Do Oilfield-Services Companies Strategically Manage Customers and Employees? Halliburton, National Oilwell Varco, and Schlumberger

Many companies try to simultaneously manage customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction, even though it may be difficult to do so. We examine three major companies—Halliburton, Schlumberger, and National Oilwell Varco (NOV)—in the oilfield-services sector to examine the level of consistency in their customer and employee orientation. These companies seem to have become more employee-focused than customer-focused over time. There seems to be diminished consistency in customer and employee focus. Based on empirical research we conclude this may hurt the long-term financial value of these firms. There are considerable implementation challenges in these companies to overcome barriers for consistency in customer and employee focus.