McCollough walks away after spearheading a drive to move or refurbish a block of Circuit City stores, an effort designed to close a quality gap a with Best Buy franchise seen as having better locations, brighter and less cluttered stores, and top-of-the-line service led by its famed Geek Squad customer support operation.

FORBES: Magazine Article

While he is coy about many of the offerings that will be included in the service, Mr. Kotick said Call of Duty Elite, and the customer-service operation that will be needed to support it, wouldn't be possible if the service was free.

WSJ: 'Call of Duty' Targets a Monthly Fee

One solution: take over a successful operation, which will bring with it the hard-to-duplicate customer relationships that underpin any banking operation.

CNN: The Asiaweek Financial 500

Its subscriber-management operation is a paragon of customer service that shames the cable companies.

ECONOMIST: Digital television: Sky��s new dawn | The

Social media opens up new pathways of communication between a business and its customer base and provides a forum for co-operation and co-creation - one that can produce both small, iterative improvements and large breakthrough innovations.

BBC: Business

Britain's BA and Iberia of Spain have unveiled a new co-operation agreement aimed at cutting costs and improving customer service.

BBC: BA and Iberia forge closer links

And a new management structure, in which each manager is held accountable for a specific area of the operation, such as the kitchen or service, is expected to improve the customer experience, according to franchisees.

WSJ: McDonald's Tackles Repair of 'Broken' Service