Critique in Systems & Technology Value: 24% Task Write a business report based on the following: A group of ten hotel chains have decided to merge their business to combat market pressure for low priced hotel accommodation. The new chain called StayTogether has over a thousand hotels from all categories (backpacker, bed & breakfast homes to luxurious suites) around the world. It combats the sale of hotel rooms via popular web sites such as booking.com, hotels.com and so on which reduces their profits and waters down their corporate image. Bookings will be from a single web site only (with a complementary mobile app) and prices are fixed through the year with peak pricing during popular periods. Senior management has finalised on the following decisions: 1. A customer loyalty scheme called StayTogether Loyalty will reward customers with airport transfers, car parking on site and free nights. 2. If a kitchen and standard restaurant is on site, buffet breakfast and dinner is included in the hotel room price. This is to add to the dollar value earned per guest. Exclusive restaurants on site will charge extra. Write a business report outlining the above case, stating assumptions you make at the beginning of your report. Provide critique into the management decisions substantiating with reference to literature. In your report, make the difference between Information Systems (IS) and Information Technology (IT) issues and how it will affect customer choice, continued patronage, brand loyalty, etc. Suggest how to attract new customers (from competitors) and any other new business opportunities that may arise with such a set up (eg. technological services on site, personalised automated tour guide, etc.). All these should be substantiated with references. Format Business report format Readers of business reports expect certain information to be in certain places. They do not expect to search for what they want and the harder you make it for them the more likely they are to toss your report to one side and ignore it. So what should you do? 1. Follow the generally accepted format for a business report: Title, Executive Summary, Introduction, Main Body, Conclusion and Reference List. 2. Organise your information within each section in a logical fashion with the reader in mind, usually putting things in order of priority - most important first. Report Title. This is simply up at the beginning of your report. Executive Summary (250 words) . Give a clear and very concise account of the main points, main conclusion (and recommendation). Keep it very short (see word limit). Some people, especially senior managers, may not read anything else so write as if it were a stand-alone document. It isn't but for some people it might as well be. Keep it brief and free from jargon so that anyone can understand it and get the main points. Write it last, but do not copy and paste from the report itself; that rarely works well. An executive summary, or management summary, is a short document or section of a document, produced for business purposes, that summarizes a longer report or proposal or a group of related reports in such a way that readers can rapidly become acquainted with a large body of material without having to read it all. For example, write your summary this way: This report provides an critical analysis and evaluation of... Results of the analysis show that the four management decisions designed to improve the business competitiveness are... The report finds the prospects of the company to compete successfully with booking.com and hotels.com are... Recommendations discussed include... Your Introduction can start like this (120 words): This is the first part of the report proper. Use it to paint the background to 'the problem' and to show the reader why the report is important to them. Then explain how the details that follow are arranged. Write it in plain English This report is a critical analysis of the management decisions in systems and technology at StayTogether, a group of ten hotel chains that have decided to merge their business to combat market pressure for low priced hotel accommodation...and so on and so forth (state the problems here that StayTogether is trying to resolve). This report will primarily discuss the four management decisions designed to affect customer choice, continued patronage, brand loyalty, attract new customers (from competitors) and any other new business opportunities that may arise with such a set up. Finally, this report provides recommendations on how to utilise ICT to gain competitive advantage against their competitors. In this report, i also made the following assumptions...(state assumptions here, for example, the app was developed internally (proprietary), by one of the hotel chain's IT group). You Body may be divided into the following sections (900 words): Main Body. This is the heart of your report, the facts. It will probably have several sections or sub-sections each with its own subtitle. It is unique to your report and will describe what you discovered about 'the problem'. These sections are most likely to be read by experts so you can use some appropriate jargon but explain it as you introduce it. Arrange the information logically, normally putting things in order of priority -- most important first. In fact, follow that advice in every section of your report. Do not write in dot points or numbered points as this will appear disjointed and look like notes taken in a meeting. Critique into the four management decisions (Since the goal is continued patronage, brand loyalty, attract new customers (from competitors) and any other new business opportunities that may arise with such a set up, discuss whether the four strategies below will most likely, or least likely help achieve their goals). The four management decisions are: - Loyalty scheme - Free buffet breakfast and dinner - Rebates - Social responsibility (i.e., charity donations) For example, you may write: Loyalty programs are structured marketing strategies designed by merchants to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of businesses associated with each program (Sharp et. al., 1997). Over time the data can reveal, for example, a given customer's favorite brand of beer, or whether he or she is a vegetarian. Data collected can be used to formulate marketing messages specifically tailored to the customers needs. Loyalty program works because (state your reasons here)... REFERENCES Sharp, Byron and Anne Sharp (1997), "Loyalty Programs and Their on Repeat-Purchase Loyalty Patterns", International Journal of Research in Marketing, 14 (5), 473-86. Difference between IT and IS issues the company will face - Issues such as scalability issues, technology compatibility issues, data conversion issues, sustainability issues, legal issues (patented technologies), employment issues (machines replacing people in the job), user interface issues, etc How these issues affect customer choice, continued patronage, brand loyalty, etc. (for example, if user interface is not user friendly) Conclusions/Recommendations(200 words) Present the logical conclusions of your investigation of 'the problem'. Bring it all together and maybe offer options for the way forward. Many people will read this section. Recommendations. What do you suggest should be done? Don't be shy; you did the work so state your recommendations in order of priority. How to attract new customers (from competitors). Your response here should be beyond the four management decisions above. For example, should they use BI as well? CRM? SCM? New business opportunities that may arise with such a set up (eg. technological services on site, personalised automated tour guide, etc.). References As your business report must be academically sound as well as making good business sense, it is essential that your report is supported by accurate in-text referencing and the inclusion of a reference list. Although some business reports in the workplace do not require full referencing (and some students may be used to this), it is a requirement in the academic environment. This is equitable for all students. Minimum 5 references.