Free Dissertation Introduction On An Evaluation Of Plaza Athenee Strategies To Gain Competitive Advantage In Paris

An Evaluation of Plaza Athenee Strategies to Gain Competitive Advantage in Paris

Introduction
Competitive advantage is one of the management concepts that has been accepted and widely used all over the world in the course of recent years. Competitive advantage is attractive in today’s management literature, and the reason for such popularity includes the rampant and rapid change that firms face in today’s world. Also importantly, the complexity of the business environment, the impact of the globalization, changing consumer needs, revolution in the ICT sectors and importantly the liberation of global trade (Porter, 1985). An analysis of the competitive advantage seeks to increase the understanding of competitive advantage as a phenomenon. It aims to identify its motives and drivers, supporting forces and barriers, as well as the value chain actors and their fundamental roles in this process from a hotel management point of view. This thesis defines a new meaning for competitive advantage in the hotel and luxury industry. The aim of this thesis is to give the reader an overview of the background the research, to introduce the research problem, objectives and also the research strategy and methodology.

History and Background

Plaza Athenee has emerged as one of the most creative and dining destination in the Paris, France. It offers a dynamic blend of Chinese, French, Japanese, and Thai cuisine (Payen-Appenzeller & Petch, 2003). In 2008, Plaza Athenee was named as one of the Conde Nast Traveler’s top ten places to stay in Europe. This study will show how Plaza Athenee may compete with other luxury hotels in Paris directly or indirectly in order to maintain it competitive and stick on top of the luxury hotels in Paris.
Competition in Paris especially in the luxury hotel industry. Plaza Athenee faces competition from plenty of hotels whose history in France is magnificent and of great fame amongst the French people. These hotels include Le Ritz, Le Bristol, Le crillion, George V amongst other famous hotels. The high level of competition has made it difficult for Plaza Athenee to attract and maintain more customers as more and more luxury hotels set up shop in Paris. This study aim at analyzing and evaluating Plaza Athenee position, as well as its competitors, in order to determine the best strategies that aid Plaza Athenee gain competitive advantage over them.

The Business Problem

Paris home to some of the world’s luxurious hotels is getting an influx of amazing new prestige hotels, this raises the stratosphere of competition in the market. The increase in competition puts pressure to Plaza Athenee to invest in ways to determine its competitive advantage in the market or risk losing exceptionally in the market.

The Aim of the Study

This study aims at analyzing how the Plaza Athenee in Paris can compete with other hotels in Paris in order to gain competitive advantage and, therefore, survive in this industry. The study is based on two theories that are the 4 P's of marketing, the theory of differentiation and the Five Forces theory or model.

The Objectives of the Study

Analyze the theories of 4P’s of marketing that are; place, product, price, and promotion. After analyzing the 4P’s of marketing, a comparison will be undertaken between Plaza Athenee and other hotels in Paris. The objective will be to evaluate and determine the business strategies to lay down in order to improve the general performance of Plaza Athenee.
Another objective of this study is to undertake a thorough scrutiny of the theory of differentiation in order to evaluate and determine the competitive advantages that make Plaza Athenee better than the rest of the hotels in Paris. The secondary objective will also be to identify various ways to improve the general welfare of Plaza Athenee.
The five-force model, which include; industry competitor, new entrants, substitution, power of customer and power of supply. The objective of utilizing this theory will determine the Plaza Athenee position in the market. This will aid in the development of Plaza Athenee strategy.

The Methodology

Research methodology is mostly defined as a framework that outlines the methods and procedures to be followed when collecting and analyzing the required information from the respondents. After the formulation of the research problem, the research design must be developed. The research design will specify the methods and procedures for collecting and analyzing the information (Zikmund, 2003)
The base of this study was carried out using the qualitative and quantitative research methods. The focus of the qualitative research was to the observations and words. The purpose of quantitative research was to determine the quantity or extent of the phenomenon in terms of numbers. This study was conducted in two major phases. The first phase concentrated on the qualitative research while the second phase focused on the quantitative research. Also importantly, a number of the group interviews were conducted with managers in different levels of management in Plaza Athenee. The manager interviews helped in the development of questionnaires that would be issued to particularly loyal customers that would also help deliver desired results on ways to increase competitive advantage.
The questionnaires were used during the qualitative phase of research. The second stage of this study was based in the quantitative research. The research for quantitative data is to give an interpretation of the results (Zikmund and Babin, 2007). This study also conducted the exploratory, descriptive, and causal research in order to realize the objectives of this study. The data collection methods will include both primary and secondary data. The sample size would be limited to 20 hotels when collecting secondary data and 100 respondents when using the primary data. Computer software will be utilized in the data analysis sections.

References

Porter, M. (1985). Competitive advantage. New York: Free Press.
Zikmund, W.G. (2003). Business research methods. 7th edition. Mason: Thomson South-Western
Chase, R., & Jacobs, F. (2006). Operations management for competitive advantage. Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Payen-Appenzeller, P., & Petch, S. (2003). Hôtel Plaza Athénée, Paris. New York: Assouline.