Levendary Cafe - the China Challenge - Essay Example

?Levendary Cafe: The China Challenge QUESTION THE THINGS WHICH MIA FOSTER IS REQUIRED TO DO ABOUT LOUIS CHEN Levendary Cafe is a privately owned restaurant chain in the United States (US). The restaurant offers wholesome soups, sandwiches as well as salads prepared with high-quality ingredients for customers. It renders quality offerings in terms of its food services in a friendly atmosphere. The management of the restaurant is willing to take risks with the intention of enhanced business performance. Restaurant is observed to expand its business in the market of China due to the better Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the nation. Mia Foster is the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the restaurant chain and Louis Chen is the President of the Levendary restaurant in China (Bartlett and Han, “Levendary Cafe: The China Challenge”). Foster observed that the financial reports are presented to Denver in an inappropriate or in its local format. The finance department of Denver then applies the US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) to obtain the appropriate monthly reporting format. Chen is recognized to be successful for managing businesses in the market segments of China. It has been observed that Chen has made changes in the design as well as food menu items of the restaurants in different cafes of the Chinese market segments (Bartlett and Han, “Levendary Cafe: The China Challenge”). In the US market segments, the restaurant chain is identified to be acquiring a developed brand image with regard to quality food items as well as services offered. While, in the Chinese market segments, the restaurant chain is observed to be developing but the customers are provided with inferior environment. In this respect, Foster should adopt certain initiatives with the intention of maintaining the brand image of the restaurant in the Chinese market segments. Louis Chen should be retained for the restaurant business in China as he has been effective in expanding the business operations in the Chinese market segments. Foster should ensure that Chen is executing the operations of the restaurant in China in keeping with policies as well as strategies of the restaurant. Chen on executing any new cafes in the markets is required to communicate the strategies with which the cafe will be developed and offer pertinent products or services (Bartlett and Han, “Levendary Cafe: The China Challenge”). Furthermore, Louis Chen was familiar with the preferences as well as needs of the customers in the various market segments of China. Accordingly, Louis Chen sorts out appropriate food menus to be served to the customers. However, Chen is required to ascertain that restaurant business is executed in accordance with its standards and brand image. In this context, the restaurant business in the Chinese market segments with the knowledge of Chen and restaurant image will be effective towards growth as well as development (Bartlett and Han, “Levendary Cafe: The China Challenge”). QUESTION 2: THE CHANGES MIA SHOULD IMPLEMENT IN THE HEADQUARTERS MANAGEMENT APPROACH WITH RESPECT TO THE SUBSIDIARY IN CHINA Mia Foster, the new CEO is required to make certain changes in the headquarters which is in Denver in relation to the businesses in the Chinese market segments. The subsidiary in the Chinese market segments should be modified with formal structured process in order to ensure that the restaurant business is able to perform in an appropriate manner. The formal structure and processes will ensure that the business operations are executed in accordance with the policies and strategies of the company. The formal structure should be formulated with intensive planning and the activities of employees should be segmented on the basis of their expertise. Moreover, the restaurant business operating in the Chinese market segments should be effective with formal structure. Formal structure of business will ensure that the decisions which are devised are appropriately executed by team members and staff. The practice of decisions making should be delegated to different individuals with the intention of carrying out the business operations appropriately. The decisions which are made among the individuals should be coordinated for better effectiveness of the restaurants. In this regard, Louis Chen will be able to manage the different cafes in the Chinese markets segments successfully. The delegation of activities of the restaurant to different individuals or managers will aid in ensuring that the finance, marketing and staff management activities are conducted properly (Rivkin and Siggelkow, “Choice Interaction and Organizational Structure”). Furthermore, this structure should also be followed with the objective of scrutinizing the progress of the restaurant business in the Chinese market segments. It will also assist Chen to communicate the strategies as well as plans which are to be implemented in order to develop the restaurant business in the Chinese market segments. Moreover, with the assistance of this structure Chen will be able to conduct the operations proficiently and smoothly on the basis of restaurant’s standards and customers’ requirements. Thus, the headquarters of the restaurant should formulate a formal structure for the subsidiary restaurant in the Chinese market segments. This structure will enable in the division of the work or activities amid different sections of the management of the restaurant in China. This structure will enable the headquarters to manage as well as direct the activities of the subsidiary in China. The headquarters will also be able to acquire financial reports under US GAAP. Additionally, the audit operations of the business in the Chinese market segments will be appropriately executed. The headquarters will also be aware of the strategies as well as progress of the restaurant in the markets of China (Kroon 244). QUESTION 3: THE CHANGES TO BE IMPLEMENTED AT THE HEADQUARTERS OF LEVENDARY CAFE The headquarters of Levendary Cafe is observed to be following a complex procedure in managing the activities of the restaurant chains. The management of the headquarters is entrusted with the responsibility of recognizing food trends as well as to devise strategies with the objective of providing better quality products as well as services to customers in the different markets segments. The headquarter was assigned with the task of implementing strategies with respect to marketing, food, operations, franchises, business development plan and administrative staff groups. All these activities add to the complexity towards the management of business operations of such diversified restaurant chain (Bartlett and Han, “Levendary Cafe: The China Challenge”). In this respect, the headquarters should follow a multidivisional structure with the aim of executing the restaurant business in the various market segments in an effective manner. The headquarters with the assistance of multidivisional strategy will be able to assign the tasks of managing the restaurant business in the market segments to separate business units. The business units will be entrusted with the responsibility of managing as well as directing the activities of the restaurant business in their respective market segments. Moreover, the business units should seek that the operations are executed in accordance with the policies and regulations of Levendary Cafe. The business units will comprise expert individuals with the competency of executing the financial, marketing and other related business activities in their respective segments. The business units will be able to recognize tastes as well as preferences of customers in their individual market segments. Accordingly, the business units should determine the food items to be included in the menu list. They should seek that the customers are offered with superior quality products or services (Andrews 59-60). In this context, the headquarters with the assistance of the business units will be able to manage the business operations of the restaurants in an enhanced manner. The headquarters will be provided with the opportunity of ascertaining the performance of the restaurant chain business in a distinct manner amid different market segments. The headquarters will be able to acquire relevant information in relation to the performance and progress of the restaurant chain business in the different market segments. On the basis of their performances, the headquarters will be able to devise appropriate strategies in order to improve the performance of the restaurant business towards long-term sustainable development and profitability. These are the changes which are proposed in order to improve the effectiveness of the restaurant business in the market segments. Works Cited Andrews, Sudhir. Human Resource Mgmt: TB for Hospitality. India: Tata McGraw-Hill Education, 2009. Print. Bartlett, Christopher A. and Arar Han, “Levendary Cafe: The China Challenge.” Harvard Business Publishing (2011): 1-13. Print. Kroon, J. General Management, 2nd edition. South Africa: Pearson, 1995. Print. Rivkin, Jan W. and Nicolaj Siggelkow. Choice Interaction and Organizational Structure. Files, 2001. Web. 19 May 2013. . Read More