Managing Strategic Resources and Operations: Trip Advisor Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Trip Advisor's supply chain management, examining its key components, including tour operators, travel agencies, and customers. It explores the company's operations in travel planning, hotel bookings, and flight services, highlighting the significance of customer demand in shaping the supply chain. The report links Trip Advisor's activities to relevant theories, such as effective communication, e-procurement, and forecasting, emphasizing the importance of information, communication, and cooperation. Furthermore, it discusses sustainability within the value chain, showcasing how Trip Advisor leverages technology and information systems to enhance quality, efficiency, and customer satisfaction. The analysis concludes with the role of online applications in enabling real-time communication and promoting sustainable tourism practices.

Running head: MANAGING STRATEGIC RESOURCES AND OPERATIONS
Managing Strategic Resources and Operations
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

1MANAGING STRATEGIC RESOURCES AND OPERATIONS
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Overview of the Trip Advisor..........................................................................................................2
Supply Chain Management of the organization..............................................................................3
Linking company activities and theories.........................................................................................5
Sustainability through the value chain.............................................................................................7
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11

2MANAGING STRATEGIC RESOURCES AND OPERATIONS
Introduction
The concept of supply chain management includes the entire process followed by the
organizations from production to delivery to the customers (Christopher, 2016). Therefore,
supply chain management includes procurement of raw materials, manufacturing and distribution
of the finished products to the customers. Supply chain management is essential as the process
helps in optimization of the procedure in order to maximize both efficacy and speed.
This assignment emphasizes on the supply chain management of Trip Advisor, a tourism
organization offering a wide range of services including hotel booking, flights, cruise packages
and other forums. However, for this essay, the supply chain management of travel planning by
Trip Advisor is discussed along with linking the activities of the company with various theories
and sustainability throughout the value chain.
Overview of the Trip Advisor
Trip Advisor is a travel company with business spread at a worldwide scale offering
various services to the customers including hotel bookings, flight bookings, cruise services and
interactive travel forums ("TripAdvisor: Read Reviews, Compare Prices & Book", 2017). The
company was established in 2000 and has earned great reputation and acknowledgement for the
services and facilities provided by them. The organization was first of its kind to undertake user
generated content for the business. Trip Advisor is accessible to customers globally and is highly
facilitated by the customers. The customers for planning their travel extensively use the facility
of Trip Advisor provided by the company.

3MANAGING STRATEGIC RESOURCES AND OPERATIONS
However, the company has encountered controversy, as anonymous reviews were posted
about the hotels listed with the organization. As a result, 30 hotels were blacklisted due to the
suspicious reviews posted on the website. The matter was resolved by thorough investigation and
the company came out clean (Cochrane, 2017). In spite of the controversies encountered by the
company, the hotel booking facility offered by the organization is highly used and rated among
the customers.
Supply Chain Management of the organization
The tour operators, travel agencies, suppliers and customers are the main factors that
form the supply chain of the tourism service industry (Stadtler, 2015). Supply chain management
of the tourism industry includes basic services such as transport, accommodation, entertainment
and restaurants. Trip Advisor is one of the largest travel sites with 1.8 million businesses across
the world. The organization offers travel-planning facilities for more than 655,000 hotels and
flights globally.
Figure 1: Flowchart of Supply Chain Management of Trip Advisor

4MANAGING STRATEGIC RESOURCES AND OPERATIONS
(Source: Monczka et al., 2015)
Noticeable differences are indentified between the manufacturing and service supply
chain management. Though the components of both the supply chain management include
production system, logistics system, finished goods inventory, suppliers and customer relations,
the features are different. As mentioned by Seuring (2013), features of the service supply chain
management include a pull that is initiated according to the demand of the customers,
customization, responsive and critical evaluation of the overall success.
The success of the service industry is greatly facilitated by the demand of the customers.
Trip Advisor is a tourism company that offers travel-planning facility for the customers.
Therefore, the customer demands needs to be used as the ground of developing and designing the
supply chain for the service industries. For example, if the offers provided to the customers are
not according to the demand of the customers, it will be wasted. Initially, the company needs to
evaluate the current market situation in order to know the preferable travel destinations by the
customers. This is because the objective of the company is to satisfy the tourists by offering them
appropriate travel planning of the most preferred tourist destinations.

5MANAGING STRATEGIC RESOURCES AND OPERATIONS
Figure 2: Supply Chain Management of Service Industry
(Source: Ross, 2013)
As demonstrated in the figure, the main objective of Trip Advisor is to improve
satisfaction level of the tourists that plans travel through their website. This can be measured by
evaluating the market as a whole and by its components. After, knowing the demands of the
customers in terms of the preferred tourist destinations that include accommodation,
entertainment, flights, sightseeing and restaurant, Trip Advisor advertises the name and offer of
destinations for the customers.
Linking company activities and theories
As mentioned by Ahi & Searcy (2013), supply chain management is defined as the flow
of information and services across a network of customers, enterprises and supply chain
collaborates from the service industry perspectives. According to the business nature of Trip

6MANAGING STRATEGIC RESOURCES AND OPERATIONS
Advisor, services include accommodation, entertainment, flights and restaurant in terms of the
supply chain management. The company needs to advertise the list of hotels that can be booked
through their website. The advertisement needs to include the rates of the hotels, the location
along with rates of the food and services. The offers advertised by the Trip Advisor need to be
according to the income of the target customers. For example, the company offers hotel booking
for both premium and normal customers. The company also needs to advertise the list of
probable flights, hotels, entertainment, accommodation, and restaurant and sightseeing that are
important for planning a travel or trip.
As commented by Chen et al., (2012), the keys of effective supply chain management for
service industry are information, communication, cooperation and trust. Trip Advisor needs to
establish effective communication with the customers and the hotels. Effective communication
with the hotels will allow the company to understand the capability of the hotels providing offers
and communicate those offers through advertisement with the customers. This will allow Trip
Advisor to prevent falsification of information from both ends. According to Dekker et al.,
(2013), procurement is defined as the direct purchase from suppliers over the internet. E-
procurement is important for Trip Advisor, as this will allow the company to conduct business-
to-business and business-to-customer activities. The spending analysis will enable Trip Advisor
to improve the procurement process by reducing costs and the number of suppliers.
According to Wisner, Tan & Leong (2014), the concept of forecasting highlights the ability of
the company to forecast the demands and expectations of the customers and provide offers
accordingly. Accurate forecasting provides an opportunity for Trip Advisor to keep both the
suppliers and the customers updated. For example, if there is any sudden modification in the
hotels and flights booked by the customer for their travel, Trip Advisor notifies the customers

7MANAGING STRATEGIC RESOURCES AND OPERATIONS
accordingly. This helps both the suppliers and the customers to pre-plan accordingly and avoid
any embarrassments. This will allow Trip Advisor manage the travel planning by reducing the
inventory for the company and increasing the speed of the customer delivery.
Sustainability through the value chain
Improving the quality, profitability and efficiency by relating with the value chain of the
organization is the main objective of the supply chain management. According to Ahi & Searcy
(2013), active engagement of the organization with the supply chain management increases the
performance and efficiency of the operations for both the company and the customers. The
customers of the company are only satisfied if they receive high-quality services (Chen et al.,
2012). Therefore, the success of the organization is highly dependent on the quality of the
service provided by the organization to the customers. According to Dekker et al., (2013), the
strategies undertaken by the organization for continuing supply chain management effectively
enables the company to perform the tasks in accordance with the supply chain. Additionally, the
relevant information gathered is also included with the supply chain so that the information flows
smoothly throughout the company. This allows the organization to monitor effectively the
activities of the organization by following the responses of the feedbacks and responses received
by the customers. Considering the feedbacks of the customers thereby, helps in accurate and
instant decision-making by the organization. Therefore, the qualities of the services of each task
of the supply chain management are enhanced along with increasing the overall efficiency of the
value chain. The customers get high quality products and services due to enhanced supply chain
management thereby, resulting in increased satisfaction of the customers (Wisner, Tan & Leong,
2014).

8MANAGING STRATEGIC RESOURCES AND OPERATIONS
Based on the information gathered about Trip Advisor, it can be suggested that the
organization considers the supply chain management extremely significant and also considers it
as the main driver for the success of the company. In order to manage the supply chain
appropriately, Trip Advisor uses the information system accurately. This allows the organization
to include the real time information to the supply chain activities. The aforementioned points can
be proven with the help of an online website that is used by the organization. The online
application used by Trip Advisor helps in operating the entire tour that includes transport,
accommodation, safety and sustainability. The online application serves as an information
system for the supply chain management by providing audit reports for the organization. The
audit reports include reviewing the performance of the suppliers along with incorporating the
best services within the supply chain management. This enables the organization to make
decisions accurately and enhance the supply chain management. In order to ensure quality within
the activities of the supply chain, Trip Advisor also involves their employees and infrastructures.
The trained employees those are a part of the organization and serve the customers prove this
(Lavastre, Gunasekaran & Spalanzani, 2012).
As commented by Wilkinson (2013), the supply chain management of the product and
the service industry are distinct from each other largely. The supply chain management of the
service industry or the tourism industry mainly emphasizes on demand management, establishing
effective relationship with the partners, managing the supply of food and other basic
requirements to the customers. It also includes appropriate coordination and cooperation. The
online application used by Trip Advisor considers all the aforementioned factors within a
particular framework thereby, supporting Trip Advisor to plan and conduct tour accordingly.

9MANAGING STRATEGIC RESOURCES AND OPERATIONS
This allows undertaking a sustainable approach towards the supply chain management of the
organization.
Due to the use of the online application, Trip Advisor is able to obtain the best prices
within their supply chain. This is because the online application acts as a single platform that
allows the management of the organizations to monitor the performance of their suppliers, the
changing demands of the supply chain. Moreover, the use of the application allows Trip Advisor
to monitor the actions of the supply chain online. Therefore, without being present physically,
Trip Advisor is able to synchronize the tasks, communicate effectively and work with
collaboration. Trip Advisor is also able to enhance the quality of their services by taking into
account the audits they receive through online platform. Supposedly, the audit report might
enlighten the unnecessary backwashing of the filter pools (Barney, 2012). Therefore, Trip
Advisor can use the audit report received online for enhancing the quality of their services by
undertaking suitable measures. As mentioned by Krajewski, Ritzman & Malhotra (2013), the
main reason of success for supply chain management is effective communication.
Communication allows clear and smooth of information throughout the supply chain
management thereby, making it easy for the various activities to be completed. Therefore,
communication helps in maintaining supply chain effectively and smooth running of the
services. The use of the online application by Trip Advisor allows the organization to establish
and continue real time communication. This allows the organization to ensure that the service
from the supplier’s end is passed to the customers’ end effectively and appropriately without any
hindrances. Therefore, the use of online application by Trip Advisor allows the organization to
monitor and manage the services from the supplier’s to the customers and helps in maintaining a
sustainable tourism for the organization (Waller & Fawcett, 2013).

10MANAGING STRATEGIC RESOURCES AND OPERATIONS
Conclusion
In this assignment, it can be concluded that supply chain management plays a significant
role for business organizations as this helps in maximizing overall productivity. Trip Advisor is
one of the largest online tourism company that offers variety tourism services that includes hotel
booking, flight booking and travel planning. Trip Advisor can maintain sustainability by
reducing the seasonality demand of tourism, reducing the impact of transport caused by tourism
transport and by making tourism for all tourists that includes both physically and economically
challenged individuals. Trip Advisor can also ensure sustainability by informing the tourist from
before the environmental aspect of the destination community.

11MANAGING STRATEGIC RESOURCES AND OPERATIONS
References
Ahi, P., & Searcy, C. (2013). A comparative literature analysis of definitions for green and
sustainable supply chain management. Journal of Cleaner Production, 52, 329-341.
Barney, J. B. (2012). Purchasing, supply chain management and sustained competitive
advantage: The relevance of resource‐based theory. Journal of supply chain management,
48(2), 3-6.
Chen, Y., Mockus, L., Orcun, S., & Reklaitis, G. V. (2012). Simulation-optimization approach to
clinical trial supply chain management with demand scenario forecast. Computers &
Chemical Engineering, 40, 82-96.
Christopher, M. (2016). Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson UK.
Cochrane, K. (2017). Why TripAdvisor is getting a bad review. the Guardian. Retrieved 21
August 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2011/jan/25/tripadvisor-duncan-
bannatyne
Dekker, R., Fleischmann, M., Inderfurth, K., & van Wassenhove, L. N. (Eds.). (2013). Reverse
logistics: quantitative models for closed-loop supply chains. Springer Science & Business
Media.
Krajewski, L. J., Ritzman, L. P., & Malhotra, M. K. (2013). Operations management: processes
and supply chains (Vol. 1). New York, NY: Pearson.
Lavastre, O., Gunasekaran, A., & Spalanzani, A. (2012). Supply chain risk management in
French companies. Decision Support Systems, 52(4), 828-838.