Impact of Technological Innovations on Business Operations: A Case Study of Domino's Pizza

This article discusses the impact of technological innovations on business operations using Domino's Pizza as a case study. It explores how the company has transformed into an e-commerce company specializing in the sale of pizza and how it has relentlessly applied digital technology into the process of ordering pizza. It also discusses corporate governance and the relevance of the Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility.

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Introduction
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.

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In essence, technology has transformed each and every aspect of business operations than
ever seen before.
Part A
Domino’s Pizza
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

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their customers’ desire, when they need it, and most importantly, uses the appropriate channels
to reach them.
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

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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.
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.
Practical Illustrations of how Innovation has Impacted Operations

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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

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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 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.

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Part B
Corporate Governance
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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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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