HOSPITALITY OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT - Case Study Example

According to Phillip Kotler the key stages in product and service development are; idea generation, screening of processes, evaluation of concept, product or service development, and commercialization process. With respect to hospitality management the key stages in product and service development are market research, segmentation, idea generation and evaluation, product and service development, and advertising Heineke, & Davis (2007). It is an organized effort to collect relevant information about target customers Akkerman, Farahani, & Grunow, (2010).

Market research provides useful information about customer likes, needs, and wants. It is an essential component of business strategy. For hospitality management it is necessary to identify what customers want before the development of any new product or service. It helps the company to develop products and services that meet customers’ expectations and to increase market share. Market segmentation means divide the market into small segments. It is a marketing strategy that segments the large market into small subsets of customers.

It facilitates the company to select one or two specific segments and design the products or services according to the needs and wants of those particular segments. It is impossible to satisfy the needs of all customers so companies divide the market into small segments and then designs their products and services according to those segments which they want to serve. Idea generation is the result of market research and segmentation. This process develops the ideas based on customer needs and expectations.

Initially companies generate many ideas and then screen them one by one on the basis of the feasibility and opportunity cost. In the idea generation process especially for hospitality management the ideas can be collected from existing loyal customers, employees, media, and also from strong competitors Yu, (2012). After ideas generation