The Innovation Strategy Of Marriott's Growth And Business Strategy

‘Strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long term, which achieves advantage in a changing environment through it’

How does Marriott use its estimate of its cost of capital? Does this make sense?

Strategy is a set of complicated tactics formulated by the executives of a company directed towards the achievement of company’s goal (Salmela, 2002). It is about all the path ways that a company would follow to reach its ultimate goal. It is a company’s strategy which helps to identify what it does better than the other companies in the industries, which may be different from what it does best. For successful strategy formulation and implementation, a company should know the needs of customers and should have knowledge of its competitors. Through a good strategy a company would identify that opportunity which makes it different from the others (Thompson, 2005).

Since its foundation in 1927 Marriott Corporation grew into one of the leading lodging and food services in the US. With three major business lines: lodging, contract services and related business, Marriott has the intention to remain a premier growth company. To achieve this goal the corporation’s strategy is to develop aggressively appropriate opportunities within their business lines. Marriott would like to be the preferred employer, the preferred provider and the most profitable company in each of the operating areas. The financial strategy includes four key elements:

Strategy is not only a tool for outfoxes the competition but also an incredible means for creating and shaping a company

Marriott International, Inc. is one of the world's leading lodging and contract services companies. The company has its roots in the restaurant industry, beginning with a chain of 'Hot Shoppes' begun by J. Willard (Bill) and Alice S. Marriott in 1927. In 1957, "another business segment made its debut when Marriott's first hotel, the Twin Bridges Marriott Motor Hotel, opened in Arlington, Virginia" (History of Marriott International, 2012, Funding Universe). After its restructuring during the 1980s, "Marriott's three core businesses became lodging; food and services management; and food, beverage, and merchandise operations at airports and on turnpikes" (History of Marriott International, 2012, Funding Universe). Today, Marriott is heavily diversified within the hospitality industry: "Marriott International has two operating groups: Marriott Lodging, which generates about 60 percent of company revenue, and the Marriott Service Group, its contract services operation" which operates contract services such as food and facilities management and senior living facilities (History of Marriott International, 2012, Funding Universe).

The Marriott family owns approximately 30% of MI, controlling roughly 14% of MI’s outstanding stock (Rosenwald, 2011). MI’s executive council is fairly similar to many other companies. Their executive council consists of 17 people, with a recent change due to J.W. Marriott stepping down from his CEO position. (Appendix 1.2) J.W. Marriott Jr. was CEO of MI from 1972 up until March 2012; though he has stepped down as CEO he is still an active and vocal contributor to MI. The new President and CEO of the company Arne M. Sorenson, is the first person without the Marriott name to take on a large role in the company. MI has nearly 3,800 properties in 74 countries and territories, 3,100 properties being in North America. There are over 275 properties in Europe, 65 in the Caribbean and Latin America, 40 in the Middle East and Africa and 29 in the Asia-Pacific. MI made up 4.8% of the market share in 2011, making it the number one ranked hotel globally (Marriott, 2013). Currently, MI has approximately 300,000 employees (Marriott, 2013).

Marriott USA is a leader in the global lodging industry in that area. With numerous properties in USA and countless achievement awards, they are not only a wellknown but also a well-liked brand. The global financial crisis hit the hotel and lodging industry hard because of a sharp drop in business and leisure travel. Regardless of the steep drop in profitability over recent years, Marriott USA has plans to focus on driving incremental revenue by cutting costs at the property level. It also addresses opportunities Marriott USA has to further capitalize on

Dan Cohrs is preparing the annual hurdle rates for the three divisions of Marriot Corporation (Lodging, Contracts, and Restaurants) which will have a significant impact on the firm’s financial and operating strategies. Marriott’s has been truthful to its operating strategy to remain a premier growth company, Marriott’s sales and earnings per share have doubled over the last four years. In 1987 Marriot’s sales rose 24%, the return on equity was 22% and profits were $223 million. Lodging consisted of 51% of Marriott’s profits, while contracts services and restaurants amounted to 33% and 16% respectively. However, the sales mix is not proportionate to relative profits, where 41% of

An organisation’s strategy plays an important role of providing direction of where company wants to be and how best to allocate the company’s resources to meet its objectives. The formulation of business strategies has evolved over the years and has been made more difficult in recent by the uncertain operating environments and global financial crises.

Alfred Chandler(1963) defines strategy as ‘ the determination of the long-run goals and objectives of an enterprise and the adoption of courses of action of an enterprise and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals’. And Michael porter(1996) sees it as ‘Competitive strategy is about being different. It means deliberately choosing different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value’.

Strategy can be defined as being different from one’s competitors, finding the race to operate and accomplished it. According to Michael Porter (1996), while becoming better at what you do is desirable, it will not benefit you in the long run because it is something other competitors can also do. Strategies for organizations are originally developed by Michael E. Porter in 1979 by introducing the five forces model. A company can identify the industry profitability and attractiveness by analyzing the five forces of Porter (Johnson et al., 2008). And then a reasonable strategy can be set up in line with the strengths and the weakness of an organization is able to create a plan for a stronger position for the organization within its

In the book “Good Strategy and Bad Strategy”, Richard Rumelt illustrates examples of success and failure of business management to explain the true meaning of the strategy, and tells companies how to develop a correct strategy and adhere to core of management strategy. He also emphasizes the central role of strategic management as to remind the readers to understand the huge difference between a good strategy and bad strategy. This book has three sections: good and bad strategy, sources of power, and thinking like a strategist. I will be evaluating strengths and weaknesses under these topics. After finish reading the book, I had gained a better understanding of what a good strategy means to the success of a company. According to Rumelt, a good strategy is coherent, where companies pursue multiple objectives that are connected with each other. Rumelt points out that a good strategy consists of three elements: diagnosis, guiding policy, and coherent action. (71) First, diagnosis means to define the obstacles and challenges that the companies are facing, and guidelines help the people to overcome the obstacles. Lastly, coherent action is the activities or actions that company did to be consistent with its guiding policy. Today, many of us lost the focus of the strategy, which results in the downward of businesses and organizations. Rumelt has defined the strategy as acknowledging the main problems and take coherent action to overcome the problems. Moreover, he illustrates

Marriott is a multi brand company with a Global Portfolio that providing lodging that fit within many market segments. This report will discuss briefly Marriott’s Portfolio of hotels, what they do, briefly examine a number of their key marketing strategies and examine how they are implemented, measured and ask the question does this make them market leaders?

A strategy is said to be a plan that is made for the long term success of a product or brand. It is extremely important to have a strategy in order to figure out a direction towards which any company is able to focus all its resources efficiently and achieve desired outcomes. Formulating effective strategies is a considerably long process in itself that combines analysing several factors, situations and issues that are already present in a company and looking to improve on them alongside trying to implement various innovations and ideas to collectively create a direction towards which they can move and direct the resources available to them.