Case Tale of Two Airlines in the Network Age: Or Why the Spirit of King George III Is Alive and Well!! ‘As Profesor Roger McPherson wal 1 go ‘rough the security process second tine raged on into rd hour oni spring dy in 2002 (all passengers had to be reeened anus hough he fog as his airplane moved 1 toch down at Hartfield Airport i lant ‘more than hou abd 15 mine. Head 30 ‘mimes to catch hs 6.00 ru light o London, ‘were he would be meeting wth de eceatre Jeaderahip of a major british power company teas the infoematon erate eft frtumate, however, be fying this utr, which had « repuation for onstnding service. He was even more comfortable base he had a fulsfire tiestlas chet and wae 8 Goll Card member. Profesor McPtcron at always uneasy about the large pemium charyed for fl, fs-class tickets but knew atin 8 rua it often meant the diffrence between ‘making «connection aad missing on. He well remembered a decade ago fying this sine ‘om Milan 6 London to connect 0 Might 0 [New York Bad weather Wen ad sso seduced his Thourand- 30-minute connect me 1910 ‘mimes. A discussion ofthe problem withthe firstchss cabin atendant ad relied in a oneal fom the paleo London ie ines fb ity) and car to whisk hi an one aber psenge tothe New York hgh which oak of ‘nly ove mint ate. That extordinary sevice ad made Proessoe McPherson 0-year deo In the information age, be knew it woud be Aiteen, and he was secure. The ine yas ‘Leadon would have sented him off their Computer as closeconmecting passenger It ‘would have note he checked mo Dag ough. {td it would be ansous to cape is $2,500 fare abot 10 imesh of the average psc on a oaly moder loaded Might "As hit plane pulled int the gate a S40 74, helow it would be ight but he wold make it particlayven the fet dat ll planes were caming in ate, Moving is S7-yeaald fame Into adm eoletion of high school 40m ‘er specs, be set off Two else ies sod ‘one train i later, the gate hove int sight and bebrakd to ant 553 rt ewas clon, but head done Locking through the srpat window, how- ver, he was stnnod 1 Se te air brie de- ‘ached fom the plane wih splendid eazonc ef ‘cency 7 mine ery Te dort the brage ‘was closed no ageat was nigh se was ced waving his bags through te window o ‘he pilot 20 yards sway (thad after all, worked ‘nce in similar situation on Continental Ait- ‘would be 30 minutes Tate for his meeting in22 Introduction Challenges of Managing in a Neowork Economy London, but the executives would understand. Distinctly irritated, he straggled off to the new airline's first-class lounge to begin a frantic se- ries of phone calls and faxes to the United King- dom. As he trudged through the airport, ‘McPherson began to see the beginning of a lec- ture on service in the information economy and the fact that technology is only a small enabling piece of a total service concept. ‘At 7:50 PM, comfortably seated in the first- class cabin of his new carrier, McPherson jerked to attention as the captain came on to announce that because of a leak in the hydraulic system, there would be an aircraft change and a two-and- one-half hour delay. Sprinting off the plane, McPherson realized that the meeting with the power company executives, planned three months ago, would be over before he got there. The following day he was due in Frankfurt to give the keynote address at a major information systems conference. Flying to the United King- dom to connect to Frankfurt would be a hassle and unnecessary since the purpose of stopping, in the United Kingdom was now totally negated. Glancing up at the departure board, McPherson was surprised to see a 7:55 PM boarding depar- ture for a plane to Frankfurt, nine gates away. Pulling into the gate at 8:02 PM, he discovered several things: 1. The plane was at the gate, and with com- mendable dispatch the gate agent relieved him of his London boarding pass and his Lon- don-to-Frankfurt ticket and hustled him onto the plane minutes before the door closed: 2, The cabin attendant, giving him his favorite drink, explained that because of favorable tail winds across the Atlantic and the fact that ‘eight passengers (plus now McPherson and cone other) had very tight connections, they had decided to hold the plane Yor 15 minutes to get the extra passengers and still arrive on schedule. The note of pride in the cabin atten- dant’s voice was evident One and a half hours, later, appropriately ‘wined and dined, McPherson drifted off to sleep, reflecting on what a remarkable case study had played out in front of him in the previous two hours. Information technology, operations strat- ‘egy, management control, an empowered (also ‘unempowered) workforce, and service manage- ‘ment had been interwoven into a tableau. A re- vvised format forhis speech in Frankfurt began to emerge. Best of all, he would not have to go through a case release process because it had all bappened to him.