Introduction
Marriott International Corporation is a transnational hospitality organization established in the United States. The firm runs an extensive collection of hotels and accommodation facilities’ franchises and presently functions in 122 nations with more than 6000 estates to its name (Alvarez-Risco et al., 2020). Despite being one of the largest hospitality trademarks internationally, Marriot encounters significant challenges from the hotel industry’s competitive nature.
The enterprise pursues development in other states globally and continues to shape its trade system to conserve the top place in the industry that it has enjoyed over the years (Alvarez-Risco et al., 2020). This business expansion plan aims to assess the external and internal surroundings of the commerce and endorse some corporate progress approaches that the institution can employ to enhance its processes in the global marketplace.
Existing Operation Structure of Marriott International
Marriott International has succeeded in becoming one of the leading hospitality corporations globally because of its vast operations tactic. The firm has remained among the first in executing some of the top operations approaches that help several businesses become cost-effective. The establishment has a dynamic management structure designed to manage the brand’s general operations and each of the company’s international assets (Dhir, 2019).
Furthermore, the group of competent managers who monitor its ventures has made some significant calculated choices that have facilitated the increase in value to the organization’s clients, satisfy the needs of its shareholders, and improve its productivity (Dhir, 2019). For instance, Marriott Corporation was the first hospitality establishment to present foodstuff free of trans fats in its North American franchises. It was also the earliest firm to announce online bookings for consumers. However, due to the competitive and constantly changing nature of its business industry, Marriott International will further instrument innovative approaches to sustain its position in the principal global hospitality industry.
Internal Strengths and Limitations
One of the chief abilities of Marriott International is its famous international brand acknowledgment. In its 90 years of operation, the company has successfully built a durable trademark that is renowned practically all over the world (Sztorc, 2017). The recognition has made it simpler for the company to attract significant market share, mainly when innovative operations policies have been executed. Moreover, the business has confirmed a substantial ability to adopt new technological inventions to enhance its processes capabilities. For instance, Marriott International was the earliest to present online reservations in the hospitality industry (Sztorc, 2017).
The advancement has helped the organization and other players in the trade improve the value of their services. Finally, the hospitality corporation has a strong staff retaining competency. The firm undertakes its human resource administration (HRM) seriously by building an employment environment that encourages worker retention (Sztorc, 2017). Conversely, Marriott has been encountering some limitations that have been impacting its international development approach.
First, the hospitality company has been facing some financial threats that could affect its potential growth. The organization’s finances have been significantly influenced by the slow growth of America’s economy (Wei, 2018). Since more than half of its assets are based in the United States, slow economic growth has led to low hotel reservation rates, impacting Marriott Inc.’s financial performance, as shown in (Figure 1) below.
Second, the establishment has encountered a potential drop in its global brand recognition. The hotel business has steadily grown over the years, with new institutions competing for a similar market portion (Wei, 2018). Various hospitality trademarks have succeeded in achieving a significant marketplace presence and acknowledgment, resulting in decreased Marriott trademark in the international market.
External Threat Factors
Marriott International tackles some external risks that could impact the corporation’s development openings globally. Being an international organization, Marriott encounters several socio-political concerns that upset its operations. Political instability and radicalism are some of the factors that have influenced the institution negatively (Darsin et al., 2019). For several years there have been terrorist attacks in various parts of the world where the company operates.
For instance, the unfortunate terrorist occurrences in Turkey and France in 2016 declined the firm’s economic operation in the regions by 1 percent. Furthermore, attacks in Africa and the Middle East areas have instigated a 7 percent drop in the establishment’s performance zones (Darsin et al., 2019). If these types of violence last, the enterprise’s fiscal functions might weaken further, resulting in an interruption in its overall progress strategy.
Business Development Opportunities
Optimized Production Technology (OPT) and Theory of Constraints (TOC)Practice
Technology plays a significant role in the operations performance of Marriott International. Consumers rely on technology to interact with hotel reservations, check-ins, and dealing with hotel procedures. Electronic commerce has played a substantial part in ensuring clients get quality services since they can now request information about the company and also pay for the services they intend to consume (de Jesus Pacheco et al., 2020). Marriott Hotels has adopted e-business as its customers can now book their accommodations online instead of calling the hotel, making it easy for them to make their reservations 24/7 (de Jesus Pacheco et al., 2020). Consequently, technology helps Marriott improve customer experience by making it simple for clients to gain the services they desire.
Additionally, Marriot has employed the use of a Project Management System (POS). The POS system is a technological invention utilized in the management of all daily operations necessary for hotel processes (Sotiriadis & Van Zyl, 2017). Marriott presently employs the POS system called MICROS OPERA, which enables them to handle reservations and supervise billing and accounting (Sotiriadis & Van Zyl, 2017). It is effective since the company can easily evaluate how to boost performance, drive sales, increase revenue, and ensure consumer satisfaction. Furthermore, it helps the corporation track all its information hence realizing a smooth and efficient functioning.
Just-in-Time Practices
Just-in-time inventory controlling is a record tactic that companies utilize to boost effectiveness. The procedure includes buying and receiving registers for manufacture and consumer transactions only as required to deliver services. Marriott International does not hold any safety stock by ordering inventory on an as-needed basis, and it functions with continuously low inventory levels (Sodhi & Tang, 2020). Therefore, the company can lower its inventory carrying costs, boost its efficiency and regulate waste. The strategy requires that the organization’s managers be articulate in their forecast for their services’ demand.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a declined demand for hospitality services; thus, Marriott International employed the practice to cut inventory management costs. The hotels currently present services to their clients according to their demands and focus on offering what is required rather than additional services that go to waste when not consumed (Sodhi & Tang, 2020). Therefore, Marriott’s approach reduces the amount of money it spends on service production since it only orders what is required, thus releasing cash flows for other business operations.
Lean Techniques
The LEAN strategy requires the implementation of five essential principles in every company project. First, it recommends that an organization recognizes the factors that create value for consumers in a supply chain or development project (Rauch et al., 2020). Since customer experience is vital in the hospitality industry, Marriot has focused on improving its online reservation and accommodation services.
Consequently, the company has received constant appraisal from the current market as the hotel with the best consumer service globally. Second, the lean approach entails establishing a visualization of operations and activities. Administrators at Marriott International should forecast the influence of their new strategies on its processes before adopting them (Rauch et al., 2020). The move will enable them to understand the best strategy to drive their organization to realize productivity, maintain its competitive position, and fulfill clients’ needs.
Third, the lean approach recommends that companies should identify and eliminate all possible wastes that could affect work efficiency and results. Marriot managers should focus on recognizing all wastes present in their processes, such as large inventories and overproduction of services. The principle will therefore help them in minimizing operational costs by keeping low inventory levels and producing the specific services as detailed by the consumer (Rauch et al., 2020).
Consequently, the establishment will have the free cash flow to boost its growth in new global marketplaces. Finally, the strategy commends that a business should continuously enhance outcomes even in case of accomplishment since its last principle facilitates striving for perfection (Rauch et al., 2020). Marriott administrators should concentrate on building the organization’s processes to achieve perfection. The company is presently facing stiff competition as the hospitality industry evolves. Therefore, strengthening operations to realize perfection will enable the company to maintain its current market share while still satisfying clients’ desires.
Recommendation
Implementing ISO 9000 principles is essential for Marriott International to meet the global standards of quality management. Evidence-based decision-making is the approach that will help the organization, given its prevailing situation (Ali et al., 2020.). The hotel business is shifting significantly, and the data applied in the past years cannot be employed to make decisions presently. It is recommended that the establishment applies its research program to help administrators assess the international marketplace, specifically the surroundings that which the firm wishes to invest (Ali et al., 2020). Utilizing past statistics is also endorsed, but it is essential to ensure that the evidence used in decision-making is credible and reliable.
Additionally, making informed choices will reduce Marriott’s faults, hence improving the opportunities for a profitable expansion strategy. The company managers should further apply continuous enhancement approaches to avoid lagging when the hospitality trade changes. Marriott is presently among the best international corporations in the hotel industry and should continue implementing improvement strategies (Ali et al., 2020). It can realize such by promoting an innovative culture where the staff is inspired to present new ideas. The institution’s leadership should also be participative to offer employees openings to share ideas and build them into models that can help the company boost its processes.
Conclusion
Effective business development plans and management have played a substantial part in Marriott International’s success despite the challenges presented by the fast-changing hospitality industry. However, being a global corporation, Marriot Inc. has to improve approaches that will enhance its performance internationally regularly. The move will enable the organization to improve its general position since each of its branches will perform well. Development strategies are a vital part of commerce and influence the productivity of businesses. Therefore, trade experts and Marriott managers should further conduct investigations to determine the significance of growth approaches and their demerits even as they intend to expand their operations.
References
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