Hospitality Retail Management

Book excerpt: 'Hospitality Retail Management' provides students and managers with a practical guide to managing units in hospitality retail organizations. Customers rely on a particular chain of hotels, restaurants or pubs to provide the same level of service and environment across the board. This standardised service provides the customer with the security of knowing what to expect from that particular organisation. However, this standardisation allows little room for creativity for individual managers to respond to the particular needs of their local market. There is a growing realisation that there is greater profitability if the chain can offer both standardised services across all its retail operations while at the same time allowing local managers the freedom to interpret the needs of its local market as they see fit. 'Hospitality Retail Management' shows managers and students how competitive advantage can be gained by adopting management techniques which are both 'tight and loose', and demonstrates how you can manage businesses with well-defined objectives while also allowing local managers to interpret their local market as they see fit. Conrad Lashley has done extensive consultancy with companies such as McDonalds and uses case studies from these companies to reiterate key issues throughout the text.