Four Seasons Goes To Paris Case Solution And Analysis, HBR Case Study Solution & Analysis of Harvard Case Studies

Statement of the Problem

Four Seasons Hotel Company is one of the best known luxury hotel chains in the world. The main objective of the company is to establish hotels around the world that reflect upon the locality of those countries. It has specialized in opening many hotels around the world and then gives those hotels the taste and the touch of the local culture of that country. The management of the company had always followed the golden rule of treating other which means others should be treated in the same way in which you want to be treated (Hacker, 2011). The company had created its goodwill and brand image in the market based on outclass service which it provides to its guests. This case discusses all the challenges and issued that are encountered by the management of Four Seasons Hotel Company in creating their positioned service standards in a global setting and the case pays special attention to France where the company had recently opened one of its hotel.

Causes of the Problem

When Four Seasons Hotel Company had opened its hotel chain in France, the first issue or problem that had been encountered by the management of the hotel was the clash between the culture of France and the culture and vision of the company. Along with this, the second problem faced by the hotel was that the company was facing severe difficulty in adopting its global standards in France in the light of the local culture of France.

The same communications means and the styles of the communications are interpreted differently across different cultures. Therefore, when the same ways of communications and same actions are carried out in the hotel, then this creates problems for those guests who belong to a high context, high power distant and collective cultures (Bradley, 2002). As a result, the communication gap is created within the staff of the hotel and the guests of the hotel.

In some of the cultures, the beliefs and norms of the cultures are so much embedded in the actions of the people that people could understand the eye contact of each other and even the movement of the pupil. A firm hand shake is interpreted differently across different countries. In France for example, people identify their cultural norms with the use of formal titles or family names (Hoecklin, 1994). Furthermore, if you pass a smile to the people of these cultures they do not like it and the reason for this is that these people consider that the smiles should be reserved for their close friends and family members.

The base of Four Seasons Hotel Company was located in Canada and the management of Four Seasons Hotel Company did not wanted to be represented as a Canadian hotel however, it wanted to create a perception in the mind of the customers that they are not representing Canada but they are representing the world by creating the local image in the minds of the customers and creating the same cultural environment as the guests would love to see.

Therefore, in order to create the desired positioning of the Four Seasons Hotel brand and the perception in the minds of the customers, the management had to deal with a number of country wide issues and challenges so that all the needs of the guests could be met with the utmost level of hospitality and extraordinary service.

Four Seasons Goes To Paris Case Solution

Decision Criteria & Alternative Solutions

If we look at the history of the company for the previous 30 years, then it could be seen that there are multiple factors that have contributed in the success of the Four Seasons Hotel Company. The competency and the Excellency of the management team of the hotel chain is one of the factors. The management of the hotel chain has always been successful in embedding the local culture of each country in the standards and norms of the hotel and this has been achieved by the management team in a very cost effective manner. The strong position of the business is further confirmed with the financial analysis performed in the spreadsheet.

Another contributing factor was that in each of the country, the management hired the local managers such as American managers in America and French managers in France. Furthermore, the 7 service standards of culture and the 270 core standards that are followed worldwide are strictly followed by the employees of the organization. The philosophy of the company had been created on these factors which state that the company could adapt to norms and beliefs of each of the country and embed that in the culture of the hotel (Hofstede, 2001)................

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