Sunny Hotel/Spa & Wellness Resort: Company Background and Purchasing Strategy

The Sunny Hotel/Spa & Wellness Resort is well known in Izmir, Turkey. Founded in 1995, it started as a family-owned business and has dramatically expanded especially during the recent five-year period. It has grown at the rate of 200% during the period of 2000-2006. Mr. and Mrs. Gunes, owners of the hotel, stated during an interview in 2006 that the secret of their success is:

We believe that we have a different point of view than that of our competitors. Our focus is on our core competency in providing hotel management services. Although it can be difficult to determine one’s core competencies and bound- aries of a company in the tourism sector, success of the business enterprise depends on this point. Functions that are not in one’s core competencies should be examined for outsourcing to other firms. Recently the Sunny  Hotel’s owners have thought about outsourcing critical services. The tourism sector has been rapidly expanding the flow of hotel management services; this flow has become more significant than the materials flow management for us.

Mr. Gunes has remarked that purchasing has turned into more of a strategic function for the organization, especially in recent years. Although traditionally materials flow is accepted as the core flow that should be managed effectively along the supply chain, the reverse—i.e., that of the management services flow—has become a more logical bench- mark for many service companies in the current environment. Services firms that are being managed as members of services-oriented supply chains are ones that are success- ful. Therefore, the services flow is treated as a focal point, i.e., the main flow that should be properly managed by service companies, whereas the flow of materials supports ser- vice management for the tourism services sector. Such an aspect and point of view has been embraced by the company  since the arrival of the new purchasing manager,  Mr. Murat Var, to work at the hotel.

Mr. Var holds an undergraduate business degree and a master’s degree from well- known business schools. Upon graduation, he worked for the first year as a purchasing expert for a multinational hotel chain, and he soon advanced to the purchasing manage- ment responsibility and continued to work there for the next five years. In 2005, he started work at the Sunny Hotel/Spa & Wellness Resort; soon after they became the mar- ket leader at a time when rival hotels faced significant problems and bottlenecks in the services being offered.

The Successful Core Competencies and Strategies of Sunny Hotel

Murat initiated organizational changes for the purchasing department of the hotel. With an emphasis on the separation and individuality of the differences between the purchases of materials and of services, he stated his belief that “The opportunity to increase profits in an organization through more effective purchasing and supply man-  agement is greater in the acquisition of services than in goods.”

When he first started his work at the hotel, he observed the purchasing department  was only focusing on the supply of goods. Few services were being purchased (out- sourced) in these early years, and the management of services purchases (outsourced work) was managed by the related department directly receiving the services. For instance: insurance and software support services were contracted for  by  the  Accounting & Finance Department, whereas the staff-training services contract was arranged by the Human Resources Department. Murat’s approach was “consolidation of these responsibilities by the purchasing department,” so that both materials and ser- vices purchases would be managed here.

As a result, the company currently purchases and contracts for the outsourcing of the following services:

• Security
• Cleaning
• Animation
• Insurance
• Softwaresupport
• Stafftraining
• Food storage & deliveryservices

The purchasing department is not a new services organization. However, after Murat hired on as purchasing manager, responsibilities and authorities of the organization was changed. Currently, eight purchasing experts are working for Var, and their responsibili- ties are divided amongst the commodity groups and services.

Until two years ago, materials purchasing activities at the hotel had been centralized. However, service purchasing activities were not included, and each functional depart- ment remained responsible for arranging its own outside-supplied services. Var was moved over to take control of a newly centralized purchasing function that was  to include the commitment of company’s funds for procurement of the materials and ser-  vices for the hotel.

Today the functional department managers believe that the new consolidated pur- chasing organization and its implications are logical. However, in spite of potential advantages (such as improved levels  of customer services and a 30% decrease in the  total cost of purchasing), there are some adaptation problems.  Complaints  from  the other department managers include:

Some supplier selection and evaluation processes are being used for materials andservices, leading to wrong or bad 

Purchasing department personnel do not engage the department heads in the source selection process.

1. Major Facts- What facts could be causing the issue or issues? (Intro)

State here the major facts as you see them. Make statements clear and concise for your own understanding. Consider the implications of the stated facts. Do they point to a problem?

2. Major Problem- What is the key issue to be analyzed? (Intro)

State here the major problem as you see it. Emphasize the present major problem. You may wish to phrase your statement in the form of a question. In a few cases, there may be more than one major problem. A good problem statement will be concise, usually only one sentence.

3. In Table 1, the Supplier Selection and Evaluation Matrix for “purchasing goods” is illustrated. The same criteria and techniques are being used to purchase services at the Sunny Hotel. Do you think that some other distinctive criteria for the supplier selection and evaluation of service purchases are needed? If yes, please briefly define them. How would you present them to the company as aconsultant?