Global operating model

Situation

A global touristic company experienced an accelerated growth period for their ‘Destination Services’ division. The acquisition of regional and local players lead to the formation of a global organization. The core function of ‘Destination Services’ is to support arriving tourists (mainly arriving by plane or cruise). It means arranging support in organizing the transport to the hotel or offering day trips or other activities like sports.

It is very important, that customers can rely on service promises in the same way on a global basis. When they book their travel with the brand, they expect the same quality of services anywhere. In order to fulfill this brand promise the operating model has to be harmonized and processes should be standardized as much as possible. And to finally implement it in a cost efficient way, also the systems need to be aligned.

Approach

During the preparation of the large group workshop all local models were analyzed: Customer segmentations, service portfolios and sales channels. Also the amount of tourists travelling was analyzed to develop consistent proposals with regard to service levels and required infrastructure (i.e. how many vehicles required for transport and what volume does a local ‘Destination Services’  need to be able to handle). As a basis for discussion in the large group workshop a factbook was assembled and provided upfront to all participants as a ‘Must Read’.

The extended project team developed various proposals or scenarios for elements of the global operating model, i.e. how the future customer segmentation or service portfolio could look like. During the workshop all relevant stakeholders, representing the global destinations, discussed intensively all proposals, developed them further and finalized them. Ultimately the executives, who also were participating in the same way as other participants, could make their final decisions. Not everyone could get his or her ideas fulfilled, however it was an open and fair competition, hence the results were broadly accepted afterwards.

Result

In the end there was an aligned global operating model adopted. Some strategic initiatives were launched in order to gain midterm the key benefits of a global operating model. Many short term measures were agreed to start immediate implementation. The responsibility was distributed amongst the whole group, so all participants were engaged afterwards.