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Four Seasons
Assignment 2

Group XYZ
Names

DATE, 2015

Fundamentals of International Business

Prof. Dr. C. Lattemann

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Introduction
On the first day of spring 1961, 30-year-old architect Isadore Sharp opened a 125room hotel in Toronto, Canada with no intentions of getting involved in the worldwide
hospitality and tourism industry. After 53 years of progressive expansion, this has developed
into Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, a luxury, hotel management company with 93
properties in 38 countries (FourSeasons.com, 2014).
1) Do corporate culture(s)/organizational values play a role in Four Seasons success? If
so, how and why?
Four Seasons philosophy is based on a set of universal principles and essential tenets
that are dutifully, nearly religiously, followed all throughout their properties (Bowen,
Hallowell & Knoop, 2003, p.4). This collection of values, characteristics and behavior make
up the companys corporate culture, which revolves around the key element: exceptional,
intelligent and enthusiastic SERVICE (Bowen et al., 2003, p. 4). Four Seasons functions like
a family: loyal members, honest communication, and cooperation (Bowen et al., 2003, p. 2).
They are dedicated to working hard in order to go beyond the guests higher expectations,
providing them with personalized attention, characterized by genuine respect and kindness.
Plus, they place a special emphasis in shortening the distance between guest and employer.
The leaders of the company all individuals with a global experience take the
responsibility of believing in the culture and the organizational value system established,
promoting it, and basing their actions on that ideology (Bowen et al., 2003, p. 3). When every
internal aspect functions properly and harmoniously, it reflects on the workers attitude and
gets transmitted to the public. Clearly, people outside see it; clients see it (Hill, 2014),
which is why so many people choose Four Seasons, contributing to their international
success.
2) If changes to the corporate culture are needed, does the element of the companys
culture itself need to change or does the way in which the element is implemented, the
way a value is enacted, need to change? Give an example.
The elements of the company itself never change, given that Four Seasons always
seeks to maintain their unique signature. However, the way in which the element is
implemented in each location or a value is enacted is modified given the situation, in order for
them to adapt to the local culture. Four Seasons and Resorts diversity and singularity ideal
(Bowen et al., 2003, p. 2) is one of the factors that most influences the companys
extraordinary reviews. Its distinctive corporate culture is characterized by: "Core Standards"
and "Goals, Beliefs and Principles and Service Culture Standards. Especially the latter
plays an important role in Four Seasons consistent but specialized ideology: Smile, Eye,
Recognition, Voice, Informed, Clean and Everyone. (Bowen et al., 2003, Exhibit 5). These
organizational values ensure that Four Seasons can provide a proper service to customers all
around the world. The business culture adapts concerning each case, but definitely never loses
its essence; it is the core of Four Seasons. What is altered is the way how hotels in every
location implement an element and enact a value of the company culture, according to the
local customs.
For example, Smile is the first element of Service Culture Standards. It states:
Employees will actively greet guests, SMILE, and speak clearly in a friendly manner. In
America and a part of Europe, smiling at strangers is extremely normal. People think you are
friendly and they will probably smile back at you. However, in some Asian countries, for
instance, China and Japan, smiling at strangers can be regarded as weird and uncomfortable.
Therefore operating a Four Seasons hotel under these cultural backgrounds requires managers
to change the way the staff implements the standards.

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3) Do human resource management/strategies play a role in Four Seasons success? If
so, how and why?
The human resource strategies play a very important role in the business' success:
"Our greatest asset, and the key to our success, is our people" (Bowen et al., Exhibit 6). To
achieve their aim, which is according to a manager "[...] that our distinguishing edge would be
exceptional, personal service [...]." (Bowen et al., 2003, p. 4), Four Seasons first priority is
always to act in accordance to 'The Golden Rule', a guiding principle to "treat others as one
would wish to be treated" (Bowen et al., 2003, p. 4).
After applying Thornton's 3C Leadership Model (Quickmba.com, 2014a) the company
seems to manage the balance between their high challenges to offer the best service (Bowen
et al., 2003, p. 4), coaching their employees through a task force consisting of experienced
staff members (Bowen et al., 2003, p. 9) and building up their workers' confidence by
rewarding performance (Bowen et al., 2003, p. 11) pretty well. Their good human resource
management results in an overwhelming satisfaction amongst their employees with an overall
rating of 4.02 out of 5 and is clearly one of the keys to their worldwide success.
4) Discuss how Four Seasons entered the Paris/French market? What was good, what
was bad about the entry strategy? Why?
George V represented the ideal luxury asset for entering the French hotel management
market. In 1997, instead of buying, they accepted the new owner Prince Al Waleed Bin
Talals proposition to manage (Bowen et al., 2003, p. 5). Four Seasons was aware of the
challenges that awaited them in the captious Parisian society.
Their main strategy was to adapt to the French taste, at the same time also applying
the work ethics of a global Anglo-Saxon management, while preserving the essence of the
legendary George V and embracing its French luxury. Becoming a French employer would
require great flexibility and adaptability to the French business culture, labor laws and
national peculiarities (Bowen et al., 2003, p. 6). The companys managers analyzed the
political environment and regulations it carried with it. By a timely use of a PEST analysis,
they were prepared to adjust their workspace rules to correspond to the vast benefits of French
employees (QuickMBA.com, 2014b). Four Seasons was very successful with coping all of the
regulations indigenous to the countrys law and with the very detached manner in which
French employees would confront the problem and inter-colleague conflicts. By introducing
the concept of a Task Force, they not only demonstrate the essence of Four Seasons service
(Bowen et al., 2003, Exhibit 6), but also attempt to break aversion towards the image that
American companies and culture in France (Bowen et al., 2003, p. 11)
Their strategy of licensing, instead of direct investment has a bad side as well
(Quickmba.com, 2014c). Due to the 12 month deadline set by the new owner, Four Seasons
was not able to manage staff employment as they wanted. The French law states that in order
to reduce employees, a business had to be closed for 18 months (Bowen et al., 2003, p. 8).
Many of the best employees have left the hotel in the meantime, while the most troublesome
have stayed. This caused Four Seasons to spend much more time, energy and money into
training the employees with the Golden Rule.
Conclusion
As Four Seasons manager Antoine Corinthos once stated Our strength is our
diversity and our singularity (Bowen et al., 2003, p. 2), the companys approach made it
flexible and structured to overcome the challenges of demanding markets. They have been
continuing their successful story with its unique company culture. Within all Four Seasons
Hotels and Resorts, the core ideas and beliefs always remain the same, under which the
employees are motivated and satisfied. The luxury hotel chain has one of the lowest
turnovers in the hospitality industry, 12.7% for full-timers. (Fortune, 2014)

References
Bowen, D., Hallowell, R. & Knoop, C. (2003). Four Seasons Goes to Paris: 53 Properties,
24 Countries, 1 Philosophy. Boston: Harvard Business School.
Fortune.com (2014). Best Companies. Retrieved from: http://fortune.com/bestcompanies/four-seasons-hotels-91/ [Accessed: 20 Sep 2014].
FourSeasons.com (2014). Four Seasons History. Retrieved from:
http://press.fourseasons.com/news-releases/the-story-of-four-seasons/ [Accessed: 22 Sep
2014]
FourSeasons.com (2014). Four Seasons History. Retrieved from:
http://www.fourseasons.com/about_four_seasons/four-seasons-history/ [Accessed: 22 Sep
2014].
Hill, D. (2014). 7 Questions. Civil Engineering (08857024), 84(2), 18-19. Retrieved from:
http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=10&sid=8049cd67-1503-4816-8a986e44b679679e%40sessionmgr4003&hid=4209&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%
3d#db=buh&AN=95586885 [Accessed: 20 Sep 2014]
Quickmba.com (2014a). Thorntons 3C Leadership Model. Retrieved from:
http://www.quickmba.com/mgmt/leadership/3c/ [Accessed: 20 Sep 2014].
Quickmba.com (2014b). Pest Analysis. Retrieved from:
http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/pest/ [Accessed: 20 Sep 2014].