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Four Seasons Case Study

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Four Seasons Response Paper Scott Pearce The Four Seasons' approach to transferring its practices to other cultural contexts is aligned with their overall business strategy. They want to be known as the best of the best in luxury hotel service. What this translates to is not too dissimilar from Starbucks: a customized customer experience. That's not to say there aren't specific expectations and standards. But its how the customer experience is delivered within those standards that tailors the Four Seasons experience depending on where you are. If a firm expects to establish a sustainable business model in foreign nations, the firm best be a cultural chameleon, where the brand doesn't uniquely identify the company or product as one particular nationality. This particular case study calls attention to the Disney model as the antithesis of Four Seasons. While Disney is successful, it is interesting to note that Euro-Disney was a failure and it wasn't until it changed to Disneyland Paris, with a decided turn towards a more French culture, that it finally turned around. Even the comparison to McDonald's is a little tenuous, as the McDonald's experience and brand is known for the clean restaurants and cheap fast food. But, the menu does chance depending on the region and what the culture demands. Eating in a McDonald's in Thailand was very different than eating in McDonald's in Australia, or even Switzerland. By making sure the Paris hotel was a Paris experience, the Four Seasons paid attention to the details. Simply removing the coffee pot off the table is a huge gesture in my opinion in making sure the hotel lives to the standards of the cultural demands. Beyond that, the Four Seasons committed to top chefs, designed schedules for line cooks to only cook morning or evening shifts. They stressed a commitment to service and they modeled that in how they treated their

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