Business Strategy and Strategic Management Plan for Marriott Hotels and Resorts International

This report analyses the external and internal environment factors that affect Marriott Hotels and Resorts International within a given market and strategic planning that organisation uses for its survival and growth. It includes impacts and influences of macro environment on business strategies, organisation’s internal environment and capabilities, Porter’s Five Forces to Analyse Market, and models, theories and concepts to support business strategy for the organisation.

Business Strategy –
Strategic Management
Plan

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 - Impacts and influences of macro environment on Business strategies...........................1
TASK 2 - Organisation’s internal environment and capabilities.....................................................5
TASK 3 - Porter’s Five Forces to Analyse Market..........................................................................8
TASK 4 - Models, Theories and Concepts to Support Business Strategy for the Organisation....10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Business strategy refers to a series of actions and planning that an organisation develops for
carrying out its activities and business operations in optimum manner (Kong and et. al., 2020). It
is defined as a series of plans and actions that an organisation implements for securing and
gaining higher competitive advantage, smooth business operations, better customer satisfaction,
organisational growth and optimum performance of the business. For developing strategic plans
it is important that an organisation should identify the course of action, evaluate the alternatives,
select the best plan and move in the direction for achieving desired results. Strategic business
management involves a series of actions that are deliberately conducted for achieving greater
efficiency and effectiveness in performance. The business strategy is also helpful to improve the
competitive strength of the organisation and identify or pursue the opportunities in the market
and discover the threats that may harm the business. A business strategy is very helpful because
it consists of many actions that are deliberately taken by an organisation to increase its
performance, achieve organisation goals, compete correctly, improve customer experience etc. It
provides a direction to the form for achieving its business needs and desired outcomes in the long
run. Marriott Hotels and Resorts International is an American multinational brand of full service
hotels and resorts that was established in the year 1957 and is headquartered in Bethesda,
Maryland, US. The report will analyse the external and internal environment factors that affect
the organisation within a given market and strategic planning that organisation uses for its
survival and growth.
TASK 1 - Impacts and influences of macro environment on Business strategies
Macro environment factors that affect the organisation can be evaluated with the help of
PESTLE Analysis. Macro environment factors are those extrinsic factors that affect the activities
of the organisation from external sources that arise beyond the walls of business and have great
impact on the company’s strategy (Linnik and et. al., 2020). PESTLE analysis tool is a designed
framework that can be used to understand the external factors that are elaborated below.
 Political factors: The major political issues that could affect Marriott business are related
to various government policies that prevails across the National and international borders.
The major issues that affect the business strategies are government interventions related
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to international trade, and the policies of the government (Wabrowetz, 2021). The travel
and tourism locations throughout the world are majorly affected due to the Covid-19
pandemics and the intensifying cross border conflicts throughout the various countries in
the world. The recent cases of Afghanistan, Ukraine and Myanmar can be considered that
disrupted the international air travel and travelling of people to tourist locations. The
greater risks of international incidents have highly affected the industry and affected the
business of Marriott international. The policies of Government across the National
borders and throughout the world have also affected how the business operates in today's
world. Especially in the hospitality and tourism sector, the willingness of people to travel
through various Nations is determined by the policies of the government to support
international travellers and provide a safe environment for their better satisfaction. The
activities of terrorism like air missile strike on airlines flight MH 17 in July 2014, and the
killing of approximately 40 people in June 2015 including tourist in the cost of Tunisia.
These events were due to the lack of government interventions and proper guidelines for
safety and security of the tourists. Such activities hamper the business activities of
Marriott international and decline the oral customer satisfaction in the places where
government policies and procedures are not appropriate.
 Economic factors: Economic factors could highly affect the business of Marriott because
it involves the major factors that affect the costs of business at a particular place
(Yeniaras and Kaya, 2021). The economic conditions such as recession, depression,
export-import rates, purchasing power of people affects the activities of business. The
closure of China's economic growth and the collapse of the Ukraine economy are the
major examples that have affected the commodity market for the businesses and have
affected their activities in the international market. The major factors that have led to the
decline in tourism activities are affected by the economic conditions throughout the blue.
Marriott is based across many countries throughout the world and the trading cost of the
business highly affects the US dollar exchange rates. Due to this, the organisation has to
suffer from trading losses across the seas which discourages or declines the American
economy to operate its businesses across other states. Due to the increased rates of
exchange the company has to face many challenges and may lead to economic disparity
across various places. Due to the economic conditions the long term risks on the
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hospitality business can easily be seen, that leads to income inequality, lower wages rate
and increase in poverty throughout the various places.
 Social factors can be explained as those factors like tradition, culture, and values etc. that
are commonly accepted within a society that provides similar objectives to live together.
The social factors have a very good impact on the business of Marriott, because of the
rise in the willingness of people within the society to travel across the borders after the
Covid-19 pandemic. The reports from the World Trade Organisation have estimated the
rise in the number of people who want to travel across the borders (Liu and Kong, 2021).
This provides higher opportunities for the hospitality industry and companies like
Marriott to influence and attract a maximum number of customers towards themselves.
The trend in society to travel across the places and spend time with themselves has made
it compulsion for them to travel across borders sir to which the Marriott Hotels can get
benefits. The people in various countries throughout the world have identified many
opportunities to travel across various places for business and self-purposes. The people
across the UK, US, Australia, Asian regions and Peninsula are all travelling to different
places due to which the company like Marriott can achieve greater success.
 Technology factors: Technology has improved in the previous decade at much faster
rates as compared to any other time in human history. The use of technology in the
hospitality businesses like restaurants, hotels, etc. have increased significantly and
provide many advantages to businesses like Marriott. The use of digital technology,
online payment and online booking have intensified the growth of potential customers for
the business and provided higher experience to the existing customers (Maniora, 2018).
The use of technology has made it easier for Marriott to allow their customers to directly
book or rent rooms as per their convenience and directly make payments or cancel the
bookings without any inconvenience. The use of ICT for enhancing the customer
communications with the business have made it easier for the organisation to listen to the
feedback and suggestions of customers and provide better options for them. The
increasing technology is highly affecting how businesses operate in today's world and the
ways in which higher customer satisfaction can be provided. The use of technology has
reduced the overall cost of the organisation by adopting artificial intelligence, automated
processes, effective supply chain etc. to improve overall business performance.
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 Legal factors: The legal factors can be explained as the compulsory obligations and
restrictions that the organisation has to follow to operate in a given field of business.
There are various legal factors that affect the hospitality businesses across the markets
throughout the world like the customer safety, health and hygiene, personal property
rights, for safety etc. These legal aspects must also be followed by Marriott Hotels so that
they can operate their activities in a very smooth manner. The company must not violate
the local laws, minimum employee wages, health and safety regulations, food safety and
accommodation regulations so that the organisation and customers do not face any
inconvenience. Additionally, it is necessary that the organisation make a valid identity
check of the people who are residing within their hotel or restaurants so that troublesome
situations can be avoided (Leischnig, and et. al., 2017). The Organisation must follow the
tax policies so that it does not fall into the category of law violators. In the United States,
Marriott needs to fulfill various legal requirements for operating smoothly in the nation
and across the borders.
 Environmental factors: The major environmental factors that may affect the activities of
a business are related to this sustainable use of resources, waste management, social well-
being and economic welfare of the country. The Marriott international business can
reduce the use of fuels and make use of renewable sources of energy in their business so
that sustainable performance can be achieved. The company must focus on identifying
new methods for making their business more environment friendly and improving their
positive impacts on the society (Chen and et. al., 2018). It is important to understand that
Marriott business needs to adjust according to the changing customer behaviour towards
the impact of business on the environment and climate change. Due to the increasing
catastrophic conditions throughout the world it is necessary that the organisation must
take certain steps that can help it to reduce negative impacts on the environment. In
today's world the increasing sea level, droughts, famines and floods have impacted the
activities of the organisation across various coastal regions and has also led to increase in
the operating cost due to unavailability of cheaper resources for the company. Therefore,
it is necessary that Marriott should adapt sustainable practices in its business to lower
down its negative impact on the environment.
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TASK 2 - Organisation’s internal environment and capabilities
For identifying and analysing the internal environment and capabilities of the organisation
the McKinsey’s 7S framework and SWOT analysis can be used. SWOT analysis is a strategic
framework that can be used by an organisation to identify their internal strengths and weaknesses
and McKinsey’s 7S can be used to identify capabilities of the business. Under given is the
McKinsey’s &S model and SWOT analysis of Marriott hotel that can be used to determine its
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
McKinsey's 7S Insights framework
This model is used by the organisations for identifying and analysing the internal
capabilities of the organisation in comparison to the various aspects and elements. McKinsey's
model in context to Marriott Hotels and Restaurants is elaborated as follows.
• Strategy: It can be explained as the way or method in which the company creates and
attends higher competitiveness and success in the market (Bıçakcıoğlu-Peynirci and
Tanyeri, 2020). It is among the major elements that help the organisation to operate and
sustain its business for achieving desired objectives of the company. The Marriott has
adapted various business strategies to compete in the international market.
• Structure: This is referred to as the organisational structure or the structural framework
of departments, functional units and subunits that is used by the organisation. It is very
important that an organisation like Marriott have a strategically formed organisational
structure with proper divisional and functional units so that proper flow of information,
authority and responsibility can be maintained. This helps the company to have benefits
like reporting relationships, effective flow of business activities etc.
• System: It is similar to the structure of the organisation but it determines the processes
and procedures within the organisation (Aluchna, 2018). It is necessary that the everyday
activities are performed according to proper process so that business activities can be
optimised. Marriott has assigned the management roles to synchronise the processes of
the organisation and maintain cordial relationships among them.
• Skills: This can be explained as the capabilities; knowledge and experience of employees
undertake and accomplish the business activities effectively and efficiently. The skills
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within the hospitality business requires managing various activities, dynamic situations,
people from different places etc. for which a person requires multitasking, time
management, interpersonal skills, problem solving etc. In Marriott hotels the employees
need to go through a proper training procedure after getting hired in the organisation so
that they can learn the specific skills that are required by them to handle the business
activities in optimum manner.
• Staff: Staff is related to the people, workforce or employees concerned to work for the
business (Anderson, 2019). The employers in Marriott are focused towards hiring people
with the right set of skills, abilities, knowledge and experience in the required field of job
so that their performance is high and they can be easily trained to provide best services to
the business.
• Style: It can be explained as the style in which the organisation is led or managed along
with the style of business. In relation to Marriott the style can be demonstrated as the
ways in which the managers and employees within the organisation perform their
activities. Marriott has adopted a mix of leadership and management styles like
democratic leadership, transformational leadership, scientific management and a subtle
autocratic behaviour.
• Shared values: It can be considered as the common attributes like values, beliefs,
behaviours and attitude that are adopted by the people within an organisation. In Marriott
hotel every employee performs certain activities keeping in mind the values of the
organisation and integrating their self-goals to the organisational goals.
SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths Weaknesses
• Marriott has very strong operating
procedures and code of conduct that is
used by the organisation to perfectly
align its activities and provide
customised experience to the
customers.
• The company has higher efficiency due
• Marriott international was unable to
redefine its products and services due to
which it has failed across various places
throughout the world leading to gradual
decline.
• The company has followed various
processes and complex operations that
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to the latest innovation and effective
process that helps to combine the
overall efficiency of the work force and
automated processes for achieving
optimum results.
• Marriott international has its presence
across more than 120 countries and
consists of more than 500 priority rights
under its umbrella.
make it difficult for new employees to
adjust within the organisation.
• Marriott international hotels and
restaurants has been in controversies
due to some small issues to the
customers like on authentic Wi-Fi
passwords, privacy fraud and poor
advertising logo used by the company.
Opportunities Threats
• People throughout the world are
becoming more diversified and have
increased routine travels across various
places throughout the world which can
provide higher chances of revenue
generation for the organisation.
• The rise of people to travel across the
borders has extended the opportunities
for the organisation to increase
customer base by attracting potential
travellers.
• The need for customers to have
personal satisfaction and achieve
greater benefits also increases their
desire to spend on better places. Due to
this Marriott hotel can get advantages
of income growth.
• The big restaurants across the world
like Hilton, Novotel etc. are aspiring to
become more competitive in the
hospitality business.
• Due to the global recession during
COVID-19 pandemic the hospitality
businesses were adversely affected and
it will take time for them to recover.
• There is a subtle increase in the number
of customers throughout the world who
are seeking cheaper accommodation
facilities due to the increase in travel
charges (Yerimpasheva and
Balgabayeva, 2020).
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TASK 3 - Porter’s Five Forces to Analyse Market
Porter's five forces is a strategic model that has to identify and analyse five aggressive forces
that make up the competition for a business in a particular market. Porter's five forces analysis
can be helped to determine the competitive forces in the market for making effective business
strategies to faster the growth of the organisation. Porter's five forces can be used by any
business regardless of their size to identify the level of competition prevailing within industry
and achieve higher profits by making strategies to overcome the competition (Lawton, 2017).
Porter's 5 forces for Marriott Hotel and Restaurant business are given as follows:
• Threat from new entrants (high): The new entrance within the hospitality industry has
the capabilities to bring new changes in the ways a business operates. The various
methods like cost reduction, product development, etc. used by the newcomers to enter in
the market may provide potential threats to Marriott international. Marriott International
has a huge brand image in the market and controls over most of the prerequisites by
building strong barriers to entry for protecting themselves from new entrants. Marriott
International fights competition from the new entrance by introducing new products and
services in the form of barriers to stop the entrants from taking away their customers. The
new products introduced by Marriott Hotels and Restaurants make it easier for the
organisation to retain their customers and provide higher satisfaction to them. By having
fixed prices for their products and making standard products help the company to provide
higher quality at all the units where it operates. The new entrants are not intended to enter
such a dynamic industry where the competition is forced by the major players like
Marriott International because it reduces the benefits for new enter rents and discourages
them to enter such markets. The availability of market competition from the existing
hospitality businesses like Marriott, Airing, Hilton etc. have increased the various entries
of the firm.
• Supplier power for bargaining (Moderate): The huge restaurants like Marriott have
some fixed suppliers from where they desire to purchase raw materials and supplies for
their business activities. It is recognised that the power of suppliers is comparatively
moderate because the company relies on them for quality of products and supplies so that
high quality services can be provided to the customers. It is also necessary to understand
that changing the suppliers of the organisation may be easier for the company but they
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may not get the same quality of raw materials and supplies from other suppliers (Ross,
Beath and Sebastian, 2017). There are many suppliers throughout the market who can
easily provide such products and services that are required by the business which also
make it difficult for the suppliers to bargain with the organisation. So it can be said that
the negotiating power of suppliers is somewhere in the middle in regard to Marriott
Hotels and Restaurants.
• Bargaining power of consumers (Moderate): Most of the consumers of Marriott
International have a certain standard and values organisation for its quality products and
services. Consumers are generally unconvinced and they want to use available resources
for little money. This puts some pressure on the organisation to create profit and satisfy
their customers by providing discounted offers to them. Marriott has negotiated
effectively with its customers by providing High quality services at reasonable prices and
has used economy of scale to improve the profits obtained from the total sales. The
organisation has developed a very large customer base that supports the organisation to
sell its products and services effectively. These customers are constantly looking for
discounts and savings on the products offered by the company.
• Availability of substitute products (Low): Marriott hotels have a unique brand name and
its products and services are also unique (Davis, 2020). Some of the products are mostly
the food items that are served to the customers according to their taste and preferences in
a given region which makes it difficult to make differences. Company uses various
propositions that provide better opportunities for satisfying customers by providing such
products and services whose substitutes are rarely available in the market.
• Competitive rivalry (Moderate): In the hospitality industry there are various competitors
in the market, but only few stands in competition with the Marriott Hotels and
Restaurants business because of its size and versatility. The company faces competition
from the huge hospitality businesses like Hilton, etc. The hospitality industry is a highly
competitive business and affects the stance of Marriott to stay competitive in the market.
It affects the organisation to achieve long term profits and higher competition in the
business. The competition to Marriott in the hospitality industry is from the big
businesses that could pose a significant threat for them.
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TASK 4 - Models, Theories and Concepts to Support Business Strategy for the
Organisation
Planning is considered as one of the most important aspects of management that every
organisation uses irrespective of their size and scope. The planning is well necessary for the
organisation to prepare budget, fix operations and achieve the organisational goals effectively
and efficiently. Without strategic planning with proper steps an organisation cannot achieve its
business success and outcomes. In terms of planning for the external environment the companies
could use ethical and systematic approaches to create new products or services, processes and
ways to enhance performance. Strategic planning can be explained as something that is helpful
for making the business successful and achieve the organisational goals (Varadarajan, 2018). The
Path Goal Theory can be used by Marriott Hotels and Restaurants to interpret and devise
strategic plans for the organisation.
Path Goal Theory
Path Goal Theory was developed by Robert house and it is based on the principle of
motivating the employees to achieve desired results. This framework is based on the concept that
the belief of employees to put efforts and perform effectively is determined by the ability of
leaders to influence them. They provide various resources such as information, support and data
that are needed by the employees to achieve the desired outcomes. Path Goal Theory identifies
four leadership styles that can be used within the organisation for achieving strategic goals
through proper planning.
• Directive: In this the leader guides, evaluates and controls the performance and behaviour
of employees to meet the requirements.
• Supportive: A leader is expected to be friendly, charismatic and supportive to their
subordinates so that they can help them to achieve desired results by ensuring their
welfare, will-being and satisfaction of their needs.
• Participative: The leaders believe that decision making and shared information with
subordinates can help them to achieve career related decisions and goals.
• Achievement oriented: It refers to the leaders who are focused towards the achievement
of organisational objectives and prioritise the achievement of challenging goals by the
employees.
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Porter's Generic Strategy
Porter's generic strategy is a framework that can be helpful to establish and evaluate the
competitive strength for the organisation. This can be done by lowering down the cost of the
product or by making the differences in the product so that the organisation can achieve
competitive benefits. It is mainly categorised in two forms, one is offering products to a selective
segment and another is to the whole industry. Porter's generic strategy for Marriott is as follows.
• Cost leadership strategy: This strategy states that when a company is offering lowest
priced products to the customers with quality, it has the higher capability to reach the
maximum number of customers. This can be achieved by optimising the processes and
lowering the cost incurred on the production of the goods and services. Hotel Marriott
focuses on minimising the cost of production by optimising the processes and eliminating
the wastage of resources so that low cost on production can be achieved that provides
higher profitability.
• Differentiation strategy: This strategy helps to develop such products and services that
are highly differentiated in comparison to the products and services offered by the
competitors. There is a need for good research for the products and services that are
present in the market so that completely different products can be established for
obtaining a higher customer base. Marriott hotel focuses on serving best quality products
to the customers and high grade services, by constantly taking feedbacks and suggestions
from the customers themselves to provide customised products and services that provides
higher satisfaction to them.
• Focus strategy: This strategy may be defined as the process of producing new products
and services and selling them to the market by focusing on the taste and preference of
customers in that geographical location. Marriott hotel serves its products and services to
the new markets by expanding their Hotel and restaurants chains in other locations.
Strategic planning of Marriott
Marriott hotel has focused on reaching the global market through purchase strategy and
adopted this technique for growth in various Nations throughout the world. Purchase can be
considered as the market manipulation mechanism that impacts how an organisation can achieve
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higher opportunities of growth through exploitation. Marriott Hotels and Restaurants have
achieved higher growth rate in the international market after acquisition with Starwood
Corporation that was a huge dominant global hospitality business in 2016. Due to this, Marriott
hotel has achieved higher chances of growth in the international market and have overcome the
challenges of government intervention for expansion of the business.
As the rapid development of technology is occurring throughout the world the company
has focused on improving innovations and creativity within the organisation to achieve higher
levels of growth. The company has integrated ICT and digital technology within the business for
achieving higher levels of growth opportunities and better competitive advantages in the long
term. With the help of these technologies the company provides better services to the customers
like digital booking, online payment and online cancellation (Orna, 2017). Moreover, the use of
ICT has facilitated better communication through feedback and suggestions from the customers.
Marriott has majority of its operations in America and South American Nations which
provides stable revenue to the company and helps it to tackle the market abomination. With the
help of strategically placing the company throughout the various Nations it has achieved a highly
competitive place in the industry and has contributed to the growth of the economy within the
United States. In the European marketplace, the company has established a strong comparative
coverage and has a good foothold in the marketplace which enables better growth opportunities
to the company. Due to the stable economic conditions in the European Nations the company
gets many advantages of continuous income and better customer relations. The company has
achieved significant share in the branded hotels and restaurants throughout the world after
acquiring Starwood Business.
• Summary: Marriott hotel must have strategic planning for the organisation to stay highly
competitive and successful business enterprise in the hospitality sector.
• Mission: Marriott wants to expand its business globally and provide best services to the
customers.
• Vision: To always be successful in the hospitality industry.
• Strategy: Constantly adapt innovation and improve services according to customer needs.
• Tactics: Improve marketing mix and provide best products and services.
• Products/services: Hotel, Restaurants and Lounges
• Price: Make competitive pricing for the products and services.
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• Place: City area with developed infrastructures
• Promotion: Use of digital platforms
• Evaluation: KPI and 360°appraisals
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above report that business strategy and strategic business
management is necessary to operate a business in a given industry. It has been obtained that a
perfectly planned, well defined and purposeful business strategy can be helpful to achieve
desired level of performance and success for the organisation. A business strategy consists of
such effective plans and processes that can help an organisation to achieve competitive strength,
improve organisation, attract a higher number of customers and achieve the goals and objectives
of the organisation. The following report has been providing the use of various strategical tools
and frameworks like PESTLE analysis and SWOT analysis to examine macro and micro factors
that affect the business activities of an organisation. Moreover, it has used some other models
and frameworks such as Porter's 5 Forces, McKinsey's 7S framework and other frameworks to
identify business capabilities and design various strategies for the business to achieve success,
competitiveness and growth.
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