1.

History of Marriott and its international strategy:

Marriott is one of the largest international hotel brand in the world, originated from an
A&W root beer stand by J. Willard Marriott and his wife, Alice in Washington, America in
1927. At the same time, they established “Hot Shoppes” company. In 1953, “Hot Shoppes”
become public for stock share. In 1957, Marriott made a history shift into hospitality industry
when they opened the first in Arlington, Virginia and managed by J. Willard Marriott’s son,
Bill. After 25 years of operating and brand building, Marriott has becomed the largest global
enterprise. In 1995, Marriott made its brand historic when buying 49% interest in The Ritz-
Carlton Hotel Company. In 1997, Marriott acquired Renaissance Hotel Group to increase its
presence in the world hotel market. In 1999, Marriott bought ExecuStay corporate housing
company. After many years of transformation, innovation and development, the most turning-
point that has marked the name of Marriott was in 2016 when Marriott merged and acquired
Starwood Hotels & Resorts, creating the largest hotel group in the world with 30 brands in
more than 110 nations.
According to Wong and Wickham (2015), Marriott has built their brand in the host-
country by approaching to the ‘marketing communications’, ‘investment strategies’, and
‘stakeholder management practices’. Take Chinese market as an example, when they
organize any recruitments, Marriott divides their interviews into four rounds. The first
interview is its international business. The second one focuses on strategies into the Chinese
market. The third interview is Marriott's ongoing competitive strategies in China and the final
round concentrate on expansion and brand development (Wong & Wickham, 2015). As a
result, there were only twelve senior managers from the host-country nationals or third-
country nationals that were General Managers (of Marriott chain hotels), Marketing
Directors, Human Resource Directors, and Sales Directors. Other employees could be from
parent-country nationals, host-country nationals or third-country nationals. With this
strategies, Marriott supposes to keep and follow the level of consistency in human power
management as well as adapting to specific and local culture effectively (Nickson 2007,
p.44). Dowling, Festing and Engle 2017 mentioned when a multinational firm dominates a
domestic market, ethnocentric policy may be applied. However, this is a challenge for human
resources due to the fact that they have to formulate and implement staffs while fostering
‘global mindset’ in operation in foreign environments (p.14). In order to pursue the success,
Marriott has created and developed their core value based on the people. Their status focuses
on ‘Take care of associates and they will take care of the customers’ is the core value for
corporation’s culture during many years of business.
 2. Current structure of Marriott:
After merge and acquisition with renowed brands in the world like Starwood or Ritz-
Carlton, Marriott has become the largest international hotel group, capture the luxury
segment of the market. The Marriott family owns 30% of the company and the hotel chains
have still operated as a family-orient although they have a variety of properties, lodges and
hotels franchised (managed under Marriott brand but the owners are local investors).
(Renner2010, p.5). J.W. (Bill) Marriott Jr. is the Chairman of the company. Marriott is
operated by CEO Arne Sorenson. There are CFO, customer experience department, legal
executive, human resources department, communication and public affairs department,
retiring policy department, consumer and technology department, development and design
department, international intergration to operate this business (Marriott International).
3. International staff:
Nickson 2007 stated that there was an increase in tourism and hospitality MNCs selling
their intangible products outside their parent-country (p.27). As a result, it is vital to look for
international staffs and hire more local employees as well as mixing between parent country
and local managers in order to solve the issues of language, culture differences, lifestyle,
government law and policy or business operation. Marriott is an international hotel groups
but it is also known as the largest firm that has acquired with reputative brand in the global
hospitality industry. Hence, the way of creating new HR practices and strategies but do not
fade current culture and strategies is what Marriott is applying when they emerging into any
kinds of foreign environments (Dowling et al 2017, p. 83). With the globalization and
development of economy, especially in hospitality industry, there is a significant demand for
workforce more than supply. Hence, staffs especially people whose have outstanding skills
and qualifications have a variety of choices. So, which factors that lead to choices of people
when they would like to apply and contribute to Marriottt?
Firstly, it is undeniable that the Marriott family has remained strong Leadership and
Innovation for more than 90 years. With transparent vision and strategies, especially
preparation for market research when entering new markets, Marriott have competitive
advantages that help them attract qualified workforce. Secondly, Marriott’s culture and core
values concentrate on five things. Their first priority is on putting people first. This means
they take care of their employee’s concerns and benefits and their associates will take care
back of the customers. The second value is that Marriott pursues on details. Thirdly, Marriott
chooses to innovate and create new experience for customers. ‘Change or die’ is what they
are pursuing. Besides that, Marriott supposes business have to corporate with sustainable
development and create for more core advantage for community. Revenue is not all, serve the
world and ‘support the communities where we live and work’ are what they pursue when
running their own business in any nations (Our story).
4. Training and development:
The development of globalization has promoted the expansion of companies into different
markets with a significant increase in the number of expatriates. However, there are some
issues existing insight the multinational firms which may lead to leave of expatriates or
dissatisfaction of local employees. Training and development is crucial for any kind of firms,
especially for new entrances. This stage is considered as the first and priority to ensure
effectiveness, quality and responsiveness in organizations (Nickson 2007, p. 142). According
to the principles of the IiP standard (cited in Nickson 2007, p. 149), there are 10 stages of
training and developing for each associates, arising from letting them recognize the strategy
and culture of business, finalized by performance management. Applying to Marriott
operation, each new entrees will have Marriott’s training about strategies, development,
vision and core value when they become a member of the team. Besides that, each Marriott
staff also have suitable training lessons for the segment they take responsibilities or internal
cross-training when it is necessary. After each lesson, Marriott member will do a test to
recheck to see how they can improve and continue to be a part of the corporation.

REFERENCES:
Dowling, PJ, Festing, M & Engle AD 2017, International Human Resource Management, 7th
edn, Cengage Learning, Hamshire, England.

Dennis Nickson 2007, Human Resource Management for the Hospitality and Tourism
Industries, 1st edn, Taylor & Francis Group, England.

Hofstede, G 1993, ‘Cultural constraints in management theories’, The Executive, vol. 7, no. 1,
pp. 81-94.

Wong, T. & Wickham, M. 2015, ‘An examination of Marriott's entry into the Chinese
hospitality industry: A Brand Equity perspective’, Tourism Management, Volume 48, June
2015, Pages 439-454.
 Core Values and Heritages, Our Story, Marriott International, viewed Sep 25th 2020, <
https://www.marriott.com/culture-and-values/core-values.mi>
The official board, Marriott International, viewed Sep 25th 2020, <1.
https://www.theofficialboard.com/org-chart/marriott-international>

Lauren Renner 2010, ‘Strategic Analysis of Marriott International, Inc.’, Honors Capstone

Continuous Assessment
(Assessment 1) Feedback

Managing the Global Workforce (BUSS 5302)

Assignment 1: Continuous Assessment

The course objectives being assessed by this assignment are objectives 1, 2, 3, and 4.
Graduate qualities associated with these learning objectives are identified in the course outline.
Key components of this assignment Performance on this component
Not all areas are weighted evenly. HD D C P1 P2 F1 F2
(85-100%) (75-84%) (65-74%) (55-64%) (50-54%) (45-49%) (<45%)
1. Task Achievement √
 All elements of the continuous
assessment are addressed in the
weekly entries
 Relevance of content

2. Argument √
 Clearly expressed ideas and well
developed argument
 Argument supported with
appropriate referenced evidence
 At least ONE concept from the week
is explored in relation to the
organisation.

3. Research √
 The argument has been researched
widely and skilfully from an
appropriate range of academic
sources (only a couple each week
as a minimum given it is
continuous assessment)

4. Language √
 Correct English expression,
grammar, spelling and punctuation

5. Referencing √
 Use of UniSA Harvard style
 Correct in-text referencing
 Complete and accurate reference
list
Summary comment

Hi Le Ngan,
The following areas need improvement.

Please avoid unwarranted assertions. In-text citations are missing for a number of arguments. For
example, it was claimed that Marriott is one of the largest international hotel brand in the
world, originated from an A&W root beer stand by J. Willard Marriott and his wife, Alice in
Washington, America in 1927.
The writing is too descriptive, rather than analytical by answering ‘how’ and ‘why’
In the writing for week 2, international strategy of the company is not discussed adequately.
The format of the in-text citations is inconsistent with Harvard referencing
The format of the reference list is inconsistent with Harvard referencing
The writing for week 6 and week 3 is missing.
Research is inadequate. Very little academic source of information was drawn on to support your
arguments.

Assignment Grade: P2