Lesson 1: informational basis of hospitality industry

Reading:

In the past, most hotels and restaurants were independently owned. Managers got information by being around people, observing them, and asking questions. Nowadays, many factors have increased the need for more and better information. As companies become national or international in scope, they need information on larger, more distant markets. As companies become more selective, they need better information about how buyers respond to different products and appeals. As companies use more complex marketing approaches and face intensified competition, they need information on the effectiveness of their marketing tools. Finally, in today's rapidly changing environments, managers need up-to-date information to make their decisions. To manage a business well is to manage its future; and to manage the future is to manage information.

The supply of information has also increased greatly. John Naisbitt suggests that the United States is undergoing a "mega shift" from an industrial to the information-based economy. He found that more than 65% of the US work force is now employed in producing or processing information, compared to only 17% in 1950. Using improved computer systems and other technologies, companies can provide information in great quantities. In fact, today's managers sometimes receive too much information. For example, one study found that, with many companies offering data available through supermarket scanners, a packaged-goods manager is bombarded with 1 million to 1 billion new numbers every week. As Naisbitt points out, "Running out of information is not a problem, but drowning in it is."

Yet managers frequently complain that they lack information of the right kind and accumulate too much of the wrong kind. They also complain that marketing information is so widely spread throughout the company that it takes great effort to locate even simple facts. Subordinates may withhold information that they believe will reflect badly on their performance. Important information often arrives too late to be useful or is not accurate. Marketing managers need precise and timely information. Many companies are now studying their managers' information needs and designing marketing information systems (MISs) to meet their needs.

Large companies have centralized MISs that provide managers with regular performance reports, intelligence updates, and reports on the results of studies. Managers also need non-routine information for special situations on on-the-spot decisions. That is why, with recent advances in microcomputers, software, and communications, many companies are decentralizing their MISs. In some of them, marketing managers use a desk terminal to tie into the company's information network. Without leaving their desks, they can obtain information from internal records or outside information services, and communicate with others through telecommunications.

 

 

Exercises:

1. Find in the text the following topical words and phrases, make sure hat you are able to explain in English what they mean, and add hem to your working vocabulary:

a selective company, marketing tools, information-based economy, to process information, a performance report, intelligence updates.

2. Write out from the text the sentences or their parts which contain he words and phrases given below and translate them into Russian:

implementation, in scope, to respond, a mega shift, to run out of information, to locate facts, to design a system, on-the-spot decisions, software.

 

3. Answer the following questions using the topical words and phrases:

1. Why is it important for a business to manage information?

2. How did the managers use to obtain necessary information?

3. Why do the companies need information about more distant markets?

4. What do the marketers mean when they refer to a company as "selective"?

5. What is happening in the US economy, according to John Naisbitt?

6. What statistics does he give in order to support his theory?

7. What is the main problem for marketing managers, according to him?

8. What do the managers often complain about, as far as their informational supply is concerned?

9. How can the problem be solved?

10. Why do many companies begin to decentralize their MISs?

11. What technological innovations make it possible for managers to get necessary information without leaving their desks?