Carlson: A Global Hospitality Leader with $37 Billion in Sales - Essay Sample

Over the decades, Carlson has emerged as an industry-leading global hospitality company in the United States consisting of a travel agency, restaurants, resorts, and hotels. Carlson is a family-owned entity in the United States, and it has expanded its operations in more than 140 countries worldwide, thus employing more than 180,000 employees. In 2013, the annual sales for Carlson Company amounted to $37 billion and $4.4 in the managed revenue (Ims and Grønhaug, 2018). In 2015 the company developed a strategy that puts a deliberate focus on three main aims. First, the company wants its brands to lead in their segments. Secondly, the company wants to be the number one travel and hospitality industry to invest with and be the number one travel and hospitality company for employees. The company has been facing stiff competition from other companies in the same industry, such as Hilton. To maintain a competitive advantage, the company has expanded its operations to growing markets such as China and Mozambique in Africa, and it has incorporated the latest technology in its operations to satisfy customer’s needs.

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Carlson Company is a leading source of employment for many citizens in the United States. The Carlson Company has invested in the hospitality and travel sector that creates many job opportunities in the US. Nationally, hospitality is the leading private industry in terms of employment, and it has more than 14.8 million employees. Carlson is the leading company in the United States hospitality industry, and it is planning to have 1500 hotels. The restaurant sector of hospitality employs 13 million Americans, accounting for 9% of the US workforce. Moreover, the hotel sector employs 1.8 million Americans. Carlson is the leading company in the hospitality sector; hence, it has more employees than any other company and pays a good salary; thus, it is the US's top employer.

The company has been generating a lot of revenue from the travel agency; thus, it should now focus on expanding its operations in the hospitality industry. The company should now establish more hotels, at least the budgeted 1500 hotels, to maximize its revenue. The company should identify the target markets and mostly set the hotels in the upcoming markets such as Mozambique to avoid over saturation that would adversely affect the company. Besides, the company needs to invest in social media and technology to create a competitive advantage. Over the decades, the technology sector revolution has been immense, and the company needs to be innovative to thrive in the competitive hospitality sector.

Carlson Wagonlit Travel is the leading travel agency with 60 million transactions and $26.9 billion in revenue. The Carlson Wagonlit travel has expanded its operations in 150 worldwide theatres. Wagonlit travel needs to introduce an online booking system. The online booking system will be more convenient for the 150 theatres and less costly to both the customers and the company. Cloud computing will work best for the company as it will offer highly scalable data solutions to the agency due to its based networks (Phadermrod et al., 2018). The technology will attract more customers, and data will be well stored, leading to increased revenues while reducing infrastructure costs. The company should develop or buy software for cloud computing to prepare itself for the technology. The company also needs to train its staff on using the software and explaining its staff the benefits of using the technology for easier adoption.

Customer rewards in the hospitality sector are essential as it makes the customers make repetitive consumption of the products and services. The hospitality sector is competitive, and there exist substitutes for the products. Consumer rewards make customers loyal to one company. One of the challenges that companies face when marketing rewards is the financial constraint that makes it difficult for the company to carry the operation. The other challenge is that the company is uncertain of the customer's loyalty to the company, and the company's staff has insufficient knowledge of the best reward programs. I would advise Carlson to advertise their rewards online, such as via their website and social media. The system will be more accessible to customers compared to traditional methods like using billboards.

Carlson company has established strong brands in the hospitality sector, such as Radisson Blu, which satisfies customers’ needs due to its quality service, making travelers feel at home in their hotels. I would choose Carlson Company as the franchise company when setting a hotel in a major city because Carlson's brand would act as the marketing tool to my hotel, thus attracting many customers. Moreover, the company would cover the marketing costs to maintain its standards as it is a highly profitable company. I would expect the company to cover the costly expansion projects and brand standard projects.

Since the hotel industry is competitive, the company should focus on improving guest satisfaction to retain its customers. However, the company should initiate better marketing initiatives for its franchises and ensure uniformity in prices for its franchisees. A combination of the three actions will keep the brand healthy, thus attracting many customers. Furthermore, these actions will make customers loyal to the company.

SWOT analysis refers to the strength, weakness, opportunities, and threat analysis of a target market. Apple company used this model to analyze the Africa market before it started its operations in Africa. A potential investor invests if the strengths are more than the weaknesses, and there are more opportunities than the threats (Phadermrod et al., 2019). Porter’s model is a macro-analytical tool that analyses the five forces that shape an industry. The forces are; the power of suppliers, buyers' power, the threat of new entrants, the threat of substitutes, and the substitution. Trefis used this model to analyze how Armour fits in athletic footwear. Lastly, Ansoff’s model is a strategic planning tool that managers use to develop a future expansion. The matrix has four aspects: market penetration, product development, market development, and diversification. Adidas company has used this model to develop strategies for expanding its operations.

In conclusion, Carlson's company has a high probability of success in the future as the 2015 initiative contributes positively to the expansion of its operations. The company has a strong brand and has identified the potential upcoming markets to invest in. For the company to succeed, it has to employ Ansoff's model analysis, SWOT analysis, and Porter's model to scan the identified markets' opportunities and threats. Carlson company should be concerned with the stiff competition from the other companies like Hilton. To overcome this challenge, the company should analyze the environment to identify the weaknesses and correct them. Moreover, the company should recognize the opportunities and take advantage of the options.

References

Ims, K. J., & Grønhaug, K. (2018). Responsible Hospitality: Carlson Rezidor. In Progressive Business Models (pp. 241-262). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Phadermrod, B., Crowder, R. M., & Wills, G. B. (2019). Importance-performance analysis based SWOT analysis. International Journal of Information Management, 44, 194-203.

Phadermrod, E., Yang, L., Anwar, N., & Jin, N. (2018, March). Adoption of cloud computing in hotel industry as emerging services. In International Conference on Information (pp. 218-228). Springer, Cham.