the "ultimate delivery vehicle" for pizza. Local Motors leveraged global resources through crowdsourcing to design and locally manufacture sustainable automobiles. Local Motors' virtual community of talent included over 30,000 designers, fabricators, engineers, and enthusiasts around the globe to design, manufacture, and deliver personalized vehicles. Domino's and Local Motors built a platform that connected franchise owners, auto manufacturers, and designers around the globe to create a delivery vehicle that was durable, safe, easy to maintain, and affordable. To keep costs low and increase ease of production, the vehicle would be built on an existing small-car platform. The partners leveraged global resources by hosting open online competitions for the best ideas in each stage of the design of this vehicle. Conclusion Domino's Pizza became one of the largest and longest standing fast-food retailers in the world. The company had to adapt its technology and operations to stay ahead of the competition. Domino's adhered to a standardized store design and pizza assembly process that kept employees focused and consistent, while adopting a flexible technological architecture that supported company transparency and customer feedback. To be a leader in its market, Domino's constantly sought new ideas to enhance the company's personal connection with customers. Domino's began expanding to new global markets through multiple partnerships to deliver menus customized to each market. Applications on various mobile platforms and within social media channels were expected to drive a significant portion of the company's sales going forward