Course Title: Hospitality and Tourism Strategic Management
Course Description:
Using a case study and seminar approach, this course provides participants with a firm understanding and appreciation of various managerial strategies available in the hospitality and tourism industry. Emphasis will be placed on those marketing and financial concepts specific to the creation of long-term business strategies. Students will be encouraged to identify and apply strategies appropriate to market leaders, growth companies, firms entering the business and those wishing to grow through mergers and acquisitions. Students will develop the skills necessary to guide decision-making regarding acquisition and development of hospitality properties, and in analyzing the role of franchising in the strategic planning of a business.
Course Outcomes:
At the completion of this course, students will be able to:
Identify various kinds of functional, business, and corporate strategies commonly used in the hospitality industry;
Perform assessments of various internal and external business environments;
Think strategically;
Recognize business and industry opportunities and threats;
Appreciate the unique elements of the services industry and demonstrate their effects upon designing strategies within the hospitality industry;
Use various analytical tools to measure the strengths and weaknesses of a firm;
Indicate specific profit centers within a company most likely to produce profits;
Compare and contrast short-term tactical maneuvers with long-term strategic endeavors;
Evaluate financial statements and determine a firm’s profitability; and,
Plan, develop, and deliver a well-organized presentation that emphasizes an easilyrecognizable thesis, the orderly arrangement of main concepts and repetition of principal themes, well-positioned logical transitions, and a meaningful conclusion.
The Project:
Each student will complete a written analysis (approximately 8-12 pages in addition to an executive summary) of the strategic marketing and financial goals and objectives of a specific hospitality firm as identified by the instructor. This analysis will conform to APA citation style as appropriate for such a report with one exception: all citations for published works will include a page reference. Citations for Internet material will also conform to APA citation style but will not include page references, except as indicated by accepted APA style guidelines.
A quality product will include (at a minimum):
• An executive summary presenting your key findings
• A Table of Contents and a Table of Figures or Tables if appropriate
• A company overview and its business model
• A External and Internal Environment Analysis
• A discussion of its marketing strategy
• An analysis of its financial performance
• Your assessment of its future
• Your conclusion
• References
• Appropriate appendices
A copy of the company’s Annual Report
Financial Highlights for most current year
Ratios & Ratio Analysis including a thorough discussion
Balance Sheet and/or Income Statement
Cash Flow (generally from Annual Report
The document must be, of course, paying special attention to the APA style.