Running Head: AMERICAN EXPRESS 1

Mini Project #2 – American Express

Zihong Zhai

Maureen Chisholm

Quincy College

BUS 202 OT1

Feb. 12, 2021

Mini Project #2 – American Express

Regarding how American Express compares to the other credit card companies, it is clear

that American Express is different from other credit cards, bearing in mind that the American

Express company is both a card issuer and a payment network. Visa is a credit card company that

I have personal experience and knowledge of, and unlike American Express it is only a payment

network. It works with card issuers who are the third party, stereotypically a bank, which extends

credit to consumers (Colangelo & Maggiolino, 2018). When a customer uses a card, the card

issuer pays for the transaction. American Express has a pronounced better reputation compared

to Visa when it comes to customer service (Lucas, 2015). American Express is the leading in the

U.S., surpassing all the other Credit Card companies as far as customer satisfaction is concerned.

It has constantly done well in using the credit card that guarantees the customers a high-quality

service. With Visa cards, the customers are not in a position to interact with the company for

customer service matters. Visa partners have significantly so many card issuers, which echoes

that the customer service is more variable. Unlike in American Express, Visa will depend on the

card issuer, and Visa itself does not have control over the service provision quality.

By contrast, American Express is better enhanced for customers to acquire new credit

cards. However, the customers of these companies are customarily in apprehension about which
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company is more preferable, in view of the fact that these are two of the world's major payment

networks. The American Express cards and Visa cards serve a matching elementary purpose, and

various customers are able to purchase with whichever type of card, nonetheless they are not

entirely the equivalent in terms of customer satisfaction (First, 2019). Understanding how these

two companies are unlike in their customer service provision could help the customers to decide

between the two, and impulsively, American Express will carry the day due to its improved

customer service, with better payment network practices and dealings (Colangelo & Maggiolino,

2018). Generally, Visa is not a credit card issuer; rather it transfers funds from the card issuer to

the merchant. Unlike the case in American Express, every Visa card also has a card issuer, for

instance, the Chase credit cards with Visa have both the Chase and Visa logos on them. That

reflects that Chase is the credit card issuer, then Visa Company is the payment network.

American Express does double duty, of what Visa does for its customers since it issues credit

and charge cards. Furthermore, it processes transactions for its own, American Express cards,

and cards from other issuers that use the American Express card network, a phenomenon that is

appealing to its customers.

The customer reception of the two companies implies that Visa has received a bigger

acceptance by the customers, due to the factor that the more merchants that admit a customer’s

card, the enhanced the card network. However, American Express has traditionally been at a

weakness with its customers due to longer charged higher credit card dispensation fees, than the
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rival payment network (First, 2019). In order to avoid such expenses, the merchants might opt

not to consent to American Express. Visa is secured with Mastercard as the greatest

acknowledged payment network ahead of American Express (Colangelo & Maggiolino, 2018).

Visa is the unblemished winner, and it is implausible to find merchants who consent to an

American Express card, though not a Visa credit card. The chances are higher of finding

merchants that accept Visa credit cards, but not American Express cards, particularly outside of

the United States.

Some of the American Express strengths related to customer service in my mind include

that it is the most versatile card provider and is accessible to the customers. The company offers

an assortment of cards suited for the wants of its wide range of consumers, counting basic no-

annual cash back cards that are unlimited for first-time credit holders and comfortable travel

cards for high spending (Hovenkamp, 2019). These strengths might enhance a customer’s service

experience because from engaging with clients online to getting feedback on the company’s

services, it has been able to find out about how to cling to customer service and keep the

customer relations improved.

Lastly, I would want to work for the American Express Company given that it has various

key strong points in its managerial expertise, quality services, strong customer relationship

management, and innovation using which it has surpassed the hard-hitting challenges that the

economic critical situation brought. The company is also highly fruitful at Go Market strategies
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for its products and has strong Free Cash Flows that provide resources in the hand of the

company to expand into new projects (Hovenkamp, 2019). I would also like to work for the

company since it has a strong Brand Portfolio, and over the years the company has invested in

building a strong brand portfolio. Its brand selection can be tremendously useful if the

organization wants to expand into new product categories (Hovenkamp, 2019). The company has

a successful track record of developing new products and in customer service innovation,

integrating complementary firms through mergers and acquisitions, and has positively

assimilated several technology companies in the previous few years to modernize its maneuvers

and to build a reliable customer service.

References

Colangelo, G., & Maggiolino, M. (2018). Applying Two-Sided Markets Theory: The

MasterCard and American Express Decisions. Journal of Competition Law & Economics,

14(1), 115-143.
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First, H. (2019). American Express, the Rule of Reason, and the Goals of Antitrust. Neb. L. Rev.,

98, 319.

Hovenkamp, H. (2019). Platforms and the rule of reason: the American Express case. Colum.

Bus. L. Rev., 35.

Lucas, R. W. (2015). Customer service: Skills for Success 7 th Edition, McGraw-Hill Irwin,

ISBN: 9781260157536.