[College]
As the new manager, I came to the conclusion that Kimpton Hotels is the growing business. All the growing businesses can risk taking the decisions at the drop of a hat usually associated with a lower quality of services. Implementation of change requires vision from the front-line managers and the inspiration from the staff. Each Kimpton Hotel has a unique culture to support the organic and sustainable growth.
The purpose of this report is to provide the organized framework to the Earth Care Project phases 2&3 to keep the process on an even keel and to maintain the continuous improvement process through excellence and the environmental sustainability.
Kimpton Hotels & the Earth Care Project: Bird's Eye View.
The Kimpton Hotels is the chain of the unique properties in the hotel industry authoring for and specializing in the 'boutique' hotel segment since 1981. The Kimpton's facility implication is accommodation of different individual styles, with their history and character of the local hotels within the main chain. Rather than standardizing the services under the opulent and ornate style of the premium segment, Kimpton preferred the upscale but stylish style.
The Earth Care Project program phases 2 & 3 sets the following goals:
Phase 1 - investment in water and energy conservation, new organic materials and promoting the Phase 1 initiatives.
Phase 2: Investment into the energy efficient building materials, designs, appliances and into the talent pool.
Mission: The company key stakeholders are the clients and investors; still the mission statement was not present on the corporate website or blog. The Kimpton Hotels would express the mission statement through the several linked ideas:
Differentiation through five dimensions as Care, Comfort, Style, Flavor, and Fun. Energized style of making the business.
Customization and personalization of the services to make each customer feel at home.
Commitment to social responsibility was starting from the mandatory involvement of the individual employees into the NGOs and implementing the environmental initiatives and projects such as "Earth Care Project.”
PR campaign to advertise the Kimpton hotels: many clients didn’t hear about the unique character, customer friendly environment and socially significant environmental initiatives.
Vision: The Kimpton’s developed the unique vision. When the company has committed to the environmental initiatives, the management didn’t know whether the “Earth Care Project” would be cost-effective. The company relied on the enthusiasm of the employees by unleashing the vision of the teams. Each hotel has the flexible circular structure with the shared values and the lowest employees’ turnover rates in the industry.
Brand: According to the BAV Brand Asset Valuator (BAV Consulting, 2015), the company has the well differentiated, energized brand with high brand strength but with an inferior brand stature: brand esteem and the brand knowledge. The brand grows progressively through the four key measures: differentiation, relevance, esteem, and knowledge. The next step in the development of the brand is esteem and knowledge. The company should bring the process forward to the esteemed brand a starting point to the wider knowledge and the leadership position in the future.
The Earth Care Project: Problems and Causes of the Problems.
As the brand is healthy and has a high potential to grow the management should apply efforts to expediting the change and development of the brand. The impediments to the organic growth are lying in:
Potential resistance of the management to new products and procedures;
Potential resistance by hotel staff to the new procedures;
Investments might have slower payback period;
Investments in Phase III might exceed existing budgets;
Regional differences in recycling infrastructure and regulatory environment (Silverman, 2006).
Kimpton Hotels: The Root Causes of the Problem.
The company requires the Earth Care Project to eliminate the two root causes of the problem:
The first root cause lies in the silo mentality. So the solution to gaining the strategic esteem is in developing the talent pool.
The second root cause is in the small size of the chain of the Kimpton Hotels of 63 hotels and 83 restaurants in 33 cities and limited knowledge as compared to the hundreds of hotels from the large brands.
Kimpton Hotels: The Preventive and the Corrective Actions.
According to the Pareto principle, the preventive actions can take only 20% of resources to resolve 80% of the problem. The preventive actions remove the cause of the problem and bring the long-term effect. The corrective measures can eliminate only symptoms of the problem but not the problem itself.
The corrective actions:
The board of directors and CEO has no time to work with the staff, and the human resource manager is working mainly with the formal papers. The situation is dead as doornail, so the company has to establish the position of the coach to train and motivate the staff.
The Preventive Actions:
During phase 2, the company should identify bit players and focus on selecting the talent pool with the new vision to remove the causes of the staff resistance to guarantee the continuous innovation and the long-term development. Under the talent pool, the manager should understand not only the employees with excellent knowledge and the soft skills but also with the hard skills including the extracurricular activities. The motivated students develop the strategic thinking through the extracurricular activities can entirely feet to the company’s sustainability project (Greenbank, 2015).
As phase 3 involves work with the investors, the company should select the talented chief investment officer. By rolling out the sustainability project, the company becomes more transparent to the investors. On phase 3 the company will need the website for the investors and the experienced chief brand officer to prepare Kimpton Hotels to an acquisition. Kimpton should become a member of the larger sound and well-established brand to spread knowledge about its hotels. High level of differentiation, relevance and esteem can increase the market value of the company.
The Actions to Be Taken: Checking Effectiveness.
For rollout of the phase 2 company needs the enthusiastic and motivated staff be able to find the suppliers and build the new supply channels at a minimum or no additional cost. The number of the new supply channels can measure the effectiveness of phase 2.
Phases 3 requires the additional investments into the building materials, labor and infrastructure, and could stretch the company's cash flow. The industry is posting the significant gains. But the investors display preference to the sustainable hotel businesses. For example, the investors contributed to the company's environmental rollout pouring $157 million of the private funds and $12.7 billion from Yale University. The amount contributed to the sustainability project will measure the effectiveness of phase 3. The other market instrument is the price per share and the company revenues.
Improvement: Standardization of the Process.
On this stage the company should finally eliminate the causes of the problems by answering the following questions:
Who are CBO, CIO, and a coach?
What results the company should receive: number of supply channels, products, facilities, contributions, share costs, revenues.
Where the phase one is relevant and where the phase two.
When the company should hire the new employees.
Whether to generate and implement the new ideas.
The Earth Care Project: The Future Actions.
At this stage, the company should take a decision how often to review the problem. Some problems may need the different solution. The company should revise the remaining challenges and make changes. In the case of inefficiency, the company should run the problem-solving process again. The new staff should keep a focus on the continuous cutting edge improvements.
The Earth Care Project: Formula of the Success.
The success formula for the Earth Care Project will be in keeping feet on the ground and coordinating the strategy and the tactical goals, brand management, and fundraising strategies. The sustainable businesses are the trusted and the transparent business that appeal to the wider stakeholders and the investors. On the other hand, the environmental sustainability has a correlation with the esteem of the brand. The talent pool plays the crucial role in the success of the project, and the company needs the employees with the personal vision in addition to the soft skills. So the formula of the Earth Care Project can look as follows (‘Phase 2' = ‘talent pool and coach'+ ‘new sustainable goals'+ ‘continuous improvement'). Phase 3: (‘Phase 3' = ‘CBO, CIO’ + ‘sustainable building materials, labor, and appliances '+‘brand management'+ ‘the investors' website'+ ‘fundraising') →(‘preparation to acquisition by the larger chain of hotels’).
Kimpton Hotels: Conclusion.
I will conclude that the Kimpton Hotels chain is facing the typical problems rooted in the company's life cycle. The provided recommendations can help the company in removing the root causes and correcting the current issues. The proposed solutions can make business sustainable by taking to consideration the interests of the main stakeholders - employees, clients and the investors.
References
BAV Consulting. (2015). Explore your Brand. Retrieved from http://bavconsulting.com/apps/
Greenbank, P. (2015). "Still focusing on the “essential 2:1”: exploring student attitudes to extra-curricular activities." Education + Training. Vol. 57 Iss: 2, pp.184 – 203.
Silverman, M. & Thomas, T. (2006). Kimpton Hotels – Balancing Strategy and Environmental Sustainability. College of Business San Francisco State University. (pp. 13-14). Retrieved from http://www.oikos-foundation.unisg.ch/homepage/case.htm
