Strategic Marketing Problems. Cases and Comments, Eleventh Edition
Chapter : Case: Amber Inn & Suites, Inc.*
ISBN: 9780131871526 Author: Roger A. Kerin, Robert A. Peterson copyright © 2007 Pearson Education
Case: Amber Inn & Suites, Inc.*
*This case was prepared by Professor Roger A. Kerin of the Edwin L. Cox School of Business, Southern Methodist University, as a basis for class discussion and is not designed to illustrate effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. All names and the company data have been disguised. Copyright © 2005 by Roger A. Kerin. No part of this case may be reproduced without written permission of the copyright holder.
Late in the afternoon on April 4, 2005, Kelly Elizabeth, Senior Vice-President of Sales and Marketing at Amber Inn & Suites, Inc., met with Catherine Grace, Vice-President of Advertising. The impromptu meeting followed a day-long senior vice president conference with Joseph James, the company’s new president and chief executive officer. Mr. James, a seasoned hotel financial executive with 40 years of hotel management experience, was appointed the previous week following the sudden resignation of his predecessor. The charge given each of the company’s four senior vice-presidents was to prepare a one-hour presentation that described (1) his or her initiatives, expenditures, and outcomes for each of the past two fiscal years, and (2) planned initiatives and budgetary needs for fiscal 2006, beginning June 1, 2005. Mr. James also requested that each presentation provide the motivation for initiatives and expenditures so he could familiarize himself with company operations. Presentations would be made on April 11 to the chairman of the board, president and CEO, and chief financial officer following a tour of company properties by Mr. James.
Fiscal 2005 was projected to be the fifth consecutive