Maverick Lodging Case free essay sample

The balanced scorecard has several attributes, such as tracking financial performance, tracking nonfinancial measures and communicating franchisees and owners objectives of growth. For financial performance, according to Exhibit 7, the Maverick Courtyard has 3. 77% growth rate, Maverick Fairfield Inn has 2. 2% growth rate and Maverick Residence Inn has 3. 5% growth rate. For flow-through flexible budget, both Maverick Courtyard and Maverick Residence Inn have good score while only Maverick Fairfield has unexpected score. As a result, the financial performance is generally good for the company. However, nonfinancial figures indicate the company’s customer service quality is declining. According to guest-satisfaction score in Exhibit 7, all three hotels’ scores are lower than market average scores. The company has higher comprehensive audit performance than last year’s and employee turnover is decreasing. Although the company has some unexpected performances, it develops well in year 1999. Analysis of Maverick’s value-added proposition Maverick lodging companys objectives are increasing operating profit and market shares by enhancing customer satisfaction. We will write a custom essay sample on Maverick Lodging Case or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page By implementing the balanced scorecard, the company is trying to increase financial yield, control profit and flexible budget, improve internal business control, stimulate performance of hotel management, facilitate communication between principals and agencies and start learning and growing processes. However, the balanced scorecard has several problems and makes it hard for the company to reach its goals. The first problem is that the balanced scorecard is hard for hotel level managers to understand. Although Baum tried to make it easier to understand, the scorecard still has many elements and some of the financial figures and complicated measurements are hard for entry-level managers to understand. For example, the colors and points system is complex because it is difficult to connect colors and points to the bonus points and the 40% multiply factor may cause managers confusions. Since it is hard to understand, the scorecard would have problems on acceptance and the implementation process would be difficult. As a result, the scorecard would not reach the maximum effectiveness and efficiency. The second problem is that the scorecard contains uncontrollable factors for managers. For example, managers performance will be measured by comparing the budgets and actual expenses. However, hotel level managers have no right to determine the budget and this measurement is unfair. As a result, many managers would be reluctant to accept the scorecard. The third problem is that the scorecard is only implemented at the hotel-general-management level. As stated in the case, the hotel-general-management is the last level of the company management and they have no right to discuss the components of the scorecard. In addition, the implementation process lacks communication between different levels of managements. As a result, the scorecard represents the top managements thoughts and may not be suitable for the bottom level management. Also, the lack of communication may cause hindrance for accepting and implementing the scorecards. Flow-through Flexible Budget The company applies the flexible budget in order to achieve target budget and generate high profit. The top management of the Maverick Lodging set the original budget at first. After one fiscal year of operating, the management gets the actual data of revenue and expense. The management would then make reforecast target, which is the flexible budget, to measure the performance of each hotel. For the variable costs and the variable revenues, the company uses drivers and actual quantity to determine the value of flexible budget. However, the fixed elements and the uncontrollable expenses stay the same as original budget. After the calculations, the company can acquire controllable profits and house profits for both actual and flexible budgets. Based on the results, top management calculates the percentages of actual controllable profit divided by reforecast controllable profit. According to Exhibit 3, the company firstly determines whether the performance is low, base or high by viewing house profit percentage. House profit percentage that is lower than 90% indicates low performance, 90%-105% indicates basic performance and higher than 105% indicates high performance. After determine level of performance, the company uses the flexible budget controllable profit percentages to determine the color rankings of managers. Changes for Balanced Scorecards According to the analysis above, the scorecard does not align with the company’s overall objectives. As a result, the company can make some changes to modify the scorecards. Firstly, the company should simplify the scorecards procedure to help managers understand and increase acceptance. For example, the company should delete the color and points system, and add some straightforward methods to determine the managers’ performances. Secondly, the company should eliminate the uncontrollable factors in scorecards. For example, budget comparison should be deleted because bottom level managers have no right to determine the original budgets. Another way to solve this problem is to let bottom level managers plan for their own budgets so that they have the power to determine the original budget. In addition, since the customer survey is complicated and time-consuming for customer to fill in, many customers would not complete the survey. As a result, the company should consider simplifying the guest-satisfaction survey in scorecards to attract more attendance for the survey. The third alternative the company can take to change the scorecards is to let all level managers discuss the properties of the scorecards and implement the scorecards measurements in all level managers. Since the bottom level managers cannot determine the components of the scorecards, the acceptance and implementation process would be difficult. The scorecards process would be fairer if all level managements apply the same measurements.

Free Essays on Positive Effects Of The Black Death

Positive Effects of the Black Death It is difficult to imagine that one of world history’s most tragic events could actually have had any positive outcomes, yet it did indeed. When we consider that this plague wiped out somewhere between 25 and 50% of the population of Europe it is hard to see a good side. From China to Greenland and seemingly everywhere in between the Black Death was a pandemic nearly global in its proportions (Thomas, 6). Fleas and rats were the carriers of this grotesque disease. Symptoms included high fevers, aching limbs and vomiting of blood. The most noticeable characteristic was a swelling of the lymph nodes. The lymph nodes are found in the neck, armpits, and groin. The swellings continued to expand until they eventually burst, with death following soon after. From the first symptoms to final expiration only lasted three to four days. The swellings were easily visible and its blackish coloring gave the disease its name: The Black Death. Europe was flourishing it seemed, for nearly half a century before the early thirteen hundreds. Yet, a succession of environmental disasters occurred that set the scene for calamity. Famine and poor harvests were brought on by the â€Å"Little Ice Age† and suggested that the years of prosperity were over. In 1347 the plague arrived in Europe at Messina, Sicily and in several years the plague ravaged almost the entire Western world ( Zaller, 378). Europe lost nearly one third of Jones 2 its population during this four year period. It seems evident that there is nothing good whatsoever about these tragic events. In fact, some considered this time to be the â€Å"Apocalypse† better known as the end of the world. However, when looked at from a different prospective one might conclude otherwise. Economically speaking the plague had a number of important effects. The severe depopulation was a major contributing factor to many socio-economic change... Free Essays on Positive Effects Of The Black Death Free Essays on Positive Effects Of The Black Death Positive Effects of the Black Death It is difficult to imagine that one of world history’s most tragic events could actually have had any positive outcomes, yet it did indeed. When we consider that this plague wiped out somewhere between 25 and 50% of the population of Europe it is hard to see a good side. From China to Greenland and seemingly everywhere in between the Black Death was a pandemic nearly global in its proportions (Thomas, 6). Fleas and rats were the carriers of this grotesque disease. Symptoms included high fevers, aching limbs and vomiting of blood. The most noticeable characteristic was a swelling of the lymph nodes. The lymph nodes are found in the neck, armpits, and groin. The swellings continued to expand until they eventually burst, with death following soon after. From the first symptoms to final expiration only lasted three to four days. The swellings were easily visible and its blackish coloring gave the disease its name: The Black Death. Europe was flourishing it seemed, for nearly half a century before the early thirteen hundreds. Yet, a succession of environmental disasters occurred that set the scene for calamity. Famine and poor harvests were brought on by the â€Å"Little Ice Age† and suggested that the years of prosperity were over. In 1347 the plague arrived in Europe at Messina, Sicily and in several years the plague ravaged almost the entire Western world ( Zaller, 378). Europe lost nearly one third of Jones 2 its population during this four year period. It seems evident that there is nothing good whatsoever about these tragic events. In fact, some considered this time to be the â€Å"Apocalypse† better known as the end of the world. However, when looked at from a different prospective one might conclude otherwise. Economically speaking the plague had a number of important effects. The severe depopulation was a major contributing factor to many socio-economic change...

Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Paper - Essay Example Indeed, the premium quality seafood seller had inducted new trawlers in the fleet and replaced old outdated boats with the newly manufactured. In addition, the company also modified its processing system thereby improving the shelf life of its seafood products. The abovementioned initiatives enabled the American seller to ensure better catch and enhance internal productive capacity and efficiency. Demand increased considerably for premium quality Neptune Gold products, yet the inventories stockpiled as supply side had easily offset existing demand patterns. The top management had been expecting that situation would aggravate further because it was not practically possible to bring supply and demand forces in equilibrium by reducing supply or fish catch. In short, Neptune had been facing a grave strategic issue of rising stocks for which no immediate solution was available in the short run. Rita Sanchez’s recommendation about introducing a new low priced brand, for which qualit y would be similar to that of existing Neptune Gold line products, indeed have both positive and negative consequences that will be discussed in detail in the following paragraphs (Kesner and Walters, pp. 2-3, 2005). After analyzing the internal and external business environment of Neptune Gourmet, I would endorse the new strategy regarding the introduction of a new brand, namely, â€Å"Neptune Silver† of premium quality products. It would not really matter if this strategy could lead to short-term migration of customers of premium quality brand toward low-priced yet similar quality seafood products. Indeed, the reason being the fact Neptune could implement it as a short run strategy and reduce its inventory levels in next two months. Obviously, this strategy would not only attract existing customers but also entice new customers who have not yet tried Neptune’s optimal quality seafood. Once,

Pictures of Everyday Life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Pictures of Everyday Life - Essay Example Generally speaking, the following represents human culture-- stories, beliefs, media, ideas, and works of art, religious practices, fashions, rituals, specialized knowledge, and common sense (Butler 1-23). However, so as to comprehend fully people's relationships with each other and to social establishments, it is vital to understand the structure of society. Fundamentally, people define themselves in terms of cultures and societies and employ these characterizations as determinants of social interface, groups and organizations and deviant behavior. A classic definition, depicts culture as "the totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior; likewise, it includes the ideas, values, customs, and artifacts of groups of people" (Schaeffer 51). However, patterns of culture per se do not offer an unambiguous perception and understanding of the idea of culture; as it is, culture is a lot more than just the object or behavior. Basically, culture also deals with standards, principles, viewpoints, or significant representations. Approximately, standards are actually the way people conduct themselves in a given society, principles are what they consider as cherished opinions, beliefs are how people think the whole world operates, and significant representations are symbols, usually representing social norms, values, and beliefs themselves (Matthew 3). Going back to the restaurant scenario, a serious observer can now begin to contemplate and ponder on questions like -- what is the structure of this particular society in its entirety Or what are its constituents and the relationships between elements What is the significance of change Where does this social order stand in the accounts of human history What will it give to make the meaning of humanity more evocative and consequential More importantly, what are its crucial facets and how do they vary from those of times past gone What types of men and women now prevail in this civilization and in this epoch If we try to seize the different "behavioral landscapes" in that restaurant and let them "freeze" for a moment, then perhaps "photography" can be used to briefly capture the sociology of everyday life. By taking photographs of societal circumstances and by construing existing photographic images, significant "meanings" can be had, the kind of understanding that is not commonly obtained in most situations. At the outset, it elevates people's sensitivities and their process of forming insights to social circumstances because now, passive seeing has been substituted - passive seeing is when countless muddled and frenzied notions fleetingly drift before people's very eyes -- but by

Strategic capabilities darden Essay Example for Free

Strategic capabilities darden Essay Strategic Capabilities In this part of the report the different capabilities of Darden will be explained and which of these capabilities lead to competitive rivalry. But first the different resources and competences will be discussed which will lead to the capabilities. 1) Resource; A physical resource of Darden is; There different restaurants, with this is meant the different buildings that Darden owns with the different kind of restaurants. 1) Competence; The competence that Darden has is; To make different kind of dishes. 1) Capability When the above mentioned resource ad competence are linked then the following capability emerges; Flexible to make different dishes for different markets. Darden has 8 different brands. Each brand standing for its own kind of food like; Italian of seafood. This means that Darden offers all kinds of food to the consumers. After applying the VRIN model to this capability the conclusion is; V- This capability is a value for the consumers due to the fact that Darden gives them the opportunity to choice between different restaurants. This capability allows Darden to be profitable in the market. R- Different brands plus products are included in one chain. Unfortunately for Darden is capability is not Rare, different competitors have the same kind of capability. ( for example Laundry’s, DineEquity) I- This capability is possible to imitate, but this will take some time and the right amount of financial resources. N- This capability is possible to substitute by another company. For example Yum Restaurants, they have also different dishes for different markets with their Taco bell, KFC and Pizza Hut. Conclusion Capability 1); The above mentioned capability is not one that is unique and that is not difficult to imitate, but however it is still a strength for Darden due to the fact it gives Darden a great brand image, and it gives it an advantage compared to their smaller competitors who do not have this capability as strong as Darden. 2) Resource; A Human resource that Darden has is: Well trained and guided staff. 2) Competence; A competence that Darden has is; Skill to buy the best products (for example Darden sources top quality seafood from more than 100 varieties. 2) Capability; When the above mentioned Resources and competence are combined then the following capability emerges; Capable of making high-quality food. High quality is always something under discussion, what is high quality? In this case is meant food that has a very good quality versus cost proportion. And speaks to a lot of people. After applying the VRIN model to this capability the conclusion is; V- This capability has a great value for the consumers because a good quality versus cost proportion is something that quest will remember and will tell to their friends and families. R- This capability is not rare, there are a lot of restaurants that can make high quality food against a good price for the consumers. I- Is this capability Imitational, yes when looking at the above mentioned point ( R) there it shows other restaurants are already doing this. N- This capability can be substitute, what has been explained earlier is that restaurants are already having the same kind of capability. Conclusion Capability 2) The capability of making high-quality food is very important for Darden because consumers expect a level of quality when they go to one of Dardens restaurants. For this case it is a strength of Darden. However it is not a very strong capability due to the fact that multiple competitors are doing the same and that it is very easy to imitate or substitute. 3) Resource; A resource that Darden has is; There strong marketing. 3) Competence; A competence that Darden has is; Using all kinds of advertising. 3) Capability; When the above mentioned resource and competence are combined then the following capability emerges; Dardens ability to market its restaurants. Darden is a leading advertiser in the full size dining segment of the hospitality industry. Darden uses different kind of methods to advertise their brands, like local and cable television, digital advertising, billboards, search engine marketing, radio and newspapers. After applying the VRIN model to this capability the following conclusion can be made; V-; This capability will generate more consumers which will bring more revenue, if the cost are low enough to be profitable in this part then this can be a huge Value to the company. For the consumers this will also be a Value because they stay up to date with new actions, menu changes and promotions. R-; This capability is not rare at all, almost every company has a marketing department and advertises itself. I-; Marketing is very imitational due to the fact that everybody sees them so other companies can easily use the same kind of method, However due to the fact that Darden has multiple brands is can target and advertise to all these markets at the same time which gives them an advantage. N-; This capability can be substituted by a different company, because there are already companies with multiple brands that target and advertise to different markets. (Laundry’s) Conclusion Capability 3) Of the 3 capabilities mentioned in this part of the report, capability 3 is the weakest. It is still an important part of the company, but it is very difficult to stand out on marketing now a day compared to competitors. It is more a capability that is at least required to be successful. Conclusion Capabilities When looking at the 3 different capabilities explained in this part the capabilities concerning the different dishes and the high quality of food are two strong and important capabilities that Darden has. The marketing capability is not as strong but it is still a plus point of the company. Without the marketing Darden would not be as successful as it is today.

The Nature of a Crazy Family in Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying :: Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying

The Nature of a Crazy Family in Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying "My mother is a fish." (p. 79) I think that this statement typifies the entire family. There is something not-quite-right about all of them. Vardeman, as Cora Tull says on page 70, is "outen his head with grief and worry" for his mother. He has confused her with the fish because they both died on the same day. In his child's mind he cannot differentiate between the two. Throughout the novel he refers to his mother as a fish, as on page 196. In this scene, he is looking at the vultures that have gathered over the wagon. Darl and Cash are trying to get Cash's broken leg situated better for the rest of the ride. Vardeman thinks that his "mother is not in the box. My mother does not smell like that. My mother is a fish." Darl is slowly going crazy. He is referred to as being "queer, lazy, pottering about the place no better than Anse" on page 24. However, his true madness is not shown until his monologue at the end of the novel after he has been arrested for burning the barn. Cash believes he did so to try to rid them of Addie's body, but Darl never reveals his motivations. In his final section he seems to be looking in on himself. He refers to his body as Darl, and he asks himself "'What are you laughing at?'" All the answer he gets is "'Yes yes yes yes yes'" (253). Dewey Dell is obsessed with sex and her unwanted pregnancy. Every man that looks at her she looks at with "her eyes kind of blaring up and going hard like [they] had made to touch her" as she does with Tull on page 124. Even in trying to get rid of the fetus, however, she is confronted with sex. She is none the wiser to the wiles of the ‘doctor’ until afterwards when she says, â€Å"’It won’t work [ . . . ] I just know it won’t’† (252). Jewel has some less-than-healthy fascination with his horse. While he frequently beats it about the head, he still refers to it as a â€Å"’sweet son of a bitch’† (13). He was willing to work all night every night for weeks in order to buy the horse, and he disappears for a while when Anse barters it for the new team.

Enron: the smartest guys in the room Essay

Enron Corporation was an energy, commodities, and service company out of Houston, Texas founded by Kenneth Lay in 1985. Lay built natural gas power energy in East Texas which helped Enron’s stock rise. Louis Borget, Andrew Fastow, and Jeffery Skilling were the top management executives from 1985 until 2001. Each helped to bring about the demise of the company in multiple ways. One of the first scandals in Enron involved President Louis Borget and two traders were discovered betting on Enron Stocks. The company books were altered to inflate profits so that the company appeared to be more profitable that it actually was. Borget was diverting company money into personal offshore accounts. Auditors tried to uncover the problem, but Borget and the traders had a separate set of books that they kept from the auditors. Kenneth Lay, who was aware of this unethical practice, and encouraged Borget to continue â€Å"making us millions†, two months later the separate set of books we re brought to the investigators and Enron fired the two traders and Borget had to serve one year in jail. After his biggest money maker was put behind bars Lay needed to find him a new money maker. So Lay hired Jeffrey Skilling to be the CEO. Jeffrey Skilling would only accept job if Enron adopted a mark-to-market accounting strategy. Mark-to-market accounting allowed the company to book potential profits on certain projects immediately after contracts were signed, regardless of the actual profits that the deal would eventually make. This gave Enron the ability to look like they were a profitable company. Skilling put together a performance review committee that graded employees and fired the bottom fifteen percent each year which made the employees very competitive and created a very tough working environment. Traders were very aggressive and they made it to where if you wanted to be in the market you didn’t have a choice to deal with Enron. Trading became the main reported profit for Enron. Skilling hired two guys that became his top lieutenants Lou Pai and Cliff Baxter. They were known as the â€Å"Guy with Spikes†. Baxter was a very smart guy and was Enron’s Chief deal maker. He was manic-depressive and best friends with Skilling. Pai was the CEO of Enron Energy Services. He was  very mysterious guy who employees say was never in the office. Pai only seemed to care about two things, money and strippers. He would bring strippers into the office and would put everything he spent in the strip clubs onto an expense reports to be reimbursed by Enron. All of Pai’s time in the strip clubs caught up to him and caused him to get a divorce. Once he got a divorce he sold all of his stock and resigned from Enron. He came out of Enron better than anyone cashing in his stock and receiving approximately two hundred and fifty million dollars. The division of Enron that Pai ran lost a total of around one billion dollars which was covered up by Enron. Enron had success in the bull market brought on by the dot-com bubble. Enron’s stock prices increased to record prices. The games was called â€Å"pump and dump† top executives would pump up the stock prices and then sell their million dollar options. Everyone at Enron was consumed with the stock price. Stock prices were even posted in the elevators for everyone to see. Enron launched a PR campaign to make itself look profitable even with all aspects of the company operating poorly. Skilling’s philosophy was to take high risks because these deals would make more money. One of these high risk deals was building a power plant in India, which nobody wanted to do because India could not afford the high prices. The company lost a billion dollars on this project but that fact was covered up by Skilling. The company paid out multi-million dollar bonus to executive on non-existent profits. Enron bought out Portland General Energy which gave them access to the deregulated market of California. All of the employees in PGE had bought their stock so when Enron took over all of the stock PGE stock became Enron. The Portland General Energy workers had always invested their 401k into stock which converted to Enron. These employees continued to purchase stock because of their trust in Enron. Enron’s main motivation for buying the company was to operate in California since they held the highest demand for energy in the United States. Enron’s traders would trick California’s electricity supply and export the energy to another state causing California to have blackouts. By California having these black outs they raised the energy rate in the state. Although Enron’s stock prices were steadily rising, the company was losing a lot of money. Skilling turned the company  into cyber space. They attempted to use broadband technology to deliver movies on demand and â€Å"trade weather† like a commodity. Both of the marketing strategies failed miserably. By using mark-to-market accounting they booked 53 million dollar in earnings on a deal that didn’t make a penny. Once they figured out they could not hide the company’s losses, the top executives started selling their stock. Enron was named the â€Å"most admired† corporation by Fortune magazine for the six years in a row. Jim Chanos, an Enron investor, and Bethany McLean, a Fortune reporter, both questioned the company’s financial statements and stock value. McLean tried to talk to Skilling about the irregularities but Skilling went on the defensive calling McLean unethical. Skilling sent three executives to meet with her and Fortune’s editor including CFO Andy Fastow. Andy Fastow was the main one keeping Enron running. He was cooking the books making it look like Enron was making a profit even though the company was more than 30 billion dollars in debt. Fastow created two limited partnerships, LJM1 and LJM2, for the purpose of buying Enron’s poorly performing stocks to improve its financial statements. Fastow had to go before the board of directors to get an exemption to run these two companies as well as Enron. This was a definite conflict of interest. He also had personal financial stake in these company’s either directly or through a partner. He made millions of dollars defrauding Enron. He pressured the investment banks such as Merrill Lynch, Citibank to invest by threatening them with loss of Enron’s bus iness if they did not. He had analysts fired who threatened to report Enron for wrong doings. A good sound ethics policy was established when Enron was formed. The problems occurred when the policy was not followed. By not following the ethics policy put in place, employees and management were encouraged to take risks thereby encouraging unethical behavior which ultimately brought down the company. Enron went bankrupt in 2001 due in large part to widespread fraud in company operating policies. The top executives were the main ones practicing unethical behavior in the company. By the top executives behaving unethically lower level employees followed their example. As long as Enron was making money no one cared how they went about doing it. In 2001, these unethical actions over the past decade and half caught up with Enron’s top executives and employees. Twenty thousand employees lost their job, medical insurance and employees also lost1.2 billion in retirement funds. Enron’s top executives were paid bonuses totaling 55 million and cashed in their stock at approximately 116 million dollars. Even though some of the executives mad e money in the deal they had to face criminal charges which placed some in prison and some still have pending cases. If Enron has survived their collapse in 2001 and I were to be a consultant for Enron, I would make sure that the code of ethics booklet that all employees read and signed before taking the job at Enron were followed. Employees and executives would have to take part in ethics training to be sure that they understand the book completely. Enron would have to have commitment from all of the executive positions to follow these rules and also enforce them even if the unethical actions were making the company more money. There would have to be a zero tolerance rule in place that everyone understood. All employees acting inappropriately would be reprimanded as established in the code of ethics booklet. Work cited Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. Dir. Alex Gibney. By Alex Gibney, Peter Elkind, Bethany McLean, and Peter Coyote. Magnolia Pictures, 2005