Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company

This dwells upon the management issue, which the general manager of one of the best globally recognized hotels Ritz-Carlton in Washington D.C. faced in the contemporary business environment. The dilemma, which the manager is facing, is the feasibility of the traditional Seven Day Count Down approach to establishing of operation and training, questioned by the Millenium Group Manager Mr. Collins. The reality shows that the operation in the new hotel will be of a higher scale and will introduce some unexplored areas to the Ritz-Carlton manager, but overall, the process and deliverables remain unchanged. With that in mind, McBridge found himself in the position of choice between “giving the voice” to the USD$ 700 million investor in Ritz-Carlton managed properties Mr. Collins and breaking the tradition or maintain the Seven Day Count Down system and pursue well-tested strategy with the new enterprise.

Ritz-Carlton Hotels are the top-end world-wide leading establishments with the twofold focus: on individual customers, whether leisure or business travelers and the event management, which builds on a large part of the Ritz-Carlton Hotels profit over the past decades. Based on the business model, which sets quality and exclusivity the key constructs of the hotel differentiation and market positioning strategy, the company aims at capitals and high-end locations, such as downtown, historical center and other geographies, which allow the company offer absolutely unique and the best experience for the clients, who are not price-sensitive and are ready to pay for exclusivity and comfort, which Ritz-Carlton is able to provide (Reiss, 2009).  

. The business model of the Ritz-Carlton in general can be seen through three major focus areas: people, experience and affiliated partnership. On one side, the chosen business model demands a lot of attention to the quality and preparation of the hotel personnel, and, thus, Human Resource Management (HRM) is in the heart of the long-term planning of the company. Training and personal preparation come along with the time-consuming site selection, facility renovation and concept development, as it is seen critical for success. Secondly, Ritz-Carlton pursues the market customization strategy, which enables unique and personalized experience for each of the hotels, ensuring that the experience is unique for each client. Finally, HRM and business model development strategy is part of the strategic partnerships with local governmental and nongovernmental bodies, which allows hotel staffing and exclusivity of the services, such as unique restaurants, bars and other facilities on the territory of the hotels (Jeszey and Dunk, 2003).

Seven Day Count Down process is the hallmark of the Ritz-Carlton operations and the approach to delivering to the commitment of quality and luxury, which customers expect from the company. The approach places training and talent development in the heart of the strategy and pursues investment-heavy HRM strategy. This rigorous process of identifying committed individuals through coaching, mentoring and training allows the company bringing in into every of its establishment very high level professionals with aligned corporate vision and behavioral patterns expected from the organization.

Many professionals within the company as well as assessors of this approach, who look at it from outside, can find numerous advantages as well as areas of concerns in the selected strategy. First, focusing on the pros of the Seven Day Count Down approach, it is critical to mention that this strategy allows shaping the behaviors and attitudes, which are specifically outlined as essential for customers´ satisfaction and that allow the organization build on the strong corporate culture. It is evident that Ritz-Carlton takes training and learning very seriously and growing quality staff from within the core of the organization provides several major benefits: competency measurements enabled by structured approach to training and development, building on learning organization, which allows innovation and creativity within the company, development of self and mutual respect culture and leadership capabilities among staff. Moreover, through day two today seven the company provides future service professionals with explicit opportunity to train in practice the elements of their daily job and some of the critical and difficult situations, which may occur (Korjala, 2012; Penner, Adames, Rutes, 2001).

On the negative side of the Seven Day Count Down approach is, surely, the cost of this operation as it places Millennium Group as well as Ritz-Carlton in very vulnerable financial position, raising significantly the cost. Secondly, the timeframe of the training process can become a challenge for the company, especially, when it comes to opening operation, which significantly differs from the standard hotel operation, which Ritz-Carlton is used to. When Collins questions McBridge about the feasibility to ensure flawless service after seven days of training, he specifically outlines the above. The point that should be made here is that at times, the tradition and belief in already established approach prevent companies like Ritz-Carlton from looking at the contemporary challenges in business with new and innovative standpoint. While it is not possible to state, whether Seven Day Count Down is the right choice, it is also not possible to eliminate the possibility that this enterprise is the point at which the company should re-evaluate its operation establishment strategy and leave the tradition behind in building the operation to maintain its quality and standard overall (Penner, Adams and Rutes, 2001).

References

Armstrong G and Kotler P (2012). Marketing.An Introduction. London, UK: Pearson Education. Print.

Basset G. (1992). Operations Management for Service Industries: Competing in the Service Era. Westport, CA: Quorum Books. Print.

Jaszey C., and Dunk P. (2003). Training Design for the Hospitality Industry. Toronto, CA: Thomson Delmar Learning. Print.

Korjala V. (2012). Cultural Diversity in Hospitality Management. Bachelor´s Thesis, viewed 21 October 2014, retrieved from http://theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/55331/Korjala_Veera.pdf?sequence=1

Penner R., Adams L., and Rutes W. (2001). Hotel Design, Planning and Development. 2^nd Edition. New York, NY: Norton & Company. Print.

Reiss R. (2009). How Ritz-Carlton Stays at the Top. Forbes [Online]. Retrieved 21 October 2014, http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml.

Smart offshoring

Offshoring is a term used to refer to the shifting of jobs from wealthier countries to those that are still developing. It is, therefore, a type of outsourcing involving the relocation of business processes of a company or companies to a foreign nation. The movement of a company’s business process or processes to another country may be because of reasons such as favorable economic conditions or lower costs of labor in the other nation. Various companies, therefore, move their product manufacturing or operation and service centers to a different country with more favorable economic conditions in order to reduce the business cost. A company may also decide to have its business functions done in another country as a strategic way of entering new markets, or as a way of tapping talent that is currently not available locally. Overcoming domestic regulations that hinder specific activities is also a reason for companies to offshore (Bardhan, Jaffee, & Kroll, 2013). This essay will discuss smarter ways of offshoring. Offshoring is currently necessary for multinational companies to reduce business costs, and to maintain a comparative advantage in the market all over the globe. Service sector jobs are presently being transferred to developing nations, unlike in the past when jobs offshored were those that dealt with manufacturing. Before offshoring jobs, businesses have to put into consideration factors such as turnover rates, risk, infrastructure, cost, and availability of qualified personnel. Telephone call centers, computer programming, and tech-support are some of the jobs sent overseas to nations such as India and China. In the past decade, most offshore service jobs have been sent to a few cities in areas like Russia, India and Eastern Europe (Schaffhauser,2005). According to Farrell (2006), the rate of turnover among information technology staff in the banking industry has increased in some cities in India. Because of this, it has become hard to hire graduates from prestigious institutes of technology in India.

Hotspot areas for overseas investment banks have witnessed a shortage in the number of qualified personnel for jobs such as reconciling foreign-exchange transactions. The shortage is because of a large number of youths suitable to work in offshore centers that live outside cities currently considered hotspot areas. It is for this reason that firms in Mumbai are worried because of lack of qualified professionals that can work in the firms; hence the rise in wages in areas like Bangalore, Moscow, and St. Petersburg. A recent assessment shows that more than ninety percent of college graduates in low-wage nations that multinational companies can employ reside outside the current hot spots. Some of these young professionals live in cities that are not well known such as Ahmadabad in India, and nations just entering the fray such as South Africa, Argentina, and Morocco (Farrell, 2006).

Several pioneer companies have either recently established or announced to establish offshore centers in Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town, and two others. However, some companies feel uncomfortable locating their first offshore centers in places that have not been tested. To make a logical decision of whether to put up an offshore center in a nation that has not yet been tried out, there is a need for companies to evaluate aspects such as the business environment, the level of skill of the workers, the connectivity, and ways in which the selected locations can meet these aspects. To decide wisely on what location to choose from, companies should consider factors such as trends in wage-inflation, costs of recruitment and future labor supplies (Farrell, 2006).

References

Bardhan, A., Jaffee, D. M., & Kroll, C. A. (2013). The Oxford Handbook of Offshoring and

Global Employment. London: Oxford University Press. Business, I. (2009). Offshoring. Business Basics , 1 -6.

Farrell, D. (2006). Smarter Offshoring. 85-93.

Oshri, I., Kotlarsky, J., & Willcocks, P. L. (2011). 

The Handbook of Global Outsourcing and Offshoring. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Schaffhauser, D. (2005, January 2nd). Offshoring-What is offshoring?

Retrieved from SOURCINGmag.com: www.sourcingmag.com/what-is-offshoring

Theory of Swift, Even and Flow.

I was reading the report and remembering a incident which happened back in India with my previous employer. I was working as process analyst in a team of 9 people. The team was working together for last 10 month but they are not able to flow a process. Everybody has ideas and opinions but could not put together for the result oriented. The days passed by but when we have any delivery date approach that the time I usually face the "Theory of Swift, Even Flow" 

In the beginning of the team meeting and activity team lack was the activity and every team member was confused and trying bring everything for working. As we had a delivery date was coming near and that’s why we have to follow some pre decided process and testing service which is implement in the billing project for a UK based company. We have send the final result to the customer for the last review and approval. Some day before the final delivery date we all in the team meet up and used go through all the process to check that weather we are not missing anything and would double check before we give the final report.

This helps us to avoid any last time errors could be avoid and address any problems comes into the path. After this we could easily analyses the process managements and create an end to end report for the customer. Once the final report build up and then we send it to the upper management of the company for a final internal approval. The problem with this is that the upper management people are not the domain specialist and that’s why they take much of the time of understanding the report.  

This take the time from the delivery time period and for which the process became very slow and inefficient. I remember a incident when I have send such an email to one of the upper management for an approval they took around four days to come back because they were not able to understand the report properly that’s why they took help from other group, but the problem was that time took in this effect the time period. After that they give something to modify and for which we was not having any time as delivery date was just few days from that. That’s why we have to inform the customer and which effect the reputation and trust of the customer to our team.  

According to article "The investment in capital simply aids speed and reduces variation, and it is through increased speed and lower variation that capital intensity or any other factor or policy affects productivity" (Schmenner, p.336). 

After a repeated incident and customer complain, the boss of our department has decided to change the approval system. Now it has to go a single person with the domain knowledge who can go through the document easily and give the approval for the same. Following this this helped the team to improve the quality of the work and make it easier for us to address the problem and deliver the job in time. The customer was also happy and gave us some letter of appreciation after that. We really saved time and effort, proved to be a successful team in the company after six month.  

Schmenner, R. W. (2004). Service Business and Productivity. Decision Sciences, 35(3), 333-347. 

Team Leader

Team leader is a person who manages, give direction, instruction and provide leadership attitude to some group of individual for achieving some targeted result. Team leader should have the capability to analyze the quantitative and qualitative aspect of any team. According to me a team leader should overview all the primary attributes of any functional team. Those are motivation of the team, action which helps to gain the result, collectiveness for the work load among the team mates and over all of this a team leader should provide personal attention to the individual contribution and growth for the team. In my past professional life I have worked under various team leader and came across very different type and individuals in terms of the leading a team. There are some distinguished qualities some of them have which helped our team mates to work in a very friendly environment and simultaneously archiving the team target. Here I would like to mention one of the team leader different qualities. When I used to work with Tata Consultancy Service, my team leader there was one of the best leader under which I have worked. He used to very friendly and supportive in any manner. The good qualities which he has got is the providing team sprit for each an individual. All if there is some commotion in the team he used to talk to each of us for the clarification and then would take some decision on that. Some time he also allowed the team mates to act as team leader to understand the different difficult situation and how to tackle those circumstances.  He vital good qualities was his attitude which was very down to earth, he never used to give a feeling that he was the team leader and we have to follow him. In opposite to that he used to always praise us for what we had achieved so far. Though he was the best team leader and I would always like to work under that type of leadership, but still he has got one short coming in his lead ship process. Whenever there was some dead line to follow for job to be done he always used to panic. Moreover he himself used to start the involving himself in some areas of the work which he was not expert on. Those time he used to forget to involve the specialist and sometime outcome was negative. We always tried to helped him in those circumstances but he used to bring some constrain in those moments which does not allowed us understand him very well. In spite of these negative attitude he never gave pressure on us. The team leader could not have all the good qualities as they are also human being but individual should enables him/herself for any sort of unwanted situation and should know the ways to tackle it for the betterment and achievement of team result. 

Boots: Hair-Care Sales Part 1

Boots is one of the best known and most respected retail names in the United Kingdom for providing health and beauty products and various services, operating in 130 countries worldwide with 1300 stores. It has a professional hair-care line consisting of shampoos, conditioners and styling products developed in collaboration with United Kingdom's top celebrity hairdressers. The primary objective of the company has been to drive sales volumes and trade-up consumers from lower-value brands, while retaining or building brand equity. The UK hair-care market has over 60 national brands widely available in supermarkets and drug retailers with not a single brand having more than 90% of the market share.

Boots is also one of the best known and most respected retail names in the United Kingdom for providing health and beauty products and various services, operating in 130 countries worldwide with 1300 stores. It has a professional hair-care line consisting of shampoos, conditioners and styling products developed in collaboration with United Kingdom's top celebrity hairdressers. The primary objective of the company has been to drive sales volumes and trade-up consumers from lower-value brands, while retaining or building brand equity. The UK hair-care market has over 60 national brands widely available in supermarkets and drug retailers with not a single brand having more than 9% market share. The overall market is expected to grow at a rate of 1-3% for the next 5 years. But the opportunity that lies here for Boots is that currently no celebrity-endorsed products are available in retail stores. So it could build a new market by adopting celebrity endorsement strategy. The major competitors of Boots are Procter & Gamble, Alberto-Culver and L’Oreal. And the major issue with the UK consumers is that there is no brand loyalty and low differentiation of products. The current problem statement is that the company needs to decide a promotion strategy for a line of its professional hair-care products

The other promotional alternatives that are available to Boots apart from premiums, coupons, and product packs are as follows. First, there is the use of Rebates where the company can sell to various people at lower prices, for example, the first one hundred people who purchase the product. Another alternative is the use of sampling and free trials, and this can involve a case whereby when they are selling the shampoos and conditioning gels people can be offered with some free hairdressing to try the products on the spot. This can be carried out through the process of offering to wash their hairs. The third alternative can be demonstrations of the products, which are also considered to be effective in attracting more customers. In this case, they can be carried out in the designated salons and where the product is being sold at retail. The fourth promotional alternative can be contests and sweepstakes that are organized by the company as a way of boost their sales. Indeed, when the consumers buy the product, they can be allowed to enter into a contest that will enable them win a collection of prizes at the end. Finally, there is the use of loyalty programs for the consumers who remain loyal to the brand, which is also considered to be effective for a company like Boots. In this case, for example, customers who have bought the product repeatedly for one year will be given an opportunity to enjoy loyalty packages that are offered.

References

Boone, L. E. & Kurtz, D. L. (2011). Contemporary Business. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Daily, B. F., & Huang, S. C. (2001). Achieving sustainability through attention to human resource factors in environmental management. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 21(12), 1539-1552.

Epstein, M. J., & Buhovac, A. R. (2014). Making sustainability work: Best practices in managing and measuring corporate social, environmental, and economic impacts. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Kasim, A., Gursoy, D., Okumus, F., & Wong, A. (2014). The importance of water management in hotels: a framework for sustainability through innovation. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 22(7), 1090-1107.

Molina-Azorín, J. F., Claver-Cortés, E., Pereira-Moliner, J., & Tarí, J. J. (2009). Environmental practices and firm performance: an empirical analysis in the Spanish hotel industry. Journal of Cleaner Production, 17(5), 516-524.

Ober, S. (2007). Contemporary business communication. Boston: Cengage Learning.

Susskind, A. M. (2014). Guests’ Reactions to In-Room Sustainability Initiatives An Experimental Look at Product Performance and Guest Satisfaction. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 1938965514533744.

Kind Bar Company

Protein bars are popular among health enthusiasts, athletes, people too busy to eat a proper meal and those looking for a healthy option to the mid-afternoon chocolate break. The many types of protein bars – meal replacement bars, energy bars – each contain different amounts of protein, fats and carbohydrates. Because customers are always looking for variety, there is still plenty of room for new protein bars on the market, especially in niche areas, such as gluten free, organic and even kosher

But Kind bars have rapidly become a serious competitor in the snack food industry. The fruit-and-nut snack is the fastest-growing energy and nutrition bar in the country and can be found in 80,000 locations nationally. Sales were close to $120 million in 2012, the privately held company says. That’s up from about $10 million in 2010, according to an estimate by market intelligence firm Euromonitor International.

Yet to simply state the company’s store count and growing revenues does not come close to describing the product’s omnipresent feel. Kind bars are showing up in in locations where they are the only bar — or sometimes even the only food product — for sale. When you board an Amtrak train, Kind bars are the only bars around. When you go to work, Kind bars may be placed out for free by your employer if not available for sale at the company cafeteria. When you go out to grab milk at the convenience store, Kind bars will stare you in the face at the register. When you go to a hockey or basketball game, Kind bars are sold next to the pizza and beer. And when you’re checking out at Bed Bath & Beyond  BBBY -0.98% , Jamba Juice  JMBA -2.09% , or Au Bon Pain, Kind bars are right there too.

All the standout places you may find a Kind bar are just one piece of the product’s extensive distribution network. A snack that was once available in just 1,000 specialty grocery stores like Whole Foods  WFM -0.87% , Kind is now sold right next to its competition — mainly Clif Bar, General Mills  GIS -2.16% , and Kellogg’s  K -2.47%  — in more than 50 major U.S. chains including Trader Joe’s, Wal-Mart  WMT -1.17% , Target  TGT -1.27% , Costco  COST -1.07% , and 7-Eleven.

Kind bars’ distribution has grown so quickly that Lubetzky admits he is sometimes caught off guard when he walks into a store and sees his product on the shelf. “It is impossible not to find it once in a while in a place where you are [surprised],” says Lubetzky. He insists that he isn’t blindly saturating markets. He says Kind has been profitable with positive cash flow since the beginning. And he insists the company has to be methodical about putting the bars in outlets where they will actually sell, because they contain nuts and can go stale. “We want Kind to be available everywhere that our consumers are likely to look for us and not anywhere else.”

In the cutthroat competition for shelf space, it is a bit of a mystery how exactly the company is beating out its larger competitors. Several big retailers contacted by Fortunedeclined to discuss Kind. Naturally, Lubetzky attributes the bars’ ability to get shelf space primarily to their taste and how quickly they sell. Out of the 2,000 products in the nutritional bar category, six of the top 10 fastest-selling products are Kind bars, according to data from Nielsen provided to the company. (A representative from Nielsen said she could not share the data directly with Fortune due to client agreements).

“That data sells the shelf space itself,” Lubetzky says, noting that sales have doubled on average in each of the last four years.

Kind also relies in part on Lubetzky’s original mission — spreading kindness — to drive awareness of the product. Rather than rely strictly on direct sampling, company employees are now distributing plastic cards that are meant to reward random acts of kindness. If they see a person doing a kind act like giving up a seat on the subway or helping an elderly pedestrian across the street, they give the do-gooder the card. In turn, Kind will send the samaritan a couple bars as well as another card to pay the kindness forward to someone else. The company, which calls itself “not-only-for profit,” also has pledged thousands annually to support customer-generated projects that give back to the community.

“We found a way that seems authentic to honor kindness, to inspire kindness, and to get more people to try the product,” says Lubetzky, who is also the founder of an organization called PeaceWorks that works to create business relationships in conflict regions.

During the company’s formative years, Lubetzky could barely pay himself a $24,000 salary, let alone invest in getting more people to try the product. Then in 2008, private equity firm VMG Partners invested in the company, although it will not disclose the amount.

Kind bars were sold in just 20,000 locations when VMG got involved. The investors immediately put their capital to work to get the product into more people’s hands with free samples. Lubetzky’s sampling budget was $800 in 2008, and he was reluctant to increase it, but by 2009 that budget ballooned to $800,000. Today, Kind spends upwards of $10 million in efforts to get people to try Kind bars. The company has a full-time field marketing team in 25 U.S. markets that organizes sampling in stores, sponsoring sporting events, taking free samples into corporate offices and putting them in gift bags at company events.

Kind is also surfing a trend in American eating preferences. A decade ago, energy and nutrition bars were largely considered a specialty product purchased only by dieters or athletes, according to a report by Euromonitor. Today, a new type of consumer looking for healthy and easy-to-eat snacks has emerged. Americans continue to spend less and less of their paychecks on food and shy away from paying top dollar for an expensive meal out, says Harry Balzer, an industry analyst at consumer market research company NPD Group. Portable bars that purport to be healthy and filling, like Kind, fulfill a growing need. Roughly 27 million more Americans ate bars in 2013 than in 2003,

In a place where there is no humanity, strive thou to be human.” Ultimately, Lubetzky believes that Kind can continue to gain distribution and become a top food brand — not just bar brand — in the aggressive food industry while still doing the “kind” thing. Kind bars may already be in 80,000 stores across the country, but Lubetzky said he can envision that number one day growing as large as 300,000.

First, he said his biggest challenge is to expand his customer base even further. While 77% of Kind customers eat more than one bar a day, 80% of Americans are still completely clueless about the product, according to the company. The founder hopes to further his following with new offerings including both granola bars and bags of granola.

If he is successful, Kind products won’t stop showing up in surprising places anytime soon.

“Kind bars are an iconic product,” said Whole Foods executive global grocery coordinator Errol Schweizer. “Like Cheerios or Kool Aid or Kraft Singles — except a lot better for you.”

Carlson Company

Enhancing the welfare and interests of the communities being served is one of the responsibilities that every organization has in any given the environment that it establishes itself. A consideration of expanding luxury Regency accommodations and services, in 2006, to Costa Rica is a decision that would put Carlson Companies in a dilemma of solving a social problem that the community was facing. The surrounding area of the resort was facing a disreputable issue of child trafficking and prostitution, and despite the venture being profitable it is a dilemma that the company should address as it prepares to approve the project. This is a position that is supported by the signed Code of Conduct, which aims at protecting vulnerable Children in relation to sexual exploitation being carried out in Travel and Tourism (Linde & Eisenbeis, 2011).

It is evident that despite the existing challenges, there are associated with the decision of developing the hotel in Costa Rica. They include:  A lucrative business opportunity is presented in building the hotel. It is the opportunity of serving as a role model and positive force in the travel and tourism business. An opportunity of demonstrating the feasibility of the project to others in the industry and the rest of the world upon meeting socially responsible hotel management challenges. Training hotel employees will empower them in monitoring and acting against any form of children exploitation in Carlson hotels. Carlson Company will also experience an increase in revenue with the commencement of the proposed project.

Different concerns have been raised in relation to the enforcement of the code and the feasibility of suggested project of Carlson’s Regent resort. One of the concern has to do with the full enforcement of the code upon the completion of the resort, a case whereby it is hard for Carson to guarantee the needed children protection within the hotel. The second concern is associated with the implications of the Marriott child sex trafficking case, which happened in a similar environment that Carlson is seeking to establish itself in Costa Rica. A third concern is the possibility of Carlson’s Regent Hotel being associated with child sex trafficking by the international community on the basis that the resort is located in Costa Rica. Finally, there is a concern of the resort failing to meet the obligations established under the Code. This would lead to a situation whereby Carlson is risking public censure, mainly from the monitoring body of the Code (Linde & Eisenbeis, 2011).

In trying to maximize the highlighted benefits of the project and addressing the above concerns, the following are some of the critical recommendations that should be adopted for the success of the project implementation to be realized.  Carlson Company should continue showing commitment towards the implementation of the code as it is not an easy task to undertake. The hotel resort should commit towards the suggested measures, through the determined Code and work-related policies, in creating the environment that is intolerant with the issue of child sex trafficking. This is an effort that will sustain its reputation as an international company that is respected.  Carlson Nelson should carry out a comprehensive analysis of the risks associated with the decision of proceeding with the project. Effective implementation of the stated Code of Conduct within the hotel will reduce any chance of facing litigation because the issue of child molestation in the company’s hotels will be dealt with in a more appropriate way.  

References

Altinay, L., Saunders, M. N., & Wang, C. L. (2014). The Influence of Culture on Trust Judgments in Customer Relationship Development by Ethnic Minority Small Businesses. Journal of Small Business Management, 52(1), 59-78.

Buck, W. F. (2015). A Competitive Business Ethics Simulation Game. Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Exercises, 42.

Li, C. L. (2009). Managing business relationship development: A cross-cultural perspective. Portuguese Journal of Management Studies, 14(2), 123-148.

Linde, R., & Eisenbeis, H. R. (2011). The Carlson Company and Global Corporate Citizenship: The Protection of Children in the Travel and Tourism Industry. Case Research Journal, 31(2): 1-11.

Lovelock, C. H., Patterson, P., & Wirtz, J. (2015). Services marketing. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W. Pearson Australia.

Margolis, J. (2008). Why companies fail. Employment Relations Today, 35(1), 9-17.

Wirtz, J., Chew, P., & Lovelock, C. H. (2012). Essentials of services marketing. Singapore: Pearson Education South Asia.