Hospitality Strategic Management - Case Study Example

Hospitality strategic management Case 8: The Movement of Travel Services Online: Intermediaries and Branded Distribution Question 1: Call centers continue to play integral marketing roles. In the future, call centers will serve as public relations and customer service institutions. Customers call the centers with varied concerns and questions. The attendants take over the conversation and influence the customers’ satisfaction. By answering the questions from the customers, the call centers act as public relation institutions. Another equally vital role of the institutions is to offer an opportunity for the hotels to carry out extensive market research thereby create appropriate products and services. The call centers obtain opinions and suggestions of the customers thereby developing appropriate products. As public relations and customer service institutions in a hotel, the management of the hotels must make the call centers efficient. They can do this by enhancing the efficiency of the call centers. A hotel must hire adequate and appropriately trained individual who understand the nature of the work. This way, the hotel does not keep callers waiting for long. Question 2: The shift by the hotels to carry out bookings on the websites was both a strategic and a timely move that enhanced the profitability of the hotels. The use of internet globalized the world. By instituting online bookings, the hotels sought to tap the international community. Hotels can now carry out extensive international advertisement of their products and services with the hopes of attracting more customers who would book from the convenience of their homes. Online booking is convenient to both the customers and the management of the hotels. The shift was a wise move since it positioned the hotels strategically to benefit from technological inventions of the future. Cruise lines should do more online booking owing to the fact that it targets a global market. Online booking would help enhancing planning for its services thereby enhancing customer satisfaction. Question 3: Mergers and acquisition are strategic moves for the DSPs. The two strategies help the companies grow their market shares. While the moves are costly, they will help the companies eliminate competition therefore growing their market shares. When a company purchases another, it does not only eliminate the threat of competition but also grows its market share by assuming the market of the other company. Marketing is a vital undertaking that influences the profitability of a company (Olsen and Zhao 66). As such, the DPSs should make strategic partnerships that enhance the growth of their market share. The companies can collaborate with other companies in the same industry that do not trade in similar products and services. This way, they share the cost of marketing thereby growing their market shares consistently without threatening the profitability of each other. Question 4: A firm like Google has an advantage if it decided to join the online travel service industry. Google should join the industry since it has a competitive advantage by making a strategic entry into the market. Google can enter the market by creating a mobile application that acts as a guide to travelers. Such a product like Google map endears to travelers. With such a product, Google can collaborate with the leading luxury hotels such as the Fairmont Group of Hotels thereby becoming an official online travel agency for the hotels. Furthermore, Google has effective online mobile payment application. Such diverse yet fundamental application offers Google a competitive advantage even as it enters the industry. Additionally, Google can diversify its products and services further by collaborating with international airlines company. A company such as the British Airways and the Qatar airways would offer Google a strategic entry into the market. By collaborating with more companies and extending its products, Google will grow its market systematically thereby positioning itself as the market leader. Case 5: Banyan Tree: Sustainability of a Brand during Rapid Global Expansion (Global Strategic Mgt) Question 1: As an experimental brand, Banyan Tree offered a number of strategic value proposition that would help attract investors. Key among the values was the existence of an experienced and multidisciplinary team. With such a workforce, the brand appeared elite and would therefore cushion the investors from any market shock. The company had a multidisciplinary and experienced team that understood the market and its dynamics. As such, the company was less likely to incur any loss since it operated from a point of information. The brands other value was integrated capabilities (Enz 523). As explained earlier, the brand had a pool of experienced employees and a multidisciplinary workforce. This implied that it had integrated capabilities and would therefore undertake strategic operations that would safeguard the profitability of its products and services. The team therefore developed a brand that prided in quality, creativity, customer orientation and price among many others. Such was a strategic entry into the market since the team succeeded in positioning Banyan Tree as a strong brand that the market recognized. The entry was appropriate since Banyan Tree was an experimental brand operating in diverse markets. Each of the markets would present a number of shocks and changes that required effective resolution in order to safeguard the investment. Question 2: Banyan Tree has an ambitious expansion plan. The company enjoyed a profitable financial year. Furthermore, the company was planning an Initial Public Offer that promised to enhance a steady flow of financial resources to the company. With the financial might, coupled with the fact that the tsunami had affected the operation of numerous other similar companies globally, Banyan Tree felt the urge to invest its revenue in an extensive expansion. The company sought to create twenty-one new luxury resorts throughout the world. In the expansion plan, the company plans to avoid the Asian territories. While the expansion would enhance the company’s profitability, it is likely to present a number of risks key among which was the risk of brand dilution and the risk of distracting from upholding customer satisfaction among other of its traditional values (Hutt and Thomas 55). The company would mitigate the risks by expanding its manpower. The company needs to carry out an extensive recruitment of professional and experienced employees who would uphold the company’s values. Additionally, the company should develop world-class facilities in strategic location in the leading global destinations. This would overcome the risk of diluting the brand. The company has adequate resources and continues to foresee a profitable future given its upcoming IPO. As such, the company can therefore proceed with the investment plan. Question 3: Banyan Tree had a number of sources of revenue. The company has a number of product and service lines, which comprise of hotel investment, hotel management, spa operations, gallery operations, property sales, design and other services. In 2006, the company had a revenue of S$71.4 million, which was more than double the previous year’s revenue. The revenue arose from the above products and services. Hotel investment accounted for 59.7% of the revenue, hotel management accounted for 3% and property sale accounted for 25% while the remaining products and services accounted for the rest. From the above analysis, the company should concentrate on property sale and hotel investments, which are the greatest sources of revenue and therefore promise immense profitability. However, the company must contribute diversifying its product and service base since every product and service contributed to the development of the desirable reputation that enhances the profitability of the company. Diversity spreads the risks thereby making operations more profitable (Perrey and Dennis 32). Such services as spa and hotel management are vital in sustaining the organizational culture and reputation. As such, the company must carry out an all-inclusive expansion but with bias towards hotel investment and property sale. Works cited Enz, Cathy A. Hospitality Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons, 2010. Print. https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=x77o93fmiKQC&pg=PA564&lpg=PA564&dq=the+commoditization+of+starbucks+case+study&source=bl&ots=ws_xOeC5mB&sig=1r4VU9oN3Or7OEMm9belfWEPLIY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=EXzhVLy_FuHMygP0lIKYBw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=the%20commoditization%20of%20starbucks%20case%20study&f=false Hutt, Michael D, and Thomas W. Speh. Business Marketing Management: B2b. Australia: South-Western, Cengage Learning, 2013. Print. https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=8lMAWJXtf6QC&printsec=frontcover&dq=marketing+management&hl=en&sa=X&ei=lZfhVMHADKiu7AasoICYAg&sqi=2&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=marketing%20management&f=false Olsen, Michae and Zhao, Jinlin. Handbook of Hospitality Strategic Management. New York: Routledge, 2008. Print. https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=OtAsBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA36&dq=Hospitality+strategic+management&hl=en&sa=X&ei=35fhVIuPKcj_UrKlgOAI&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=Hospitality%20strategic%20management&f=false Perrey, Jesko, and Dennis, Spillecke. Retail Marketing and Branding: A Definitive Guide to Maximizing Roi. Chichester: Wiley, 2013. Internet resource. https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=Kcpr5w1jNTcC&pg=PT23&dq=the+commoditization+of+starbucks+case+study&hl=en&sa=X&ei=QJfhVKqzDYGqUM-RhLgC&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=the%20commoditization%20of%20starbucks%20case%20study&f=false Read More