Ensuring The Best Company For Employment - Research Paper Example

Career Research Paper Introduction: ment of Opportunity To analyze the two companies i.e. Marriott International and Nordstrom to determine which one of the two is a better choice for a rewarding career. Purpose and scope of the work The main purpose of the study is to analyze the companies with respect to their size, work environment, financial and non-financial performance to help us reach a logical conclusion for our job search. We will also look at how well our personal criteria fit in the two organizations. We will also find out about what the future holds for the two industries. Sources and methods of data collection The major source we will be using are the financial and company websites. We will also use some other business/non-business websites which publish data relevant to our analysis. Personal Criteria: Expectation for the company Usually job seekers have some expectations for the organization they want to join. Some of them as per my criteria are list below in the order of their importance, starting with the most important one: Financial condition: The most important characteristic of a company to make it desirable for employees is that it should be financially stable in the long run.. Thus, we need to look at financial health of a company before joining one. Non-financial indicators of company health: Not just the financial health, the non-financial indicators of a company also signify in which direction the company is going. These should be looked at before deciding upon the organization as a prospective employer. Work culture: A positive and healthy work culture is very much desirable in a prospective employer company. By this I mean an organizational culture where only the targets are not the rewarding factor. Environment: The organization should have a vision towards not just the profits but also what it is offering to the community and how it is creating value for the whole society. People involvement: The company should have long term retention policies for the employees and should have a mixture of both cash and non-cash incentives to motivate them. There should be both ways communication between the employers and employees. Training and development: The organization should be able to provide exposure to world class working standards. A globally expanded company can give its employees maximum opportunities to learn from diverse cultures and processes. Equal opportunity provider. The company should provide opportunities to all individuals irrespective of race, color or gender. There should be impartial performance evaluation criteria for rewards and recognition as well promotions. Flexible work timings. Discipline is a must in all organizations, however, if there are personal calls that we need to attend then the organization should be flexible enough to accommodate such cases. Benefits for working for the company I would like to work for a company which not only helps me meet my financial goals, but also my personal goals. In financial terms the compensation should be at par with the industrial standards. Apart from financial benefits, the employer should also take care of other necessities of their employees like insurance, medical reimbursements etc. My personal goals will be achieved only if I can get the right kind of exposure and be able to learn from my experiences. Apart from this, I would like to be equipped with skills for taking up higher responsibilities through training and development programs. There should be good growth opportunities in terms of higher responsibilities and diverse work areas and cultures. Company’s culture The company’s culture is a very important factor for long term employee association. A supportive management which focuses on encouraging transparent working environment leading to healthy competition in the employees is always successful in promoting and retaining talent within the organization. This is the kind of organization I would like to enter into keeping in view a long term perspective. The company should encourage participation by all employees irrespective of their ranks and give an ear to their views as well. A company which promotes best practice sharing encourages its employees to share their success and failures with their colleagues and help save on time and energy to achieve what they have achieved in one process. This sharing helps in bonding them better and learning from each other. This is the kind of culture I would like to work in. The company should have well developed evaluation criteria and be completely unbiased on promotions and rewards and recognition. The management should be supportive enough to back good performance. Marriott International: Background and industry information Marriott International is one of the leading worldwide operators and franchisers of hotels and lodging facilities. Its main competitors are Starwood, Hilton and Intercontinental. Marriott has diversified into all market segments and caters to low-medium income groups as well as the high income groups. 75% of its revenues are derived from hotel operations and the rest from timeshares (wikinvest.com). It holds 85% of its properties in US. Its 2009 year end revenues stood at $3.4 billion. It grew at compounded annual growth rate of 6.5% from 1999 to 2008 (wikinvest.com). The hotel industry is very sensitive to economic recession and threats from terrorism and diseases. Products and services Marriott provides hotel and lodging facilities for business executives and tourists. It operates through 5 business segments - North American Full-Service Lodging, North American Limited-Service Lodging, International Lodging, Luxury Lodging, and Timeshare (wikinvest.com). It has 13 reservation centers spread globally and provides all types of options to the customers (wikinvest.com). Customers/Competitors It caters to all market segments – low income, middle income and luxury. A comparison of Marriott to its major competitors (2006 figures) shows that it stands 3rd after Intercontinental and Hilton in terms of number of hotels it owns. However, it is very high on room occupancy at 74.4% (wikinvest.com). Its stands second only to Starwood in terms of RevPAR. However, its global presence is lowest as compared to the other three. SWOT analysis Strengths 25% of revenues come from franchisee fees and other management fees. This cushions the company against any temporary downturns in the industry wikinvest.com). It has developed its own online room booking system which accounts for 25% of the revenues (wikinvest.com). This has given it a better positioning with respect to its competitors. Marriott has been a pioneer in promoting the concept of foreign brand awareness. Others have only started now. Marriott has developed a business model which caters to all customer segments- low-medium income and high income. Has diverse working environment (iave.org). High on awareness towards social responsibility (iave.org). Has been listed in the Fortune’s 100 best companies to work with for 12 consecutive years (iave.org). Has “employee first policy” (butler-bowdon.com). Provides education and training in the field of Hospitality (iave.org). Weaknesses Marriott is giving more importance to the franchisee model of business expansion (wikinvest.com). This can be detrimental to its objectives as the franchisee may not have the same objectives. Opportunities Opportunities of expansion into developing economies exist as its competitors have not yet done so. Threats Industry very sensitive to recession impact. Internet reservation channels are preferred by customers for room bookings. These channels insist on higher commissions and lower room rates causing undue pressure on the revenues of hotels. Marriott is now facing competition from its competitors as they have become more active in globalizing their brands. Economic recession and increase in air fares have direct impact on vacation travelers. This industry is directly impacted by terrorism and diseases. Nordstrom Background and industry information Nordstrom belongs to the retail industry and has positioned itself as “affordable luxury” brand. It caters majorly to the US market where it has a very strong presence (wikinvest.com). The retail industry is also facing a negative impact of recession. This was seen in the decline in Nordstrom’s revenues in 2008 and 2009. To counter the negative growth in US, Nordstrom has recently started expanding globally. Products and services Nordstrom products include apparel, cosmetics, shoes and accessories. It sells 96% of its products through direct sales, retail stores and other channels. It does direct sales though its website Nordstrom.com. Remainder of the sales is done through its private labeled credit and debit card channel. (wikinvest.com) Customers/Competitors The company targets customers in the age group of 25-54 years who have an average household income of $100,000 (wikinvest.com). Thus, its target market is somewhere between luxury and middle level retailers. In the mid segment retailers its major competitors are Macy’s Inc. Dillard’s and J.C.Penny (JCP). Both Macy’s and JCP are much bigger stores as compared to Nordstrom. Dillard’s is comparatively closer to it. In the luxury segment Saks and Kohl’s are the two competitors with Saks sales being closer to Nordstrom. Kohl’s is far ahead of it (wikinvest.com). SWOT Strengths It has established itself as a customer focused company It has good quality products which are a value for money. It was ranked at 286th position in Fortune 500 list for 2007 and ranked 72nd in by the Fortune magazine’s 100 best companies to work for (wikipedia.org). It is organized as an inverted pyramid with customers at the top followed by lowest level employees and the higher ones. Hence it gives great importance to customers and employees. Weaknesses It has not sufficiently diversified into other markets Opportunities It has the opportunity to expand in growing economies. Has good market in these economies which are opening to the concept of affordable luxury goods. Threats It has competition from both luxury and mid segment markets. Too much dependence on US market detrimental to growth, especially during the recession period which impacted US the most. Since it caters to non-luxury market, it can easily be affected by economic slowdown as this is the market which always gets adversely impacted by down trends. Evaluation: Looking at the two companies it can be clearly seen that Marriott is a much bigger brand not just in terms of sales and revenues, but also in terms of global presence. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it has been honored many times by various forums as compared to Nordstrom. A look at the SWOT analysis shows that Marriott is a better employer as well as it always puts the employees first and importantly won many recognition for that. That is, Marriott been listed in the Fortune’s 100 best companies to work with for 12 consecutive years and this was actualized because it always had “employee first policy” (butler-bowdon.com). Apart from the existing recognition, the other thing that can entice the employees is that apart from providing the job and a good salary pack, as a kind of compliment to better its employees, it provides added education and training in the field of Hospitality to the recruited employees. Not that Nordstrom has any negative employee policies, Marriott has been able to establish itself better in terms of running employee programs and giving importance to social responsibility. Importantly, as Marriott has plans to go for expansion into developing economies, which its competitors have not yet done, it is opening up the prospective employees to more opportunities. It also has lesser industry specific threats due to its franchisee model and segment diversification which is not the case with Nordstrom. Conclusions and recommendations: The above analysis shows that Marriott will be a better choice for a future employer owing to its more diversified portfolio, bigger size and better employee policies. That is, Marriott have a strong financial health and could be able to sustain long term financial goals as well, thereby beating off the competitions and forced them to close shop. In that scenario, it would entice more employees. Normally, the vision of the leaders, focus of the company, management’s innovation in cost reduction, customer satisfaction, company’s attitude towards the society as a whole and employee policies tell a lot about how the company is going to perform in the future. With Marriott fulfilling all these important criteria (as seen in the SWOT analysis), the prospective employees’ future can be assured because the key things that impact the organization in the internal as well as in the external environment has been covered. Through the fulfillment of the criteria, organizations can become more transparent and ethical, which again can entice more employees. Because in this current scenario, employees always want to go companies which are ethically fit because they do not want to put their fate into the hands of unethical companies, which can be shutdown anytime. All organizations and its leader should aim at involving all employees and incorporate their ideas as well, as Marriott is doing it in its operations, the prospective employees could be motivated optimally and made to give their best. Unison of workers into teams, with an urge to usher an organization into top echelons will be successful, if the organization is able to optimally recruit apt and capable employees. If the organization and its managers with their effective managerial skills, efficiently and positively recruit the employees, then with the aid of those employees, performance of the organization can be optimized manifold and the organization would have a ubiquitous presence all over the world References butler-bowdon.com. The Spirit To Serve: Marriotts Way. March 11, 2010. http://www.butler-bowdon.com/the-spirit-to-serve iave.org. Global Corporate Volunteer Council Member Profile MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL, INC. March 9, 2009. March 11, 2010. http://www.iave.org/content/february-march-2009 wikinvest.com. Nordstrom. March 11, 2010 http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Nordstrom_(JWN) wikinvest.com. Marriott International. March 11, 2010 http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Marriott_International_(MAR) Read More