A key dynamic within any Multi National Corporation (MNC) is management of cash and also foreign exchange risk exposure. Cash management is critical and also heavily influenced by global dynamics. Within the Caribbean and South American jurisdiction, the economic framework is tightly connected with the major Asian economies of China and Japan, as well as the United States and the United Kingdom. The Caribbean and South American economy respectively, have been a barometer of the global economic cycle. For the South American economy, many Multi-National Corporations have made significant investments in order to achieve a reduction in the production cost of goods and also diversification benefits. Despite the benefits that could possibly materialize, some South American countries have weak banking systems and also have not been resilient through Global market shocks and Financial Crisis. This weakness may be as a result of politics and the quality of prudential supervision. Given this context, respond to the following questions which require research with respect to the localized context and also within the current market dynamics.

“For a fixed exchange rate system to work successfully, the government that oversees its operations must be able to make tight budget and monetary policies prevail”. Agree or disagree and justify your position within the context of the Caribbean and South American Economy?

As a part of the federal Clean Air Act Amendments Congress established a national goal of preventing future and resolving existing regional haze in national parks and wilderness areas when the visibility impairment results from manmade air pollution. The law requires states to submit implementation plans to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The implementation plans must include identifying major industrial sources of air pollution that have caused or contributed to visibility impairment in national park and wilderness areas.

In the state implementation plan, any facility identified as a major source of air pollution must reduce air pollution by installing the best available retrofit technology (BART)—as determined by the state. To determine the BART, the law requires the following factors be considered: (1) the technology available, (2) the costs of compliance, (3) the energy impacts and non-air quality environmental impacts of compliance, (4) any pollution control equipment currently being used at the source, (5) the remaining useful life of the source, and (6) the degree of improvement in visibility reasonably anticipated to result from the use of such technology. The law requires the EPA Regional Administrator—“after an opportunity for a public hearing”—to approve or disapprove a state’s determination of the BART and the emission limits for any identified source. The legislative history for the Clean Air Act doesn’t indicate what type of hearing is required or the specific procedures to be used in the “public hearing.”

A party may request the EPA Administrator reconsider the approval or disapproval of the state’s BART determination, but that request for reconsideration doesn’t extend the time for filing a petition for judicial review or postpone the effectiveness of the action. Any Petition for Judicial Review of the BART determination must be filed in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals within 60 days of the Regional Administrator’s decision of the approval or disapproval of the BART determination.

If a facility fails to install the air pollution control measures required by the BART determination by the deadline set forth in the determination, the EPA can bring an action in court to enforce the BART determination, which could include imposing a substantial fine.

The state of West Dakota has identified the Poison Valley Power Plant—a coal-fired power plant in West Dakota—as a major source of air pollution contributing to visibility impairment in White Hills National Park. The West Dakota Department of Natural Resources issued a determination that the best available retrofit technology (BART) for the Poison Valley Power Plant is Selective Noncatalytic Reduction (SNCR) technology and set an emission limit of 0.20 lbs/MMBtu (pounds per million British thermal units).

In its determination, the state rejected a proposal by the Stormy Plateau Tribe, an Indian tribe with a reservation located within a mile of the Poison Valley Power Plant, and an environmental group, Citizens Advocating Renewable Energy (CARE) to use Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology—a more costly but more effective emission-reducing technology. The state also rejected the Poison Valley Power Plant’s proposal, which was that no additional emissions controls should be installed because the new pollution control equipment would be too expensive and could close the plant. The basis for the state’s BART determination was that additional emission controls were required because Poison Valley Power Plant was a substantial contributor to the haze problem in White Hills National Park. In terms of the choosing SNCR over SCR, the state determined the estimated 5 percent increase in visibility improvement using SCR technology was outweighed by the increased cost of SCR. State documents estimated SNCR technology would cost about $4.3 million per year compared to $16.3 million per year for SCR technology.

The Region 25 Office of the United States EPA issued the attached notice to interested parties on July 15, 2017. The notice was posted on the EPA Region 25 Facebook page and the notice was emailed to all the parties who participated and offered comments to the state of West Dakota DNR in its BART proceeding.Poison Valley Power Plant, Stormy Plateau Tribe, and CARE all opposed West Dakota’s determination of the BART (for different reasons). Each objected to the “open-house” process outlined in the notice and contended a trial-type hearing was required by the US Constitution and federal APA to challenge West Dakota’s determination of the BART and the emission limits. In addition, Poison Valley Power Plant, Stormy Plateau Tribe and Care requested the underlying data used by West Dakota officials in making its BART determination be disclosed and an opportunity to cross-examine a DNR official about the data. Regional Administrator Giva Hoot denied the requests for a trial-type hearing, disclosure of data, and cross-examination. The parties provided written and oral comments at the open house. Regional Administrator Giva Hoot approved West Dakota’s determination that SNCR technology is the BART for Poison Valley Power Plant and approved the 0.20 lbs/MMBtu limit on NOx, but she offered no reasons for her action. Instead, on October 1, 2017, she mailed a letter to all those participating in the open house and posted a statement on www.facebook.com/EPA/Region25 stating she had the discretion to approve or deny the BART determination and no law or rule required her to give her reasons. The statement simply

July 15, 2017                          NOTICE

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ANNOUNCES PROPOSED BEST AVAILABLE RETROFIT TECHNOLOGY (BART) DETERMINATION, OPEN HOUSE, AND REQUEST FOR PUBLIC COMMENT

The Region 25 Office of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requests public comment on a proposed state implementation plan for implementing Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART) at Poison Valley Power Plant located near Peabody, West Dakota. The Clean Air Act’s Regional Haze Rule requires the use of BART at older coal-fired power plants like PVPP to reduce haze and improve visibility in nearby national parks and wilderness areas.

EPA is proposing to approve West Dakota’s determination that Selective Non-catalytic Reduction (SNCR) technology is the BART for Poison Valley Power Plant and its limits on emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOx) is set at 0.20 lbs/MMBtu (pounds per million British thermal units), which must be implemented by January 1, 2020.

EPA is holding an open house on the proposal and an opportunity for the public to comment on September 1, 2017, at the Peabody High School in Peabody, West Dakota. Any person may provide written comments and/or oral comments regarding our proposal at the open house.

If you have questions about the public hearings or how to submit comments, please contact Giva Hoot, EPA Region 25 Administrator at 415-947-4139, or at [email protected]. Please bring this notice to the attention of all persons who may have an interest in our proposal.

Posted on www.facebook.com/EPA/Region25 and sent to interested parties

GIVA HOOT

Region 25 Administrator

Poison Valley Power Plant, Stormy Plateau Tribe, and CARE all opposed West Dakota’s determination of the BART (for different reasons). Each objected to the “open-house” process outlined in the notice and contended a trial-type hearing was required by the US Constitution and federal APA to challenge West Dakota’s determination of the BART and the emission limits. In addition, Poison Valley Power Plant, Stormy Plateau Tribe and Care requested the underlying data used by West Dakota officials in making its BART determination be disclosed and an opportunity to cross-examine a DNR official about the data. Regional Administrator Giva Hoot denied the requests for a trial-type hearing, disclosure of data, and cross-examination. The parties provided written and oral comments at the open house. Regional Administrator Giva Hoot approved West Dakota’s determination that SNCR technology is the BART for Poison Valley Power Plant and approved the 0.20 lbs/MMBtu limit on NOx, but she offered no reasons for her action. Instead, on October 1, 2017, she mailed a letter to all those participating in the open house and posted a statement on www.facebook.com/EPA/Region25 stating she had the discretion to approve or deny the BART determination and no law or rule required her to give her reasons. The statement simply concluded “West Dakota’s determination is approved.”

In individual petitions for judicial review filed in federal court on November 1, 2017, Poison Valley Power Plant, Stormy Plateau Tribe, and CARE all challenged Regional Administrator Giva Hoot’s decision to approve West Dakota’s BART determination and emission limit for the Poison Valley Power Plant and the process used to approve the determination as violating the Constitution and the federal APA. None of the parties requested reconsideration of the decision before filing their lawsuits.

In its complaint, Poison Valley Power Plant alleged the approval violated the Clean Air Act and was arbitrary and implementing SNCR technology would cause economic hardship for the company.

In its complaint, Stormy Plateau Tribe alleged that the approval violated the Clean Air Act, just rubber-stamped the state’s action, and ignored the evidence that Poison Valley Power Plant’s mercury emissions were causing health problems for tribal members, which would be reduced by implementing Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology.

CARE’s members all reside in South Dakota and its complaint alleged that the EPA’s selection of SNCR technology as the BART for Poison Valley Power Plant might be used as precedent in its upcoming review of South Dakota’s state implementation plan. CARE alleged its members are concerned about the haze problems in Mount Rushmore and Badlands National Parks in South Dakota and contend that only SCR technology will fix the pollution problems with the South Dakota power plants.

You are the judge and must write a decision analyzing the legality of EPA Regional Administrator Giva Hoot’s actions, and in doing so, address the following points (make sure you define and explain the important terms and principles mentioned below):

Assume the decision can be reviewed by the court in answering all the questions below.

Applying the principles of Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe, explain what you—as the reviewing judge—would do to overcome the failure of the EPA Regional Administrator to provide any justification for her decision and why??

Curt Flood was a National League center fielder who was an All-Star three times and won seven consecutive Gold Glove awards. At the end of the 1969 season, the St. Louis Cardinals traded Flood to the Philadelphia Phillies. Flood rejected the trade, and wrote in a letter to Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn: After twelve years in the major leagues, I do not feel I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes. I believe that any system which produces that result violates my basic rights as a citizen and is inconsistent with the laws of the United States and of the several States. It is my desire to play baseball in 1970, and I am capable of playing. I have received a contract offer from the Philadelphia club, but I believe I have the right to consider offers from other clubs before making any decision. I, therefore, request that you make known to all Major League clubs my feelings in this matter, and advise them of my availability for the 1970 season. Flood’s contract, like all major league baseball contracts at the time, contained the following provision: “NOTICE. A club may assign to another club an existing contract with a player. The player, upon receipt of written notice of such assignment, is by his contract bound to serve the assignee.” The reserve clause, as it was known, also provided that even after his contract expired, a player could not play for another team unless the team that originally signed him agreed to unconditionally release him or the player sat out for a year. The Commissioner denied Flood’s request, and Flood sued in a case that went all the way to the United States Supreme Court, Flood v. Kuhn, 407 U.S. 258 (1972). There is a link to the full decision in your Resources for this chapter. Flood lost, and after he spent a year away from the sport, the Phillies traded him to the Washington Senators. Flood retired in 1971 with a lifetime batting average of .293 after playing only thirteen games with the Senators. Although Flood was unsuccessful in his legal battle, his actions led to the end of the reserve system and the beginning of free agency in 1975. Given what you know about assignments, analyze the portions of the reserve clause above and explain why such terms would or would not ordinarily be enforceable in a contract. Your response should be between 150 and 300 words.

Curt Flood was a National League center fielder who was an All-Star three times and won seven consecutive Gold Glove awards. At the end of the 1969 season, the St. Louis Cardinals traded Flood to the Philadelphia Phillies. Flood rejected the trade, and wrote in a letter to Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn:

After twelve years in the major leagues, I do not feel I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes. I believe that any system which produces that result violates my basic rights as a citizen and is inconsistent with the laws of the United States and of the several States.

It is my desire to play baseball in 1970, and I am capable of playing. I have received a contract offer from the Philadelphia club, but I believe I have the right to consider offers from other clubs before making any decision. I, therefore, request that you make known to all Major League clubs my feelings in this matter, and advise them of my availability for the 1970 season.

Flood’s contract, like all major league baseball contracts at the time, contained the following provision: “NOTICE. A club may assign to another club an existing contract with a player. The player, upon receipt of written notice of such assignment, is by his contract bound to serve the assignee.”

The reserve clause, as it was known, also provided that even after his contract expired, a player could not play for another team unless the team that originally signed him agreed to unconditionally release him or the player sat out for a year.

The Commissioner denied Flood’s request, and Flood sued in a case that went all the way to the United States Supreme Court, Flood v. Kuhn, 407 U.S. 258 (1972). There is a link to the full decision in your Resources for this chapter. Flood lost, and after he spent a year away from the sport, the Phillies traded him to the Washington Senators. Flood retired in 1971 with a lifetime batting average of .293 after playing only thirteen games with the Senators.

Although Flood was unsuccessful in his legal battle, his actions led to the end of the reserve system and the beginning of free agency in 1975

analyze the portions of the reserve clause above and explain why such terms would or would not ordinarily be enforceable in a contract. Your response should be between 150 and 300 words.   

At a company picnic at a state park out of town, a child falls from a tree and fractures her forearm. You give appropriate first aid (RICE), and the parents now will take her to the nearest emergency department.

Should you splint the arm?

If so, describe the steps for doing it.

Disney raises theme park ticket prices, again. You've got to pay more to play in the Magic Kingdom, because Walt Disney just raised its ticket prices again, breaking the $100 mark. A one-day ticket to the Walt Disney World Resort's flagship theme park, the Magic Kingdom, now costs $105, up from $99. Prices had been jacked up by $4 just last year. The price of admission applies to anyone 10 years and older entering the Orlando-area theme park. Younger children, aged 3 to 9, pay $99 to enter the Magic Kingdom, compared to $94 last year. Prices also increased for the other Disney World theme parks -- EPCOT, the Animal Kingdom Park and Hollywood Studios -- to $97 for visitors aged 10 and older, compared to $94 last year. Children aged 3 to 10 now pay $91 for a single-day ticket to those parks, compared to $88 last year. The price hikes seem to be working for parent company Walt Disney World Resorts, which reported a 7% increase in revenue year-over-year, largely from its parks. "Increased guest spending was primarily due to higher average ticket prices for admissions at our theme parks," Walt Disney Company (DIS) said in a financial report. A Disney spokeswoman said the "vast majority" of visitors buy the multi-day passes, which can knock the price down to $96 per day for a two-day ticket, or $63 per day for a five-day ticket. She also said that a ticket for a single day at Walt Disney World buys 16 hours of entertainment.

1. What is the price of a one-day ticket to the Magic Kingdom?

2. Given the income elasticity of demand how do we know if a trip to Disney World is a normal good or an inferior good?

3. The news article tells us that with ticket prices rising, revenue is increasing. What does this tell us about the price elasticity of demand of a trip to Disney World?

Marketing assignment

The Inn at Prescott Ranch is a small, boutique hotel located in Prescott, Arizona. It opened in 1998. The Inn has identified the main competition as the Prescott Resort, owned and operated by the Yavapai Nation, and the Hassayampa Inn, a historic hotel in downtown Prescott, adjacent to Whiskey Row.

The Inn has 65 rooms on two floors—each with a private balcony. The nightly room rates are the highest in Prescott. The Inn offers a full array of amenities—both in the public areas and in the rooms. The Inn offers complimentary van service to the Gateway Mall, Bucky’s Casino, and Whiskey Row; and valet parking services with covered parking. There is nightly entertainment in the lobby. In-room amenities include high-thread-count linens; terry robes; organic soaps and toiletries; flat-screen TVs with DVD players; and Bose® stereo systems.

The Inn maintains a full bar and has an agreement with Wildflower Bakery to provide daily continental breakfast for an additional charge to nightly rates or included in the Bed & Breakfast Special. Boxed lunches may also be pre-ordered from Wildflower Bakery. The Inn is not “flagged” or branded. The management is highly involved in local organizations. There is an existing contract with Yavapai College for sponsorship of its performing arts series with Paramount Studies for a project being filmed in the Prescott area. In addition, the Inn at Prescott Ranch has been featured on Arizona Highways TV, Arizona Highways magazine, and in the Arizona Republic travel section. The Inn also participates in the local chamber of commerce and tourism promotional efforts for the Prescott area.

Management is looking for a marketing plan for 2011.

Questions:

1. If you were preparing a marketing plan for this hotel, how would you describe the company, its positioning strategy, and its value proposition?

2. What do you want to know about the market—demographics and psychographics?

3. Describe each of the 4Ps.

4. Without doing further research, who is the perceived target market?

5. Does the hotel have a brand image? If so, define.

Garner Strategy Institute (GSI) presents executive-level training seminars nationally. Eastern University (EU) has approached GSI to present 40 one-week seminars during 2019. This activity level represents the maximum number of seminars that GSI is capable of presenting annually. GSI staff would present the week-long seminars in various cities throughout the United States and Canada. Terry Garner, GSI’s president, is evaluating three financial options for the revenues from Eastern: accept a flat fee for each seminar, receive a percentage of Eastern’s profit before tax from the seminars, and form a joint venture to share costs and profits. Estimated costs for the 2019 seminar schedule follow: Garner Strategy Institute Eastern University Fixed costs for the year: Salaries and benefits $ 200,000 N/A * Facilities 46,000 N/A * Travel and hotel 0 $ 360,920 Other 72,000 N/A * Total fixed costs $ 318,000 $ 360,920 Variable cost per participant: Supplies and materials 0 $ 47 Marketing 0 18 Other site costs 0 35 *Eastern’s fixed costs are excluded because the amounts are not considered relevant for this decision (i.e., they will be incurred whether or not the seminars are presented). Eastern does not include these costs when calculating the profit before tax for the seminars. EU plans to charge $1,200 per participant for each 1-week seminar. It will pay all variable marketing, site costs, and materials costs. Required 1. Assume that the seminars are handled as a joint venture by GSI and EU to pool costs and revenues. a. Determine the total number of seminar participants needed to break even on the total costs for this joint venture. b. Assume that the joint venture has an effective income tax rate of 30%. How many seminar participants must the joint venture enroll to earn an after-tax income of $97,209? 2. Assume that GSI and EU do not form a joint venture, but that GSI is an independent contractor for EU. EU offers two payment options to GSI: a flat fee of $9,500 for each seminar or a fee of 40% of EU’s profit before taxes from the seminars. Compute the minimum number of participants needed for GSI to prefer the 40% fee option over the flat fee.

double figures for fixed assets because there are 2, one for gsi and one for eu

QUESTION 16

Which of the following jobs could be described as a "pink-collar" job in the United States?

         a.      nurse practitioner

         b.      human resources manager

         c.      professor

         d.      hotel maid

QUESTION 17

The model family in the 1950s in America was a happy, simple one. Mom stayed home and raised the kids, and Dad went to work and made a good living. Even the dog was happy. In this nuclear family model, we can clearly see the structure of

         a.      "doing gender."

         b.      sex role theory.

         c.      Marxist theory.

         d.      postmodern theory.

QUESTION 18

Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique championed women's right to work in the early 1960s. But for many black feminists, Friedan's book ignored thousands of working women by suggesting that

         a.      all women experience oppression in the same way.

         b.      men benefit from relegating women to the domestic sphere.

         c.      gender influences daily life.

         d.      gender is constructed.

QUESTION 20

According to Michelle Rosaldo’s theory, regardless of time or culture, women tend to be associated with ________ and men tend to be associated with ________.

         a.      not having sense of humor; having a good sense of humor

         b.      the domestic sphere; the public sphere

         c.      children; adults

         d.      being owned; ownership

QUESTION 21

Which of the following statements offers an essentialist explanation for gender differences?

         a.      Women find themselves in lower-paying jobs with fewer opportunities for advancement because these jobs make it easier for them to balance work and family.

         b.      Women take on more responsibility for domestic tasks because men still think of these tasks as women's work.

         c.      There are far fewer women professors in the hard sciences because women are encouraged to study the humanities and social sciences.

         d.      Women are overrepresented in professions such as nursing, teaching, and social work because they are inherently more nurturing and caring than men.

QUESTION 22

In 2011, a Toronto police officer said, during a crime prevention talk, that "women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized." The idea that women are supposed to dress within a particular set of (largely unspoken) social boundaries, and thereby avoid being called "sluts," speaks to the

         a.      inability of the Toronto police officer to control himself.

         b.      sharp divisions between biological males and biological females.

         c.      maintenance of a gender order.

         d.      importance of language in society.

Case Study:

James McBride, general manager of the new Ritz-Carlton in Washington, D.C., faced the largest
challenge of his successful career. A proven veteran of the luxury hotel chain’s march across Asia, cBride’s most recent assignment was as the general manager of the 248-room Ritz-Carlton in Kuala Lumpur. For the first time, The Ritz-Carlton was opening a hotel that was part of a multi-use facility. Owned by Millennium Partners and located in the historic Foggy Bottom district of Washington, D.C., the $225 million “hospitality complex” covered two-anda-
half acres and included 162 luxury condominiums, a 100,000 square-foot Sports Club/LA, a Splash Spa, three restaurants, 40,000 square feet of street-level restaurants and retail shops featuring the latest designs from Italy and other countries, as well as the 300-room hotel. While The Ritz-Carlton had already signed contracts to manage five other hotels for Millennium Partners, the upscale property developers had also inked deals with the Ritz’s foremost competitor—the Four Seasons.
Brian Collins, manager of hotels for Millennium Partners, had his own ideas about what constituted luxury service and how the hotel’s general manager should approach the new-hotel opening. Under pressure from Collins, McBride was reexamining the “Seven Day Countdown,” a hallmark of The Ritz-Carlton’s well-defined hotel-opening process. Any changes McBride made could not only affect his company’s future relationship with Millennium Partners but also the carefully guarded Ritz- Carlton brand.

Filling hotel rooms was crucial, and The Ritz-Carlton’s general managers aggressively pursued their
two main customer groups: (1) independent travelers, and (2) meeting event planners.

Because they attracted many individual guests at once, meeting event planners were seen as “the
vital few” customers, representing a small number of organizations that held many large meetings in various locations around the world. These “vital few” accounted for 40% of annual sales income.
"Our event business pays the mortgage. The individual traveler helps us with our
profitability. The nature of our business is that a guest room and space is the most perishable
product we have. An apple left unsold today can be sold tomorrow, but a room night lost
today is lost forever."

One of the components of the SQIs involved guest-recognition procedures. As an owner, Collins
wanted to see that improved for the new Washington, D.C. hotel:
I pushed James [McBride] to hire more people than The Ritz-Carlton staffing plan would
lead them to hire in Guest Recognition. I think it’s the single most important thing we can do.
If a guest came in, got what they wanted, and were recognized, all of a sudden that creates a
sticky relationship. It’s all about organizing your thoughts and creating processes to recognize
the person coming in to the hotel.
So after a certain number of visits to one of our Ritz hotels, guests will get a monogrammed
pillowcase. It will be in their room so that when they check in, they’ll go to their room and say,
“Oh, my pillow’s here. Isn’t that great!” And no one expects it, so the first time, it’s like
“Wow!” We’re doing something different from The Ritz-Carlton standard—we’re clearly
exceeding the standard. But they don’t force every owner to abide by that higher standard, so sometimes there is friction about raising the standard outside of the Ritz program. I want to rethink it, rethink it all from start to finish. And it just drives them crazy.

Human Resources at The Ritz-Carlton
The way The Ritz-Carlton viewed its employees was a distinguishing hallmark of the
organization. According to Leonardo Inghilleri, the corporate vice president of human resources:
We respect our employees. The issue of respect is a philosophical issue that is driven by
our leadership. You have to have a passion for people. If you have an accounting approach to
human resources, then you’re bound to fail. If you look at an employee and say, “He’s a fulltime
equivalent, he’s an FTE; he is eight hours of labor,” I think that’s immoral. An employee
is a human being who doesn’t only fulfill a function but should also have a purpose. So a
successful business is one that is capable of enlisting an employee not only for his muscles and
his labor, but also for his brain, his heart, and his soul.
In hotels that were up and running for at least a year, The Ritz-Carlton’s annual turnover rate was
only 20%, compared with the hotel industry average of 100%, while new hotels experienced turnover rates between 20% and 25% during the first 60 days. Inghilleri believed that it was his company’s deep respect for its employees that led to their satisfaction with and commitment to the organization.
The Ritz-Carlton was so intent on treating their employees well that a “Day 21” event was held as a process check three weeks after any new hire’s start date. During that session, the company assessed the degree to which it had lived up to the promises it made to its employees during orientation and initial training.
One of those promises included opportunities for career advancement, which were abundant at
The Ritz-Carlton. Corporatewide, 25% of the organization’s managerial workforce began their
careers at The Ritz-Carlton as hourly employees, such as dishwasher, housekeeper, and restaurant server, or as hourly supervisors.

Through the extensive formal and informal training offered by The Ritz-Carlton,
employees were prepared to fulfill their current obligations and to accept positions of greater
responsibility and accountability in the future. Employees with advancement ambitions were
encouraged to cross-train and learn about as many different aspects of the organization as possible.
Our employees are taught from the very beginning that there is nothing more exciting than fixing a mistake or defect. They want to see the defects, they want to find out what they are, because once that’s known, they can be corrected. We’ve never had a problem with people hiding mistakes, because it’s just not the culture of the company.

Staffing the New Hotel
The property owners had the right to approve the individuals nominated by The Ritz-Carlton for
three executive positions: general manager, director of marketing, and controller. Once McBride was selected as the general manager, he was instrumental in choosing the additional members of the hotel’s executive committee, almost all of whom had experience at other Ritz-Carlton properties. These leaders were in place about two and a half months prior to the scheduled hotel opening. The executive committee then selected their functional managers, who were, in turn, primarily responsible for hiring line-staff members. For positions that required technical expertise or high-level service delivery, individuals with significant prior experience were hired. For more entry–level positions, novices to the hospitality industry were acceptable.

The Seven Day Countdown was a result of the evolution and refinement of the hotel-opening
process, which became more solidified in the late 1980s to early 1990s when the hotel chain was
opening many new properties. The first two days were devoted entirely to orienting employees to The Ritz-Carlton culture and values, while the remaining five days involved more specific skills training and trial runs of service delivery. According to Collins, ensuring that everything was perfect on opening day would be a challenge:
There’s all this construction activity going on around here, finishing floors, testing the firealarm
system. And they have 400 people they have to convert to Ritz-Carlton employees in the
next seven days. They have to be trained and dipped into the culture of The Ritz-Carlton so
that on day one when Ms. Jones checks in, she’s getting a true Ritz experience. Seven days.
I’ve told James I just don’t know if that’s enough time.

Day One: Staff Orientation
On the first day of the countdown, new employees joined other members of their divisions
outside the hotel for what can only be described as a pep rally. As they slowly wound their way downstairs toward the ballrooms where their first training sessions would occur, the employees heard the sound of enthusiastic applause. It was coming from the hotel’s managers, who lined both sides of the curved marble staircase. Many times over, each employee was sincerely welcomed as a new member of The Ritz-Carlton family.

Once everyone was present, McBride introduced the hotel’s leadership team, followed by The Ritz-Carlton trainers, who had come from 23 different countries around the world for the countdown. Addressing all the employees of the new hotel, Schulze explained his philosophy of being a high-quality service organization:
You are not servants. We are not servants. Our profession is service. We are Ladies and
Gentlemen, just as the guests are, who we respect as Ladies and Gentlemen. We are Ladies
and Gentlemen and should be respected as such.

Day Two: Departmental Vision Sessions
On the second day of the Seven Day Countdown, employees in each functional area met for an
introduction to their new departments. Group exercises were used to help the employees learn more about one another, their likes and dislikes, and how they could function together as an effective unit.
For the next five days, the hotel’s leadership team, trainers, and managers met each morning at
6:00 a.m. to review the day’s training activities and to resolve any difficulties that had arisen.

The last three days of the Seven Day Countdown was when departmental technical training
occurred. Employees learned the details involved in performing their jobs to the standards set by
The Ritz-Carlton, and everyone was expected to master their department’s key production processes. Employees arrived in two shifts, dressed in their full uniforms, and every employee practiced his or her job as if they were serving real customers.

Recognizing that their standards of service were extremely high and that their goal of opening as
a top-notch hotel right from the start was a tall order, The Ritz-Carlton tried to protect their
employees from feeling overwhelmed by controlling the occupancy rate. Inghilleri explained:
The first month of operations, we may open the hotel with 50% occupancy. Then we’ll
increase occupancy monthly, so it takes us somewhere between three and four months to reach
80%. But we hire, in the very beginning, as if we’re already operating at 80% occupancy.
This allows us to reduce the number of tables a waiter has to serve, or the number of rooms
a housekeeper has to clean. It is more important that we set the standards immediately. They
have to do their jobs perfectly, even if it takes them longer; productivity will increase as they
get more and more comfortable. Flawless execution is the goal, and then speed will come.
On the day between the end of the Seven Day Countdown and the grand opening, employees showed up in casual attire for The Ritz-Carlton two-hour pep rally, marking the transition between practice runs and real service delivery. The next day, on October 11, 2000, the Washington, D.C., Ritz-Carlton Hotel opened for business.

Dilemma
McBride sat in his new office in Washington, reflecting on the concerns that Collins had
expressed, with his usual blunt style and candor, about the Seven Day Countdown. Collins
questioned whether the seven-day time frame limited the hotel’s ability to open at a higher
occupancy rate and to reach 80% occupancy in a shorter amount of time.
It was difficult to train new hires to meet the high expectations of The Ritz-Carlton service
standards in only seven days, but that was how The Ritz-Carlton worked. Maybe the training should be longer, but what would that mean for The Ritz-Carlton? McBride would be responsible for opening the second Millennium Partners-owned Ritz-Carlton hotel, in Georgetown, at the end of 2001. Should he try changing the Seven Day Countdown process, which was a worldwide best practice for the company?

Questions:

In what may be a first for the hospitability industry, Brian Collins, hotel owner, has asked James McBride, Ritz-Carlton general manager, to lengthen the amount of time spent training hotel employees before hotel opening. For this assignment, you are taking the role of James McBride.

1) What is the context of the decision? What is dilemma faced by the Ritz-Carlton?

2) Analysis of the situation:

• Monetary factors: what would be the monetary consequences of opening directly at 80% occupancy as requested by rather than ramping up from 50% to 80% over a four-month period of time?
• Non-monetary factors: what are the key non-monetary factors/considerations that are going to drive your decision?