Premier Inn: Business Environment and Leadership Case Study Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Premier Inn's business environment and leadership. It begins with an introduction to business environments and leadership, followed by a SWOT and PESTEL analysis of Premier Inn, evaluating how PESTEL factors influence opportunities and threats. The report then compares and contrasts different leadership styles, recommending a participative leadership style for Premier Inn. It also discusses the hotel's ethical and social responsibilities. The report concludes with a reflection and references, offering a detailed examination of Premier Inn's operations, challenges, and strategic recommendations. The assignment draws on various academic sources to support its findings and recommendations.

Business environment
and leadership

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Perform a SWOT and PESTEL analysis for you chosen company............................................1
Evaluate how the changes in PESTEL factors has influenced the Opportunities and Threats...3
Compare and contrast the different styles of leadership.............................................................4
Recommend a suitable leadership style......................................................................................5
Responsibility, Response and Obligations in their Ethics and Social Responsibilities in the
processes at Premier inn hotel.....................................................................................................6
Reflection....................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
References:.......................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Business environment are those forces and factors which effects upon operations of any
organisation. It affects the firms ability to make any strategies for business success(Miftari,
2018). There are many factors which effect a business operations like political factor,
technological factor, organisational stricture, internal management and many others. Leadership
is a art as well as particular skill to motivate and influence a group of individual to achieve a
common goal. Premier inn is a famous British hotel chain which is headquartered in Dunstable,
UK. It was founded in 1987 by Whitbread which is its parent organization. The following report
covers SWOT and PESTEL analysis of hotel premier inn, how the changes in PESTEL factors
has influenced the Opportunities and Threats for hotel premier inn, leadership and different
styles of leadership, the Responsibility and Response and Obligations in premier inn Ethics and
Social Responsibilities and at the end a reflection report is mentioned in this report.
MAIN BODY
Perform a SWOT and PESTEL analysis for you chosen company.
SWOT analysis of premier inn-
Strength Weakness
 Affordable prices of premier inn hotel
makes it more attractive for their
customers.
 More investment in promotional
activity like advertising on TV help
them to attract more customers and it
gain popularity (Khan, Çera and Nétek,
2019).
 Rapid increase in number of their
competitors are their biggest weakness
as more alternatives are presented in
market of premier inn which influence
their customers to switch to other hotel
services who are cheap in prices.
 They expand their hotel services in few
countries only.
Opportunities Threats
 Opening branches of hotel premier in
new and adventurous places is an good
opportunity to gain more customers.
 Allowing seasonal offers to customers
 They have stable strategies for their
operations and their competitors change
strategies on timely basis which is
biggest threat for hotel premier inn.
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will attract more customer attention
toward their hotel.
 Some customers of some countries
have made bad reputation of this hotel
by misbehaving at hotel area and by
misusing personal information of other
customers.
PESTEL analysis of Premier inn hotel-
Political Factors- This factor includes government policies, political stability, tax policy,
corruption level and many others. In context of UK, their political factor is considered as
favourable because there is a political stability and their government did not interfere in the
operations of any company. Their corporate tax is also lower than many other developed
countries. Their corporate tax is 19% which is beneficial for premier inn. On the other hand they
are lacking behind to provide corruption free advantage to their country.
Economical Factors- This factor states the actual condition of any economy. It includes
interest rates, inflation, unemployment rate and many others (Chukhray and Mrykhina, 2018).
Interest rate of UK is 0.10% which is good for premier inn hotel in case they need any loan from
bank. Inflation rate is also declining from last few years, recently it has 0.77% as their inflation
rate which is again beneficial for hotel as many customers are available to book the rooms in
hotel without the threat of sudden higher in prices. On the other hand due to Covid-19 pandemic
their unemployment rate goes high which is 5.6% which is unfavourable.
Social Factors- This factors describe the attitude of population, cultural barrier and etc.
lifestyle attitude of UK population is high which means they are ready to pay higher prices to
increase their standard of living which is beneficial for Premier inn hotel as in case they increase
their prices for higher service providing then this will affect less in change of customer
behaviour. On the other hand there are many strikes due to religion, skin colour and many other
cultural factors which affect negatively upon Premier inn to operate in such conditions.
Technological Factors- This factor includes technological improvement within an
country(Nikitina and Lapiņa, 2019). In context of UK, they are developed country and they use
high and advance technology which help the mentioned hotel to take full advantage of updated
technology and provide digital services like online pre booking, Robotic staff and etc. to their
customers.
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Environmental Factors- This is the most important factor for hotel industry as their
customers book their hotels after seeing the environment of particular area. This factor includes
weather, climate, pollution targets and many others. In context of UK, their climate and whether
is favourable for tourism attention which help premier inn to gain more profit with this factor but
on the other hand pollution of UK is out of control, their air pollution causes 8.3% deaths of UK
population every year which is disadvantageous for hotel to attract customers.
Legal Factors- This factor includes rules and regulations of country where the business
operates(Vlados and Chatzinikolaou, 2019). All legal laws of UK is made for benefit of country
like Labour laws, health and safety act and many others. Due to some strict laws Premier inn
hotel work in proper discipline considering safety measures for their employees which help in
increasing reputation of this hotel in the eyes of both customers and their employees but on the
other hand they are lacking behind in adopting those strategies which require flexibility and
freedom from restrictions.
Evaluate how the changes in PESTEL factors has influenced the Opportunities and Threats
Political Factor- UK has political stability where there is no interruption of political
parties in companies. Hence this is an opportunity for Premier inn to work freely and made those
strategies which help them to attain many customers. Corruption is high in UK which creates a
threat for the mentioned hotel.
Economical Factors- UK charge very low interest rates which is 0.10% which is a good
opportunity for the hotel to take full advantage of taking financial help from finance corporates
which further help them to make any changes in their hotel without facing the problem of lack of
money. The biggest threat of economical factor of UK is their unemployment rate which
becomes higher and reaches to 5.6%. this factor help the hotel to offer new jobs to unemployed
people which further increase their reputation as well as their operational management and
further on it become their strength.
Social Factors- Lifestyle of UK people high, they are ready to pay higher prices for
higher quality of services (rajnakova, Navickas and Kontautienė, 2018). This is a good
opportunity for premier inn to change their prices with offering improved quality of services.
This will help them to earn more. But on the other hand UK has many strikes regarding their
culture and religions which is not good for hotel as due to strikes their customers will cancel
their pre bookings.
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Technological Factors- The updates and advanced technology of UK will become good
opportunity for premier inn hotel to adopt latest technology like Robotics waiters which further
help them to compete with their competitors.
Environmental Factors- Climate and weather of UK is very attractive for tourism. This
help them to attain more customers. On the other hand their biggest threat is their air pollution
which is too high in UK. This threat will become strength if they use air pollutant controller at
their hotels.
Legal Factors- Strict rules and regulations regarding following the laws for each
company are opportunity for Premier inn to maintain proper discipline at their working area.
This factor helps them to make growth strategies not only for their business but for their
employees also which further help them in increasing reputation of hotel.
Compare and contrast the different styles of leadership
Leadership is a process which is done by leader to motivate and influence a group of
people to achieve common goal(Pérez-De-Lema and et. al., 2019). Leaders shows the direction
to their group members that how they must perform the task to achieve their set goals. Leaders
are considered as representative of whole group and the leader always work with their team for
employees benefits. There are three major types of leadership styles and they are explained
below-
Autocratic leadership style- This leadership style states that all decisions are taken by the
leaders alone without consulting to their members. After taking decisions, leaders order their
group members to follow the instructions to complete the task. In today's scenario this leadership
style is least adopted by any company because it create many conflicts and inefficiency in
performing any task. Due to this leadership style, team members consider that they are under
valued in organisation and it consume lot of time to workers to understand rules made by their
leader.
Participative leadership style- This leadership style states that all decisions which are
taken in an organisation must consider the participation of both leader and their team
members(Kotaskova and Rozsa, 2018). Leader ask suggesting from their group members before
taking any decision. This leadership style creates lot of confusion and conflict because some
section of teammates are in favour of decision and some are not in favour. Hence, it create
conflicts. Taking suggestions from team mates consume lot of time as first the leader contact to
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their members and discuss their idea for any decision then members discuss with themselves that
what is needed and what not and in case of any modification team members again tell to their
leader and then decision is made after considering every aspect.
Laissez-faire style- This leadership style is considered as fully advantageous for workers.
In this leadership style there are least involvement of leaders in taking any decisions(Smith,
Minor and Brashen, 2018). Decisions are made by group members that how and in what ways
they want to work. This leadership style is again create a lot of challenge to any organisation like
inefficiency in decisions because of least involvement of managerial skills. Another challenge
for this leadership style is that members only take those decisions which provide benefit to them
only and not to organisation.
Recommend a suitable leadership style
Adoption of leadership style is must be depend on situations occur in an organisation.
According to today's scenario most of the employees want high level of self respect while they
were working for an organisation. So, according to this statement Premier inn must consider
participative leadership style where both employees and management team work together and
make decisions together. In this leadership style leader always take teammates suggestions
before taking any decision. This further help in telling the employees that Premier inn valued a
lot for them and their work. This will increase the confidence and motivation level of employees
and they perform better in their fields. Second biggest advantage of adopting participative
leadership style in hotel industry is that managers or leaders did not directly contact to their
customers in the hotel but their employees specially housekeeping staff directly contact to
customers and they exactly know the needs and wants of customer. Hence, they suggest good
ideas to satisfy customers by improving their existing services. Participative leadership style help
premier inn to grow and overcome the challenges posed by the business environment which is
explained below-
 One of the biggest threat of internal business environment is conflict between
management team and employees of operational team (AYDIN, 2018). This challenge is
overcome with participative leadership style because in this style leader and workers
work together and both of them have equal rights to put their point of view in masking
any decision which is beneficial for hotel premier inn. Hence, this leadership style
eliminate the conflict between management team and the employees.
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 Another challenge for business environment is to satisfy customer needs which is again
managed by participative leadership. In context of hotel premier inn, their housekeeping
department knows what are the major complaints of customers while staying at their
hotels. Hence, participation of housekeeping department in taking decision for handling
customers is a good idea to help the hotel in making those strategies which satisfy
customer.
 Managing performance of employees is an another challenge which affect the
business(Lan and et. al., 2019) (Seidel and et. al., 2019). While adopting participative
leadership style, workers value in the organisation increases and this will motivate
workers to work with full efficiency. Hence, allowing employees to take participate in
decision making is an way to motivate employees to perform better for the hotel.
Responsibility, Response and Obligations in their Ethics and Social Responsibilities in the
processes at Premier inn hotel
Social responsibilities are the acts which is done by a particular company for the benefit
of their society. This shows that each and everyone has responsibility toward their society and
helps in increasing standard of living of backward people and to improve environmental
conditions. Social responsibilities are not only beneficial for society but it is beneficial for
organisation also because engaging themselves in social responsibilities help the company to
gain more reputation in society and secondly more customer will attract to the goodwill of
company which they have earned by doing something good for their society (Di Fabio and Peiró,
2018). Some of the social responsibilities of hotel premier inn are mentioned below- Reduction in use of plastic bags- Plastic is very hazardous to health. One of the biggest
step which is taken by hotel Premier inn is to reduce plastic bags in their hotels which
further contribute to improve environment of the country. Preparing hygienic food- Offering a hygienic food is responsibility of hotels and
restaurants. In context of Premier inn hotel, they offer food with focusing on Hygiene and
their employees follow proper instruction of hygiene like wearing gloves while preparing
food for customers, proper cleanliness of room and toilets in the hotel by housekeeping
departments and many others. This help them to attract more customers as one of the
biggest factor by which customers are attracted is cleanliness of hotel.
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 Promote gender equality- There will be no discrimination on the basis of gender, skin
colour and etc(Saleh and et. al., 2018). Hotel premier inn support equality at their
workplace, their staff members are both males and females and there is no difference in
their payment structure. Hotel premier inn recruit and hire skilled employees without
considering their religion and skin colour. They only prefer talented and skilled
employees. They also did not make any difference in their customers, they provide best
and equal services to their customers whether they are male or female.
 Follow all laws properly- Working under the laws for country benefit is also considered
as good act to perform social responsibility as all laws are made for the benefit of society
and social responsibilities are also done for societies benefit(Bussu and Tullia Galanti,
2018). Premier inn hotel follow all laws and rules and regulations made by government
of UK and they also follow those rules too which is made by government of other
countries in which they are operating their business of hotel industry. Laws like “equal
pay act 1970” , “ Health and safety work act 1974” and many others are made for
workers benefit and representative hotel follow all these laws which shows that are also
showing concern about their country and respect their laws.
Reflection
From the above report I have learned that there are many factors included in SWOT
analysis and PESTEL analysis which impacts upon business. There are many ways by which
opportunities of any organization can be converted into strengths and in case of threats, they
impact negatively upon business when they are ignored. I also learned that leadership is the
process in which a leader is a group Representative and the group leader is responsible for both
to influence and motivate the group to work effectively and to work for the benefit of group. I
have learned that there are many leadership styles which is to be adopted on the basis of
situations occurred in the organization. Today employees are taking participate in decision
making process of companies with their management team which further help in creating
positive work environment at the work place. At the last I have learned from this report is that
activities related to social responsibilities are done for improving living standards of society, to
improve environment of country and to increase reputation of company. There are many ways by
which social responsibility can performed like reducing plastic bags usage, paying attention on
equality of workers on the basis of gender, skin color and etc.
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CONCLUSION
From the above information it has concluded that there are many internal and external
factor which affects the business which is analysed by SWOT analysis and PESTEL analysis.
The factors of PESTEL analysis have both positive as well as negative impact upon the business
which can be classified into opportunities and threats for organisation and there are many ways
to convert all opportunities into strengths. Leaders and their leadership style help the company to
work efficiently to achieve organisational goal. Social responsibilities are beneficial for both
society as well as for organisation and there are many ways by which a company can engage
themselves in social responsibilities which is not always expensive.
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References:
Books and Journals
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Chukhray, N.I. and Mrykhina, O.B., 2018. Theoretical and methodological basis for technology
transfer from universities to the business environment. Problems and Perspectives in
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Di Fabio, A. and Peiró, J.M., 2018. Human Capital Sustainability Leadership to promote
sustainable development and healthy organizations: A new scale. Sustainability. 10(7).
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