Question 1: What is Taj Hotel trying to accomplish with its CSR responsible sourcing strategy?

What
are the key stakeholders and their interests?

Sourcing Strategy Key Stakeholders Interest

Sourcing of Hospitality related Taj Hotels, NGOs and SHGs Supports the income
items and services from NGOs generation programmes for
and SHGs NGOs and SHGs
Sourcing Food items from WIT Taj Hotels and WIT An extended process of
(Women’s India Trust) capability and capacity
building and income
generation for WIT

What is Taj Hotel trying to accomplish?

1. Save Shipping Costs by Leveraging What’s Around the hotel.

2. Secure the Best Products by Planning for the Seasons: Chefs are planning their menus
further in advance, which helps secure the best possible products from local suppliers.

m
er as
3. Drive Customer Loyalty by Growing In-House
4. Increase Customer Satisfaction by Localizing More than Food: Local food isn’t the only thing

co
eH w
that made the National Restaurant Association’s “What’s Hot” list. Locally produced beer,
wine and spirits are an important way to round out your locally focused menu.

o.
rs e
5. Go Even Greener by Using and Reusing: At the heart of local purchasing is a commitment to
ou urc
environmental sustainability, which is also one of the biggest foodservice trends.
6. Achieving better (lower) cost for purchased goods, gaining a competitive advantage in the
delivery and quality of services, forming critical vendor relationships for scarce or critical
o

products, and reducing the lead time for delivery of products or services.
7. Ethical responsibility: The Company endeavors to facilitate livelihood opportunities & socio-
aC s
v i y re

cultural development in areas of its operations.

8. A hotel’s involvement in CSR practices can improve its brand awareness and loyalty for
customers. As services are intangible, and evaluated based on perception of quality, rather
than tangible product attributes, the goodwill created by social initiatives taken by the firm,
ed d

transfers to the brand image, creating differentiation, which can in turn create an advantage
ar stu

in a highly competitive industry that provides substitutable services like hotel rooms.
sh is

Question 2: From the perspective of a CSR manager, what could be done to create sustainable
initiatives for mutual value and sustainability impact?
Th

1) Before starting a new initiative, test it in context of social, economic, and environmental
dimensions.

This study source was downloaded by 100000829423938 from CourseHero.com on 08-10-2021 13:37:19 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/61164242/Taj-Hotels-Soultiondocx/
 m
er as
co
eH w
o.
rs e
ou urc
o
aC s
v i y re
ed d
ar stu
sh is
Th

Employees should be “treated as the main asset of the organization”

This study source was downloaded by 100000829423938 from CourseHero.com on 08-10-2021 13:37:19 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/61164242/Taj-Hotels-Soultiondocx/
 2) Evidence suggests that employees are centrally important in deploying CSR strategies, but it
is equally true that the success of strategy implementation is a function of employee
perception”
3) Environmental stewardship is one of the major areas where hospitality firms have made
investments. Going beyond the 3 Rs of Reduce, Recycle and Reuse, and taking common
measures like greening operations and supply chains, and energy audits aimed at
rationalizing energy and water consumption through high-efficiency lighting, low-flow
showerheads, water-efficient bathroom fixtures, and encouraging guest reuse of linens and
towels, several hotels have invested in technology and innovation that will drastically change
the future of energy consumption.

Question 3: What are key organisational Challenges and opportunities of Taj as it partners with other
organisations for sustainability initiatives?

Key Drivers of organisations don’t always match

m
er as
1) Conscious organizational efforts are required to commit to energy and water conservation,
better waste management practices and focused local sourcing of materials and manpower.

co
eH w
2) Taj has focused partnerships and programmes towards ‘Building Sustainable Livelihoods’ –
the group’s CSR theme for supporting neighbourhoods and less privileged communities.

o.
rs e
3) The key drivers of firms who undertake such activities do not always match
ou urc
Leveraging core competencies of Taj

1) It is important to leverage a firm’s core competencies when taking socially responsible

o

actions and creating opportunities for shared value i.e. hospitality firms innovate using new
aC s

technologies, business models, operating and management processes to increase

v i y re

productivity while also contributing to social good.

2) It is important to ensure that Taj makes the best out of its core competencies while
partnering with other firms.
ed d

Benchmarking
ar stu

1. Due to the variety and age of the hotels, each property has to start with a critical review
of their operational footprint before they could compare their sustainability results
against international benchmarks and baselines.
sh is

2. At the same time, it is important to benchmark the requirements for partnerships

according to variety and age of the hotel
Th

3. Many global hotel brands are now measuring and benchmarking their CSR activities, but
few are certified by an external party. The Taj Group can make use of benchmarking with
a recognized third party which will give the hotel group a point of difference in its
sustainability efforts

Managing Customer Demand

1) A key challenge for hotels and restaurants is to manage customer demands without
compromising the service quality as customers often relate sustainability with a reduction of
cleanliness or comfort.
2) Successful sustainability management therefore needs customers’ involvement, in the form
of input, time, and even effort often making their guests work as co-designers, co-producers,

This study source was downloaded by 100000829423938 from CourseHero.com on 08-10-2021 13:37:19 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/61164242/Taj-Hotels-Soultiondocx/
 and co-marketers of green practices. For example, the Crowne Plaza hotel in Copenhagen,
Denmark, encouraged its guests to produce electricity on exercise bikes. With 15 minutes of
cycling, guests could generate 10 watt-hours of electricity as well as get a free meal voucher
($36 value) in the hotel.
3) The partner organisations need to be trained and aware of these customer expectations.

m
er as
co
eH w
o.
rs e
ou urc
o
aC s
v i y re
ed d
ar stu
sh is
Th

This study source was downloaded by 100000829423938 from CourseHero.com on 08-10-2021 13:37:19 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/61164242/Taj-Hotels-Soultiondocx/
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)