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BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
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Introduction
Organizational strategies are critical for progress in the commercial sector. Strategic
management has modelled ideas and principles around this goal in response to this desire. The
strategy assesses the company's operational environment and focuses on the company's internal
workings. As a result, it makes methodological advancements and concepts to anticipate and
follow the evolution of management practice. This study aims to generate various strategies,
establish prioritization techniques, select a suitable strategy and develop effective strategies.
This is achieved through examining the Marriott Hotels executives' management strategies.
Alternative Strategy Generation
Business Level Strategies
Marriot is a worldwide hotel and accommodation facility franchisee and operator.
Using basic business-level tactics has worked well for Marriot International. They have been
and will continue to be a significant participant in the hotel sector for many years to come.
Based on a wide range of competitive advantages, such as their market share advantages'
uniqueness, cost, and breadth. Marriott International, Inc. pursues Multi-level methods on
many levels. As a result of Marriott's extensive brand portfolio, the company is well-positioned
in the market. Marriott International creates products and services that stand out from the
competition with the differentiation approach.
Corporate-Level Strategy
Marriot International's business strategy aims to combine its strengths to improve
market competitiveness. Marriott's management will seek to build solid rivals and be the best
among their peers, adding value to shareholders' capital and providing both parties with
considerable resources. Increased profitability via competition. Due to Starwood's withdrawal
from the timeshare market, the combined companies may concentrate only on the hotel (hotel
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and resort) business. The company's strategy defines the new market's direction and
concentration.
Functional Level Strategy
Marriott uses cutting-edge technology and technical projects to enhance the customer
experience further to differentiate itself from the competition. It focuses on community service,
solid people resources, dependable technology, and good partnerships with suppliers. The
operating modes that rivals are experimenting with have been tough to imitate. In a way,
Marriott and Starwood are complementary to one another.
Alternate Strategies for Marriott International
Marriott International should also aim to enhance each brand in every category. In this
approach, the business can build a strong brand identification with customers at all market
levels. As a consequence, it may reach a mass market. Increased demand will allow the
company to sell more items, boosting turnover. As a consequence, it may build a pricing
structure that maximizes profits (Alkhafaji, & Nelson, 2013). The firm may also use
franchising. In this instance, it may give up direct management of its hotels, particularly in
foreign markets. So it can now focus on its core business. It will also significantly minimize
the financial risk associated with large enterprises while enabling more significant nonparticipatory global expansion. Due to the strong Marriott brand, the corporation may take this
chance to the franchise. This technique will counteract tough competition from Hilton and other
hotels.
Adopting a franchising strategy in its marketing and management mix will enable its
management to focus exclusively on its primary product development mission. Additionally,
it will significantly lower the financial risk connected with massive firms, allowing for a more
uninhibited worldwide expansion. The corporation may pursue franchising since many
investors are prepared to work with it owing to the strength of the Marriott brand. This plan
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will help the corporation combat the danger of intense competition from Hilton and other hotel
chains.
Customer satisfaction in the digital era extends beyond providing essential services.
Tourism, catering, real estate and many other industries have ties to the hotel chain industry.
The company can incorporate the hiring of houses, for instance, Airbnb.
The various cultural and organizational factors considered and analyzed when choosing
the different alternative strategies for Marriott International are:
Cultural Preferences: As each worldwide market has various cultural preferences
regarding desired tastes and other priorities regarding the quality of goods, the company must
adequately assess these preferences. For the company to achieve its objectives, cultural
perspectives should be integrated and aligned with its strategies. Consequently, the company's
strategies should be linked and supported by employees' beliefs, language, values, symbols and
rituals, or else, any strategy modification would be ineffective and difficult to execute.
According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM,2021), analyzing
organizational culture is a critical first step in designing strategies that support a company's
objectives and aims. They advocate defining "cultural artefacts" as "essential business
activities, procedures, and ideologies that describe how a company does business daily" to
manage corporate culture.
Organizational resources, including physical resources, plant, equipment, technology,
raw materials, infrastructure financial resources, and human resources, are essential
components to consider when choosing a suitable strategy (David, 2009). Additionally,
Organizational behaviour, which restrains or allows the utilization of specific company
resources, should be considered when designing the company's strategy. It incorporates its
management philosophy, culture, leadership quality, working environment and shared values.
Strategy Prioritization
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Most firms per year may typically implement 6 to 12 strategic initiatives. We've worked
with teams with as many as 100 alternative tactics, but that's not unusual. Therefore, it is
essential to answer the questions what criteria the company needs to use to prioritize its
strategy? Prioritizing would require arranging the different strategies in the order of their
importance. Therefore, the following factor is essential in setting up priorities.
Impact on the company's vision: In these case, the company evaluate the effects of a
successful implementation of the strategies on attaining the critical objectives. The Strategy's
Probability of Success: If implemented, what is the likelihood that the strategy succeeds.
Strategy Selection
A composite analysis is one in which you include essential elements from many
analyses. The procedure of creating a Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM) analysis
is: Firstly, Identify the firm's external and internal strengths and weaknesses in the left-hand
column of QSPM (David, 2009). An examination of internal factor strategy as a composite The management of Marriott International can establish the following four strategies based on
their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Strengths for the Marriot International- Internal strategy factors
Marriott International has several characteristics that enable it to be one of the best in
its sector. These characteristics allow it to retain existing market share while growing into new
ones. Marriott International's advantages include: Marriott International has a track record of
successfully entering new areas and establishing its brand. Growth in its operating regions has
helped it establish new revenue sources and diversify its economic cycle risk. The company
has a vast network of reliable raw material suppliers, helping it avoid supply chain bottlenecks.
Automation has made Marriott International's products more consistent, and the company may
adjust to market conditions by adding or lowering manufacturing capacity.
Weaknesses for the Marriot International- Internal strategy factors
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Weaknesses are areas where a corporation may enhance its competitive advantage and
market placement. Marriott International's flaws may be improved. These flaws are:
Technology investment is desperately required. Marriott International must spend more on
technology to expand across continents and simplify operations. Currently, it is falling short of
its long-term technical aspirations. The corporation struggles to integrate organizations from
many cultures. Marriott International has successfully combined small firms, but not
organizations with various work cultures.
Opportunities for Marriott International – External Strategic Factors
The online channel has brought in new consumers. The corporation has spent a lot of money
on the web platform in several years. Marriott International now has access to a new market
thanks to this investment. When it comes to big data analytics, the organization can take
advantage of this potential in the next few years by better understanding its customers and
meeting their demands (David, 2009). Marriott International will use a differentiated pricing
approach in the new market because of the latest technology. For example, it will allow the
company to satisfy its regular consumers and attract new ones with value-oriented offerings.
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Threats Marriott International Facing - External Strategic Factors
Increased participation in the market due to consistent profitability has lowered
profitability and total sales during the previous two years due to the rise in the number of other
prominent players in the hospitality industry. Competitive or market disruptor-developed
technology might pose a severe threat to the sector in the medium to long term. Due to the
seasonality of the high-profit items, any unanticipated occurrence during the peak season might
have an immediate or long-term effect on the company's profitability.
It's possible to discover a company's threats or potential external opportunities by
utilizing the EFE matrix. With the use of PEST analysis, Porter's Five Forces, and the
Competitive Profile Matrix, it is possible to understand the external environment.
Secondly, for the EFE matrix and IFE matrix, weights are applied to the essential
external and internal factors, which are similar. The relevance of each component should be
given a value between 0.0 and 1.0. (high importance). The number represents the importance
of the aspect to a business's success in the industry. Having no weights assigned would make
it impossible for all factors to be equally important in the real world. All of the weights must
add up to one. When it comes to determining success in an industry, there is no need to assign
a weight of 0.30 or more to a single factor.
Ratings
Ratings vary in each matrix. The external matrix assigns ratings to assess how well a
business's current strategy addresses new opportunities and dangers. From 4 to1, the best
response is4, followed by 3 above average, 2 above average, and 1 poor response. Ratings and
weights are assigned to each factor on a case-by-case basis. Because only one opportunity was
given a rating of 3, and the rest were given a rating of1, we can see that the company's response
to opportunities is relatively poor in our example. The company is better equipped to deal with
the threats, notably the first one identified.
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In an internal matrix, each factor's strength or weakness is rated. From 4 to1, the
numbers indicate a significant strength, a little strength, an intermediate strength, and a slight
weakness. It's only possible to get 3 or 4 stars for your strengths and 2 or 1 for your flaws.
Benchmarking tools make it easy to give ratings in IFE matrixes (Garthinda & Aldianto, 2012)
Lastly, find the QSPM strategies in the top row of these matrices by examining them.
If at all feasible, create sets of tactics that are mutually exclusive.
Strategy Implementation
Strategy implementation is putting plans into action to achieve a specific goal. It boils
down to the ability to get things done. For a company to be successful, it must efficiently,
effectively, and consistently carry out crucial decisions and operations.
Recommended procedures for Strategies Implementation
Establish Specific Objectives and Defining Key Factors: It's challenging to devise a
strategy for reaching a corporate goal if you don't know what that goal is. When determining
your team's goals, be sure to consider any potential obstacles and devise a backup plan in case
of unforeseen circumstances. The more prepared you are, the easier it will be to put your plan
into action. Establish the relationships, responsibilities, and roles: Set objectives for your staff
and clearly express your implementation strategy to avoid ambiguity in your company's aims.
Assign Tasks: The organization should consult its original timetable and objective list to decide
who needs to accomplish what and when, and then assign assignments to the right team
members.
Execute the strategy, keep an eye on the results, and provide ongoing assistance: When
it comes to being a manager, one of the most challenging things is learning how to advise and
assist your people successfully. While managers are likely to spend much of their time
delegating, they should also be ready to answer questions or handle problems and bottlenecks
that their staff may be encountering.
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Correct Errors (Revise and Adjust where Necessary): Processes may alter the direction
in the middle, and unexpected concerns or obstacles might occur. It is more critical to be
vigilant, adaptable, and open to revising or readjusting plans as you supervise execution than
it is to stick rigidly to your initial aims.
Bring the project to a close and agree on the final product: Each team member and
department should be checked out by a supervisor after the company's plan has been effectively
executed and the employees are satisfied with their work.
Strategy Evaluation
Decisions made through strategic management procedures can have far-reaching and
long-lasting effects. Strategic blunders may have devastating consequences and are almost hard
to undo. Because strategy review is crucial to an organization's long-term success, most
strategists believe that timely evaluations may alert management to issues or future problems
before they become significant. The three core tasks of the strategy review are examining the
foundations of a company's strategy, comparing anticipated outcomes to actual results, and
taking corrective steps to ensure that performance is in line with plans.
Strategy Evaluation follows the following procedure:
Setting up standards: Critical performance elements are identified, which are generally
based on the most critical management responsibilities required to meet strategic objectives.
It's important to establish benchmarks within the scope of the aforementioned essential
categories of performance (Kafash Bazari& Gholamrezaei, 2021). Evaluating performance:
The criteria of performance defined will serve as a baseline against which the actual
performance will be judged. Managers should use these guidelines to determine how frequently
and assess performance.
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Variance Analysis: It will be clear whether the performance is in line with the
performance standards if compared to the results. The actual results are in line with the
expected results. The actual results are superior to those anticipated in the budget. The actual
results diverge from the desired results in a negative manner. When actual performance
deviates from budgeted performance within the established tolerance limit, it is acceptable, and
the variation is inconsequential.
Undertaking Corrective Measures
When actual performance goes outside of the acceptable range, corrective action must
be performed to fix it. An internal or external deviation may be foreseen or unpredicted; it may
be transient or permanent. An in-depth investigation should be carried out if the actual
performance repeatedly falls short of the criteria. Consider setting realistic performance criteria
if the organizational potential cannot satisfy the performance requirements. In the event of
significant deviance, you may have to re-evaluate your strategy and possibly go back to the
beginning of the strategic management process. There are generally five important sectors for
corrective actions that Marriott International can adopt. These sectors include:
Revising the company's standard: It's possible that the standards chosen don't align with
the goals or strategies outlined in the strategy document. If the standards were set too high or
too low initially, it is usually necessary to change the established standard. The standard, not
the performance, is the problem in these cases.
Revise the Objectives: Changes in the surrounding environment or other factors
may justify certain variations from the norm. Adjusting goals rather than performance may be
more rational and practical in certain situations (Gkatsikou, 2018). Internal adjustments and
remedial actions may need a shift in strategy. Because of changes in the environment, a
formerly effective approach may be deemed ineffective in the future.
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Re-examining the company's structure, system, and support: Inadequate organizational
structure, processes, or resource support may be blamed for poor performance improvement.
Each element is covered in a different section of this chapter or a separate thesis section.
Management coaching, training, incentives, scheduling, remuneration, and training programs
are among the most popular adjustment methods. The most common adjustment is the
replacement of employees or the redesign of positions.
Conclusion
In conclusion, when used alone, either the IFE or EFE matrices are of no use at all.
When discussing new methods or doing more research, the company should conduct both
analyses and integrate their findings. They can be handy for creating more-complex SWOT
analyses, strategic SWOT matrices, or IE matrices. The QSPM is a technique that assists in
determining the relative attractiveness of viable alternative strategies in light of external and
internal critical success criteria. QSPM Quantitative Strategic Plan Matrix serves as an
analytical tool to formulate strategies.
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Reference
Alkhafaji, A., & Nelson, R. A. (2013). Strategic management: formulation, implementation,
and control in a dynamic environment. Routledge.
David, F. R. (2009). Strategic. Management: Concepts and Cases. 12th ed. FT Prentice Hall,
36-37.
Garthinda, D., & Aldianto, L. (2012). Business strategy recommendation for warung lepak
restaurant using quantitative strategic planning matrix (QSPM). Indonesian Journal of
Business Administration, 1(3), 66289.
Gkatsikou, S. (2018). The Grande Bretagne Hotel, a strategy plan to address challenges up to
2021.
Kafash Bazari, A. A., & Gholamrezaei, D. (2021). Strategy Gap Analysis in Tehran Cement
Company Based on Overlook Document of Concrete 1404 with MCDM
Approach. Commercial Surveys, 19(106), 59-72.