Grande Bretagne Hotel; External business environment

Grande Bretagne Hotel; External business environment Strategic concepts in tourism, hospitality and events Individual assignment: Grande Bretagne Hotel Athens; External business environment INTRODUCTION No company in the world is working standalone and in isolation. That’s even more emphasised in the tourism industry where the location of the tourism companies follows the location of the tourism product, the tourism destination. A hotel can not be located standalone in a no attractive tourism destination and expect success, it should be as close to the epicentre of the tourism happening and movement. The problem is, every tourism company wants that, and they all have to compete in the saturated, consistent market with each other and with the environment like a whole. In this assignment we will discuss the challenges and implications of the external environment applied to our hospitality organisation of a choice based on the selected theoretical model. Further evaluate the competitive environment using the Porter’s Five Forces Model with closing recommendation for the future of the business. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF CHOSEN SUPPLIER For the purpose of this assignment we had chosen the New Hotel Athens. New Hotel Athens (formerly Olympic Palace Hotel), along with 4 other hotels, is a part of Yes Hotels chain, and they are part of the worldwide Design Hotel company with more than 250 independent hotels in over 50 countries worldwide. (http://corporate.designhotels.com/about_design_hotels) Situated in Plaka area in central Athens, New Hotel is a 79 room establishment designed by the Brazilian award winning design duo Fernando and Humberto Campana. The hotel also sports exquisite all-day bar-restaurant, New taste, and Workshop Floor, meeting space with teleconference facilities. IDENTIFICATION OF FACTORS ISSUES IN THE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT (MACRO ANALYSIS) Business environment refers to those factors of the surrounding of business enterprise which have influence on the functioning of a business. The business cannot control these aspects but can respond to change if needed. This is also call macro environemnt. (http://books.google.gr/books?id=nfADHVmJkTUCpg=PA3dq=external+business+environmenthl=ensa=Xei=jiJvVNnjHJP5asqEgvgLredir_esc=y#v=onepageq=external%20business%20environmentf=true) External business environment Economic conditions Economic conditions are global as well as national, and when there is a global financial crisis as in 2007, and the recent one, changes in the external environment can be dramatic. Positive economic condition of the nation have also positive effect on their spending habits. And opposite, when the nation is suffering financial hardship, the money that will be spent for recreation and holidays will be less. Indirectly, the negative economic condition increase the unemployment rate and the interest rate and taxations. New Hotel Athens, operates within the EU and Greek economic environment. Considering the not so positive economic condition of the country and the Euro zone generally, we can say irrefutable that it reflects negatively on the business. After a calamitous recession in which the economy shrank by 30%, government debt now stands at 174% of GDP and the budget deficit last year was almost 13% of GDP (The Economist 2014). This leaded to aggressive rise of the taxes, increased interest rate for bank loans and credits and overall increase cost of the raw materials and imports. In the table below we can see the country’s economic freedom index and few other economy related facts and figures like, the the freedom of corruption, fiscal freedom, business, labour and trade freedom etc. (The Heritage Foundation 2014) Greece, Economic Freedom index 2014 Source The Heritage Foundation Regardless of the present adverse condition in the country, there is a positive forecast for the future economy of the country from international and domestic experts. High government official also promised a new taxation roadmap that would be unveiled in the future, with the maximum income tax cut to 32 per cent from 42 per cent and the corporate tax rate reduced to 15 per cent from 26 per cent. (ABC News 2014) Market (competition) The market/competition is a constantly amending factor in the external environment of the business. Not only that new competitors arise and other disappear, but also the existing ones are changing and adapting their marketing strategies, product lines and prices. Often those changes are not evident so the businesses must be alerted to what their competitors are doing. Our hotel is one of the 23, exclusive 5 star hotels in the central area of Athens, excluding Piraeus and Glyfada (Greekhotels.com 2014), and one of the 176, 5 star hotels in the country. (Hellenic Chamber of Hotels 2006). In that saturated market are included as well the big international players like Starwood, Intercontinental, Hilton and other hotel chains with great influence on the market and provide fierce competitiveness. But New Hotel Athens diversificate in many ways from the competition, and their business model follows the fresh market trends providing a product for a niche tourism clients. Technology In the last half a century, one of the rapid change factors in the external environment and the constant pusher on the businesses and organisations has been the technological change. If the don’t react sufficiently quick to this change, they can face with the risk of losing market shares. The technological change don’t affects only on the design of the products, but as well on the delivery of service. In the example with our hotel, we must say that this external factor is taken into consideration seriously, and even used for competitive advantage. The property is recently renovated according to the latest standards and trends, with implemented computer controlled in house systems, offering free WiFi to the customers (unlike most of the 5 star hotels), and having great interactive web page and social networks presence. Climate change Climate change is an insidious threat because the pace of change may be recognisable only if considered on a decade-by-decade basis. The effect of climate change will not fall equally on all nations and all businesses. Businesses that depend directly on a good supply of water e.g. agriculture, field sports will be adversely effected if climate change results in reduced rainfall. However the flow on affect of drought will eventually work their way through to all businesses in the affected community. Legal The most common law changes that affect business include Workplace Health and Safety, Consumer Protection, Industrial Relation and Environmental Law. But most obvious change in law through legislation is the taxation. Sometimes the taxation changes occur fast and with little warning and there is not much time for the business to prepare. The New Hotel Athens guests are protected by the general Greek consumer protection law for all transactions you make while travelling in the country. As enterprise, the hotel is obliged to issue written receipts, that safeguards the consumer in the event of any claim or dispute with the enterprises. (VisitGreece 2014) Media The significant changes in the technology and the rise of the internet, reflected on the media as well and changed it from ground up. That affected deeper on the external business environment. The old channel for communication where suffocated, altered and brand new ones appeared. The businesses had to embrace this change and adapt to it as fast as possible. New Hotel Athens following the modern media trends, had build extensive online presence all over the internet (as a medium). And had gained significant positive feedback. For example Trip Advisor, according to the votes by the customers, had awarded this hotel with the â€Å"Travelers Choice Award† for 2014 and had ranked it as number 7 out of 324 hotels in Athens. Except the booking sites, New Hotel Athens heavily uses the social media for promotion and communication with the customers and the public. Political Just like law, changes in the general government policy can be well notified and discussed or changes without notice. Many organisations depends on the government financial assistance and if there is a change in the government policy, those funding can be reduced or to completely disappear. Also any political instability in the country, leads to destabilisation of the society and have repellent effect on the tourism. For example the recent political crisis in Greece and the rise of the radicalism had negative impact on the tourism as a whole. Some of the media even scared out the tourists with warnings of racist attacks (Hamilton Spectator 2012). Or the few cases when the strict immigrants policy mistreated few tourists by the police in Athens (BBC 2013). Demographic The population changes include increasing or decreasing of the population, change in the age group proportion, change in the ethnic diversity, change in the number of two-income families, number of marriages and geographic population distribution. All those changes affects the external environment of a business. Human resources, security and mentality wise. New Hotel Athens operates in quite diversive demographic environment that just adds to the colourfulness of the business. USING THEORETICAL MODELS TO SUPPORT THE DISCUSSION PORTERS 5 FORCES (MICRO ANALYSIS) Porter five forces analysis is a framework to analyze level of competition within an industry and business strategy development. It includes three forces from horizontal competition and two forces from vertical competition. Porter referred to these forces as the micro environment, to contrast it with the more general term macro environment (Porter 1980). The Porter’s Five Forces is a powerful and simple tool for understanding where the power lies in a business situation. Conventionally, the tool is used to identify whether new products, services or businesses have the potential to be profitable. However it can be very illuminating when used to understand the balance of power in other situations. Porter’s 5 Forces (Source Wikimedia) Supplier Power: The bargaining power of suppliers is also described as the market of inputs. Suppliers of components, raw materials, labor, and services to the firm can provide power over the firm when there are few or no substitutes. Suppliers may refuse to provide those supplies to the firm or charge high prices for the unique resources. Potential factors are: Supplier switching costs, supplier concentration, degree of differentiation, substitute, labor unions, supplier competition etc. New Hotel Athens, being part of the YES Hotels chat and part of Design Hotel chain, can maintain wide supply chain due to the dispersed suppliers connection of the sister companies and the mother company. If there is leak of supplies from one source, they can easily switch to other supplier connected to some of the other properties or globally with the mother company, Design Hotel Chain. From FB materials to technology. Though, thats not applicable to the suppliers who provide unique supplies to the hotels. Buyer Power: The bargaining power of customers, is described also as the market of outputs. It is the ability of customers to make a pressure over business, therefore to affects the customers sensitivity to price changes. The companies can take measures to reduce buyer power, such as introducing a loyalty program and promotions. If the buyer have many alternatives then his power is high and opposite. Potential factors for this are: buyer concentration, buyers switching costs, buyer information, substitute products, barganing leverage, buyers price sensitivity etc. Competitive Rivalry: For most of industries the intensity, competitive rivalry is the biggest determinant of the competitiveness of the industry. Potential factors includes: Innovation, advertising, competitive strategies, company concentration, degree of transparency etc. Threat of Substitution: The existence of different products that can satisfy the same need, can make the customers switch to alternatives. Potential factors here includes: the propensity to substitute, price performance of substitute, buyer switching costs, product differentiation, number of substitute products available, ease of substitution, quality depreciation etc. Threat of New Entry: Power is also influence by the ability of companies to enter the market. If it does not cost much time or money to enter the market and compete effectively, if there are few economies of scale in place, or if there is little protection of the key technologies, new competitors can quickly enter the market and weaken the existing business position.The following few factors can affect on how much new entrants can be a threat: existence of barriers to entry, government policy, capital requirements, absolute cost, economies of scale, product differentiation, brand equity, expected retaliation, access to distribution, customer loyalty, industry profitability etc. BASED ON THE ANALYSIS, FEW REALISTIC RECOMMENDATION FOR CHANGE Conducting macro and micro environmental analysis we can come up with some conclusion †¦

If Nas Ruled The World Essay

We have all fantasized about ruling the world In our free time. Whether you ruled wit an Iron fist or gave free Ice cream to your followers, everybody has rules differently. I n the song â€Å"If I Ruled The World† by Nas featuring Lauren Hill, Nas Imagines a world that ca n only be classified as â€Å"ghetto fabulous†. Although this song ideally disagrees with everything believe in, I support Nas idea of unity.The world that NAS speaks of is a place where y o can smoke weed â€Å"in the streets without the cops harassing†, â€Å"court without trial† and people e â€Å"more conscious of the way we raise our daughters†. This may sound like anarchy for the m cost part, but Nas speaks of a place like paradise for some. Nanas, formally known as Nas, was r eased in Queens, New York. This is shown evident from the song alone. Nas speaks of problem s that you would not find many other places other than the slums of New York.In the song he peaks of â€Å"W elfare†, â€Å"weed†, cocaine, â€Å"parole†, undercover cops, and the list continues. These Ideas may seem foreign, but Queens alone feels like a different world from the close by New York City. This is why I like this song. He did not attempt to speak politics or economy values when he showed us a glimpse of his hierarchy but he spoke of a world that Queens k new nothing about. Nanas spoke of a peaceful place. This song was an effective persuasive audio essay because he clearly stated his mall Idea, supported It, and reached the targeted audience.

The Story Of An Hour By Kate Chopin - 852 Words

Kate Chopin’s story â€Å"The Story of an Hour† reflects on gender roles and the love that has faded between married couples. The story introduces the main character Louise Mallard, who has heart disease, who receives dreadful news about Brently Mallard’s death. With her husband dead, she grieves, and shortly after locks herself away to meditate. While she isolates herself, something unexpected begins to rise from the back of her mind, and she finds herself believing that her husband’s death is a good thing. In addition, she reflects on her relationship with her husband and realizes that she was only being shackled by her husband’s will, which does not reflect the characteristics of a grieving person. After succumbing to this realization, she leaves from her isolation to find that her husband is still alive. She then dies shortly after. This analysis will explore why Louise feels the way she does even though she believes the man she married i s dead. Although the way Louise felt was atypical, it should not be a shock that Louise felt the way she did because people more often than not marry more for convenience rather than love. Perhaps a key element to better support this interpretation is the character herself. Chopin describes Louise as â€Å"young with a fair, calm face† (â€Å"The Story of an Hour,† 1894, para. 8) adding in the beginning that she â€Å"was afflicted with heart trouble† (â€Å"The Story of an Hour,† 1894, para. 9). Having in mind that the story is about love andShow MoreRelatedThe Story Of An Hour By Kate Chopin1241 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"The Story of an Hour† by Kate Chopin is a wonderful short story bursting with many peculiar twists and turns. Written in 1894, the author tells a tale of a woman who learns of her husband’s death, but comes to find pleasure in it. Many of the elements Kate Chopin writes about in this story symbolize something more tha n just the surface meaning. 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According to the quote, â€Å" But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought†, it lets us know thatRead MoreThe Story Of An Hour By Kate Chopin998 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"The story of an hour† by Kate Chopin was a story that was ironical yet profoundly deep. As a student I have been asked to read â€Å"a story of an hour† many times, and every time I’m surprised by how I enjoy it. People can read thousands of stories in their life times and only a handful will every stand out to them, stories that can draw out an emotion or spark a thought are the ones that will standout more. For me and â€Å"a story of an hour† the thought of freedom is what draws me the most as a teenageRead MoreThe Story Of An Hour By Kat e Chopin1542 Words   |  7 PagesIn the short story, â€Å"Story of an Hour†, Kate Chopin writes about a woman with heart trouble, Mrs. Mallard, who, in finding out about the death of her husband, Mr. Mallard, experiences some initial feelings of sadness which quickly transition into the exhilarating discovery of the idea of a newfound freedom lying in front of her. When it is later revealed that her husband is not actually dead, she realizes she will not get to taste that freedom. The devastation kills her. What Mrs. Mallard goes throughRead MoreThe Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin596 Words   |  2 PagesIn â€Å"The Story of an Hour,† Kate Chopin focuses on the idea of freedom throughout the story. Mrs. Mallard is a lonely wife who suffers from heart trouble. She is told by her sister Josephine and her husband’s friend Richards that her husband has passed away in a train accident. She locks herself in a room expecting to be devastated, but instead feels freedom. Later, she exits her room and her husband walks through the door, causing her to die of a heart attack. Chopin uses this story to demonstrateRead MoreThe Story Of An Hour By Kate Chopin886 Words   |  4 Pages In Kate Chopin â€Å"The Story of an Hour†, the reader is presented with the theme of prohibited independence. In Kate Chopin â€Å"The Storm†, the scenery in this story builds the perfect atmosphere for an adulterous affair. The importance of these stories is to understand the era they occurred. Kate Chopin wrote stories with exceptional openness about sexual desires. In â€Å"The Storm†, a short story written by Kate Chopin in a time when women were expected to act a certain way and sexual cravings was considered

Tips for Applying to Clinical Psychology PhD Programs

Clinical psychology is the most popular and competitive area of study in psychology, and arguably the most competitive of graduate programs in all social and hard sciences. Counseling psychology is a close second. If you hope to study either of these fields you must be on your game. Even the best applicants dont get into all of their top choices and some dont get into any. How do you improve your odds of gaining admission to a graduate program in clinical or counseling psychology? Obtain Excellent GRE Scores This one is a no-brainer. Your scores on the Graduate Record Exam will make or break your doctoral application in competitive fields like clinical and counseling psychology. High GRE scores are important because many clinical and counseling doctoral programs receive hundreds of applications. When a graduate program receives more than 500 applications, the admissions committee looks for ways to weed out applicants. GRE scores are a common way of narrowing the applicant pool. Excellent GRE scores not only gain you admittance to graduate school, but they may also get you funding. For example, applicants with high GRE quantitative scores might be offered teaching assistantships in statistics or a research assistantship with a faculty member. Get Research Experience Applicants to graduate school in clinical and counseling psychology need research experience. Many students believe that applied experience working with people will help their application. They look for internships, practica, and volunteer experiences. Unfortunately applied experience is useful only in small doses. Instead doctoral programs, specifically Ph.D. programs, look for research experience and research experience trumps all other extracurricular activities. Research experience is out of class experience conducting research under the supervision of a faculty member. It usually begins with working on a professors research. Volunteer to help in any way needed. This might include administering surveys, entering data, and looking up research articles. It often also includes tasks like copying and collating papers. Competitive applicants design and carry out independent studies under the supervision of a faculty member. Ideally, some of your research will be presented at undergraduate and regional conferences, and perhaps even published in an undergraduate journal. Understand the Value of Research Experience Research experience shows that you can think like a scientist, problem solve, and understand how to ask and answer scientific questions. Faculty look for students who show a good fit to their research interests, can contribute to their lab, and is competent. Research experience suggests a baseline skill level and is an indicator of your ability to succeed in the program and complete a dissertation. Some applicants gain research experience by earning a masters degree in a research-oriented field such as experimental psychology. This option often appeals to students with little preparation or low-grade point averages as supervised experience with a faculty member highlights your potential to become a researcher. Know the Field Not all clinical and counseling doctoral programs are the same. There are three classes of clinical and counseling doctoral programs: ScientistScientist-practitionerPractitioner-scholar They differ in the relative weight given to training in research and practice. Students in scientist programs earn PhDs and are trained exclusively as scientists; no training is offered in practice. Scientist-practitioner programs train students in both science and practice. Most students earn PhDs and are trained as scientists as well as practitioners and learn to apply scientific approaches and techniques to practice. Practitioner-scholar programs train students to be practitioners rather than researchers. Students earn a PsyD and receive extensive training in therapeutic techniques. Match the Program Know the difference between a Ph.D. and PsyD. Choose the type of program that youd like to attend, whether it emphasizes research, practice, or both. Do your homework. Know each graduate programs training emphases. Admissions committees look for applicants whose interests match their training emphases. Apply to a scientist program and explain that your professional goals lie in private practice and youll receive a rejection letter instantly. Ultimately you cannot control the admission committees decision, but you can choose a program that fits you well, and you present yourself in the best light possible.