MGT499- W1 Post and Response

Paige Obriot

Chapter 1 - Another industry that has made very different choices for these trade-offs is the fast-food industry. Panera Bread and McDonalds are very different fast-food chains that offer a completely different menu and prices. Panera Bread offers higher prices because their food is made more fresh than their competitors. On the other hand, McDonald’s offers one of the lowest prices among their competitors even though their food isn’t made fresh but is the most convenient. 

Chapter 2 – An industry that is undergoing intense competition is the food industry. Due to COVID-19, these restaurants are required to follow protocols and have changed their maximum capacity to 50% to ensure they are following social distancing. Scenario planning can definitely be used to plan for the future because before the pandemic restaurants didn’t take health precautions that seriously until now. Since there have been required health protocols in order to open for business, restaurants have been paying close attention to the health and safety of their patrons which will turn into more of a routine later on in the future. There are some industries that can benefit more than others from this process because their health protocols needed to improve regardless and having this pandemic sped up the process of implementing these procedures. 

William Bennett

Chapter 1

One industry that I find interesting and has heavy competition is that of the hospitality industry. Two brands that come to mind when thinking of trade offs and competitive advantages are Marriott hotels and Super 8 motels. Both, at the very least, offer the guest a room for which they generally rent by the night. Many Super 8 hotels generally just offer guests basic rooms with very little to no amenities such as a pool, free breakfast, restaurant, business centers, etc. The average price of a Super 8 room is right around $75 per night for a weekday not during peak times. Super 8 is similar to the Walmart example provided in the text in that its competitive advantage is that they offer a low cost product. For guests that are looking for more of an experience or more amenities, one might consider staying at one of many Marriott properties. Marriott has properties all over the world which give them a huge competitive advantage to travelers who are brand loyal. A standard room at a courtyard Marriott depending on the location will average around $150, about double the price of a Super 8 room. People are willing to pay more because they want more of an experience during their stay and have expectations while staying at a property under the Marriott name. Marriott has a set of standards that each hotel must abide by giving guests a set of expectations when staying at a Marriott property. Along with these sets of standards are the organizations core values that employees incorporate into their work. Having stayed at both the Courtyard Marriott and Super 8 in Mt. Pleasant, in my experience, the trade off in price in exchange for a hospital staff, higher level of cleanliness, additional amenities, and room quality was worth it for me, but for a traveler looking to just use the room for storage and to sleep for a few hours, the Super 8 may be the better choice. 

Chapter 2

One industry that is going through intense competition is that of credit card companies such as American Express, Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and the recent addition of Apple. There are over 1.5 billion credit cards in the US alone with an average of 3.1 credit cards per person. These companies make money in a number of ways but primarily from people having active accounts and incurring interest upon their charges. Scenario planning is being used in this industry to figure out how to market their credit cards to consumers, especially millennials and GenZ's because these are demographics likely looking for new credit cards. Scenario planning research would find that consumers of these cohorts are price considerate and rather frugal placing more importance on the perks or rewards of each credit card. The effects of COVID-19 have impacted the credit card companies as well. Using scenario planning, some of the banks who issue these credit cards have cut the credit limit for some of their customers in fear of people accumulating a debt that they will not be able to pay back. I believe that credit card companies are those that could significantly benefit from scenario planning due to the mere size of the industry and the billions of dollars and people that use these companies. A failed attempt to plan effectively could result in a drop in quarterly numbers, stock price, loss of investors, loss of jobs, or even bankruptcy if a company's planing took a drastically wrong turn. 

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