Exercises – Operations Strategy

Exercise 1: Rede Valentin

Your first assignment as an internal consultant to one of the largest global consulting firms is to work on the operations strategy of a hotel chain operating in the Brazilian northeast called Rede Valentin. The hotels of the network operate in three different capitals, namely: Natal, Fortaleza and Recife. All hotels work with the "all inclusive" system (drinks and food are already included in the package price). The main public of the network is composed by families who spend an average of seven to eight days hosted. The company works with a strong partnership with a major national tourism operator.

To start your project, the hotel chain has already made available for you two surveys carried out by its own executives. The first report takes into account the factors that customers value most, and the second the performance of some competitors, as shown in the following data.

Research A: factors raised with Hotel Customers

Attribute Natal Fortaleza Recife

Price 9 8 10

Menu variability 1 3 2

Service speed 6 6 5

Entertaiment options 9 9 8

Room quality and comfort 4 5 5

Valuation scale ranges from 1 to 10. (1- Less important; 10- Most important)

Research B: Benchmarking with other networks than currently operate in the Northeast

Attribute Valentim X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 X6 X7

Price Bad Terrible Terrible Excellent Excellent Terrible Excellent Terrible

Menu variability Regular Excellent Good Excellent Excellent Good Excellent Bad

Service speed Terrible Good Good Good Excellent Good Regular Bad

Entertainment options Excellent Terrible Terrible Regular Regular Terrible Regular Bad

Room quality Good Good Excellent Terrible Terrible Excellent Terrible Excellent

Public

Families

Couples and Families Couples Families Families Couples Families LGBT

All inclusive? Yes No Yes yes yes yes yes No

Based on that information, please answer the following questions:

a) What are the order winning criteria? Why?

b) Prepare the relevance and performance matrix for this case.

c) The executives of the network elaborated a plan of sequenced actions as shown in the table below. These actions are already approved with the Board of the company. Is the sequence correct? Why?

Action Impact US$

1 Implement HVAC system into all rooms Improve customer comfort 1,000,000

2 Install artificial waves system into pool Artificial

...