Strategic Communication In The Hospitality Industry: A Study On Old Chang Kee

The Concept of Strategic Communication

Discuss About The Strategic Communication Hospitality Industry?

Strategic communication can be described as an umbrella term which encompasses different types of activities like the advertising, management communication, public relations. The main strength of the strategic management communication is the emphasis it puts on the strategy rather than on employing the special tactics, it puts its majority of the focus on the development of the communication holistically (Downs & Adrian, 2012). Strategic communication is utilized by the organizations in order to use the high level of communication behind the conduct of the business and to stay adhered to the organizational goals. The delivery of the news is to the general public is dependent on the media and the people who play an important part in society and the media (Thomas & Stephens, 2015). This study is based on Singapore and its ageing population that employs a majority of the senior workforce into the private and public enterprises. The study is also based on a how a communication manager can raise and distinguish its business among the seniors.

Especially for this study, the old change kee food chain company has been considered. Considering the fact that Singapore is currently facing a shortage of youth employees and this company found a novel way of recruiting the seniors that have already retired from active work (peakmagazine, 2018). The various kinds of products offered by Old Chang Kee are traditional favourites (Curry’O, Spring’O, Carrot’K8, Gyoza), seafood items (crab nugget, prawn nugget, Sardine’O, Sotong Ball, Big fishball, Fish Fillet, Sotong Wing, Sotong Head, Fishball), chicken items (cheezy chicken sausage, chciekn nugget, chicken wrap, chicken wing and chicken mushroom’o), desserts (green bean feel’in) (Oldchangkee, 2018). Old Change Kee was first established in the year 1956 along the Mackenzie road. It was famous due to a dish prepared by this stall, the dish was called curry puff and at that time the dish was called “Red Curry Puff”. In the year 1986, Han Juan made an important decision that changed the fast food scenario all over Singapore. He took over the control of the Old Change Kee business and transformed it into a successful business. Old Chang Kee now specializes the manufacture of a wide variety of the high-quality food products and very affordable signature curry puff. Presently, the production of the food products is carried out in a high-end modern factory along with the high-end technology. The Old Chang Kee company strived to maintain the quality along with consistency. The production processes have met the standards prescribed by the food manufacturer and are in accordance with the Halal and HACCP standards. 

Due to the lack of proper information from the end of the company, certain assumptions need to be placed in order to assess the characteristics and the dynamics of the Old Chang Kee. The assumptions are made based on the general fast food business and the dynamics as well as the characteristics of the organization. the characteristics and the dynamics are all over the same and it occurs in all the different types of the fast food industry. 

Old Chang Kee: A Case Study

The fast-food industry can also be termed as a service sector due to the hospitality services that it renders. The entertainment and reception of the strangers, visitors, and the guests along with the goodwill and liberty is the main theme of the hospitality industry. The hospitality industry is a wide term that encompasses the tourism industry, lodging, restaurant, theme park, event planning. A hospitality industry thus includes different people with different responsibilities and it includes the human resources, marketing, operations manager, facility manager and communication manager. In order to be an able manager in the hospitality industry, there are certain important skills that need to be possessed by the manager himself so that business boosts and the fast food outlets earn high revenues (Seyitoglu & Yüzba?ioglu, 2015). The different characteristics of the fast food industry are customer satisfaction, graveyard shift, shift work, variable, simultaneous, inseparable, perishable, intangible. The characteristics of the intangible services in the hospitality sector are the ones that cannot be touched and felt. Services and the sales that are owned by a person, however, it cannot be opened up from the service provider's end to the service users. The characteristic of the perishable services in the hospitality sector are the things that do not last long and the same experiences cannot be experienced again. When the service is rendered by the owner of the service, it irreversibly disappears because the service is actually utilized by the consumers. In this case, the service must be utilized within a stipulated period of time as soon as the service resource is allocated. Inseparable services are the various means of production which cannot be alienated from a customer (Radojevic, Stanisic & Stanic, 2015). Customer services are there to interact with the manufacturer in order to reap its benefits. The service providers are producing the service while there has to someone who has to disseminate the service to the service users. Certain times, the services are rendered to the customers are done automatically. Simultaneous services are the sort of services which are rendered in a sequential manner. The client also to some extent are attached to the final services rendered and this affects the whole service system. The variable services are the various disposable substance generating out of the service utilization and consumption. Guest satisfaction means that the guests that are visiting the fast food outlets must be satisfied with the services rendered. The satisfaction of the guest depends to a great extent on the service provided by the fast food outlets because customers overall service and satisfaction because the customers already have an expectation regarding the service (Villar, Pla-Barber & León-Darder, 2012).

Hospitality and the fast food industry is a dynamic industry that changes with the passage of time at a faster rate. The business people and the stakeholders must stay prepared and sharp in order to cope up with the changing environment. In the fast food industry, people need to move with the right tools in order to make proper decisions (Richard, 2017). The incorporation of the several major psychology innovations. Most of the fast food outlets still use the traditional process in order to entertain their customers, while the latest technological innovations provide a wider aspect of attracting the customers. The external stakeholders influence the ability of a fast food business in a way that the altogether affects the conduct of the business. The presence of the market rivals increases the dynamism of the fast food industry. The different strategies and the different step taken to gain the competitive advantage leads to the increase in the dynamism (Brida et al., 2015).

The Characteristics of the Hospitality Industry

The communication challenges faced by the fast food industry are the unique set of challenges. This can be overcome by the quality customer service, high cost of the business, employing the right communication strategies. The several areas of communication challenges are: customer information and the taste of the customer are not properly conveyed at the reception desk. A customer that want certain customized services often leads to the increase in complexity. The complexity arises due to the higher customer demands and fast food service providers are unable to fulfil such demand (Bharwani & Butt 2012).

The shortage of the manpower led the Old Chang Kee to select the Microsoft Dynamics NAV into the fast food business and this has helped in gaining the 50 percent logistical productivity, reduction of the staff overtime and zero chance of data replication and duplication (AFON, 2018).

Objective- the major objective of the communication manager is to frame a strategic communication plan as well as make recommendations and the strategies for Old Chang Kee. This will help in building the organizational brand, raise the profile of the fast food among the seniors and the local news media. The plan will also incorporate the corporate social responsibility initiatives so that the key seniors can be engaged as the key stakeholders. The stakeholders may include the volunteers, staff members, customers, participants. The strategic communication plan will also include the rationale behind the formulation of the plan and will also incorporate the corporate social responsibility.

Brand promotion- the communication manager can promote the brand of Old Chang Kee will be done through the usage of the social media, local news media, advertisements. Social media although is not that famous among the elderly, however, the promotion of the business through the social media is the best due to the vast number of the audience of people it can collate together. Any new business management always requires its name to be spread among the general public. General public when comes to know the name of a business entity effectively increases its fame and name among the people that would like to avail the service. Next, the best strategy is the promotion of brand via spreading information via the local news media. Certainly, it is easy for a fast food business which is confined to a small geographical region will look for the chances of spreading its name among the local people living in the area. Local media provides the best way of spreading the name and the messages. Lastly, there are other options like advertisements that effectively bring in people from the different areas specifically highlights the induction of new fast food business. The strategic communication strategies will help Old Chang Kee to gain customers and investors from different part of the country.

The Old Chang Kee is a quite an old company with a rich history and thus a communication manager can indulge in public relations activity in order to promote the brand on a larger scale. In order to engage and spread its service to a majority of the seniors can be done via improving the brand image and bringing communication. The corporate social responsibility or the community services performed by the Old Chang Kee is a novel way of both helping the society and increasing the brand image of the company. Old Chang Kee often organizes musical shows as a part of their corporate social responsibility (Oldchangkee, 2018). These kinds of events are perfect for engaging the seniors, investors and the volunteers into the whole strategic communication. Events organized can be effectively used to promote the services and the products of Old Chang Kee can effectively help in boosting the brand image.

Skills Required for Successful Management in the Hospitality Industry

Strategic communication brings together the vital stakeholders into a single arena. The fast-food business specified here is a business specifically targeting the senior customers and the senior workers. In Singapore, the high number of the aged people that are working bring with themselves the added exposure and experience. Such experiences can be effectively utilized in the growth of the fast food business and its promotion. The high number of the seniors that work in Singapore undergo readmission into work even after they reach the age of 65. Corporate social responsibility is a vital part of a business organization that is willing to contribute to the society. This can be achieved only if all the stakeholders are perfectly engaged in the workforce like the: volunteers, staff members, customers, participants, stakeholders. The experience and the exposure of the senior employees can be effectively used to educate the others that need the help and guidance of the experienced people. The rationale of the corporate social responsibility and the strategic communication plan is to increase the awareness and increase the engagement among the seniors. There are other reasons for the promotion of the effective communication among the other staffs working in the fast food business.

 The challenges that will be faced during the carrying out of the plan is the effective communication and the management of the whole team. The effective working of the team will depend largely on the effective working synchronized team. The presence of the too many stakeholders will increase the complexity of management of the team effectively. There are other types of problems like the bringing together a big number of the seniors into the workforce will reduce the speed of the work. Corporate social responsibility is the responsibility of each of the business entity and thus it is necessary for them to bring in the effective and abled person into the picture.

 The limitation of the plan is that the brand promotion through the social media, local news media, and the advertisements. Although in the later part the continuation of the involvement of the society may be necessary, it is not continued due to the cost of promoting the brand will be huge. Whereas the strength can be cited as the involvement of the senior and the other stakeholders into the strategic communication plan. This will effectively boost in the conduct of the corporate social responsibility. 

Conclusion

Thus from the above discussion, it can be concluded that strategic communication is vital for every kind of business. It effectively reduces the conflicts that generally arises due to the ineffective communication. The framing of the strategic communication strategies is totally aligned with the organizational goals. Depending on the goals and the targets to be achieved, the strategic communication plays the role accordingly. In this study, a Singaporean case study is considered where the seniors are actions taken in to accounting for the promotion of a fast food business which actively targets the senior employees. The study also includes the strategies which help in conducting a corporate social responsibility.

References

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