Multi-Professional Nursing Teams - Essay Example

Data Analysis Introduction For any business to succeed and to retain its position in the market where competition is increasing in the form of new entrants in the market or other market trends like recent recession, it is essential to take decisions through proper strategic plan of action. Strategic management is the key to success of any business. Businesses strive hard to stay in the market and to compete with their competitors. To be successful in today's world, one should identify the ways of creating Blue Ocean which is very ardent task. So in today's world of business amidst red ocean strategy, it is necessary to adopt appropriate marketing method to promote your business through various tools and techniques in order to attract more and more customers. (Kim and Renee, 2005)1 Singapore which is renowned international business hub known for its world class infrastructure facilities is also a growing tourist destination. In a study, it is identified that hotels of Singapore have adopted and integrated information technology into their marketing strategy which was successfully incorporated the technology into their marketing campaign. (Choon - Chiang Leong, 2001)2 Similarly Songdo International City which is touted as the next Asian business hub is attracting numerous international ventures to start their businesses of all types as the city provides best infrastructure, facilities along with diverse customer base. Songdo International City is planned in such a way that good portion of the place is given for the establishment of hotels only. (http://www.songdo.com) So the industries trying to open their hotel in Songdo city can ask nothing better than this. In order to support the decision of opening a new hotel at Song do and to decide on which strategic marketing method to use for the promotion of the hotel, two reputed hotels were selected for the purpose of interview. The present chapter consists of analysis of the interview through comparison of both the hotels strategy of approach towards marketing and how do they manage to attract customers. Data Analysis Rutherford and O'Fallon (2007) states that as strategic marketing is umbrella to lot many marketing methods, but strategic marketing for the hotel industry should be limited to its realms and genesis only. Further the argument of Fetch Waller was also highlighted by Rutherford and O'Fallon stating that definition of marketing should be broadened in order to include all the operational aspects of the hotel. Moreover Waller reiterates illustrated the relationship between marketing and operations as a continuing process without which the hotels cannot remain competitive. As hotels are 24/7 business, it is necessary to evolve , innovate and adopt new marketing strategy each and every time in order to stay in and above the competition. 3 The interviews were conducted in the marketing and sales department of two hotels situated in Songdo City namely 'Ramada' and 'Best Western Premier Songdo Park Hotel'. When asked about the motive behind establishing a hotel in Songdo city, both the personnel representing their respective hotels replied that the place is hub of business and will turn into Asia's next business hub that will attract lots of businesses, which means many more conglomerations, seminars, and other business related activities. (Interviewee Jang and Jang, 2009) So it is clear from the above details that it is a place where most of the business happens and target customers are the business organizations for the present and in near future as well. Regarding difficulties in establishing the business in Song-do, the Ramada hotel representative stated that the hotel is actually a takeover of the already established hotel with little bit of renovation but representative of the Best Western Hotel stated that they had to struggle to get the license for the casinos and other gambling games which limited their targeted customers to only business and tourists as casinos and gambling are not the integral part of the Korean culture. This statement gives us a good warning to opt for clean and green eco friendly hotel rather than going for western culture type casinos and gambling games, which is also time consuming. Further it is found during the interview regarding the difficulties during opening the hotel that most of the Koreans do not speak English as it is not their first language and being a business hub, the hotel will require staff that speaks fluent English in order to communicate with the guests. Most of the interviewee's stated that poor communication was the barrier for good business. In regard to the mode of promotion used, the hotel representatives replied that they used affiliate marketing with several agencies like tourism department, advertisement on websites, blog, offline advertisements in the form of magazines, news papers, etc. As stated in the literature review, wherein Komenar (1997) emphasized on web promotion, both the representatives collectively opined that web promotion is the best promotional tool that has attracted most customers as Koreans are internet savvy and use the internet more than any one world over. Additionally the representative of Ramada Hotel also emphasized on using Word of Mouth advertising as it can also attract good number of customers which is clearly mentioned in the literature review as well. (Balachandran, 2004) The tools of promotion mentioned above are good approaches of strategic marketing that can be adopted to market the hotel and its products at various places. Further analysis of the statistics regarding the sales benefits, it is revealed that most of the targeted profit in Ramada Hotel is achieved through rooms which are calculated at some 200 numbers out of which 150 rooms are occupied making 75% of the company's profit. Other than that the rest of the profit is achieved through food and beverage, health club and spa, and conference rooms and other events. The diagram below shows the estimated source of revenue for Ramada Hotel as explained by the representative. Songdo City will be the base for most number of business personnel and other international tourists, the representatives of both Ramada Hotel as well as Best Western Hotel agree that as the Songdo City is developing into a business development centre and is touted as the next Asian business hub, it is inevitable that the business will be their main customers. Other than the regular contracts from airways providing stay for their employees and other honeymoon couples. This clearly explains as to why the main source of estimated revenue for Ramada Hotels is from room as most of their customers are business targeted who stay in the hotel to attend conference, seminars, etc. thus contributing in huge ratio to the profit. Further it is reported upon question, as per the replies from both the representatives of hotel, it is understood their main targeted customers are the business related personnel. And in order to attract large number of business related customers, the representative of Ramada Hotel stated using of pamphlets at airport, internet marketing, and by collaboration with various companies. In regard to promotional methods designed to attract non targeted customers, the representative of Ramada hotel stated that they advertise seasonal packages that have generated good amount of revenue for the organization apart from organizing wedding and reception packages, which is advertised in subject related magazine to attract the customers. This type of advertising was highly stressed by Middleton (1994) describing importance of seasonal variations to attract customers. Whereas the representative of Best Western Hotel has mentioned the importance of membership card and states the hotel staff explains the benefits of membership card to the new and regular customers that offers discounts on probably each and every item, may be food and beverages or other services. These various ways of attracting customers other than the target ones can rake in huge revenue thus making a good business for the hotel. On the future plans and strategy of marketing to attract more customers, the representative of Ramada Hotel stated that rooms are being offered for honeymoon and weekend packages which is for general public, seminar packages for business people who are their target customers, and INSPA world package with 50% discount of Saunas covering all types of customers offering something or the other to all age groups. Whereas the representative of Best Western Hotel did not clearly mention but stated that as one of the strategic marketing in future to attract customers, the hotel provides numerous facilities like private cashbox, reservation for females on 15th floor, providing discounts on various services, etc. From the above, it is understood that hotels have targeted general customers apart form their main targeted group by way of offering good discounts on their products and services. Such discounting strategy as used in retail sector could be very useful in luring customers to the hotels. In regard to future plan to tackle new entrants in the Songdo City, which is growing into a new Asian hub of business, it is essential that the hotel management adopt strict management decisions to compete with the existing as well new entrants. Ramada Hotel plans to recruit foreign staff as most of its customers are from other countries increasing the quality of service provided to the foreign customers. Apart from that Ramada hotel plans to provide services in the department of entertainment like free movies, exhibition and play to people spending more than a week, and providing benefits on customer references. Customer referral system is good concept that is being planned by the Ramada Hotel as it not only benefits the customer but also the hotel as well in form of new customer. So every time a customer refers his or her friend or relative, they will get the preferred benefits set out by the hotel management, which is a good way of marketing the business and to provide tough competition to the new entrants. Whereas the Best Western Hotel plans to attract the national customers by providing the taste of Korean food and beverages that in other way may also attract other international customers as they may like to taste what Korean food is like. The Best Western Hotel challenges that their's is the budget friendly and provides best quality than any other hotels in Songdo City. The contention of Best Western Hotel could prove vital in their successful stay in business as majority of the UK Hotels use standard pricing policy as part of their marketing strategy achieving a consistency in brand value across the country. (Doole and Lowe, 2005)4 Both the hotels have their own and different plan of action to tackle and fight competition from new entrants as well as from the existing competitors. Strategic Marketing - Analysis As mentioned earlier in the literature review, both the hotels have their own strategic marketing approach to promote their products and business. (Moschis, 1994) The critical review of the interview gives us clear indication that in hotel business each and every method of strategic marketing is used, largely called as mix strategic marketing, which includes 4Ps of marketing, viz, product, place, price and promotion. (www.12manage.com)5 It is revealed from the critical analysis of interview that the hotels have used online marketing through placing their banners of other websites, internet marketing, offline marketing like pamphlets, advertising on both forms of media; print and electronic, etc. It is also evident from the interview excerpts that the most targeted group of customers are the business organization. Therefore for any hotel planning to start their venture in Songdo city should use the mix marketing strategy appropriately through proper planning and implementation. The marketing strategy is a plan that addressed two major component of the business that is how to cope with competitive market and the process of implementing the strategic marketing decision. The different marketing strategies mentioned in the literature review are all in use and it is revealed that both the hotel management use most of the marketing strategies to promote their business and products, their packages and services and also to cope with terms associated with competitive market. However, in cases where both the hotels are targeting the same group of customers, i.e. business sector, the hotel can use skimming and comparable pricing strategy along with push strategy as the media of promoting the products and packages while using all channels of marketing through affiliation with market penetration. Apart from the marketing strategies already in use, the hotels may adopt package comparison advertising, products and package benefits advertising, family package advertising, business package advertising, which is targeted to target customers as well as non target customers suitable for the all age groups. (www.businessplans.org)6 Conclusion The critical analysis of interviews of the representatives from marketing and sales department of both Ramada and Best Western Hotel has revealed that the main source of revenue generation is from other business people who actually come to visit the place to enter their business market. The marketing strategies revolve around the 4Ps determining price, product, place and promotion popularly known as market mix. The hotels used for the purpose of data analysis have adopted almost every possible strategy, from discounts, packages, entertainment advertising them at targeted places at airport, public places, etc. use of internet, websites, etc. It is evident that hotels in Songdo City, South Korea should concentrate more on attracting business customers as it is being groomed into next international business centre which will further attract more tourists as well as the city is adjacent to beach. As part of the blue ocean marketing strategy, the hotels in Songdo city should also plan on innovating new packages for international customers and marketing methods like holiday tours, vacations by collaborating with acclaimed travelers who organize such stay tours in various parts of the world. The analysis of the interview clearly identifies this gap there is no collaboration at all with international tourism organizers which can rake in good profits. The hotels in Songdo may use the strategic marketing to their fullest and succeed in achieving their objectives, mission and vision. References 1. W. Chan Kim, Rene Mauborgne (2005) Blue Ocean Strategy, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Massachusetts. Choon - Chiang Leong (2001) Marketing practices and Internet marketing: A study of hotels in Singapore, Journal of Vacation Marketing, Vol. 7, No. 2, 179-187 2. Denney G. Rutherford andMichael J. O'Fallon (2007) Hotel management and operations, (4th Ed), John Wiley and Sons, UK, pp.307 3. Isobel Doole,andRobin Lowe (2005) Strategic marketing decisions in global markets, Cengage Learning EMEA,UK, pp. 82 4. Marketing Mix (4Ps) 12 Manage, http://www.12manage.com/methods_marketing_mix.html 5. Marketing Plan, (2009) Business Resource Software Inc, Centre for Business Planning, BRS, http://www.businessplans.org/Market.html 6. George P. Moschis (1994)Marketing strategies for the mature market, Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 5 Read More