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.

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).