Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide - Essay Example The company owns and runs the Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc, which provides premier world class vacation experiences through villa-style resorts and access to Starwood brands(NHS para 10). Answer to question1 The Middle East hospitality and tourism industry is one of the more robust in the world. Data released by the world travel and tourism council indicates that visitor numbers are expected to soar high in the coming five years since the Middle East region projected to grow in international visitor arrivals by 6.5%. Starwood is well placed to exploit this market especially Dubai which is gearing up to attract new sectors such as conferencing with its world class infrastructure and competitively priced hotels (NHS para 3). Starwood should leverage on the number of business visitors in the Middle East. The company should offer value added hospitality services such as conference facilities, dining facilities and tourist villas. In some instances, international brands can be introdu ced to foreign markets without much consideration for local tastes and preferences. In this case, the company can introduce its standardized product in the foreign market and exploit economies of scale in its operations, this way; it can maintain a price advantage over its competition. However, a standardized product strategy should be flexible enough to respond to local markets, the products should be designed with a more balanced strategic focus giving weight to local and global concerns. There should be an emphasis on  the global market coordination to avoid duplication of activities and to capitalize on the scope and economies of scale (NHS para 3). The company should utilize economies of scale in order to reduce the operating costs and threat of new entrants in the market. If necessary, the Starwood subsidiaries in the Middle East should be given more autonomy to tailor their products to the needs of the market. The subsidiaries can design products specifically for the Middle East market or adopt existing Starwood brands and customize them depending on local preferences. Adopting existing brands is especially important for the franchised system of management adopted by Starwood where the owner of the hotel is not the brand owner. Thus adopting an international brand gives the subsidiaries worldwide exposure and recognition associated with an established brand (NHS para 7). The company should pursue both a global strategy, but also emphasize on the customization of the hospitality services to the needs of the local market. The company should differentiate its services in order to attain competitive edge in the hospitality industry. Where global brands are adopted, teams of experienced staff should be established on the ground to modify the global campaign locally and serve as the public face of the brand. Their activities are then coordinated by a matrix structure reporting to the global brand manager or a local marketing manager. A separate team should be established, and it is responsible for new product development to fit the local market or to adopt global brands that fit into the existing Starwood portfolio. Brand strength is the life-blood of a franchising company like Starwood, and it is important that the staff develop and promote a brand culture (NHS para 5). The company has attained brand recognition and efforts should be shifted to retaining the customer loyalty through new and innovative hospitality products and loyalty

Customer Satisfaction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6750 words

Customer Satisfaction - Essay Example The product development cycle starts with the assessment of the customer's needs and ends when the design is finally released. In this highly competitive environment world class organizations are supposed to implement the TQM strategy in order to continually seek better performance. In the world we live today, it must be amply clear that; In fact these guiding principles are inextricably linked to each other and development of this thought along with the development of other business processes can lead to some form of a competitive advantage in the market. The modern view of quality is that products should totally satisfy the customer's needs and expectations in every respect on a continuous basis. This new concept calls for a well designed product with functional perfection, providing satisfaction beyond customer's expectation, excellence in service and absolute empathy with customer. TQM therefore encompasses a set of critical factors (Powell, 1995; Li et al., 2003; Arawati, 2005). In general, some of these critical factors can be identified as; Top management commitment: The top management of a company must be convinced enough to adopting quality control programmes. This will help in conditioning the attitude of other departmental heads to regularly monitor the quality aspect. StrategicStrategic planning: Strategic planning is a process which, through an examination of external and internal factors for an organisation, results in a set of mission, purpose, objectives, policies, plans and programmes for implementation. Customer focus: A progressive organisation is supposed to have a strategy for quality which is based on customer perceptions of quality. Customer service after the sale of a product is considered as important as the quality of the product itself. Benchmarking: It is the process of following the best in the industry. Human resource management: Human resources form the crucial part of any organisation. They are the key players in producing and delivering quality. Supplier relationship: Suppliers too have a role in quality assurances as their role encompasses the identification, acquisition, access, positioning, and management of the resources required for the product and the company. Continuous improvement: Improvement is a never ending cyclic process. Product Quality requires to be continually improved to remain in the competition. Quality information system: How the quality principles are being implemented in the company and if required the management can decide to take a corrective course of action midway, is determined by the Quality Information System (QIS). It was in early 90s that the concept of Total Quality Management started being promoted as a way for business to wring out inefficiencies and boost productivity. TQM was considered the only way to effectively compete with the Japanese dominance in the manufacturing sector. It is a description of the culture, attitude and organization of a company that strives to provide customers with products and services satisfying their needs. KLEEMANN's activities1 concern both the manufacturing and