Question

CASE STUDY/business law

• The document should be between 1.000 and 2.000 words.

• Your answers should be explained/justified, based on ethics/legal analysis.

• The answers should consider, among others, the following questions:

o Who are the parties involved and what facts are relevant to each party?

o What are the ethical issues for each party in the case study?

o Analyse how each party’s ethical issue(s) relates to the other parties in the case study.

o What are the possible solution(s) or alternative(s) for each party’s ethical issues?

o What are the possible constraint(s) or barrier(s) that might prevent a resolution of the ethical issues for the parties?

PRODUCT/SERVICE ADVERTISING

David Gassner is General Manager for the Sky Inn in Miami. Helena Barneda is Restaurant and Food Services Manager for the Inn. She reports to David. Two years ago, Helena noticed a decline in room service business, the highest margin portion of her operation. This decline coincided with an increase in the national sales of pizza delivery and carryout firms as well as an increase in the number of empty pizza boxes from these firms being left in guest rooms in the Inn. Her immediate response was to install a pizza oven in the kitchen and offer room service pizza to guests. The effort met with modest success, though it was well below her expectations. Questionnaires completed by departing guests revealed a problem of product quality.

Focusing on this problem, Helena improved the Inn’s pizza until blind taste tests judged it at least equal in quality to the products of the two major pizza delivery competitors in Miami. Sales did not improve, convincing Helena that the problem was a perceived mismatch between the hotel’s image and guests’ expectations of pizza makers. Guests simply did not seem to believe that the traditional steak and seafood restaurant at the Inn could make a high-quality, authentic pizza. Based on this conclusion, Helena presented the following proposal to David:

“Sales of room service pizza are stagnant due to guests’ misperception that our product is lower in quality than that of competitors. This misperception is based on the belief that until we disassociate our pizza from the Sky Inn name. Therefore, to capture more room service pizza business, we should create a “Pizza Toscana” image for our guest room delivery service by:

• Preparing “Pizza Toscana” brochures for each guest room, complete with a phone number with a prefix different from that of Sky Inn. The number will reach a special phone in room service, which will be answered by the phrase “Pizza Toscana, authentic Italian pizza from old, family recipes”.

• Using special “Pizza Toscana” boxes for delivering room service pizza to guests.

• Issuing “Pizza Toscana” hats and jackets to room service personnel for use in pizza delivery. Room service waiters and waitresses will wear these garments to deliver pizza. They will change to their regular uniforms for other deliveries.”

How should David respond to this proposal?

Answer 1

Parties involved and facts relevant to each party:

• David Gassner, the General Manager for the Sky Inn in Miami wants to increase the sales of his room nights.
• Helena Barna, Restaurant and Food Services Manager for the Inn wants to increase the sales of food and beverages.
• Guests who prefer the delivery from other pizza restaurants.

Ethical issues

• Sales of Sky Inn has gown down.
• F&B operations are also losing their business.
• The customer tends to like other pizza delivery services more than the traditional steak and seafood restaurant at the Inn.
• Helena is proposing creating a separate brand for Pizza and use the same for the marketing of the pizza.
• But she is suggesting to use the same waiters and change their dress when they will be delivering the pizza.
• This is not a good idea as this might create some concern if any customer comes to know about the same.

Whether the legal problem(s) of each faction impacts other parties:

• While it might seem a good idea to create a separate brand for the pizza but using the same room service and ask them to change their clothes to deliver the pizza doesn't look like a very good idea. It is also not ethical as using the same services just by changing the brand name.

Possible solution(s) or alternative(s)

Using a completely separate brand identity to deliver the pizza will give it a much more professional look as well as protection from any mishaps that might happen to any separate legal identity.