Category: Marriott

History

Marriott International was established in 1927 by Willard Marriot and his bride, Alice. The two started by putting a beer stand in Washington D.C. The beer stand could only accommodate nine people at the start of its operations. It was named Hot Shoppe where they prepared hot food substances like tacos, tamales and chili.

These food items were mainly served to clients during the period of winter months. In 1929, Marriott International was officially incorporated as Hot Shoppes, inc. It experienced fast growth. In 1953, the company was listed as a public company. It laid its competitive advantage in world markets on product diversification (Hoover 2002).

The company opened Twin Bridges Marriott located in Arlington, Virginia; this was the first hotel opened by the company. With its fast growing pace, Twin Bridges Marriott went international in 1966; this happened after the company took over the running of an airline catering kitchen in Venezuela.

It later changed name to Marriott Corporation in 1967. The company later engaged in series of takeovers which enabled it to grow into a billion dollar corporation. In the year 1998, Marriott International was listed in the stock market as an independent public company after which it started to focus its attention on business and leisure lodging. To ensure success in such a new venture, the company sold its superior living facilities in 2002.

Marriott International continues to diversify its operations. Nonetheless, leadership of Marriott International started with the two founders, Marriot and Alice. Today, the companys top management entails six executives operating at senior level; it has also thirty six corporate officers (Hoover 2002).

Vision and Mission of Marriott International Company

The vision of the Marriott International Company is to be the leader in the global lodging industry; it aspires to be the world leader in providing excellent services in the hospitality industry. In order to achieve this vision, the company strives to provide the best services in the world within the hotel and lodging industry.

The mission statement of the company affirms that companys commitment in being the best and provider of excellent lodging and food services. It achieves this by treating its workers in the best way ever so that they can offer extra-ordinary services to the companys customers (Brotherton and Wood, 2008).

Competition

The hotel is exceedingly disjointed. The competition is mainly based on the quality of the available rooms, service provision among others. Other factors that determine competition level include the presence of global distribution system, prices charged on various products and facilities and any other innovation that may come into the industry.

It is important to note that Marriott International already operates in sixty eight nation of the world. This makes it possible for the company to offer its services to a large number of customers across the globe.

However, it must be acknowledged that the company faces stiff competition from similar companies operating in the same industry both locally and abroad. Many of the companys competitors are already spread across eight or more countries. This means that the competitors are enjoying a wider customer base than Marriott International. The main competitors to Marriott International include:

Starwood Hotels: this group of hotels provides similar services to clients. The hotel already has 297 hotels in Europe alone. Besides, it operates in countries found in the American continent, Middle East and parts of Africa. It is therefore evident that the Starwood Hotels get more revenues than the Marriott International due to its large base of operation spread across the continent (Abrahams 2007).

Choice Hotels International: this is a group of hotels with international franchises totaling right over five thousand hotels. These franchises operate under different brands such as Comfort Inn, Sleep Inn and Cambria Suite amongst others. This company is also bigger than the Marriott International and definitely enjoys higher level of revenues than Marriott International.

Intercontinental Hotels: this is deemed the largest hotel in the world judging by the number of rooms it has. It operates in more than a hundred countries across the world. This therefore implies that it is the largest competitor to the Marriott International (Yu 1999).

Strategies used by Marriott International


Marriott International has put in place sales structure that will ensure it remains top in the provision of hotel products in the industry. The sales initiative is customer-centered and it aims at making sales simply, effective and efficient; this also helps the company to establish its roots deeper into the untapped market segments.

The strategy enables the customers to operate at one principal contact where he or she can get all product brands. In this way, the Marriott International has managed to meet all the customer needs within a centralized point of purchase.

Beside, Marriott International relies on research to establish real customer needs. The company realized the rising level of complexity and number of channels through which customers in the industry secure rooms and accommodation or meetings; to solve these challenges, the Marriott International have come up with ways, through research, to improve the efficiency of its services to customers.

It is important to note that the company does research by involving those who are either directly or indirectly in contact with customers or clients. This includes interviewing sales leaders who have one-on-one engagement with clients, travel managers, meeting planners and sales associates. Moreover, the research is undertaken both internally and externally (Reid and Bojanic, 2009).

The Marriott International also uses the strategy of evaluating its strengths and weaknesses. This is by obtaining data from various facets of the company and doing accurate evaluation.

As a result of both internal and external research the company has established more clear roles for its employees and staff members so that customers get specific services and or assistances from specific company employees or staff members. Furthermore, Marriott International has come up with strategic idea of establishing regional sales offices to offer more effective services to its customers by organizing individual accounts.

Internal audit and external audits

Businesses are affected by both internal and external factors; the effect is either negative or positive. Internal factors are factors that a business can control while external factors are factors beyond the control of a single business.

Internal audits

To gather as much information as possible, the management undertakes the process with as many competent employees as possible. It should also analyze both published and unpublished data which will assist it in appreciating the need the prevailing conditions. The following process is followed;

• Gathering of information
• Testing data validity
• Interpolating and analyzing information gotten
• Making strategic decision based on the information gotten

The following are some of the parameters found by internal audits;

The company has a pool of experienced human resource who is employed on a track record.

It has employed a high level of technology in all its processes where it ensures that efficiency is facilitated. Corporate customers require fast and effective services since they are busy; to attain this company has embarked on an efficient technology.

Financial Ratio Analysis

Internal factor evaluation matrix

Internal factor evaluation matrix is a strategic management instrument used in auditing major strengths weaknesses of a company in major operational areas of a business entity. This instrument also provides away of linking the operations areas.

1-major weakness 2-Minor weakness 3-minor strength 4-major strength

External Audit

CPM-Competitive Matrix

Competitive Matrix for the Marriott Company is an array of major competitors of the company.

An external audit addresses five area, they are;

• Economic factors
• Social and cultural factors
• Political/governmental structures
• Technology and innovations and
• Competitive forces

The world is experiencing a rapid technological change; this is brought about by the use of computers in different sectors of a business. Marriot has benefited from the changes; for example the company has a website where a customer can log in and communicate directly to the company. These services are available for 24 hours in seven days. In line with the same, the company has embraced computerized marketing and advertisement where it sells its products all over the world through the internet. Internal processes are also facilitated&

The model of management has changed with increased enlightened people; customers are continuously demanding for better treatments form companies in the way they are served and the production processes involved. Currently social corporate responsibility management, ethical business products and customer care services have taken center stage. The company has embarked on corporate social responsibilities, it practices in environmental management exercises like tree planting, engage in clean technology among others.

In the times of global financial crisis, the government of United States is increasingly adopting laws and regulation aimed at ensuring that business are conducted effectively, standards have been reviewed and compliance with the treads is important.

External Factor Evaluation Matrix

1-poor 2-below average 3-superior 4-very superior

SWOT Analysis for Marriott International Company

Marriott International SWOT analysis (Research and Marketing n.d)

Space matrix

The space matrix is an instrument used to determine whether aggressive, defensive, competitive or conservative techniques are appropriate for the company. In this case, SPACE matrix is used to determine the appropriate strategy that the Marriott International should adopt for its growth and development. It helps the company to favorably compete with other companies within the industry.

When plotted on an X-Y axis, the statistics appears as follows:

For Marriott International, it is important that aggressive strategy be adopted. This owes to the fact that the company lags much behind its competitors. By adopting the aggressive strategy, the company will be seeking to catch up and probably outweigh its major competitors.

The strategy will be used in new acquisition of assets which are necessary for the companys expansion to other foreign countries and other regions where it has the potential of creating more market opportunities. Furthermore, the strategy is very appropriate in terms of attracting more clients. With the large number of operators in the industry and the potential entrance of new players, aggressive strategy is most appropriate in grabbing customers and even establishing loyal clients.

Grand strategy matrix

The Internal-External (IE) Matrix

This matrix places the company into a nine cell matrix. For the company, the Internal-External Matrix looks as follows:

Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM) for Marriott International Company

The price of a commodity is an element of total cost plus a profit margin. When a target market has been established, there is need to determine the price affordable to the customers. A marketer should be aware of consumers trends and their potential. The social class that the product is targeted will influence the price of the products.

Recommendations to Marriot International Company

A customer is the backbone of a company; the main decision that a marketing manager should make determining his companys market segment. One of the ways to enter in the target market is marketing mix. The 4Ps represent Price, product/service, promotion, and place. An effective marketing ensures that goods are available to the target customer, when they need them at and they are affordable.

Since the Marriott International Company is fast growing, and with the current challenges it faces, it is important that certain recommendations be proposed. The recommendations should be adopted with the sole reason of advancing the companys global operations. To achieve this, the following recommendations are important:

1. Performance evaluation: the Board of Directors is the top organ of the company. It is therefore crucial that the performance of the board be evaluated with respect to the companys goals and objectives. Besides, it will also be important to come up with appropriate instruments to be used in evaluating the performance employees and other junior staff members. This can be done through performance management;
2. Restructure marketing techniques: the company is facing stiff international competition and is likely to lose out in case it remains with the same old marketing strategies; the company should consider drawing new market communication strategies that will reposition its products in the market. In addition, the company should re-brand its products through careful and skillful innovation in order to attract new customers.
3. To ensure that the operations of the company are successful, it is important that the company defines its operation principles of internal control. Moreover, the company should also establish ways of monitoring and evaluating the internal controls.
4. The company should establish proper criteria according to which the process of risk management will be taking place. the criteria should be in such a way that potential risks are identified as early as the initial warning signs can be spotted and appropriate actions be taken promptly.
5. Financial strength is one of the most important core businesses of the company. To ensure that the companys financial resource are well managed and utilize, it is recommended that the company gives a clear description on how the internal audit should function to avoid any form of Fraud or misappropriation of financial resource
6. It will also be important for the company to enhance the flow of information from the top level to bottom level. The flow of information on crucial and sensitive matters should be effective and efficient. This should utilize the most current communication technology.
7. The strengths and weaknesses of the company should be evaluated on a periodic basis in order to identify potential challenges that can affect the normal operations of the company. It is important to note that new challenges arise and can contribute to the companys already existing weaknesses. Again, the company is likely to gain more strength areas which, if well utilized, can help enhance the competitive advantage of the company. A definite period should therefore be set to be used in monitoring and evaluating the internal weaknesses and strengths of the company.

Analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the company is important since the company will be able to utilize the available opportunities and cope with threats brought about by the system.

Domestic market growth vs. Overseas Expansion of Marriot International

The Marriott International Company started as s mall hotel firm in the United States of America; during the following periods, it embarked on aggressive expansion within the local industry. Its growth in the domestic market earned it a lot of revenues that enabled it to start its expansion outside the home market.

It expanded its operations to several countries worldwide. The domestic market is getting saturated by new entrants into the industry; this poses threat to the company at local level. However, looking at the international market, there is still great opportunity to access new market segments. This implies that, the company stands a chance to gain more from overseas expansion than domestic market growth.

In the process of overseas expansion, the company also stands a great chance of acquiring other companies and new assets. The most probable candidates for acquisition are the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and Hilton Hotels.

The most important thing is that Marriott International should focus on acquiring assets of the most performing companies as this will bolster its financial performance and also increase its presence in the market. The two presented takeover candidates are well positioned to ensure the Marriott International achieves its growth objectives and both domestic and international expansion.

Reference List

Abrahams, J., 2007, 101 Mission Statements from Top Companies: Plus Guidelines for Writing Your Own Mission Statement, New York, Ten Speed Press.

Brotherton, B. and Wood, CR 2008, The SAGE Handbook of Hospitality Management, New York, SAGE Publications Ltd.

Hoover, G., 2002, Hoovers Handbook of American Business 2003, New York, Hoovers, Incorporated.

Reid, DR and Bojanic, CD 2009, Hospitality Marketing Management, New Jersey, John Wiley and Sons.

Research And Marketing n.d, Marriott International, Inc., Research and Markets, Ireland.

Yu, L., 1999, The international hospitality business: management and operations, New York, Routledge.

The state of Delaware attracts many tourists each year. All of them expect to have an excellent experience regarding every element of their trip. The hotel choice is probably one of the most important steps in planning a holiday. Delaware has a wide range of different options for it. The Hotel duPont and the Marriott Courtyard are the examples of luxury hotels. Although they offer the same services, they differ in the core business organization processes.

Hotel duPont

The Hotel duPont was built at the beginning of the past century. The hotel belongs to the duPont group, which specializes mainly in chemical research and production. According to its website, this place in Wilmington is “one of the country’s grandest hotels” (Hotel du Pont, 2016, par. 1). The building is chic, and the interior is rich with Renaissance details. The suites are designed to underline the luxury segment the hotel presents. Its prices start from $439 per night, which is not cheap compared to the average market price. Thus, the target market primarily consists of wealthy tourists who value comfort and can afford to pay for it.

The Hotel duPont features 206 guest rooms along with 11 suites. It also offers package sales, which include sightseeing and dining options. Visitors can order services 24 hours a day, including the room service. The hotel offers seven options for dining, including the famous Green Room restaurant. Breakfast comes for the additional price. There are several spacious rooms for venues like office meetings or weddings. The booking service on the website shows that there are plenty unoccupied rooms even during holidays. It may be explained by the high prices, which do not seem affordable especially during a recession.

Marriott Courtyard

The Marriott Courtyard is a part of the Marriott hotel network, which operates in the whole word. It is situated near the University of Delaware, which is convenient for students’ family members when they visit them. It is also a luxury hotel. It targets domestic and international travelers who know about the network’s reputation and are willing to pay for it. The room rates start from $156 per night. The Marriott Courtyard is designed in a modern way. There are sixty-three queen beds in most of the rooms and four suites. It also pays a lot of attention to the healthy values. The hotel has a swimming pool and a fitness center. There is also an option of keeping pets, which comes for an additional price of $75. This option has to be discussed beforehand as there is a limited number of rooms supporting it. The parking is free for all guests. The Marriott Courtyard offers breakfasts and food delivery from the local restaurant. The local Bistro has healthy meal choices (Marriott Courtyard, 2016). All places are smoke-free. There are spaces for conducting business meetings and wedding ceremonies.

Tour Reflection

I did not look forward to the tour at the beginning. I thought that all hotels are the same and vary only in price and design. However, it appears that these hotels are different from the ones I have visited before. I liked the Hotel duPont very much. It has a very beautiful classic design. Besides, I enjoyed the student classroom. This was definitely a rare element, which is not common to most hotels. The tour has also given the better understanding of the back-end hospitality processes.

We met with the general manager at the Marriott Courtyard and with the chef in the Hotel duPont. They gave us the very interesting information about the hotels in general and about the work they do. In the Hotel duPont, we went to the kitchen, the suit room at the top floor, the fitness gym and the principal hall, which is used for weddings. In the Marriot Courtyard, we visited the rooms, the fitness gym, and the student classroom. The front desk, the rooms, and the kitchen were the main locations we have visited and researched.

Both hotels have the similar infrastructure. Apart from the rooms, both places have the halls for venues, restaurants, and fitness gyms. However, there are some differences. Firstly, the prices are very different. The Marriott Courtyard is much cheaper. Secondly, the Marriott Courtyard is located in Newark, while the Hotel duPont is in Wilmington, which is close to the university. Finally, the Hotel duPont does not have the option to host pets, and there is no free parking.

The trip was very useful for understanding how the hospitality industry works. It was interesting to see the theoretical materials learned in class to be applied in a real working business. Moreover, I have learned that different strategies may work in different models. For example, the Hotel duPont decided to keep the classic design it was famous for in the past, and the Marriott Courtyard conducted a renovation recently to ensure all of its rooms and halls are modern and appealing. Both hotels seem to keep their target audience on the same level.

References

Hotel du Pont. (2016). About. Web.

Marriott Courtyard. (2016). Our hotel. Web.

Background of Study

Few people dispute the glamour and excitement associated with the hotel industry. Indeed, furnished rooms, excellent facilities, high-end services, exotic locations, adventure and top-notch amenities are commonly associated with the industry. However, all these services come at a cost to the customer. Setting a specific price may seem a simple and easy thing to do, but knowing the correct unit of exchange has often been a tough balancing act for many businesses. Indeed, the determination of the right pricing strategy comes with a lot of thought and consideration, especially when processing different types of information that influence a price formulation framework (Ivanov 2014).

Various hotels have approached pricing challenges differently. Broadly, they have adopted multiple strategies, such as the use of efficient revenue management models and the employment of technologically aided billing strategies (Pandian & Kalaivanthan 2016). They have adopted these pricing frameworks with the goal of maintaining and growing their market shares by making sure that their businesses get maximum revenue, while customers get the best value (Kozak & Kozak 2016).

Although the above-mentioned facts largely represent common practice in the industry, different hotels today are grappling with the challenge of formulating the right pricing strategy to reflect changing market dynamics in the sector (Wood 2013). The same problem affects Marriott International group of hotels.

Research Problem

Founded in 1927, Marriott chain of hotels has grown as a diversified American multinational based in Washington D.C (Dhawan 2017). The hotel has more than 5,000 properties around the world that host millions of people annually. Although the multinational has enjoyed decades of success, it is grappling with the problem of adapting its pricing strategy to the changing market dynamics of the hospitality industry (Zheng 2014).

For many years, the company has relied on a traditional pricing strategy pegged on different types of services it offers. The services are based on unique products in their traditional market segments. They include the classic luxury, distinctive luxury, classic premium, distinctive premium, classic select, distinctive select, classic longer stays, distinctive longer stays, and great American parks (Chon & Yu 2012).

These product categories are increasingly buckling under the pressure of a more dynamic and competitive hotel and hospitality industry characterized by changing technology, shifting customer expectations, the emergence of substitute businesses, changing disposable incomes and the growing homogenous nature of the global society.

Purpose of the Study

Research studies done by Pandian and Kalaivanthan (2016) reveal that hotel guests often have varied tastes, interests, and expectations. The purpose of the proposed study is to demonstrate how managers in the hospitality industry can adapt to these changes through the manipulation of their pricing strategies. By doing so, they would be optimizing their pricing strategies, based on changing market dynamics.

Significance of the Study

The proposed study would be significant to the management of hotels because optimization of their pricing strategies would make them more efficient in their booking and cash flow management processes. The findings of the study would also be beneficial in helping such organisations to re-examine their marketing strategies by re-evaluating their pricing frameworks for every segment of the product they offer.

Research Aim and Objectives

Research Aim

To find out how Marriott Hotel can optimize its pricing strategy.

Research Questions

1. How should Marriott’s pricing strategy adapt to technology changes in the hotel industry?
2. How should Marriott’s pricing strategy reflect changes in consumer tastes, preferences and expectations?
3. What are the effects of an increasing number of substitute businesses on Marriott’s pricing model?
4. What is the estimated effect of growing economies and rising disposable incomes on Marriott’s pricing framework?

Research Objectives

1. To find out how technology changes in the hospitality industry affect Marriott’s pricing strategy.
2. To investigate how Marriott’s pricing strategy should respond to changing consumer tastes and preferences.
3. To examine the effects of a growing number of substitute products on Marriott’s pricing strategy.
4. To estimate the effects of growing economies and rising disposable incomes on Marriott’s pricing framework.

Literature Review

Changing Trends in the Hospitality Industry

Several market analysts have said that change is the only consistent factor affecting business performance in the hospitality industry (Ivanov 2014; Pandian & Kalaivanthan 2016). Today, a shift in the behaviour and expectations of hotel guests are among the top reasons necessitating a review of hotel strategies and practices (Kozak & Kozak 2016). Zheng (2014) alludes to this fact by saying that today’s hotel guests are more concerned about building meaningful relationships and pursuing long-term and fulfilling relationships, as opposed to the “quick sale price models” that have traditionally characterized the hotel business.

Technology is also slowly changing guest experiences in the hospitality industry. Concisely, many establishments in the sector are realizing that their customer online and offline experiences are merging (Somervuori 2014). Conversely, there is a need to integrate their marketing and pricing strategies to reflect the convergence. Part of the change has been the need for hotels to move to cloud-based management systems because they provide the flexibility needed to scale their operations (McGuire 2016). Lastly, a new trend that is fuelling the need to reorganize business processes in the hotel industry is the realization that a one-size-fits-all strategy is obsolete. This trend aligns with the quest to personalize services for each customer segment. However, as Ivanov (2014) argues, it is difficult for hotels to do so without understanding their customers.

Since today’s hotel guests go through multiple channels of information processing before they reserve a hotel, the generalized pricing frameworks commonly associated with traditional hotel business models do not work. Collectively, these trends highlight the need for hotels to reevaluate important aspects of their marketing plans. Pricing is a crucial ingredient of this process because it defines the mode of interaction between hotels and their customers. Managers have used several theories and models to determine their pricing strategies. These models and theories are generally classified as revenue management frameworks.

Revenue Management Frameworks

Efficient Market Theory (EMT)

Two professors, Eugene Fama and Kenneth French developed the EMT model, which presupposes that market dynamics should be given first consideration when pricing goods and services. The pricing model also dictates that the value of a product should reflect market information relating to it at any given time. El Refaei (2014) says this model subtly highlights the difficulty of breaking away from underlying market conditions and economic forces when formulating the prices of goods and services. Although the EMT stems from a financial background, it has wide application in the hospitality industry (El Refaei 2014).

Dynamic Pricing Model

Several researchers have proposed the dynamic pricing model as an effective framework for determining the price of goods and services in the industry (Zhang, Li & Xiao 2013). It works by providing a flexible framework for accommodating varied price dynamics. One pillar of the model is a novel optimization framework, while the second one is a multi-class scheme. The latter is commonly applied in the airline industry (Zhang, Li & Xiao 2013). Gershkov and Moldovanu (2014) advocate for the adoption of this model by saying it helps to fill the research gap currently associated with pricing literature in the hotel industry. Zhang, Li, and Xiao (2013) add that it has the potential to significantly add to a hotel’s revenues.

Methodology

Research Approach

According to Creswell (2014), there are two main research approaches – qualitative and quantitative. The qualitative approach is commonly associated with the collection of subjective data, while the quantitative research approach is associated with numerical data (Domínguez & Hollstein 2014). The proposed research study will combine both research techniques through a mixed methods research framework. This strategy is informed by the multifaceted nature of the research topic under investigation. Indeed, pricing is both subjective and quantifiable in the sense that it involves the concept of cost (which is measurable) and quality (which is subjective, because hotels are service-oriented businesses).

Research Design

According to Leavy (2017), there are six main types of research designs in the mixed methods research approach. They include sequential exploratory, sequential explanatory, sequential transformative, concurrent triangulation, concurrent nested, and concurrent transformative techniques. The concurrent triangulation method will be used in the proposed study. It involves the use of two or more methods of data collection in one study (Creswell 2014). The purpose of doing so is to help the researcher to cross-validate the findings obtained from each source of information with the other.

This way, there is an opportunity to corroborate the findings within the study structure because data collection occurs concurrently. Since both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection have unique differences, the concurrent triangulation technique would be helpful in mitigating the weakness of one data collection strategy with the other. Similarly, it would aid in magnifying the strengths of one method with the other.

Data Collection

The data collection process for the proposed study would be based on the triangulation technique. This framework accommodates three sources of data: secondary research, interviews, and surveys. The three sources of information would primarily provide the evidence used to formulate the research findings by broadening the basis for data collection. The multiplicity of research information is selectively chosen to improve the quality of data obtained.

These advantages are captured in the works of Watkins and Gioia (2015), which demonstrate that the triangulation technique is beneficial in crosschecking information from different types of sources. The triangulation technique aligns with the research design because both techniques allow the researcher to compare and contrast data. The three main sources of data are described below.

Interviews: Interviews will be the main source of qualitative research information in the proposed study. Evidence will be collected from 15 experts in the field of hospitality and management. The goal of seeking their input in the study is to contextualize the survey data, which is the second type of information to be collected in the study. Expert views would also be instrumental in understanding international best practices in hotel pricing.

The respondents would be sourced from different marketing consultancy firms in the city. They would be sampled using the snowball technique because the researcher has initial contact with three professionals working as consultants. Using this sampling strategy, the initial contacts would help the researcher to recruit other participants in the study (Bernard & Bernard 2012).

Surveys: Surveys will be conducted on 200 employees of Marriott International to sample their views on the research questions. The surveys would involve structured questionnaires that gather the respondents’ views using a five-point Likert scale. The respondents will be selected to participate in the study through a random sampling method. This technique is chosen for the proposed study because it contains minimal bias (Creswell 2014). Proposed questions are as follows:

1. Mariott’s pricing strategy does not reflect the effects of technology on the hospitality industry
2. Mariott’s pricing strategy is not flexible enough to accommodate changes in consumer tastes, preferences and expectations
3. The growth and spread of alternative accommodation arrangements has had an effect on Mariott’s pricing strategy
4. Mariott’s pricing strategy accommodates customers in growing economies and exploits their rising disposable incomes.

Secondary Research: Published research data would also form the body of research information that would be used in the proposed study. Particularly, credible research information would be selected for review. Books and journals would form the bulk of data for analysis. Credible websites would also be included in the research to provide complementary information. The purpose of including secondary research data in the study is to provide a basis for comparing the information obtained from the surveys and interviews with what other researchers have written or said about the research topic. The diagram below illustrates how the triangulation technique would define the data collection process.

Data Analysis

The data analysis process would be based on the use of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22. As insinuated by its name, this data analysis method is software-based and involves the use of advanced methods of statistical analysis.

The SPSS technique will be used in the study because it has a high efficacy level based on its use of coding languages (Helen 2015). The justification for its use is also supported by its ability to analyse large volumes of data. This advantage is crucial because of the large-scale nature of Marriott’s operations. This statistical analysis software is also justifiably selected for use in the proposed study because it provides a platform for storing large volumes of data (Walliman 2015).

This way, it would be easier for the researcher to refer to them during the data analysis process. The SPSS technique is also applicable to the proposed study because the researcher will be exploring different relationships between price and market dynamics in the study. Similarly, the technique would help to examine how the responses add or contribute to the realization of the research objectives. Using the SPSS software, statistical analysis instruments (such as graphs and bars) would form the main tools of data analysis.

Ethical Issues in Research

According to Brennen (2017), the use of human subjects in research often creates several ethical issues, such as informed consent, privacy, and treatment of data. These issues are discussed below.

Informed Consent: All the participants in the study will take part in it voluntarily. In other words, the researcher would not offer incentives or coerce them to give their views. This agreement would be stated in writing where all participants will be required to sign an informed consent form.

Privacy and Confidentiality: The privacy of the respondents who give their views in this study will be upheld because they will give their opinions on the questions asked anonymously.

Treatment of Data: The researcher will be the only person with access to information provided by the respondents. The data collected will be stored in a computer and protected with a password that would be privy only to the researcher. After completion of the research process, the data would be destroyed.

Reference List

Bernard, R & Bernard, H 2012, Social research methods: qualitative and quantitative approaches, SAGE, New York, NY.

Brennen, B 2017, Qualitative research methods for media studies, Taylor & Francis, London.

Chon, K & Yu, L 2012, The international hospitality business: management and operations, Routledge, London.

Creswell, J 2014, Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches, SAGE, London.

Dhawan, R 2017, Hospitality industry & Marriott international. Web.

Domínguez, S & Hollstein, B 2014, Mixed methods social networks research: design and applications, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA.

El Refaei, A 2014, Clearing price economics: trading strategies, self-fulfilling prophecies and financial markets, GRIN Verlag, New York, NY.

Gershkov, A & Moldovanu, B 2014, Dynamic allocation and pricing: a mechanism design approach, MIT Press, New York, NY.

Helen, K 2015, Creative research methods in the social sciences: a practical guide, policy press, New York, NY.

Ivanov, S 2014, Hotel revenue management: from theory to practice. Zangador, Varna.

Kozak, M & Kozak, N (eds) 2016, Tourism and hospitality management, Emerald Group Publishing, London.

Leavy, P 2017, Research design: quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, arts-based, and community-based participatory research approaches, Guilford Publications, New York, NY.

McGuire, K 2016, The analytic hospitality executive: implementing data analytics in hotels and casinos, John Wiley & Sons, London.

Pandian, V & Kalaivanthan, M 2016, Handbook of research on holistic optimization techniques in the hospitality, tourism, and travel industry, IGI Global, New York, NY.

Somervuori, O 2014, ‘Profiling behavioral pricing research in marketing,’ Journal of Product & Brand Management, vol. 23, no. 6, pp. 462-474.

Walliman, N 2015, Social research methods: the essentials, SAGE, New York, NY.

Watkins, D & Gioia, D 2015, Mixed methods research, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Wood, R 2013, Key concepts in hospitality management, SAGE, London.

Zhang, Y, Li, K & Xiao, Z 2013, High performance computing, Springer, New York, NY.

Zheng, F 2014, Biotechnology, agriculture, environment and energy, CRC Press, New York, NY.

Introduction

As the world continues to modernize, the environment suffers. Trees are cut down to give way for the latest commercial and/ or residential areas. The results of deforestation have been deadly over the last decades were floods and landslides brought about disasters in the homes of thousands of families. Campaigns that promote the restoration and preservation of the environment have risen over the years.

Different organizations have supported such through their corporate social responsibility programs but there are some that go a step further. This paper will examine Marriott International Hotel Group’s efforts in sustaining the environment.

The individual operation of a hotel will be the focus of this paper because by studying the activities of Marriott in their campaign to go green the hotel chain’s strategies implemented can be a learning lesson for someone who is in the hospitality and tourism industry. Marriott International has won several awards in terms of their environmental sustainability programs over the past decades.

The JW Marriott in Indianapolis has been awarded the Emerging Green Award which was presented by the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) last November 9, 2011 at the Washington Hilton Hotel (JW Marriott Indianapolis Wins Green Award, 2011).

“To be considered for the award, the hotel had to document all steps taken to lessen its environmental impact such as buying and using environmentally friendly products, having ongoing training in environmental policies and practices and encouraging the use of low-impact transportation for guests and employees” (JW Marriott Indianapolis Wins Green Award, 2011).

Challenges

There are a few challenges in environmental sustainability programs especially in the hospitality and tourism industry. In order to build hotels, trees are cut down as they are being used to build facilities. Sometimes deforestation occurs to give way for hotels and country clubs to be built on. It is a challenge for hotel engineers and architects to lessen the cutting down of trees in building facilities.

Another challenge in the hotel industry with regards to environmental sustainability campaigns is the monitoring of power, gas and water usages. The hotel management can discipline and monitor the consumption of electricity, gas and water of hotel staff but it is very difficult for them to monitor the usages of hotel guests.

The management can only put notes in hotel rooms to inform guests of conserving resources but they cannot impose such on the latter thus it is difficult to monitor the consumption of natural resources. Lastly, the challenge of reusing and recycling materials to prevent environmental harm and wastage has been a constant obstacle for any company in any given industry.

In the hospitality sector, it is a challenge to reuse and recycle materials because guests and customers may complain about unsanitary practices which may harm the branding of the hotel but it is essential to note that as long as procedures are followed through management can push through with their environmental campaigns.

Opportunities

Opportunities for growth are endless especially in terms of environmental sustainability in the hospitality industry. For Marriott international, opportunities can be seen in the constant development and expansion of the company’s corporate social responsibility sector.

Over the years the company has hosted programs such as their rainforest preservation program and the green buildings program (Sustainability Report, 2009). Marriott has set out goals to further improve its participation in preserving the environment.

These goals include the reduction of energy and water consumption by 25% per room by 2012, expansion of the green hotel development in 5 years time, conversion of Marriott’s $10 billion supply chain to green, educate and inspire not only associates but also guests to support environmental programs and address environmental obstacles through innovative conservation initiatives like the rainforest protection and water conservation (Sustainability Report, 2009).

Trends

Jonas Lang LaSalle predicted that by 2012 there would be 4 environmental sustainability trends that would persist. These trends would shape the sustainable development movement are transparency, global consistency, public/ private collaboration and focus on solar energy (Four Sustainability Trends to Watch in 2012, 2012).

Transparency includes measurement and disclosure of information relating to sustainability such as energy consumption and carbon emission.

“In 2011, more than 3,000 companies, including 404 Global 500 firms, voluntarily reported their carbon emissions, water management and climate change policies to Carbon Disclosure Project in 2011, perhaps swayed by CDP’s 551 investor members, who use the information in deciding where to place more than $71 trillion in investment capital” (Four Sustainability Trends to Watch in 2012, 2012).

Global consistency includes the development and standardization of a framework in understanding the effectiveness of environmental sustainability strategies adopted and implemented by different firms globally.

“Consistent measurement is important to corporations as they focus on sustainability not only in their own operations but, increasingly, throughout their supply chain as well” (Four Sustainability Trends to Watch in 2012, 2012). The collaboration of the public and private sector is an expected trend in 2012 and for future years to come.

In the past year, 2011, we have seen both government and business organizations collaborate in sharing and realizing their green goals. It is in theses collaborative initiatives that obstacles to sustainability are best overcame for both agencies possess their own strengths which may be beneficial in the collaboration. Lastly focus on solar energy will be the last perceived trend in 2012.

Jones Lang LaSalle predicts that by 2012 solar powered devices will take over the market. These devices will affect supply and demand economics paving way to technological advancements and organizations will take advantage of this innovation by creating incentives.

Global Perspective: Hospitality Industry Going Green

In 1996, the World Travel and Tourism Council together with the World Tourism Organization and the Earth Council developed the global environmental certification program for the hospitality and tourism industry. This program identifies environmental sustainability issues that threaten the economy as well as the ecological balance of the community.

It presents recommendations and strategies on how to transition to more sustainable development practices. Environmental friendly practices are encouraged by hotel companies. They are “embracing sustainability practices through all their developmental and operational strategies”.

It is a trend in the hotel industry to go environmentally friendly thus initiatives such as educational programs, reforestation programs, eco-resorts, energy efficient practices and developmental projects that build infrastructures that comply with environmental friendly standards enable the hotel industry to adopt practices that are related to sustainability more conveniently.

“Over the last decade, the movement towards ecologically sound tourism has swept across the globe; and the practices being implemented are as diverse as the different geographies. Hotel companies are being prompted by rising energy costs, government pressure, consumer expectations and the competitive landscape to increasingly make sustainability a top priority” (Hospitality Going Green, 2009).

Ten Eco-Friendly Hospitality Companies

Below is a list of the top 10 eco-friendly hospitality companies with their corresponding platforms with regards to eco-friendly practices and environmental conservation and sustainability programs (Environmental Mission Statements: A List of Hotel Sustainability Policies, 2010).

1. Kimpton Hotels & Restaurant Group – The company has an environmental program called Eathcare where every hotel and restaurant adopts environmental friendly products at the same time they religiously practice recycling among its chains. – Corporate Philanthropy.
2. Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company – The company has created the Ritz-Carlton Environmental Action Conservation Teams (REACT) to deliver its objective in conserving the environment. The team is responsible for implementing eco-friendly practices to minimize environmental imprint of the hotel chain. REACT primarily works on projects aimed to restore native plants, protect endangered species and clean beaches and roadsides. – Corporate Philanthropy.
3. Intercontinental Hotel Group – They created a program called Green Engaged where their objective is to reduce energy, water and waste, cutting carbon emissions, and raising guest and staff awareness of sustainable issues. They have partnered with National Geographic in educating people on environmental issues. –Corporate Philanthropy.
4. Fairmount Hotels and Resorts – Created the Green Partnership Program which minimizes “property operational impacts on the environment through resource conservation and best practices”. – Corporate Philanthropy.
5. Marriott International, Inc. – The hotel chain’s environmental goals are to decrease water and energy consumption by 25% per room by 2017, create green construction standards for hotel developers, educate partners, staff and guests about environmental issues and invest in conservation initiates such as the rainforest protection and water conservation. Corporate Philanthropy.
6. Omni Hotels and Resorts – The company is heavily practicing recycling, conserves energy by promoting hybrid and other energy efficient technologies, utilize eco-friendly products, reduce carbon footprints, create green roofs and plant more trees and water supplies. Corporate Philanthropy.
7. Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. – The company has created an environmental sustainability policy aimed at conserving natural resources, minimizing waste and pollution, enhancing indoor environmental quality, establishing and reporting on key environmental performance indicators and educating associates, guests and communities on environmental issues. Corporate Philanthropy.
8. Wyndham Worldwide Corporation – They created a program called Wyndham Green where they aim to develop environmental programs, products and services, set and measure environmental impact targets, and comply with climate policies and environmental laws. Corporate Philanthropy.
9. McDonald’s – The fast food chain aims to help the environment improving waste management and sustainable packaging, conserving energy and having green restaurant designs. – Corporate Philanthropy.
10. Lifetime Gym – The gym’s sustainability initiatives involve sustainable carpeting, designing a green building, energy and water conservation, recycling and promoting the use of environmental friendly products and services. – Corporate Philanthropy.

Marriott Environmental Campaign

Marriott Hotels International has been one of most active hotel organizations in terms of the preservation of the environment. The company pays attention to the quality and services its managements provides. It pays much attention to sourcing locally grown products and encourages its associates, staff and guests to minimize their impact on the environment by conserving energy, gas and water.

Marriott Hotels International promotes among its staff and guests the proper way of disposing garbage, conserving energy and traveling and/ or working in the most environmental friendly way an individual can. Among Marriott’s eco-friendly programs include “Marriott’s linen and towel reuse program which aims to conserve water and energy and minimize the release of detergent chemicals to the environment.

The environment is an everyday consideration at Marriott, say staff, returning a positive green score of 81% on this point in our employee survey. They say the green credentials of the organization influenced their decision to work here (50%, and a top 15 ranking) and acknowledge that it is younger colleagues who are driving environmental change (62%, with just seven firms scoring better).

Marriott’s eco-friendly practices include providing eco pillows, recyclable key cards and coreless toilet rolls, and producing up to 20% of its own electricity” (Best Green Companies, 2011).

In March 2010, another Marriott branch in Portsmouth launched its latest recycling scheme where the hotel aims to recycle 98% of wastes produced (Portsmouth: Marriott recycles 98% of waste, 2010). The hotel has collaborated with local recycling experts such as ACM Waste Management plc and PDM Group to make such program a success.

In this recycling scheme all the hotel’s waste food products will be recycled. This program is first implemented in Portsmouth but will soon be adopted by other hotel branches. Aside from this new recycling program, Marriott has implemented other processes in recycling. This included the placing of recycling bins in guest rooms and meeting rooms.

All hotel staffs are trained to separate biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes ((Portsmouth: Marriott recycles 98% of waste, 2010). Marriott’s Environmentally Conscious Hospitality Operations program is the hotel chain’s sustainability plan where it focuses on the conservation of water and energy, activities concerning clean air, recycling, wildlife preservation and cleaning up neighborhoods.

“Through this program, it replaced 450,000 incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent lighting, introduced linen re-use systems, and installed 400,000 low-flow showerheads and toilets at its hotels worldwide. Marriott has also reduced water usage by more than 15% over the last five years through the said program” (Marriott International Inc, USA and Global Tourism Business Award Winner, 2009).

Marriott Hotel International commits to ensure that business activities and practices of the company will be properly managed so as to have minimal impact on the environment. The company guarantees that the operations of the hotel chain will comply with all statutory regulations concerning the environment.

Marriott’s environmental action plan for 2010 includes the increase of recycling practices to reduce wastages, the improvement of energy management systems and awareness to reduce the consumption of power and gas, the installation of flow reducing devices to reduce water consumption, the investment of compact fluorescent lamps and replacement of existing Dichronic Halogen lamps to reduce energy consumption and the establishment of a green team to help implement energy saving initiatives.

In its use of technology Marriott was named “Top 12 Green IT Companies by the Computer World magazine in 2009 (Marriott Wins Big Reward by Going Hi-Tech and Low Energy, 2009).

“Marriott developed an underground data center to take advantage of a naturally cool environment to reduce power consumption in the IT arena. The company also uses server virtualization and desktop power management policies.

Additionally, so far Marriott has recycled more than 28,761 IT assets, diverting 629,408 pounds of waste from landfills, according to the release” (Marriott Hotel Industry Continue Green Push, 2009).

Marriott has also stopped its automatic newspaper drop program to guests’ bedroom but instead the management asks guests which newspaper they wish to read during their stay. The hotel chain also offers its guests the option to support their green stay program where an additional $1 a day will be billed to hotel guests (Marriott Hotel Industry Continue Green Push, 2009).

The hotel chain also expressed its plans to expand their green hotels program by 1000% in November 2009. This program includes the revamping of Marriott’s hotels to environmental friendly designs (Marriott Plans to Expand Green Hotels by 1000%, 2009). Marriott Hotel International also adopted a smoke-free hotel policy where it provides its guests a smoke free environment.

“The smoke-free hotel policy has received praise from guests, and Marriott remains committed to achieving a smoke-free environment in all of its properties in the U.S. and Canada. The continuing efforts of these properties to comply with the smoke-free policy reinforce Marriott’s commitment to being an environmentally friendly company” (The Marriott Smoke-free Hotel Policy, 2012).

Marriott Hotel International has been actively involved in the preservation of the environment. The hotel chain has trained its associates and staff of eco-friendly practices to adopt in proving services to clients and guests. Staffs are trained to conserve energy, gas and water.

They are also educated in separating wastages from biodegradable to non-biodegradable. Hotel staffs are well aware of practices which may benefit the environment thus the success of Marriott not only lies with their environmentally aware manpower but also in their constant innovative programs and strategies to minimize the hotel chain’s impact on the environment.

The corporate social responsibility team of Marriott International Hotel has been actively participating in the conservation of the ecosystem. Marriott has been developing programs such as the reusing of linens and towels by guests to conserve electricity from washing them as well as water.

This program also minimizes the use of detergents to flush out in the environment. Aside from training and educating its staffs and associates, Marriott also holds programs where it helps in reviving rainforests especially in Brazil. The company has contributed so much in terms of saving the environment. It has also started renovating existing hotels with a new environmentally friendly “green” design.

Conclusion

Environmental sustainability is very important especially in the hospitality and tourism industry because we are marketing sceneries for guests to relax. With the destruction of the environment, traveling will be a hassle especially with the constant change of weathers. Hotels in the tropics especially those located near beaches would always suffer from tsunamis.

On the other hand hotels located in areas where forests have been victimized by illegal logging and deforestation would constantly suffer from flash floods and landslides. It is important to sustain our environment to preserve the eco-system.

As someone who is part of the hotel and tourism business, I have observed that the weather and climate as well as the environment play important roles in marketing and packaging hotels and vacations.

Clients want to visit places that are beautiful. Most people whether they are staying in a hotel for vacation or for business prefer the ambiance of nature. Whether they are surrounded by trees or the ocean, it is a big and major factor where hotels are located.

It is important to preserve the environment for it affects all industries. In the hospitality and tourism industry the environment plays a big role in the planning and decision making of customers and guests. It is important that each company must be aware of environmental issues and address them through simple deeds such as the conservation of power, water and gas.

Employees must be trained to conserve resources and practice proper waste disposal. It is also important that companies constantly improve corporate social responsibility programs to further adapt to changes in the environment and address issues through CSR programs. Marriott International Hotel is a great example of a hotel chain with a solid environmental sustainability program.

Reference List

Best Green Companies. (2011). Web.

Environmental Mission Statements: A List of Hotel Sustainability Policies. (2010). Web.

Four Sustainability Trends to Watch in 2012. (2012). Web.

Hospitality Going Green. (2009). Web.

JW Marriott Indianapolis Wins Green Award. (2011). Web.

Marriott Hotel Industry Continue Green Push. (2009). Web.

Marriott International Inc, USA and Global Tourism Business Award Winner. (2009). Web.

Marriott Plans to Expand Green Hotels by 1000%. (2009). Web.

Marriott Wins Big Reward by Going Hi-Tech and Low Energy. (2009). Web.

Portsmouth: Marriott recycles 98% of waste. (2010). Web.

Sustainability Report. (2009). Web.

The Marriott Smoke-free Hotel Policy. (2012). Web.

“Make everyone feel comfortable being who they are, everywhere they travel” (“Whoever You Are, Wherever You Go,” para. 1). This phrase has become a slogan for a number of Marriott hotels during the last year. The essence of the chosen ad campaign is to support the ideas and choices of same-sex couples. Marriott decided to cooperate with a famous photographer, Braden Summers, and introduce certain powerful images of gays, lesbians, transgender representatives, and bisexuals as evidence that cannot be neglected.

Several popular models, like Jason Collins and Geena Rocera, were invited to the campaign. It helped to attract many tourists from different parts of the world and make them choose Marriott as a hotel to stay in. However, a question takes place – whether the chosen approach is effective enough not to frighten away those consumers, who cannot understand or accept the role of same-sex relations.

About advertising

Marriott pricing strategies are usually based on promotions and sales campaigns. A hotel should introduce an idea and offer it to the customers in a proper way. The hotel may not use several campaigns at the same time on a regular basis. Hotel managers find it successful enough to create one powerful idea and develop it until it works.

The essence of any ad campaign is to share a single idea, attract people, and use it until it helps to sell a product. People have to hear about a hotel, evaluate an idea, and make a decision whether to address it or not. However, an idea offered for a campaign should not be offensive for a person or affect someone’s life. Considering such definitions and peculiarities, the effectiveness of the campaign by the Marriott hotel may be doubtful.

About a campaign

#Love Travels and cooperation with Braden Summers help the hotel to have its images on the streets of New York, San Francisco, and Washington (Nelson). Of course, it is wrong to believe that a few people may know about Marriott hotels, still, now, more people know that Marriott is one that supports an idea of same-sex relations.

The hotel encourages its guests and travelers to share their emotions, experiences, and stories about how it is to be in a relationship with a person of the same sex. It should not be another kind of incommodity to overcome or a challenge to survive. A visit to a hotel should be a chance to tell a story and help other people to understand the life of gays and lesbians in this cruel world.

About the question that bothers

Is it a good idea for a hotel to demonstrate such a bright and powerful theme for discussion? On the one hand, everything seems to be quite normal: people who face challenges demonstrating their priorities in relations may find a kind of support in a hotel. On the other hand, it is necessary to remember that there are still many people who do not want to understand same-sex marriages.

They have children and do not want these children to know about the possibility to begin a relationship with a person of the same sex. So, is it justified for a hotel to attract one group of people with narrow-minded interests at the expense of another group of people who do not want to understand the same idea? Is it so effective? In addition, can a hotel put itself under a threat of being called prejudiced with an issue of same-sex relations using this topic for its campaign?

Works Cited

Nelson, Sara. “#LoveTravels: Marriot Hotel Social Media Ad Campaign Welcomes LGBT Community.”Huffington Post UK 2014. Web.

“Whoever You Are, Wherever You Go – #Love Travels.” Marriott News Center 2014. Web.

Introduction

This report focuses on Marriot International, Inc. financial reports for the fiscal period between 2011 and 2013. Specifically, it covers the company, its current and future strategies and performances and comparative financial ratio analysis with regard to other players in the industry.

Structure

Presentation of Marriot, its current and future strategies

Marriot International, Inc. operates in more than 72 countries with over 3,900 hotels worldwide as an operator, a franchisor and a licensor of hotels and timeshare resorts. It has nearly 325, 000 associates. The company also is involved in developing, operating and marketing residential property and offers home services to owners. Marriot simply manages or franchises and does not necessary own these hotels (Marriott International, Inc., 2012). Marriot International, Inc. is listed among the best hotel chains in the world (Vidyarthi, 2014).

In the year 2013, the company was managing 42% of its hotels, 55% were franchised, 2% were leased or owned while the rest were classified under unconsolidated joint ventures (Marriott International, Inc., 2013). Marriot has classified its operations under North America Full Service, Limited-Service, International and Luxury.

The company’s current strategy has been effective in delivering results. For instance, Marriot has grown its portfolio and increased the number of hotels significantly in the year 2013. The company’s leadership has focused on a global expansion, particularly in the US, Africa (Pretoria and Rwanda, Kigali), Asia, the Middle East, Brazil, India and other parts of Europe. These new developments would add 67,000 new rooms. Marriot recorded a management fee of $1.5 billion globally. It is now the largest hotel company in Africa. The company has also focused on growing its flagship brand through massive investments, particularly in London, New York, Miami, Abu Dhabi, Bangkok, Shanghai, and India among others.

In the fiscal year 2013, diluted earnings per share were $2, which represented an increment of 16% relative to the previous year. Adjusted Earnings Before Interest Expense, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) increased to 9%, operating income Margins reached 40% and return on invested capital rose to 32%. At the same time, Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) increased 4.6% globally.

The company’s rewards and loyalty programme exceeded 45 million subscriptions, responsible for over half room occupants globally.

The Web site (Marriott.com) was responsible for one-quarter of the global room booking nights in the year 2013. Nearly 13 percent of these room booking nights originated from mobile devices.

Marriot’s future strategies for expansion have focused on opening new hotels in emerging markets. In the Asia Pacific region, for instance, the company intends to open a new hotel through different ten brands. This would increase its hotels to 330 with over 96,000 rooms by the year 2016. The agreements signed would see the company opening additional 78 new hotels with over 22,000 rooms, which would be high-end, luxury hotels. In Africa, Marriot intends to acquire new hotels in Pretoria to drive its growth. This would double the number of rooms to 23,000 for the region and Middle East.

Additionally, the company has identified emerging tourism destinations for its new hotels because of its contribution for economic growth and job creation in such regions. In this regard, Rwanda in Sub-Saharan Africa has been chosen for the largest hotel in the country. The company hopes to open its Kigali hotel in the year 2016. This is a part of an aggressive growth strategy for the region. Marriot is building a close partnership with the Rwandan-based Akilah Institute for Women to train women for jobs in the hotel industry and drive the growth of the travel industry in the region.

The company has also focused on providing the necessary resources to achieve most of its goals, particularly efforts to lessen energy and water usages by at least 20% by the year 2020. This is a major focus on developing global green hotels.

Marriot International, Inc. believes in a bright future ahead. To achieve the bright future prospects, the company has focused on investing in effective marking and social media platforms so that it can appeal to the tech savvy customers. Marriot notes that nearly half of the global population is below the age of 25.6 years. A part of this population consists of the generation Y, which account for over 19% of all room night bookings in the US under the business class category. Marriot expects this number to increase steadily to 37% by the year 2020. The expected growth will result from many graduates, workers and business travellers. Given the relevance of this segment of consumers, Marriot intends to introduce new brands and services designed to meet their unique needs and improve current brands with the “technology, design, wellness, and food and beverage experiences that are important to them” (Marriott International, Inc., 2013).

Marriot International, Inc. has recognised that the current business conditions are favourable as the global economies continue to grow and prices rise. This would increase the number of hotels and customers’ spending habits.

While the year 2013 reflects positive achievements, Marriot International, Inc. also recognises risks associated with its business operations.

Comparative Ratio Analysis and Trends

Data for the analysis were obtained from various sources, include the MarketWatch, Inc., CNN Money, the company’s financial statements and Yahoo Finance among others (MarketWatch, Inc., 2015).

Liquidity

Current Ratio

Total Current Assets/Total Current Liabilities

Marriot International Current Ratio reflects a bad sign. For the past three fiscal years, the ratios have been less than one. This suggests that Marriot may not be able to meet its short-term liabilities with its currently available short-term assets. Although this is a bad sign of the company’s efficiency, it may not go bankrupt and can get financing from other sources.

Acid-Test Ratio

These stringent ratios are below one, suggesting that Marriot lack adequate short-term assets to meet immediate liabilities and therefore must rely on the sales of inventory to meet such obligations. Investors must be careful with the company.

Accounts Receivable Turnover

The company’s revenues were $12784, $11814 for the period 2013 and 2012 respectively while $43 million and $32 million were accounts receivable for similar periods. The company provides gross revenues and when applied yield the following figures 297 and 369 for the year 2013 and 2012 respectively. It shows the company almost collects accounts receivable daily.

Average Collection Period

Marriot International, Inc. generally collects accounts receivable within 30 days.

Solvency (Debt Management)

Solvency Ratio

Marriot’s solvency ratios have generally been low, showing that the company could default on debt obligations.

Debt-Equity Ratio

These ratios are not extremely high, indicating that Marriot uses external debts to funds its growth strategies.

Operating Cash flow to Total Liabilities Ratio

Cash flows from operation/Total Liabilities

Marriot’s cash flows generated from business activities do not adequately cover its total liabilities because of low ratios.

Activity (Assets Management Ratio)

Inventories Turnover

Total Revenue/Inventory

The company’s inventory turnover has increased and indicates strong sales for the last two years. Data for the fiscal year 2013 were not available.

Day Sales Outstanding

Net receivables/ (total revenue/360)

Marriot takes approximately between 25 days and 30 days to collect revenues after business activities have been concluded.

It is in the interest of the company to collect outstanding sales as fast as possible to get cash for its operations.

Fixed Asset Turnover

Total revenue/property plant and equipment

Marriot has high ratios and therefore effectively uses its investments to generate cash. The company needs to increase its asset base to support growing demands for hotels and to support its sales activities.

Total Assets Turnover

Total revenue/total assets

Marriot has been able to use its assets effectively to generate revenues. Although these ratios fluctuate, they are stable. The company is not sluggish in making sales and therefore there are few challenges with its asset categories.

Profitability

Profit Margin

Net Income applicable to common shares/total revenue

The company’s profit margins have risen steadily in the last three financial years. It shows that Marriot generates returns for investors.

Return on Assets (ROA)

Net income available to common shares/total assets

Since the year 2011, the company has been able to convert its cash into investment and generate income from it effectively. The rate has increased steadily. As the figure increase, it would show that Marriot would be earning more incomes from less investment.

Return on Owners’ Equity (ROE)

Net Income applicable to common shares/total stockholder equity

These ratios are negative for the last three fiscal years. Marriot has not been effective on generating incomes from new investments. It is imperative to relate these ratios with peers in the industry. However, these negative ratios should be a source of concern to any investor.

Market Value

Price/Earnings (P/E)

Price per share/earnings per share

This is the value, which investors are willing to pay for the company shares, and according to the industry benchmark, Marriot is currently doing well relative to other companies. Hence, it has a good future growth prospects.

Market/Book

Market price per share / book value per share

Marriot has negative market to book value ratios. These ratios indicate that Marriot has been earning poorly on its Return on Assets. The Return on Owner’s Equity also reflects negative trends.

Conclusion

Marriot International, Inc. has focused on a growth strategy to improve its presence in mature markets and emerging ones, particularly in Africa, Americas, Asia and certain parts of Europe. The company wants to exploit tourism and travel industries in these regions. At the same time, Marriot intends to embrace IT and social media platforms to target the generation Y consumers, as well as introduce green technologies to save on water and energy consumption. Different ratios show various operations of the company (Marriott International Inc: Five Year Financial Summary, 2015). Financial data show key statistics for Marriot International with a greater depth for individuals whose use such information for decision-making (Yahoo Finance, 2015).

The company’s revenues have grown steadily in the past three years. Nevertheless, it is imperative to understand the financial ratios against the industry benchmarks or use other companies’ ratios for comparison for a clear picture of Marriot’s financial performance.

Relative to other players in the industry such as IHG, Hilton and Wyndham, Marriot seems to have the lowest current ratios. Although these ratios fluctuate, these four hotels have performed relatively well in the past. At the same time, it also has the lowest acid-test ratios. Hence, other companies may be able to meet their obligations than Marriot International, Inc.

Assets Management Ratios show how companies use their assets to generate sales. Among all the mentioned companies, Marriot has the highest Fixed Assets Turnover and Total Assets Turnover ratios. They show that Marriot manages its assets to generate sales than other companies in the same industry.

On the other hand, the company also has relatively poor Debt Management strategies compared to other companies in the industry. For instance, it has the highest Total debt to total equity (percentage) and Times -Interest-Earned (times) ratios. These ratios indicate that Marriot relies on debts to fund its operations compared to other companies.

The company has the highest debt/equity ratios compared to IHG, Hilton and Wyndham. Its highest ratio was 1.21 (2013) while Wyndham had a ratio of 0.83 in the same financial year. This industry could be capital-intensive and therefore these ratios may be acceptable. However, less capital-intensive companies may have lower ratios of below 0.5.

Profitability ratios are imperative for investors who would like to understand whether their chosen companies generate returns. Marriot’s profitability ratios have increased. Apart from Hilton, other hotels have extremely higher profitability ratios relative to Marriot. For instance, in the fiscal year 2012, IHG recorded a ratio of 29.32% compared to Marriot’s 4.83%. From these diverse performances, it could be difficult to determine the exact industry average.

From the data available from different hotels, market value average could range from 20 to 25. However, some companies have recorded high ratios than the industry average. Market/Book (Times) for Marriot is negative. IHG also recorded a higher ratio of -104.052 in the fiscal year 2013. Other companies have maintained positive ratios. This could indicate undervalued stocks or give poor yields to investors (Peavler, n.d).

It is imperative for investors to compare different ratios against industry averages to determine the performance of a given company. Financial analysts and investors must rely on different ratios, tools and industry averages when reviewing financial statements of companies (Wright, n.d). Ratio analysis assists investors and creditors to identify specific areas of concerns and review financial health of a company. In this case, Marriot should review its operations, particularly in areas with extremely low ratios.

References

MarketWatch, Inc. (2015). Marriott International, Inc.- Financials. Web.

Marriott International Inc: Five Year Financial Summary. (2015). Web.

Marriott International, Inc. Marriot 2012 Annual Report. Web.

Marriott International, Inc. Marriot 2013 Annual Report. Web.

Peavler, R. (n.d). What is the Market to Book Financial Ratio and its Calculation and Use? Web.

Vidyarthi, K. Top 10 Largest Hotel Chains in the World 2014. Web.

Wright, T. C. (n.d). Negative Leverage Ratio.Web.

Yahoo Finance. (2015). Marriott International, Inc.: Key Statistics. Web.

Introduction: Presenting the Hotel

Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile is one of the hotels of the Marriott chain. Being considered as the luxury hotel, it should correspond to top quality services and as a result being excellent both from interior and exterior aspects. Considering some statistical data, the hotel has 46 floors where 1 173 rooms are located. 25 of them are suites, 54 are the meeting rooms with 66,400 sq ft of total meeting space.

Ash Trays/Debris at Exterior of Property

The territory of the hotel is clean. There are many ash trays at exterior of property which are constantly checked for extra rubbish. It is pleasant to walk on the territory of the hotel as there is no debris at all. This is guaranteed by the hotel facilities and top quality services.

Cleanliness of Windows, Floors, Tables, Chairs and Other Surfaces

Looking at different surfaces on the territory of the hotel, one will not see them to be dirty. Windows are clean as well as all other glass surfaces which shine. It is impossible to see the dust on the floor as the service is on the highest level and there are people who are responsible for carpets and bars to be always clean. Chairs, tables and other surfaces are polished that is why it is even possible to see how they shine.

Repair/Condition of Furnishing-Wear and Tear, Scuffs, etc.

Looking at the furniture it is possible to say that it is new. One cannot seat on the threadbare chair or another piece of furniture as being a five star hotel which is considered to be the part of the Marriott chain of work known hotels, the Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile has to meet the level of furnishing. That is why their furniture is new or seems to be new as in case of its attrition it is just thrown away.

Ceilings, Walls

Walls and ceilings have expensive wall-papers. Additionally, ceiling and in some places the walls are decorated with expensive modeling items seems to be created specially for Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile. There is too much light in the hotel as the ceiling is also decorated with lamps of various design and style which is combined appropriately and adds to the design of the whole interior.

Any Dangerous Situations

The hotel corresponds to the demands of fire department. Having considered all the floors, the fireplugs were found at each of them. Additionally, there are no dangerous places which could intentionally harm human health. There a medicine chest in each room and at the reception. Even though it is impossible to save oneself from any particular situation, the hotel is considered to be safe and corresponding to the norm of particular departments.

Conclusion: Personal Observation

Therefore, trying to express personal opinion about the luxury and beauty of the place, it is important to say that he hotel is built in accordance with the modern techniques. The decoration of the place is magnificent.

Everything is at its place even though it seems that here are too many sofas, tables, etc. Looking at the exterior of the place it impossible to make sure that there is a beauty inside as the exterior is not that pompous. But the interior is great. The hotel services are on the highest level that helps it remain deserving to carry the name of the world-known hotel chain.

Marriott is an international business venture, which deals with offering hospitality services to its clients. It has several business units in various countries around the world. Marriott International has been in operation for about 60 years. This has enabled it to spread its wings to 73 countries with over 3700 hotel units. It offers over twenty different brands of hotels, some of which are franchises for instance J W Marriott, The Ritz Carlton and Marriott Executive Apartments.

Most of its customers are business people running business errands in multinational ventures. Mr. Marriott who is the Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and proprietor of this group of hotels has actualized a myriad of business strategies that would not only increase the profitability of his businesses but also attract as many customers as possible.

A business or corporate strategy is a long term plan of operation that directs all the activities of an organization, and aimed towards achieving competitive advantage over its competitors. Strategizing also helps a business develop proper ways to utilize its resources within a challenging business environment.

Additionally, it helps a business to meet the diverse needs of its stakeholders for instance; customers, board of directors, neighboring community and government agencies. Marriott International began as a sole proprietorship formerly owned by his family several years ago, but has developed over the years into a world class group of hotels because of these strategies.

The strategies employed include corporate strategies; this can be defined as a future business plan focused at improving the general scope and purpose of the business so that stakeholder’s expectations are met. Secondly, there is the business unit strategy; this is concerned with monitoring how a business competes in the market, its customer expectations and exploiting new business opportunities.

Third, there is a type of strategy that deals with organizing each part of the business such as how the various business units are managed. This strategy is called operational strategy. Marriott International uses this strategy to run its various groups of hotels since they are focused on serving specific customer needs.

Marriott International uses three main components to manage the selected strategies. A thoroughly selected corporate strategy just like that used by Marriott International should have a section for strategic analysis, strategic choice and strategic implementation. Strategic analysis entails conducting a Strength Weakness, Opportunity and Threat (SWOT) analysis of the business in order to determine its operational capabilities.

In addition to identifying favorable internal business factors that will steer the business towards high profit margins, external factors such as threat of entry of new competitors into the market are identified. The market is then segmented as it is the case of Marriott International.

The management of Marriott’s group of hotels appreciates the fact that there are various customers with diverse needs. There are those people who will prefer being accommodated in executive hotel suits while there are those who cannot sustain a luxurious lifestyle. This strategy is called market segmentation where the management of a business decides to fragment the market according to customer convenience. This is why the Marriott groups of hotels run different hotel brands.

After segmenting the market the strategic manager develops a different pricing strategy for all its diverse customers under the 4P’s of international business management. The P’s include place, product, price and promotion. All these factors are then interrelated one after the other in such a way that it achieves not only efficiency but also effectiveness.

The process of strategic choice involves selecting strategy options while considering the stakeholders expectations. Implementation poses the greatest challenge to many organizations since it requires translation of paper work into action.

Executive Summary/ Overview of the company:

The international hotel industry has a lot of potential with more people participating in leisure, business and tourism all industry participants are formulating and implementing top notch strategies and offering premium services and products activities.

The flagship brand of Marriott International, the Marriott Hotels and resort is one of the world’s most leading and legendary hotel franchises with over 2,800 hotels in about 68 countries. The hotels generate close to three quarters of the total income generated by Marriott International and the rest from timeshares. Marriott international is not only well renowned in the hospitality setting but in the top companies of the world.

Establish by Willard J. Marriott in 1927 as a hospitality company at first known as Marriott Corporation in Arlington County, Virginia but was later separated into two, the Marriott international and the Host Marriott Corporation in 1993.

The Marriott’s headquarters today is based in Washington D.C. and headed by J.W. (Bill) Marriott, Jr. (son of founder Willard J. Marriott) who is the chief executive officer of the franchise. Marriott International is simply Marriott group’s hotel and lodgings chain with the amount of business transacted over recent times, is approximated at about US$ 13.3 billion.

The hotel chain employs close to 15,000 workers worldwide and operates a number of full service hotels and resorts around the world. A poll conducted by times magazine in 2009 placed the Marriott Group fourth overall in an employee fulfillment research done among UK companies.

Marriott’s endeavor to offer the best luxurious service to their customers and clients is well embodied in the words and thinking of the founder of the franchise, Willard J. Marriott: “…A man should keep on being constructive, and do constructive things. (Lim, 2009).

Marriott therefore intends to exist and compete with other industry performers such as Hyatt and Hilton and outshine them by offering the complete customer experience.

Overview of the Company

Marriott International Inc. is one of the premiere global operators and franchiser of hotels and associated lodging services. As of the end of 2006, the business owned over 2,800 hotels with a presence in 68 nations. It acquires approximately three quarters of its income from its hotel business and one forth from timeshares.

The company has more than 85 percent of its possessions rooted in the U.S. In the fiscal year 2006, the firm announced revenues of USD 12.2 billion along with net proceeds of USD 608 million in comparison to returns of USD 11.6 billion with net profits of USD 669 million in the previous year.

The growth of the company in terms of compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) was recorded at 7.4 percent in the time span of six years from 2000 to 2006 (Oviedo-Garcia, 2008).

The Marriott Hotels and Resorts is the flagship brand of the Marriott International. It has several full service hotels and resorts. The head quarters of the company is situated in Washington D.C. It is one of the most renowned companies in the World, not only in the hospitality industry but also in the foremost companies in the World.

In a recent poll conducted by the renowned The Times magazine in the year 2009, the company was placed in the fourth position in all the companies of UK in the sphere of employee satisfaction. The brand operates more than 482 hotels and resorts worldwide (Cho, 2010).

Initially the company was named as Marriott Corporation. It was a hospitality company and the company existed from 1927 to the year 1993. The founder of the company was Willard Marriott and Frank Kimball. The first Marriott Hotel was opened in a place called Arlington County, in Virginia.

Historically the first international hotel was situated in Mexico in the year in the year 1969. In the year 1993, the company was divided into two parts, the “Marriott International Corporation and the Host Marriott Corporation” (Cho, 2010).

Marriott International

It is basically the hotel chain of the Marriott Group. In recent calculation the hotel chain has around 3100 investments which provide lodging facilities in the United States, and over 67 in other countries.

The recent turnover of the company is estimated at US$ 13.3 billion. More than 150000 employees work in the Marriott hotels chain worldwide. There are different business segments in the hotel chain and they are as follows:

1. Full Service and Lodging
2. Select Service and Lodging
3. Extended Stay and Lodging
4. Timeshare
5. Synthetic fuel.

Some of the very important hotels under the brand are like Marriott Hotels and Resorts, J.W. Marriott Hotel and resorts and Renaissance Hotels and Resorts. In our discussion we will concentrate on the Marriott Hotels and Resorts.

The longest running hotel in the Marriott brand is the Key Bridge Marriott which is situated in Arlington. It was opened in the year 1959. If we look at the history of the company we will surely see that the company has rapidly evolved into an international brand name (Oviedo-Garcia, 2008).

One of the very important acquisitions of the Corporation happened in the year 1995. In that year Marriott purchased 49% of the share of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. The other very important brands in the Marriott family except the Marriott Hotels and the Ritz Carlton Hotel Corporation are,

Renaissance Hotels and Resorts, Marriott Conference Centers, Courtyard ( by Marriott), Fairfield Inn, Springhill Suites, Residence Inn, Tower place Suits, Marriott ExecuStay, Marriott Executive Apartments, Horizons, Ritz-Carlton Club, Marriott Executive Apartments, and the MVCI or the Marriott Vacation Club International (Cho, 2010).

Important Brands of Marriott International

1. Renaissance Hotels: The Renaissance Hotel Chain is a boutique like hotel chain which is managed by the Marriott Group. There are a number of hotels in the chain, and some of them are also managed by other franchise license.
2. Marriott Conference Centers: Especially designed for Corporate and other types of conference, the Marriott Conference Centers are one of the most important brands of the company.
3. Courtyard by Marriott: This is a type of hotels that is designed for the business clients and customers. The rooms are fully equipped with different types of facilities, and they are direct competitors of the hotels like Wingate Inn and the Hilton Garden Inn, which are regarded as very important hotels in the Hospitality Industry (Anastasiadou, 2008).
4. Fairfield Inn: It is a low cost hotel brand which is also franchised by the Marriott International. The basic purpose for the hotels is that to provide a place to sleep for the guests with few amenities. The specific chain of hotels allows rents in a very cheap price and is very popular among the regular travelers throughout America.
5. SpringHill Suites: This is especially designed for the all purpose suite system in hotels. As in the year 2009, there were 210 SpringHill Suites in all of America (Lugosi, 2008).

Company Mission

According to J. Willard Marriott:

“A man should keep on being constructive, and do constructive things. He should take part in the things that go on in this wonderful world. He should be someone to be reckoned with. He should live life and make every day count, to the very end. Sometimes it’s tough. But that’s what I’m going to do” (Lim, 2009).

The vision of the Marriott International is to become the Numero Uno in the World in the sphere of Hospitality Service provider. To achieve the target, the business goals of the company centre on the growth of the company, along with special care to the guests and finally keep a strict check on the financial developments of the company (Chung, 2008).

As with all the other companies there are some very important foundations of The Marriott International. They are like the employees, the guests, the shareholders, the service providers. In the next paragraphs we will discuss the different visions of the company and how they will help the company to realize their mission.

The Business of the Marriott

In the hospitality management sphere, Marriott International is the best. They are devoted to bring their guests comfort and satisfaction with their services. There is no blue print in their success, and their only choice is to care their guests in the most efficient as possible.

The company believes that they will continue to expand their business with their skills and they will successfully utilize their skills for complete customer satisfaction in different areas, without losing their traditional customer bases (Oviedo-Garcia, 2008).

The Shareholders of Marriott

As with any business, whether it is international or national, the interests of the shareholders are highly valued in the context of the Marriott Hotels. According to their website, they will guarantee of unquestioned strength to their share holders.

To keep this, the company strictly maintains the highest standards in the industry. They also regularly check their positions in the stock markets. The financial strength and the market factor help the company to complete their mission. They also give surety of strong and sustainable growth for their shareholders (Cho, 2009).

The Customers

The most important pillar of strength of the Marriott International is their customer base. The company promises that they will provide World Class services to their customers in every circumstance.

The Employees

The employees of the Marriott thrive to set high expectations from themselves and the business. They employees will try to build an employee culture among the organization. Individual growth is highly appreciated in the organization.

Other than that working successfully in a team will help to realize the expectations of both the management and the guests of the organization. All the employees are determined to spend some of the times to make the community and the environment a better place to live (Cho, 2010).

Mission Statement

• Providing the guests with the finest services possible in the given atmosphere.
• Every service that will be rendered to the guests and the patrons will be done effortlessly, and this will ensure “fair price” for the customer. On the other hand it will interest the stock holder for a sound investment choice (Anastasiadou, 2008).
• Customer is always the first choice, and meaning this as a whole.
• The Marriott Group is among the World Leaders in innovation, efficiency, along with quality and finally customer satisfaction. Everyone working in the organization has to take care of the brand name of the company, and value it more than anything else (Lim, 2009).
• Always expect the best from every person working in the concern.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Ethics

According to J.W. Marriott, Jr., the chairman and CEO of the Marriott Hotels, “We need to stand together to ensure that the travel and tourism industry is always a positive force for good in the world” (Chung, 2008).

The Marriott Hotels is a World famous brand and they try to take different corporate social responsibilities to help the society in different ways. The company strives to high ethical quality along with uncompromising standards in their different procedures.

The code of business that is followed in the concern enables the managers and the employees to stick to the right path to conduct business. And for that the seniors of the concern always take out their hands of support to the juniors.

The processes include many aspects, like advising the employees to the laws related to anti-trust. Unfair contributions from any sphere of society and most importantly, any unfair political connection is strongly reprimanded in the Marriott Hotels. The organization says a strict no to any kind of bribery, whichever type it may be. Also they do not unfairly use their purchasing power.

The training program in Marriott Hotels has a specific chapter called “How We Do Business Is as Important as the Business We Do” (Lugosi, 2008), and it teaches the employees what are the required qualities from an employee, and most importantly what are the different human rights the organization thrives to maintain.

All the employees, including the senior managers have to go through a yearly internal survey based on the “Legal and Ethical Conduct” (Lugosi, 2008) of their actions. It is done to see if all the employees adhere to the Marriott Hotel’s “Ethical Conduct Policy” (Lugosi, 2008).

The company also respects the protection of human rights in all the spheres where the business of the company is spread. All the business operations of the company are designed according to their Human Rights policy. Human Trafficking and Exploitation of Children are the two main agendas of the organization. From 2006, Marriott Hotels published their first Human Rights Policy Statement.

All the rights issued in the statement have been conveyed to the employees and also published internationally to show the organization standing against these crimes.

Most importantly, the Human Rights Policy of the Marriott Group is carefully alienated with the Government and other Non-Governmental Organizations who are relentlessly working on these aspects. The organization regularly and very actively engaged with these groups to endorse the best practices with the aim to stop this improper human conducts.

Another very important aspect of the organization is their relation with the suppliers. As per the business context of the company, the suppliers play a very important role in the aspect of maintaining their excellent track record in the field of hospitality.

They ensure that they only use high quality products and services. They always endorse organic products as the raw materials and many suppliers have been benefited for their choice of raw materials. And as expected, they want their suppliers to follow all the applicable laws and follow a very high ethical standard. And in most cases both the parties maintain the standards and the business becomes ethical (Oviedo-Garcia, 2008).

Expensive Rooms

The Marriott Hotels guarantee the best deals available in the sphere of hotel rooms. As per the rate of the customer, the organization tries to provide the best suited room for the customer with the help of their “Marriott Look No Further Best Rate Guarantee” (Cho, 2009) program. It is said to be a generous rate matching program offered by the hotel chain for all their hotels.

In the Marriott hotels there are different deals available as per the expensive rooms are concerned. All of them have world class facilities and services. In September 2005, the company unveiled their new rooms.

The rooms were made by looking at the new generation and they feature updated technical aspects. Marriott have a special edition of beds that are called Marriott Bed.. All the luxury rooms in the Marriott chain of hotels have these facilities (Oviedo-Garcia, 2008).

In the JW Marriott Hotels (it has total 46 hotels under their brand name) the most expensive rooms have a number of facilities. From special butlers to pool tables, the rooms define luxury. The guests have their own luxury cars for transport, with chauffeurs.

All the rooms have in built home theater system; libraries and sometimes a multifunctional gym for work out too. J.W. Marriott, another very important flagship brand of the company has special amenities for the most expensive hotel rooms. All the guests with having special butlers and chauffeurs, get free entry to the very special destination lounge called “Mixology”.

In some of the hotels the guests are treated with complementary rides to riverside theme parks. Renaissance Hotels are specially designed to cater to the upper class of the population. The hotels have established its reputation as the boutique hotels in United States. The Ritz Carlton Hotel is one of the most published hotels in this chain of the hotels, and their expensive rooms are something to awe for (Cho, 2010).

Generally in all the properties of Marriott International, the most expensive rooms are suites. The suites are especially designed for the ultimate pleasure and satisfaction of the customers. All the suites have multiple rooms and they have more space than any standard hotel room and most importantly, more facilities as mentioned earlier.

One of the most important aspects of the Marriott Hotels is that they provide special dinning and office facilities in the suits. In properties like Marriott Conference Centre, the suits are designed for the business purpose and in some suits they can hold official business meetings too.

According to the management of the Marriott Hotels, most of their expensive hotel rooms are being used by a special class of people. Sometimes people from wealthy families check into the hotels when there is some remodeling done in their homes. Sometimes film stars pop artists and others also stay in these rooms. Political leaders also prefer to stay in these rooms (Anastasiadou, 2008).

External Analysis

A company’s strengths and weaknesses take a critical look into internal factors such as company resources, culture and structure while on the other hand opportunities and threats take a look at a company’s external environment (Wheelen and Hunger 2002). In the business management, external analysis is one of the most important factors of the existence of the company.

The basic external analysis is an attempt to match an organization with the outside impacts in which the business is situated and how this influences overall strategy. To understand the external analysis on the Marriott International, we have to concentrate on one property of the hotel.

The SWOT analysis on the Hotel is a very important aspect in the case because it assists companies to develop strategies that will either assist them capitalizes on strengths and opportunities while at the same time minimize weaknesses and avoid threats (Lugosi, 2008).

Opportunities: Emerging Asian Travel and Tourism markets are expanding worldwide, together with the possibility of come up with low-end brands, distinction amongst hotel services offered, Marriot can benefit from the decreased cost of real estate in the United States and Middle East and it can venture on eco-tourism.

Furthermore economic integration of markets worldwide also offers a wider range of opportunities that Marriot can pursue using its corporate and unique business strategies (Camillus 1986).

Threats: one of its brands, Timeshare, is decreasing on popularity; it was greatly affected by the economic meltdown, which lowered consumer’s spending power; threat from terrorists and extremists who ride in the philosophy of anti Americanism especially in Asia and furthermore tight competition from other industry participants such as Hilton and the Grand Hyatt pose a threat to the comfort that Marriot may enjoy in the hotel and hospitality market and may affect future profits and volume of consumers that Marriott serves therefore Marriott should further create long-term and periodic tactics that will minimize the threats that face their business (Lim, 2009).

Internal Analysis

The internal analysis of a company basically focuses on the strength and weaknesses of the organization itself, and how they impact the total business scenario of the concern and company strategies (Wheelen and Hunger 2002). In this aspect one thing is very important, what can be determined as strength can change into the weakness in another aspect.

There are factors like finance, marketing, and the service providing capabilities, the macroeconomic factors, the technological changes and most importantly the different legal matters that come with the maintenance of the properties (Chung, 2008).

Strengths: One of the key strengths of Marriot is that it has a wide range of brands, Marriot strategic locations which as quite advantageous and convenient for consumers; furthermore Marriot has experienced top and well experienced employees who assist in delivering its premium hotelier services making it a global leader in the hospitality market; furthermore Marriott heavily relies on innovative communication techniques such as its website and social networking in conducting its business;

Marriot has focused divestiture efforts particularly with international companies; it has implemented successful strategies to attract and retain a pool of staff; it has embraced eco-friendly ways in its operations; and its culture retention balancing against the identities of the products. It is the above strengths that make Marriot’s aggressive expansion and competitive business strategy succeed (Chung 2008).

Weaknesses: Marriot Has an organizational culture of heavily relying on the United States market instead of global markets which may offer more opportunity and growth and revenue furthermore over-reliance on luxury products instead of having offer low-end products which may double consumer traffic.

Another possible weakness may arise out of the flat organizational structure that Marriott uses such a structure may cause confusion amongst management and also make it hard or difficult for expansion programs to take place because it is highly unsuitable for very big organizations with many employees (Koontz &Weihrich 2009).

But Marriott has minimized these threats by strategically positioning their hotel chains in high end areas that are highly secure and furthermore contracted security firms of high caliber.

Long Term Objectives

As per definition, the long term objectives of an organization can be dubbed as “the performance goals of an organization, be it commercial or non commercial, and the plans are intended to be achieved within five years(in some cases ten years)“ (Lim, 2009). Generally, the long term objectives of a concern deal with different aspects of the concern’s development.

As per the classical systems, there are seven different types of Marriott Hotels by the differentiation factors like location and types, and each of the categories are targeted to a different customer base. The hotel industry is one of the most important segments of the service industry.

The industry is guided by all the philosophies by the concern. So many commentators believe that to attain all the objectives in the hotel industry, one must do as per their plan and let see what happens. The long term objectives for the Marriott Hotels are mainly concerned with the expansion of the market and retaining its market leader status.

For any organization, rather than multinational concern or brand name like Marriott Hotels, plans can be viewed as a direct expression of the different strategies of the concern. For the successful completion of all the objectives, the basic properties of the concern, like the employees and the funding are two most important factors (Porter 2004).

The organization, before enlisting any employee takes them through a thorough training program that helps the employees to integrate inside the organization better and understand all the company policies. But to ensure that the employees understand the long term objectives of the company.

It is really tough for the new recruits in a company to understand all the objectives of the company as well as ensure revenue. In this aspect the company has to rely on the effective recruitment procedures. Before recruiting any person the company has to decide what the long term objectives are and how the new recruitments will fit into the scheme (Cho, 2009).

After that, they will have to select the candidates who can successfully mould themselves with the different needs of the company as time passes. The employees are the main pillars of a company and only they can make a company successful, and as Marriott always takes care of their employees they are ahead in the aspect.

Another very important aspect of realizing the successful long term developments is the company must keep a steady finance. It can be insured by a healthy market position. It will lure the investors to invest more and more money on the Marriott Hotel, which can help the organization in many ways.

They can increase their hotel chain by acquiring new properties, by building hotels or taking lease on hotels, or redecorating to attract new customers. In recent times corporate tie ups play a very important role in the hospitality industry.

The Marriott Hotels can try to attain as much as corporate tie ups as possible, which will indirectly promote the brand name of the hotel chain. All these will be considered as the long term objectives of the Marriott Hotels (White, 2005).

Business Strategy

Keeping in line with its vision and values Marriot strives to be the top most and well known and famous, especially for its products, skills and expertise as a hospitality service provider worldwide.

Achieving this is not easy that is why Marriott Hotels has set out the company’s organizational objectives which focus on giving special attention and concern to guests while still at the same time checking on the business’s financial growth, all this with an aim of growing the company and maintaining a very competitive strategy that aims to highly differentiating their products (Porter 2004).

Marriott hotels has divided its operations into five different business categories which include:

1. Full Service and Lodging;
2. Select Service and Lodging;
3. Timeshare;
4. Extended Stay and Lodging;
5. Synthetic fuel (Camillus 1986).

Marriot intends to use competitive strategies to appeal to the market. Companies can either choose to differentiate their products while serving a narrow or a wide market (Bradford et. al 2000). The other option is for a company to follow a cost leadership competitive business strategy which mainly aims to attract consumers by offering affordable products for a wider or narrow market.

Marriot through its expensive rooms pursues a highly differentiated product and service approach which often involves charging premium for its services.

Therefore Marriot is able to attract consumers who desire to enjoy the highest quality of products and services and are willing to pay for it. Not every Hotel within the industry can be able to pursue such a strategy and therefore in turn Marriot is able to stay ahead of other Industry participants.

Marriott’s strengths lie in its strong brands that make it well renowned and a market leader in its industrial market share.

It has based its operations in most of the considerable in size, extent, degree, and significance markets worldwide through its brands that include Marriott Hotels & Resorts, JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts, The Ritz-Carlton, Bulgari Hotels & Resorts, Grand Residences by Marriott, Courtyard by Marriott, and Towne Place Suites by Marriott.

Marriott enjoys extraordinary brand recall for its products. Another aspect that makes it a cut above the rest is the numerous awards that it has achieved, it was voted the most admired company, 10 years in succession in 2008 by fortune magazine.

This list is comprised of players within the hospitality industry and they evaluate the industry using eight accepted standards used in making a decisions and judgments about the hospitality service industry which include;

1. corporate asset utilization,
2. social accountability,
3. financial reliability,
4. management quality,
5. long-term investments,
6. innovation,
7. quality of services and products and people management.

The franchise has embarked on launching an innovative sales initiative focused on building a customer base centered at or constituting the customers’ needs. This strategy is termed as the- Sales Force One. The newly launched strategy is intend or planned to prove strong enough to enter and spread through unexploited new markets and in the process simplify Marriott’s sales process for customers.

This is made possible du tot the strategy’s structure formation which enables customers to transact business with just a singular contact point that acts as a representative of the Marriott franchise (Camillus 1986).

This new innovation was brought about by researches undertaken by Marriott identified less motivating general tendencies, behaviors and movements from their customers due to a feeling of disappointment, disorder, exasperation, and weariness caused by unsatisfied desires as a result of having to go through many Marriott employees in booking and reserving rooms.

By identifying with this situation where customers found it a very complex method of making their bookings Marriott undertook researches to find out whether their current strategies were efficient and effective in the growth of sales performances among the employees and the business as a whole in both external and internal environments (Chung 2008).

Their researches took into consideration all stakeholders associated to it and its employees too as they are the major driving force behind Marriott international.

Reactions obtained from a cross-section of respondents who included the company’s sales leaders and contacts interviewed proved clearly and convincingly the need for the franchise group to put in place a logical and unconfused framework of roles and responsibilities for achieving individual goals within the members of the sales team.

Consequently the Marriott group in undertaking the creation and implementation of the Sales Force One strategy intends to strengthen and focus on a more customer base centered sales process that defines individual and personal preferences and in turn provides customers with personal sales contact people (Bradford, Duncan & Tarcy 2000).

Strategies

The company can take several strategies to retain its position and competitive edge in global market and further enhance on its popularity. The strategies will centre on keeping the loyal customer base alive and adding up new customers.

They will have to regularly update their facilities to ensure they must not lag behind in the break neck completion of the global market (Porter 2004). The hotel industry is a highly dynamic industry because consumer needs are always changing and the business environment is subject to technological advancements and other forms of innovation that take place regularly.

Keeping the Customer base: Every company in the consumer World has a loyal customer base, and the loyal customers are the most important factor of their company. The company has to device some important promotional strategies so that the customers always come back to their concern. These strategies include providing a superior customized service for its premium products that is consistent with the specific consumer needs (Bradford, R. et. al 2000).

Trying to acquire new customer: As with all the aspects, the hospitality industry is getting competitive day by day. So the company has to device new strategies to allure new customers and try to retain them as far as possible.

These will increase the boundaries of the company in a new level. The Marriott has devised many plans and they have recently offered different types of economic class hotels for customers from all the economical bases (Cho, 2010).

Furthermore consumers are likely to refer to others using word of mouth and therefore the leadership and staff of Marriot has made it clear to the staff the importance of maximizing the consumer experience so that consumers will always have something good to say. When consumers use Word of mouth and lure other consumers it is cheaper than using other means such as advertisement.

Increasing Security: In recent times security has been a very important concern for the Marriott Group. A number of hotels of the Marriott group hotels have been under devastating terrorist attacks in recent times.

These attacks not only affect the company financially, they also install fear into the minds of the guests too. The company must take strong security policies and try to increase the budget on the security aspect more than ever.

Trying to acquire new properties: There are a huge number of Marriott Hotels throughout the World, but still they have to keep on concentrating to expand their business. Expansion and is a corporate strategy that involves either acquiring and opening up new branches with the aim of serving a larger market in order to increase revenue.

Always keep an eye on the competitors: Every day new and new organizations are entering into the hospitality market and many of them are entering into the field with very huge financial backing.

It is a known fact that Marriott is a very important brand name, but still they have to keep an eye on the companies and what the strategies the companies are taking to make their concerns popular. Marriott has to devise different strategies to encounter these concerns only to keep their customer base (Anastasiadou, 2008). Organizational Structure:

Organizational structures within companies cause or allow views to be brought forward, or presented as a model to be studied on how those businesses are managed and run. If an organization has a clear framework/structure put in place, it is made very clear within the departments in the organization on who does what and so forth thus leaving no room for sloppy work and blame games erupting due to unfulfilled objectives.

Different organizations employ different organizational structures depending on their objectives and what they intend to achieve after a set period of time. These structures may either be flat or tall for example Marriott’s organizational structure takes a flat format. These structures are also used to measure subordinates responsibility levels depending on which department they are in.

Organization Structure

Organizational structures try to explain the relationships between authorities and communication lines in the organizations (Koontz & Weihrich 2009). Organizational structures within companies cause or allow views to be brought forward, or presented as a model to be studied on how those businesses are managed and run.

If an organization has a clear framework/structure put in place, it is made very clear within the departments in the organization on who does what and so forth thus leaving no room for sloppy work and blame games erupting due to unfulfilled objectives.

Different organizations employ different organizational structures depending on their objectives and what they intend to achieve after a set period of time. These structures may either be flat or tall for example Marriott’s organizational structure takes a flat format. These structures are also used to measure subordinates responsibility levels depending on which department they are in.

Marriott’s organization structure is a flat type of organization structure. Such an organizational structure has a limited number of levels of authorities that govern the relationships management between staff and managers. The main advantage is that such a systems aims to highly train employees so that employees can be empowered to take part in the decision making process.

Frequently consumers in the hotel industry require quick decisions to be made and therefore bureaucratic type of organizational structure is most likely to fail by increasing consumer dissatisfaction and complaints. Marriot hotel is able to apply such an organizational structure because of the numerous franchise units it owns which exist as semi autonomous units.

Flat organizational structure encourage a more decentralizes decision making process and therefore elevating the level of responsibility among baseline employees and eliminating unnecessary levels of management (Koontz & Weihrich 2009). In such organizational structures the process of decision is much quicker and more efficient in line with customer needs and wants (Kotler 1999).

Leadership and Culture

Marriott international prides itself in their strong business leadership culture that focuses on making their employees feel more enthusiastic, confident, and stimulated by having strong foundational values which are vital to their continued growth and excellence in the hospitality industry by catering to the exact needs of their consumers with precision (Koontz & Weihrich 2009).

Achieving objectives and set goals for any organization is very much hinged on having strong leadership frameworks put in place by the management of the organization so as to be able to uphold its core values, vision and purpose that it has set out to achieve in a given time frame.

This is evident in the structure organization of the Marriott franchise where strong firmness is put on a strong business culture, aiming to be the top of not only the hospitality industry that it is a huge player in, but over other top companies worldwide(Kocher, Pogrebna, & Sutter 2009).

A strong leadership culture is a key aspect in the maintenance of the interrelationship between top management and employees. Top management must lead the organizations’ employees by setting of examples of efficiency and effectiveness within the work place through walking the talk in terms of behavior, action, values and cultural practices within a company.

Set out objectives and goals compounded with values and visions of an organization do not mean anything where an organization does not have a clearly set out culture in and of leadership (Kefela, 2010). This results to bogus employees and a lack of loyalty from customers.

Managers can learn from past practices on how to instill a strong cultural leadership by not only talking and making big speeches to their employees but by acting out whatever they speak, as workers learn better from watching examples.

Becoming a strong leader within any organization is not inborn and has to be learned and achieved.

Kefela (2010) argues that it is a process whereby the top managers are supposed to inspire their subordinates through: building team morale and being able to keep it up at a high; maintenance of a high set of standards of discipline; clearly defining and arbitration of roles for the employees; designing logical work plans; proper resource allocation; periodical employee appraisal; proper communication between management and the team; quality control and periodical performance checks; be able to tackle individual problems of different employees; praising and giving credit where it is due; handling conflicts and being able to reconcile them and providing team training on a constant basis.

Organizations resolved to meet their set out goals and objectives and capabilities are obliged to adjust and align themselves towards development of the necessary or appropriate frameworks for a specific purpose in its internal composition.

All the above aspects should be able to maintain particular standards or/and repeat particular tasks with minimal variations to set out objectives which needs to have the top management’s devotion and dedication, continuing without changing, stopping, or being interrupted in space or time as a necessary precondition to achievement of their objectives.

Comparison to another company

Grand Hyatt Is a distinct participant in the hotel industry which serves both business and leisure oriented consumers in with five star hotels and resorts located in major cities (i.e. Dubai, Singapore, New York, Australia, Mumbai, Seoul) of the world.

The core geographic location of their business is located in Asia. Grand Hyatt is known for their high quality and impressive lobby environments, dining facilities, state of the art technology, fitness facilities and business facilities (Stem 2006).

Furthermore Hyatt aims to satisfy its customers by ensuring a highly comfortable stay and therefore the company has gone ahead to offer consumers individual air conditioning facilities, high internet speed facilities together with iPod docking facilities. A high degree of service and product differentiation can be a good strategy for competing with other industry participants and therefore Hyatt maximizes on these (Kotler 2003).

The grand Hyatt hotels are five star hotels with superior interior deco that is in line with the company’s business strategies of offering highly differentiated premium services that give their consumers the total consumer experience (Stem 2006). It is by having superior facilities and services that Hyatt is able to maintain a competitive edge above many industry participants.

For example The Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay is located in the middle of 35 acre wildlife preserve and is only two miles from the international airport making it very convenient for both business executives and also leisure clientele (Stem 2006).

Hyatt and its worldwide franchises are known to offer excellent customer services, high degrees of cleanliness, and good strategic geographic positioning that is likely to make it easy for consumers to move from place to place.

Conclusion

The hotel industry exists in a highly complex and dynamic industry which requires that consumer needs and desires be taken very serious. Opinions and desires of consumers are therefore the key to success of this industry this is because the process of planning and creating short-term and long-term strategy depends on the needs and wants of the market.

Even more essential is the implementation of the plan and the key to achievement is innovation. Planning is not a static issue. It is inherently iterative. This is where business models come into play. Alex Osterwalder defines a business model as “nothing else than a representation of how an organization makes (or intends to make) money” (White, 2005).

Nevertheless, the actual definition of a business model remains ambiguous. Rightly so, because it is something perceived by a manager who is an individual entity and each individual has his own perception. The concept of business model gained popularity only in the recent past.

Owing to reduced processing costs, accumulating and distributing information to business units and other intermediates and finally to the client became possible. New methodologies stared being used. Innovation became the order of the day which lead to mature products and services and increased customer base.

In the context of the study, the company is already a world class brand name with more hotels and resorts than any other concern. It has a stable loyal customer base and it recently added economic accommodations. They are considered to be the best in many aspects of hospitality.

The recent addition of expensive rooms are not only an worthy addition of their brand name but also can be promoted as a marketing strategy as the furniture of the room can be sold in market successfully, like the Marriott bed. Thus, with proper decisions and marketing application the company can surely be the World leader in Hospitality.

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Introduction

The Marriott International is a conglomeration of resorts and hotels located in various regions across the globe with its parent establishment in Washington. It started its operations as an airport hotel located in Washington in the 1950s. Today, it has more than 500 branches located in different parts of the world and employs more than 10,000 permanent employees. It has managed to expand its operations due to the effective strategies used by managers and other stakeholders (Tilson 2013). The Times magazine ranked this investment 45th during its 2009 study of the best companies to work for in the United Kingdom. This discussion uses the case example of Marriot Hotels and Resorts to explore ways a hotel investor can use to implement new thoughts without interfering with the operations of the company.

Research Questions

This essay will answer the following questions as a way of explaining how this hotel has managed to beat its competitors in offering hotel and accommodation services to the world.

1. What strategies has this company used to motivate its employees?
2. What steps has it taken to stand high chances of competing with other global brands?
3. What plans does it have?
4. How does it manage inflation?

Literature Review

Investment Philosophies: Successful Strategies and Investors Who Made Them Work by Aswath Damodaran

Aswath Damodaran is a famous investment consultant who has taught in many business schools and colleges and advised investors on various options available on the market and how to approach them. In this book, he discusses various ways successful investors have used to ascend the ladder of success by beating their competitors even though they had limited finances. He claims that the availability of huge capital is not a guarantee that an investment will succeed. In addition, he presents that the presence of skilled workers is also not an indicator that a company will manage to outdo its competitors (Damodaran 2012).

He approaches success in investments through the Deming Cycle Model and explains four important steps that make the difference between a successful and ordinary investment. He argues that these steps must be used regularly throughout the investment period to ensure the operations of business remain relevant and profitable.

Successful Investing is a Process: Structuring Efficient Portfolios for Outperformance by Jacques Lussier

Jacques Lussier is a financial and investment analyst and has managed to produce many articles and books that have transformed investments. In this book, he explains that an individual or investment must go through several processes before becoming successful. In addition, he claims that all companies and people named in The Times and Forbes magazines have experienced significant transformations that have converted them to successful individuals or companies (Lussier 2013).

He insists that success comes through proper planning, executing the plan, checking its effectiveness or errors and acting responsibly to correct weaknesses or strengthen the achievements gained. He argues that successful people must plan their activities before plunging into investing in various businesses since this is the basis of their success or failure.

Methodology

The information presented in this essay was collected through various ways including the literature available in books from various financial analysts, teachers, and managers. This has offered a huge platform to discuss the stages involved in preparing and investing in viable activities despite the presence of stiff competition amongst players (Prinq 2009).

These resources have offered comparisons between successful and ordinary investments and highlighted the need to plan effectively before investing. Secondly, magazines like The Times and Forbes have also offered an insight into the stories of successful investors and how they managed to conquer various challenges to win these titles. Marriott International was named by these journals as a successful investment in the hospitality industry.

This is a global investment that has maintained high standards and competed effectively with those that have huge capital and long histories. It has managed to widen its operations through proper planning before implementing any change in its branches. These plans have been scrutinized and evaluated against other options before being adopted. In addition, it has an elaborate evaluation procedure and workforce that ensures programs are monitored to identify their weaknesses or strengths (Mauboussin 2012). The information obtained is used to improve the performance of the business by eliminating the causes of the weaknesses identified and improving the strengths of new ideas. This means that it employs the Deming Cycle Model (Plan + Do + Check + Act) in implementing new ideas in the business.

Data Analysis

In 2009, this company was ranked 45th by the Forbes magazine as a good company that people should consider working for since it has various ways of motivating employees. It uses this strategy as a way of ensuring the objectives of the company are achieved by paying workers good salaries and allowances and training them to ensure they have relevant skills to perform their duties. Workers in this enjoy good relations with their seniors and a stranger will hardly notice the differences in ranks (Rittenhouse 2012). This strategy has been successful in ensuring employees are motivated to work hard and deliver quality results in various departments.

Secondly, it conducts regular research and market surveys to get information about trends and fashions and uses it to plan. The managers in various departments have put their ears on the ground and are ready and willing to spend sleepless nights to develop strategies that will ensure they satisfy their clients. This has been an effective way of competing with other global brands.

Thirdly, it has developed effective plans to ensure there is a smooth transition between recruits and retirees (Pring 2012). This ensures that there is no vacuum left by a retired worker or when one decides to leave this company. It has invested in research to ensure it has plans to manage unforeseen challenges.

Lastly, even though global inflation affects most companies this one has ensured that its clients get quality services by offering subsidized rates when inflation strikes. In 2008, clients were allowed free drinks and meals for one day when they booked rooms for more than four days. This was an effective strategy that can be used in the future to manage the challenges associated with inflation.

Recommendations

This company has managed to get profits and expand its operations by ensuring that it offers quality services to clients. However, it needs to use modern technology in its operations to ensure there is efficiency in its services. In addition, this will also ensure clients get quality services. Secondly, even though it has a website that ensures people can book various services from the comfort of their cars, homes or offices this should be streamlined to offer immediate response to clients. Lastly, it should establish facilities for middle-income earners since most of its hotels and resorts are expensive and most people cannot afford them.

Conclusion

The Deming Cycle Model is an effective way of ensuring that companies and individuals develop and utilize new skills and ideas to improve their performance. Even though this may not immediately produce positive results, it should be used regularly to increase the chances of succeeding.

References

Damodaran, A 2012, Investment Philosophies: Successful Strategies and Investors Who Made Them Work, Wiley, New York. Web.

Lussier, J 2013, Successful Investing is a Process: Structuring Efficient Portfolios for Outperformance (Financial), Bloomberg Press, New York. Web.

Mauboussin, M 2012, The Success Equation: Untangling Skill and Luck in Business, Sports, and Investing, Harvard Business Review Press, New York. Web.

Prinq, M 2009, Investment Psychology Explained: Classic Strategies to Beat the Markets, Wiley, New York. Web.

Prinq, M 2012, Technical Analysis Explained: The Successful Investor’s Guide to Spotting Investment Trends and Turning Points, McGraw-Hill, New York. Web.

Rittenhouse, L 2012, Investing between the Lines: How to Make Smarter Decisions by Decoding CEO Communications, McGraw-Hill, New York. Web.

Tilson, W 2013, The Art of Value Investing: How the World’s Best Investors Beat the Market (Wiley Finance), Wiley, New York. Web.