While I think there are a few companies out there trying to do well by their customers, the majority of the companies out there still serve their shareholders first and foremost. And, as the Bible tells us, no man can serve two masters.
If you think about the brands you deal with every day, I think you'll find that their policies and procedures are all about maximizing their value. If in doing that, you the customer gets something positive, that's just icing on the cake.
So we see return policies that make it near impossible to return anything. We see misleading promotional pitches only to find fine print that practically negates everything. We see stores being grossly understaffed to the detriment of the retail experience so someone can make their quarterly numbers. We see the company putting itself in front of every consumer transaction.
In a brand new world of transparency & authenticity, would we be seeing the challenges that Toyota is having today? Doubtful.
The truth is much of the talk about the value of SM in in window dressing for brands. Pretend we care about the customer by having a Facebook fan page and Twitter account, but really, these aren't friends we'd ever invite over to dinner.
While social media has given the consumer an amplified voice, I think way to often, they're just speaking in a vacuum. In the end, most companies aren't really changing their behavior. But they sure are putting on a good show.