[경영]1인치 안에 무엇이 들어있을까? 서브웨이는 짧아졌다

Size Matters

What's in an Inch? Subway Comes Up Short

By Venessa Wong on January 18, 2013

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-18/what-s-in-an-inch-subway-comes-up-short#r=nav-fs

Don’t be so literal; the “Subway Footlong” is a registered trademark, not an actual measurement. So wrote Subway Australia on its Facebook page on Jan. 16, after customer Matt Corby’s photo of an 11-inch sub sandwich, measured against a ruler, went viral.

According to ABC News, the Subway response, which is no longer posted on the page, read: “The length of the bread baked in the restaurant cannot be assured each and every time as the proofing process may vary slightly each time in the restaurant.” A representative told ABC News on Friday that while the bread is baked at each store, the company strives for each sub to be 12 inches long.

It might seem nitpicky to complain about getting cheated out of 1 inch, or possibly less than an inch, of Italian Herbs & Cheese bread. But an inch can mean everything. Take golf: In the 2004 HP Classic, Joe Ogilvie missed sinking his blast out of the sand trap by an inch, handing the victory and $918,000 of the $5.1 million purse to Vijay Singh. And to companies that deal in hundreds of thousands of transactions a day, that small measurement adds up fast:

• When Southwest Airlines (LUV) reduced passenger legroom by an inch (to 31 inches) to add six seats to each plane last year, it estimated the $60 million redesign would add $10 million per year in ticket sales.

• Radio City Entertainment (CVC) raised the maximum height to be a Rockette in 2000 by 1 inch, to 5 feet 6 1/2 inches. That extra bit of leg might just help draw more viewers to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, which brought in $72 million in ticket sales during nine weeks in 2004.

• In 1997, the Washington Post decided to shrink the width of the paper by an inch (to 12 1/2 inches) and the length by 1 9/16 inch (to 22 inches) to save “millions of dollars,” according to Michael Clurman, the Post‘s production vice president.

Subway customers, meanwhile, can take comfort that the “Five-Dollar” part of the slogan is holding firm.

요약

 “Subway Footlong”은 실제 치수가 아니라 등록상표다. 고객 Matt Corby가 11인치짜리 서브웨이 샌드위치 사진을 페이스북 페이지에 올려서 널리 퍼졌다. ABC News에 따르면, 서브웨이는 레스토랑에서 굽는 빵의 길이가 약간 다를 수 있다고 응답했다고 한다. 빵은 각 매장에서 구워지고 있지만, 서브웨이 본사는 각각 12인치로 정했다고 한다. 이는 1인치 짧다고 하찮은 것에 불평하는 것으로 보일지도 모른다. 그러나 1인치가 모든 것을 의미할 수 있다. 골프를 생각해보아라. 2004 HP Classic에서, Joe Ogilvie는 1인치로 인해 승리를 Vijay Singh에게 건내줬다. 하루에 수백, 수천번에 거래하는 기업에게는 작은 치수가 그 거래 속도를 더 빠르게 할 수 있다.

- 사우스 웨스트 항공은 승객들의 다리 공간 1인치를 줄여 비행기마다 6개의 자리를 추가하여 6000만 달러의 추가비용을 들여 매년 1000만 달러를 추가로 벌어들이고 있다.

- 라디오 시티 엔터테인먼트는 Rockette의 높이 최대치를 1인치 높여 Radio City Christmas Spectacular의 관객을 더 끌어모아 7200만 달러를 벌어들였다.

- 워싱턴 포스트는 종이 넓이 1인치를 줄여 수백만 달러를 절약했다고 한다.

반면에, 서브웨이 고객들은 슬로건 "Five-Dollar"로 위안을 삼고 있다.