The performance of the workers of the Hotel Victoria in Havana, mainly focused on business and leisure tourism, presents various problems that, due to the high degree of outdated strategy and other planning structures, it is concluded that there is no structured control system that acts on it, nor does it constitute a guide for the management of the company.
Given the situation, this work has been proposed to provide proposals for improvements to the problems posed in the hotel and a new strategic design in order to offer a better quality service through the analysis of its departments and other key areas that make up said installation, applying at the same time the scientific methods such as the interview to obtain different results. New strategies are also presented for the strategic business units and, finally, the proposal to undertake the new plan that must be executed in the company according to its objectives.
Key words: Objectives, strategies, planning and design.
Summary
The performance of the workers in Hotel Victoria located in Havana, principally aimed at business and leisure tourism, presents diverse problems that due to the high rate of nonupgraded strategy and structures of the strategic planning it's been concluded that there's not such a system of structured control which acts over itself or constit a managing guide for the company. The purpose of this project work is to afford suggestions for improving the problems already said in the hotel, a new strategic design and therefore to offer a better quality service due to the analysis of its departments and other key areas that constitute the hotel, doing at the same time the scientific methods like the interview and an opinion poll or survey, with the goal of obtaining the different results we are supposed to find.It's also presented new strategies for the business strategic units and finally give a proposal for setting out the new plan that the company should use in the future.
Key words: Goals, strategies, planning and desig
Introduction
The Caribbean preserves virgin areas, but Cuba's insular condition makes it extremely vulnerable. We have beautiful landscapes, but we lack abundant water resources. While the Mediterranean tradition still evokes the glories of a dilapidated Parthenon and the infinite management of the Egyptian Pyramids, victims of neo-colonial perspectives, culture does not enjoy similar recognition. Exoticism always maintains a component of underestimation and our residents have suffered on the psychological level from this conditioning. The entertainment industry has grown in the last half century, when "the Commander arrived and he stopped." The hotels that multiplied in Havana were the coverage of gambling dens, meeting points of a qualified prostitution and business centers of an expanding mafia.At that time, a master plan for the development of Havana was designed, which articulated interests of various kinds. Insufficient space provided for that predatory universe, a floating island would be built in front of the Malecon, complemented by the gentle hills that shape the profile of the city towards its geographical center, the current Plaza de la Revolución. The country's capital, jewel in the crown of history and culture, would be irreparably dismembered.jewel in the crown in history and culture, it would be irreparably dismembered.jewel in the crown in history and culture, it would be irreparably dismembered.
For a country like ours, lacking great mining wealth, tourism is a source of income of indisputable importance. The challenge is to design strategies that enhance their development possibilities in favor of the nation, culturally and humanly, because the soul of the nation resides in the virtues of our people. The emerging demand for a large-scale project focused on gambling in favor of the advantages of the availability of sun and sand, must be accompanied by an analysis of the risks involved, in order to prepare the essential counterparts. It is convenient to discard the notion of the leisure industry and bear in mind that the fashion of beach enjoyment may be temporary. The fortress resides in the condition of a large island, endowed with a multiplicity of possible options,many of them founded on a cultural and historical tradition, as well as on the possibility of proposing designs oriented towards the valuation of good living, latent in large and small cities, in the varied landscape environment and in the survival of little-explored corners made to the measure of the human being and with a deep look inside.
Mass tourism has been the preferred way for the tourism industry to increase productivity and profit. But the environment changed dramatically. And tourism in its transformation is demanding forms of planning, organization and management that, while pursuing more productivity and effectiveness, maintain principles of high quality, flexibility, development integrated with the environment, the objective focused on the client, and innovation and high quality. as a paradigm. The practice is then oriented towards strategic and operational planning.
It is necessary to study the strategic planning of the Hotel Victoria taking into account the increase in competitiveness in the place where it is located, given the variety of hotels located in the area such as Capri, Focsa and Vedado, focused on it. market segment. The increase in the offer for clients makes it necessary to study the key factors of success, identified by the Key Result Areas that the hotel owns, as well as proper planning aimed at achieving the entity's supreme objective.
Evolution of concepts associated with Strategic Management.
The concept of Strategy derives from the military field and comes from the Greek word "strategos", which means "head of an army", which is equivalent to speaking of "commander" in the military hierarchy, and it is appropriate to refer to whoever is in charge of a group of people whom he directs, duly trained to achieve specific objectives. This concept is applied in the Strategic Administration when it refers to business organizations, in the sense of jointly adapting resources and capacities of them to a permanently variable environment, in which said organization performs. (Andrews, 1976).
Regarding the first authors to coin the concept of Strategy, one of the most important is Peter Drucker, who points out that the term Strategy refers to a process that includes the space that an organization must cover, from the business in which the present is and where it should be, according to the planning carried out for a certain period of future time, (Drucker, 1980)
There are many authors who must be recognized as classics in the development of the concept of Strategy, including: Andrews (1965), Ansoff (1965), who focus attention on the set of objectives, goals, plans and policies that a company it must implement, in order to achieve these purposes in a period of time, and focus on central aspects of the business in which a company operates. Another author, who can also be considered a classic in matters of Business Strategy, Chandler, A. 1962, makes an important contribution to the development of the concept when he concludes that the main role of the Strategy of a company is indelibly linked to the structure of a company. organization, ultimately concluding that the structure must be in line and follow the Strategy that an organization has defined.
Various authors differentiate the evolution of the Strategic Administration, identifying a first stage of beginnings and advances between the 1960s and 1990s (Hermida, Serra, Kastika, (1992). They make it appear that ideas about the concepts of Strategy can be visualized as belonging to two areas, which they call "hard" and "soft", belonging to the first area concepts related to market problems, competition and also to those related to the characteristics of the environment that is faced, such as growth, decline, recession, and turbulence As belonging to the second area, topics related to the participation and creativity of the management team, people's behavior, motivation towards achievements and characteristics of a given company are mentioned.
The business strategy aims to explain or detail the company's great options that will guide, decisively, the company's decisions on activities and organizational structures, and also establish a frame of reference in which all the actions that the company will undertake during a certain period of time.
For this reason, the strategy takes on its meaning within the strategic planning defined by some authors as “the rational analysis of the opportunities and threats that the environment presents for the company, of the strengths and weaknesses of the company against this environment., and the selection of the strategic commitment between these two elements, which best meets the aspirations of managers in relation to the company.
The Strategic Direction deals with the direction of the organizations. While its origin is located in practice, its progress depends on the construction of theories that help explain and predict organizational success and failure. It is grouped into three major periods: First Theories on Strategic Management, Strategic Management and Economics, and the Resource-Based Vision of the Company. This discipline has moved from an approach based on the internal aspects of the company, to one based on external aspects, from a particular approach at the company level, to a general approach at the level of groups of companies or industries; from qualitative methods, to quantitative methods.
Despite this, it can be seen that over time, increasingly sophisticated models have been developed that allow us to better understand, explain and predict the phenomena that occur in organizations.
Among the first relevant works in strategic management are Ansoff's Leadership in Administration, Strategy and Structure, Corporate Strategy (1965).
In general, the approach used by these first authors was normative or prescriptive, using the case study as the first tool. The first two did not seek generalization, instead Chandler sought it using induction (Rumelt, Schendel, and Teece, 1991).
Many of the early works conceived of organizations as closed systems. However, business in all organizations is open systems (Thompson, 1967), therefore, the open system approach is necessary to study strategy.
The need for a stronger foundation and empirical evidence for the theory led in another sense to research. Thus, the studies on strategy moved towards the use of economic theory. Schendel and Hatten (1972) argued the need for a new vision of strategic direction emphasized by the development of a new theory, from which hypotheses were derived and empirically tested.
Today, Strategic Management encompasses a greater number of internal factors such as the organizational structure, leadership, culture, human resources and their coordination and mobilization, and external factors such as the characteristics of the competition, the structure of the sector, general economic conditions, the evolution of technology.
Therefore, the strategic direction appears with the objective of covering the entire strategic problem, where the business strategy formulation phase basically includes the strategic planning approach, although expanding the scope of the analysis from the hard (technical) variables. -economic) to soft variables (socio-political and cultural).
Strategic management refers to making decisions about the most important problems that arise in an organization, but it must also seek to formulate a strategy and put it into practice.
Strategic planning. Concepts
Strategic planning appears as only a partial attack on the strategic problem in that the analysis of the environment is based on economic and technological variables, ignoring the psychosocial-political variables, since both social and political dynamics are considered irrelevant and unaffected, when it turns out that these variables have and will have an increasingly real importance; attention is focused on company-environment relations, under a basic hypothesis that the internal configuration of the company will remain essentially unchanged, instead of proposing the necessary internal structural changes; the emphasis is placed on the formulation of the strategy, assuming that the organization will continue, thus not caring about the necessary conditions for the realization of the formulated strategy,as well as its own execution and control, when precisely a bad execution can mean the failure of the best strategy.
Strategic planning is an ongoing process that requires constant feedback on how strategies are working. In the private sector, organizations have signs of their performance through clear indicators, such as profits, returns on investment, sales, etc. The indicators provide valuable information for decision-making regarding the course of the strategies, validating them or showing the need to make an adjustment. In public organizations, the signals are not so clear, and the design of indicators to monitor the course of the strategies is a permanent challenge.
When we talk about strategic planning, it refers to the big decisions, to the establishment of the Strategic Objectives that allow the Mission and Vision to materialize. Therefore, Strategic Planning is the basis or framework for establishing mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating these objectives, that is, management control cannot be carried out without a prior strategic planning process.
The mission is a description of the organization's reason for being, establishes its
Institutional “task”, the goods and services it provides, the main functions that distinguish it and make it different from other institutions and justify its existence.
The vision corresponds to the desired future of the organization. It refers to how the entity wants to be recognized, represents the values on which its public actions will be based.
Strategic objectives
The strategic objectives are the achievements that the public entity, ministry or organ, hopes to achieve within a certain period (greater than one year), in order to fulfill its mission efficiently and effectively.
The strategic objectives constitute the next step to be defined, once the Mission has been established. The question to answer is:
- Where do we want to go? What results do we hope to achieve?
In the results-based budget methodology defined by General Accounting
Office of the USA, it is established that the Strategic Objectives describe a specific level of commitment within a certain purpose or mission. In this way, the Strategic Objectives help measure whether the overall purpose is being met or not.
From the different definitions of strategic objectives used in the methodological manuals of various countries8, it is possible to distinguish the following characteristics:
- They are directly linked to the mission. They are oriented to define the expected results to achieve the mission in a given period of time. They express the relevant or critical variables of the expected performance and these are the basis for the definition of indicators of final result or impact. They constitute the main instrument to establish the preferred courses of action in a determined term (generally in the medium term), on which the great items of the necessary resources are established.
A fundamental step that the Strategic Planning methodology provides for the definition of the Strategic Objectives has to do with the old and classic analysis of the external environment and the internal environment, or also called “SWOT”. This basically consists of an analysis of the institutional gaps that must be intervened by the entity to achieve the objectives. They may be the product of organizational weaknesses, or of eventual gaps that will arise to face new challenges. This SWOT analysis allows a dynamic diagnosis of the institution. The important thing to keep in mind is that before committing to obtaining a type of result, it is essential to analyze whether the organization will be in a position to take on this challenge.
If we start from the basis that the Strategic Objectives are the statement of what results we want to achieve as an organization to fulfill the mission, which confronts the need to address certain institutional and financial restrictions, or how to take advantage of certain conditions favorable to the entity to optimize the achievement of these results.
Formulation of strategies for strategic business units
When an organization is in several different businesses, planning can be facilitated by creating strategic business units. A strategic business unit (UEN) represents a single business or a group of related businesses, that is, it is a set of activities or businesses homogeneous from a strategic point of view for which it is possible to formulate a common strategy and in turn different from the appropriate strategy for other activities and / or strategic units. The strategy of each unit is itself autonomous, although not independent of those of the other strategic units since they are integrated into the company's strategy. Each UEN will have its own distinctive mission and different competitors. This allows the UEN to have a strategy independent of the other businesses of the larger organization.
Functional strategy. The strategy at the functional level seeks to answer the question: how can we support the strategy at the business level? For organizations with traditional functional departments such as production, marketing, human resources, research and development, and finance, these strategies should support the strategy at the business level. At this third and last level the question is how to use and apply the resources and skills within each functional area existing in each activity or each strategic unit, in order to maximize the productivity of those resources.
There are two approaches or purposes of the strategic business units
1.- In one case they can be considered as units of analysis, created to facilitate reflection, which are expected to better define the competitive strategy that may be most successful in each type of activity or business. We can call this approach to defining the UEN “strategy formulation”, as this aspect predominates in their establishment.
2.- According to the other approach, the UEN are considered as organizational units, with their own activities and functions related to a set of businesses that present sufficient strategic homogeneity. In this way of understanding the UEN
We will call it "implementation of strategies", since it is the organizational support on which the strategy is developed that matters.
The approach or approach of the UEN as units of strategy formulation arises initially as a response to the need to rethink the strategic planning process and, therefore, with a clearly oriented purpose for that purpose. The UENs are the main ingredient of the well-known portfolio matrices, which were so successful in the 1970s for strategic planning in diversified companies.
This approach, oriented towards the formulation of strategies, is justified by the non-existence of a global competitive position in diversified companies but rather different competitive positions for each activity, because each activity is carried out in a different competitive environment and requires different competencies for what requires different decisions.
Types of strategies
Strategies according to the life cycle of the company
It is indicated that the company goes through successive stages (growth, maturity or stability and decline); This does not make it impossible for any company to remain indefinitely in any of them if it designs and uses the appropriate strategy. In this situation we are talking about growth strategies and stability and survival strategies.
1) Growth strategies. They can be developed through internal growth, that is, by resorting to investment in new production equipment, new facilities, etc., or by resorting to external growth, that is, acquisition, merger or other alternatives. We distinguish:
- Stable growth strategies. They are conservative, continuous and defensive strategies without the intention of increasing market share. The growth rate is the same as in previous years. Growth strategies. These strategies, contrary to the previous ones, are more oriented to increase the participation of companies in the market or markets in which it operates, to extend their scope of action to other markets and / or to equip the company with new products.
The diversification strategy supposes for the company the development of new products for the markets in which it already operates, the commercialization of the current products in new markets, or the development of new products for new markets.
With the vertical integration strategy, the company seeks to grow by expanding its range of activities, maintaining its current products or services. In short, the company would develop activities before or after the activities of the value chain of the products necessary to obtain the products or services that it commercializes and that are not currently carried out by it.
2) Stability and survival strategies.
- Sanitation strategy. We will apply them in phases of instability to try to stop the drop in sales and profits, increasing the efficiency of the company and improving its economic and financial situation. To this end, we proceed: to the substitution of senior management, to the suppression of some assets or the use of these in other activities seeking greater efficiency. Harvesting strategy. When the situation of a company is relatively good despite suffering a decline in its sales, but without reaching negative results and insolvency situations, it is convenient to implement this type of strategy, which basically consists of reducing investments in those little or not profitable activities,reducing costs and generating liquidity that will be used to clean up the company and restart growth. Divestment and liquidation strategy. This strategy must be implemented when the two strategies mentioned above prove ineffective, aggravating the situation of the company and will consist of the sale of parts of the company, proceeding with an internal restructuring, in order to subsequently restart an activity. from a much smaller dimension. This liquidation of activities will allow reducing costs, facing the payment of debts and even making new investments seeking greater efficiency. In the worst case, these strategies serve for a total, more or less progressive liquidation of the company.This strategy must be implemented when the two strategies mentioned above prove ineffective, aggravating the situation of the company and will consist of the sale of parts of the company, proceeding with an internal restructuring, in order to subsequently restart an activity. from a much smaller dimension. This liquidation of activities will allow reducing costs, facing the payment of debts and even making new investments seeking greater efficiency. In the worst case, these strategies serve for a total, more or less progressive liquidation of the company.This strategy must be implemented when the two strategies mentioned above prove ineffective, aggravating the situation of the company and will consist of the sale of parts of the company, proceeding with an internal restructuring, in order to subsequently restart an activity. from a much smaller dimension. This liquidation of activities will allow reducing costs, facing the payment of debts and even making new investments seeking greater efficiency. In the worst case, these strategies serve for a total, more or less progressive liquidation of the company.giving an aggravation in the situation of the company and will consist of the sale of parts of the company, proceeding to an internal restructuring, in order to subsequently restart an activity from a much smaller dimension. This liquidation of activities will allow reducing costs, facing the payment of debts and even making new investments seeking greater efficiency. In the worst case, these strategies serve for a total, more or less progressive liquidation of the company.giving an aggravation in the situation of the company and will consist of the sale of parts of the company, proceeding to an internal restructuring, in order to subsequently restart an activity from a much smaller dimension. This liquidation of activities will allow reducing costs, facing the payment of debts and even making new investments seeking greater efficiency. In the worst case, these strategies serve for a total, more or less progressive liquidation of the company.In the worst case, these strategies serve for a total, more or less progressive liquidation of the company.In the worst case, these strategies serve for a total, more or less progressive liquidation of the company.
Competitive strategies
Its purpose is to ensure the company a sustainable and lasting competitive advantage, compared to the competitive forces of a specific market.
- Cost leadership strategy. It consists of manufacturing one or more products incurring lower costs than the competition, although aspects such as quality, service, etc. cannot be completely neglected. Differentiation strategy. This strategy consists of offering a product that the consumer considers different from those offered by the competitors, which moves him to pay a higher price for it. With this strategy, the company manages to isolate itself from competitive rivalry due to customer loyalty and the lower sensitivity to the resulting price. Approach strategy or high segmentation. It will consist of focusing on a specific group of clients or on a certain geographical area.Limited the scope of its competition, this strategy can be, in turn, cost leadership or differentiation with the usual advantages and disadvantages that both strategies present.
The generic value chain
The tool for internal analysis of each strategic analysis unit that Porter proposes is the value chain. The strengths and weaknesses of the unit cannot be understood by looking at the unit of analysis as a whole; to be able to isolate them, it is necessary to examine each and every one of the activities to perform the production function, in a broad sense, activity, in a systematic way, to analyze, in each link of that value chain, performance in comparative terms to performance from the rest of the companies with units operating in the sector, the possibility of achieving competitive advantages, either by lower cost or by differentiation. The value of the product is the amount that buyers are willing to pay the company for what it provides. Create value for buyers,so that the value generated exceeds the cost of achieving it, is the goal of any generic strategy, whether it is based on achieving low cost or seeking differentiation.
In competitive terms, value is the amount that buyers who are willing to pay for what a company provides. Thus, value is measured by total income. A company is profitable if the value it imposes exceeds the costs involved in creating the product. Each value activity uses a wide variety of resources, which can range from the consumption of raw materials or the use of human resources, to the application of some type of technology to perform its function, and at the same time create a value that contributes to the Chain Total value. The difference between the cost of the inputs used in each activity and the value created is the profit margin corresponding to that activity.
To identify value activities, it is necessary to isolate those of a purely technological and strategic nature. Valuable activities rarely match accounting classifications. These group activities with different technologies and separate the costs that are part of the same activity.
Primary activities: Activities involved in the physical creation of the product, its sale and transfer to the buyer. There are five generic categories of primary activities related to competition in any industry.
- Inbound logistics. Includes activities related to the receipt, storage and distribution of product inputs: material handling, warehousing, inventory control, vehicle scheduling, and returns to suppliers. Activities by which inputs are transformed into the final product: machining, packaging, assembly, equipment maintenance, testing, printing and plant operations. Output logistics. Activities by which the product is obtained, stored and distributed among the clients: storage of finished products, material handling, delivery vehicle operation, order processing and programming, marketing and sales.Activities through which the means are created that allow the customer to buy the product and the company to induce them to do so: advertising, promotion, sales force, quotes, channel selection, channel relationships, and pricing. Includes activities for which A service is provided that enhances or preserves the value of the product, installation, repair, training, parts supply and adjustment of the product.
Support activities for values. Those others that provide the productive factors (materials, technology and workforce) and the infrastructure necessary for the normal operation of the primary schools.
- Acquisition: Function of buying the inputs that will be used in the value chain, not from them. Here are some of them: raw materials, supplies and other consumable components, as well as assets such as machinery, laboratory equipment, office equipment and buildings. Although these inputs can be associated with primary activities, they are related to values, including support values. Technological Development. Any value-related activity comprises the technology, practical procedures, methods, or technology integrated into the process team.
o Human resources administration. This function is made up of activities related to the recruitment, hiring, training, development and compensation of all types of personnel. Supports primary and support activities and the entire value chain. Human resources activities are carried out in various parts of the organization. o Organizational infrastructure. It consists of several activities, including: general administration, planning, finance, accounting, administration of legal aspects, government affairs, and quality administration. Unlike other support activities, it usually supports the entire chain and not individual activities. In the diversified company,Infrastructure-related activities are often repeated between the business unit and the corporate levels.
Types of activity
Within each category of primary and support activities, there are three types of activity that play a different role in competitive advantage:
- Activities directly involved in creating value for the buyer, such as assembly, part machining, sales force operation, advertising, product design, search, etc. Activities that make it possible to carry out direct activities on a continuous basis such as maintenance, scheduling, facility operation, sales force management, research management, vendor registration, etc. Quality assurement. Activities that ensure the quality of other activities, such as monitoring, inspection, testing, revision, adjustment and reworking. Quality assurance is not synonymous with quality management, because many value activities contribute to quality.
Value Analysis is an approach that will allow in the stage of Analysis
Internal, identify the activities that provide value to the product or service
(strengths) and analogously, determine the corresponding weaknesses. Three stages can be distinguished in this Value Analysis process: First, organizational charts must be prepared that reflect the occupation of each person, the quantification of the function, the performance of the function and the contribution of the function. This produces an information flow diagram and a work flow diagram. Second, relative data on the costs of each function must be compared with the criteria of "value" - price, degree of desirability, and utility. And third, extract recommendations regarding what was analyzed.
Finally, it can be said that the Value Chain Analysis highlights the role that IT plays or could play in transforming the input into the final product. In this way, the company can begin to understand how much it depends on technology and what is the challenge that is imposed on the strategy to improve the current situation or just maintain the strategic position achieved until then. It also allows identifying and analyzing strategically relevant activities to obtain some "competitive advantage".
Competitive Profile Matrix
The competitive profile matrix is a tool that compares the company and its rivals and reveals its relative strengths and weaknesses.
In order to better understand the external environment and competition in a particular industry, companies often use it. The matrix identifies a company's main competitors and compares them through the use of critical success factors in the industry. The analysis also reveals the strengths and weaknesses as opposed to the competitors, therefore the company would know, which areas should be improved and which areas to protect.
Critical Success Factors (FCE) are the key areas, which must be brought to the highest possible level of excellence if the company wants to succeed in a particular industry. These factors vary between different industries or even between different strategic groups and include both internal and external factors. In the example, 11 FCEs have been included, which is usually not enough.
Each critical success factor must have a relative weight that ranges from 0.0 (little importance) to 1.0 (high importance). The number indicates the importance of the factor in the industry. If there were no weights assigned, all factors would be equally important, which is an impossible scenario in the real world. The sum of all the weights must be equal to 1.0. Independent factors should not be given too much emphasis (assigning a weight of 0.3 or more) because success in an industry is rarely determined by one or a few factors.
The rating on the matrix refers to how well companies are doing in each area. They range from 4 to 1, where 4 means great strength, 3 - minor strength, 2 - minor weakness and 1 - great weakness. Valuations, as well as weights, are subjectively assigned to each company. This process can be made easier through benchmarking. Benchmarking reveals how well companies are doing compared to each other or the industry average. Remember that parent companies can be assigned equal ratings by the same factor.
Methodological stages of research
In the present investigation the “Victoria” hotel is characterized, since the investigation carried out is descriptive. In addition, a “quantitative” and “qualitative” analysis is reflected to obtain primary information.
In the same way, according to the methodological strategy addressed, it can be classified as "action research", because it is based on the reality existing in the hotel to diagnose its situation and be able to adequately influence that reality.
Taking into account the analyzed information, the present investigation is classified as
“Mixed”, because primary sources of information are used: interviews, surveys and direct observation, and secondary consultation and review of documentary information to characterize the object of investigation.
Methods and techniques used
Methodological procedure used in the investigation:
Stage 1. Theoretical foundation of the research
A review of scientific articles, scientific books was used to find bibliographic information that supports the subject matter of the object of study, both theoretical and conceptual.
Theoretical methods:
- Analysis-synthesis: It allowed the evaluation of the specialized bibliography linked to the subject, as well as reaching conclusions Inductive-deductive: It was present in all the research in the search for a solution to the existing problem. of the investigation. Historical-logical : It allowed analyzing the evolution of the concepts associated with the Strategic Direction.
Stage 2: Characterization of the "Victoria" hotel.
The "Victoria" hotel was characterized. For this, the theoretical methods stated in the previous stage were used.
In addition, the documentary analysis was carried out, for which the Manual of
Procedures of the hotel "Victoria", and its occupation records.
An interview was conducted with department managers by second-year students from the Faculty of Tourism at the University of Havana, to confirm compliance with the declared values, and the administrative aspects included in the procedure manual and receive information related to the characteristics of human resources.
Stage 3: Evaluation of the attributes with respect to the Strategic Planning of the "Victoria" hotel.
Observation, interview and survey were the empirical research methods used to assess the current situation of the hotel.
Observation: It was applied with the purpose of analyzing the elements of the Generic Value Chain.
Interviews:
They facilitated obtaining reliable information on the research topics. Personal communication was established between the interviewer and the interviewee.
Semi-structured interviews were applied, that is, a guide to questions with the fundamental aspects that you want to know, although the way of formulating them was not standardized.
Surveys:
They were applied to determine the satisfaction of the external client, according to their perception of the quality of the product-service, identifying a stratified sample of 15 people. The questionnaire is shown in Annex 2, taking into account the variables Installation, offer, service through the aspects related to contact personnel and the value for money.
Techniques used to determine the competitive situation:
Prior to the preparation of the competitive profile matrix, a characterization of the entity in relation to its environment was carried out.
Analysis of the value chain
The analysis was carried out following the methodology proposed by Porter:
- Analyze the capabilities that the firm can control and in which it must excel to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Development of a competitive profile measuring business strengths and weaknesses against each of the most important competitors. Summary of the identification of the general strengths and weaknesses
The analysis of the value chain leads to the examination of the activities and sub-activities of the company in order to:
- Minimize or eliminate unnecessary expenses that do not add value to the client. Promote activities that add value and sources of differentiation. Coordinate processes and activities in an integrated way. Find sources of differentiation that can provide competitive advantages.
Preparation of the competitive profile matrix:
It was used for the identification and evaluation of the objectives, strategies, weaknesses and strengths of the competitors, since it is considered the most important part of the strategy formulation process. It is an "entry" tool that summarizes decisive information about competitors.
For its construction, the identification of the key success factors of the Victoria hotel was carried out as part of the procedure, then a search was made for competitors who are in the same market segment, offering the same products at similar prices and potential customers. they are identified equally. Subsequently, the competitive profile matrix was prepared with the aim of identifying the entity's main competitors, as well as their particular strengths and weaknesses, in relation to a sample of its strategic position.
The summation of each competitor was made and they were evaluated as very strong (those that are near rating 4) to the strong ones (those that are close to rating 3); the least weak (those who are close to rating 2), and the weak (those who are close to rating 1).
Stage 4: Global analysis of the results as a basis for the proposed strategy.
The factors that negatively affect the current competitive situation of the hotel were identified, after a comprehensive analysis of the results obtained from the different methods and techniques used.
Finally, strategies by Strategic Business Units and action plans that will improve your competitive situation.
Discussion of results
- Characterization of the Hotel Victoria.
Located in the heart of Vedado, by displaying its fiction and being right about its location in the so-called "Paso de los vientos" of the eastern end, placing it as a Manor House on Calle M and 19 in Vedado, where the outdoors of the Hotel Victoria is struck by something akin to the searing Simun wind. Its construction began in 1925 and culminated in 1928. The construction of the building corresponded to the time and was decorated in a colonial style. The Hotel was inaugurated on July 14, 1930 with the name of Hotel Residencial Vedado due to its location in the area, a residential place near the most important establishments of the time. It was rented by the American couple that were Mr. Ricardo Parra and Mrs. Sinsa Chuman, of American nationality.Its first use was as a guest house with special characteristics, since they had a car in which they transported their tenants to the airport, excursions, etc. This couple made great profits in their hotel business and they tried to continue reaping good customers until the moment they decide to withdraw from the company and go to their country.
- Strategic guidelines.
Mission: According to the specialists of the entity.
¨We are a City Hotel that has a professional staff committed to satisfying the tastes and demands of customers, ensuring in our service a friendly and personalized service in an intimate, comfortable and safe environment¨.
In the authors' opinion, the mission statement of the Victoria hotel does not fully reflect the entity's reason for being or aspiration that could lead it to achieve customer identification. Nor does it make clear the scope of the business, because it does not state what kind of needs they satisfy, nor the technology they have, since it is neither concrete nor objective. It does not specify in the market segments in which the entity competes, so it does not respond correctly to the essential variables for its preparation, say: customers, product-service, technology; which decisively influences the design of the offer, implementation of the service and marketing of the hotel.
Mission Proposal for the Victoria Hotel
´´We are the four-star city hotel Hotel Victoria, with a perfect location in the heart of the Vedado residential area, therefore we focus on a segment of businessmen, leisure and other events with a highly personalized service in an intimate, comfortable and safe environment that provides guests with a pleasant and relaxing stay, with a professional staff committed to satisfying the tastes and demands of customers. " Vision: According to the entity's specialists.
"To be recognized for the excellence of the services offered, materialized in the daily management with personalized attention that satisfies the most demanding clients in a distinguished, welcoming and calm environment".
In the authors' opinion, the written vision lacks some decisive elements such as: the image that they want clients to have about the entity; The transformations necessary to achieve that desired state are not specified. All of the above linked to the lack of horizons and real time forecast periods for its materialization.
Vision proposal for the Victoria hotel
"To be recognized as the flagship city hotel in Cuba, for offering an excellent service for businessmen, leisure and other events with great professionalism and familiarity."
Strategic objectives of the entity (2017-2020).
- Guarantee the permanent elevation of the revolutionary morale of the staff and workers of the Hotel. Promote the differentiated and personalized attention of the clients, capable of satisfying the most demanding markets. Achieve raising the satisfaction of the External and Internal Clients exceeding their expectations, creating for This is a favorable work climate. Achieve a high motivation of all the members of the organization involving them in the process of continuous improvement. Guarantee a sustained growth of Economic and Financial Management. Own a Human Capital management system based on the Management by values. Having an accounting system and a degree of automation that faithfully reflects management and guarantees agile and effective operation. Make training a process of continuous improvement.Achieve full exploitation of the installed and existing capacities in the organization.
When analyzing the exposed objectives, it could be seen that they do not meet all the requirements established for their design, which hinders their execution and control, since these objectives ultimately become actions. They are nominal medium-term objectives, tasks and general instructions, rather than strategic objectives, since they do not emerge as a result of their direct link with the survival and prosperity of the organization, nor from the key result areas. They are not a product of the real needs and perspectives of the entity, nor of its workers, for the achievement of the vision, but rather of the demands of the superior organisms; and therefore the level of involvement of workers with them is very low. In addition to the fact that some of these objectives are not consistent with the basic strategic categories (mission, vision,values, key factors, etc.), nor do they respond to a systemic approach. They also have a market focus aimed at growth in shares, focused on the penetration of new market segments.
Shared values:
To obtain the shared values of the hotel, a questionnaire (see annex 1) was used for a sample of 20 hotel workers, since it yielded the following result:
Shared values:
Professional ethics, empathy, attitude for service, honesty, modesty, responsibility, positive attitude, pride of belonging to the group
Shared values allow us to mark the way forward, they indicate to the members of the organization what is expected of them, influencing the environment and being a way to foster group spirit.
- Victoria hotel value chain.
The Victoria hotel has not created its value chain, so the authors propose it according to the entity's strengths and weaknesses, extracted from the SWOT matrix analysis.
Table 1 Value Chain Proposal for the Victoria Hotel.
| Infrastructure
Address |
||||||
| -Inadequate structure and direction in relation to the strategy. -Efficient purchasing management | -Integration to
Chain Policy |
-Limited decision-making power over sales policy | - Promotion decision-making power | -Horizontal structure
adequate - Management not focused on strategies. -Information flow Suitable for everyone the levels |
||
| Human Resources | ||||||
| -Experience of workers and knowledge of brand standards.
-Working environment satisfactory |
-No training of contact personnel.
-Enough staff |
-Staff with skills | -They do not adequately master languages | -Inadequate staff to provide personalized service | ||
| Technology | ||||||
| -Need to
Modern kitchen equipment |
-Laundry equipment in poor condition -Computer Security in the hotel | -Online sales. | -Promotion through the Website of the
Hotel and Chain |
-Updated hotel management system | ||
| Supplies | ||||||
| -Instability of
Providers |
-Shortages of gastronomic products | -Diversification of distribution channels | -Promotion | -Low stock of some products | ||
| Internal logistics | Operations | External logistics | Marketing | Service | ||
| -Stock inventory | control | of | -The operations of the areas are guaranteed | -High occupancy rates | -Advertising efficiency
-Promotional efficiency -Depth in the markets |
-Need for more
Gastronomic and other services at night |
Legend: - Strengths - Weaknesses
- Competitive Profile Matrix
Table 2 Competitive Profile Matrix Result
| Victoria Hotel | Capri Hotel | Focsa Hotel | Vedado Hotel | ||||||
| Key factors of success | Pe
SW |
Classification | Pond Weight
era |
Classification | Pond Weight
era |
Classification | Pond Weight
era |
Classification | Pond Weight
era |
| Product quality | 0.
08 |
3 | 0.24 | 3 | 0.24 | two | 0.16 | two | 0.16 |
| Quality of service | 0.
12 |
3 | 0.36 | 3 | 0.36 | two | 0.24 | two | 0.24 |
| Room comfort | 0.
14 |
two | 0.28 | 3 | 0.42 | two | 0.28 | two | 0.28 |
| Competi
price activity |
0.
06 |
two | 0.12 | two | 0.12 | two | 0.12 | two | 0.12 |
| Efficiency
ia publicit aria |
0.
13 |
3 | 0.39 | 4 | 0.54 | 3 | 0.39 | one | 0.13 |
| Technological capacity | 0.
07 |
two | 0.14 | 3 | 0.21 | two | 0.14 | one | 0.07 |
| Financial position | 0.
03 |
3 | 0.09 | 3 | 0.09 | 3 | 0.09 | two | 0.06 |
| Market share
or |
0.
17 |
two | 0.34 | 4 | 0.68 | two | 0.34 | one | 0.17 |
| Online sale | 0.
04 |
3 | 0.12 | 4 | 0.16 | two | 0.08 | one | 0.04 |
| Variety of distribution channels | 0.
16 |
3 | 0.48 | 3 | 0.48 | two | 0.32 | two | 0.32 |
| Total | one.
00 |
2.56 | 3.28 | 2.16 | 1.59 |
Source: self made
After identifying the key success factors through the Key Result Areas given by the hotel and comparing its competitors, the following analysis was reached (see Table 2).
The Hotel Victoria presents a good position in the market compared to its main competitors, the Hotel Capri being the strongest thanks to its advertising efficiency, online sales and market share. The Vedado Hotel turned out to be the weakest of the competitors due to its advertising deficiency, technological capacity, market share and online sales. Focsa presents advertising and financing efficiency as strengths, being threatened by the Hotel Victoria, which presents deficiencies in price competitiveness, technological capacity, market share and the variety of distribution channels. However, it has strengths in the rest of the key success factors (See Table 3).
Table 3 Justification of weights.
| Key success factor | Victoria Hotel | Capri Hotel | Focsa Hotel | Vedado Hotel |
| Product quality | Acceptable quality through the years
3 |
Acceptable quality through the years
3 |
Medium quality
two |
Medium quality
two |
| Quality of service | Acceptable quality through the years
3 |
Acceptable quality through the years
3 |
Medium quality
two |
Medium quality
two |
| Room comfort | Comfortable
3 |
Comfortable
3 |
Uncomfortable
two |
Uncomfortable
two |
| Price competitiveness | Prices are similar for all products, are similarly set by the market
two |
Prices are similar for all products, are similarly set by the market
two |
Prices are similar for all products, are similarly set by the market
two |
Prices are similar for all products, are similarly set by the market
two |
| Efficiency | Efficient | Very efficient | Efficient | Deficient |
| advertising | 3 | 4 | 3 | one |
| Technological capacity | Standard technology
two |
High Tech
3 |
Standard technology
two |
Low Tech
one |
| Financial position | It has a stable financial position for its years of permanence in the market
3 |
It has a stable financial position for its years of permanence in the market
3 |
It has a stable financial position for its years of permanence in the market
3 |
It has a low financial position despite its years of permanence in the market
two |
| Market share | Low market share
two |
High participation of
market 4 |
Low market share
two |
Very low market share
one |
| Online sale | Standard sale for your own online site for sale
3 |
High sale
4 |
Low sale
two |
Low sales
one |
| Variety of distribution channels | Standard variety of distribution channels
3 |
Standard variety of distribution channels
3 |
Low variety of distribution channels
two |
Low variety of distribution channels
two |
Source: self made
- Strategy proposals by Strategic Business Units aimed at minimizing hotel deficiencies:
The Hotel Victoria identified its Strategic Business Units from its Key Result Areas:
accommodation
Strategies:
- Increase the comfort of the rooms from the implementation of new technologies and advanced equipment. Action plan.
| Activities | Process | Responsable | Executor | Frequency |
| Carry out a study of the rooms that require improvements | Expert methods | Commercial | Specialist | Annual |
| Use new technologies | Use the
benchmarketing |
Commercial | Commercial manager | Annual |
Source: self made
Gastronomy
Strategies:
- Expand the coverage of schedules.
| Activities | Process | Responsable | Executor | Frequency |
| Carry out a study of possible schedules | Surveys, interviews and observation | Maître | Maître | Biannual |
| Design an effective schedule | Discussion group and expert method | Maitre | Maitre | Annual |
Source: self made
Human Resources: contact personnel.
Strategies:
- Offer training courses to contact personnel.
| Activities | Process | Responsable | Executor | Frequency |
| Hold conferences on customer service topics | Discussion group | Means
Humans |
Boss
Means Humans |
Quarterly |
| Conduct workshops | Group of
Discussion |
Means
Humans |
Boss
Means Humans |
Quarterly |
Source: self made
Conclusions
From the application of the multicriteria analysis, a proposal of strategies for the Victoria hotel could be made, reaching the following conclusions:
- The study of the mission, vision, objectives, shared values, the key result areas in the installation and the key success factors for the entity, constitute aspects of great value in the elaboration of the hotel's strategic design. generic value chain, allowed to identify the strengths and weaknesses for subsequent implementations of strategies aimed at minimizing the deficiencies of the Victoria hotel.The elaboration of the competitive profile matrix enabled the detection of the main competitors that threaten the facility, as well as the factors keys in which you must strengthen and those that you can use as a competitive advantage.
Bibliographic references
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Annexes
Annex 1. Identification questionnaire for shared values:
Below are some shared values of the company, list in order of importance (number 1 being the most important and number 9 least important) in the cases that you consider are developed through the management of the hotel, and in the event that Consider others not included in the list, add them for further analysis:
| Shared values | Importance | |
| TO | Professional ethics | |
| B | Empathy | |
| C | Attitude to service | |
| D | Honesty | |
| AND | Modesty | |
| F | Responsibility | |
| G | Positive attitude | |
| H | Pride of belonging to the collective | |
| I | Others suggested by you |
Source: self made
Annex 2. Questionnaire applied at the hotel.
| Classification | Assessment | ||||
| 3 | two | one | 0 | ||
| Treatment and kindness | |||||
| Ease of contacting the right person | |||||
| Efficiency and speed in solving problems | |||||
| Variety of formats offered by the provider | |||||
| Variety of materials used by the supplier | |||||
| Overall print quality | |||||
| Price-performance ratio | |||||
| Room cleaning | |||||
| Quality of the room | |||||
| Cleaning the lobby | |||||
| Facility security |
Source: self made
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