Business outsourcing only focuses on "strengths" by "outsourcing" secondary and non-core businesses, which can not only reduce the operating costs of hotels, but also improve their core competitiveness and optimize resource allocation. In addition, allowing outsourcers to participate in the value chain of hotel development can also spread the risks of hotel investment and operation. Fundamentally speaking, business outsourcing has opened up new ideas for hotel development, and also provided the possibility for the extraordinary development of hotels.
Why should we define the core competitiveness of hotels? This involves the basic idea of business outsourcing-if a link in the hotel "value chain" is not the best in the industry, nor is it its own core competitive advantage, and this kind of activity will not separate us from our customers, then it should be outsourced to other professional enterprises. In this way, it is particularly important to determine the core competitiveness of the hotel, because only by determining the core competitiveness can the hotel hand over non-core and secondary business to others for management, thus creating its own value more efficiently.
In the basic business of a hotel, production, operation, marketing and sales are the main items for the hotel to create value. Production and operation mainly refers to hotel accommodation, and the housekeeping department meets customer needs, increases the number of customers and creates value through excellent room service; In marketing, publicity is mainly used to improve hotel visibility and create value by launching hotel brands; The hotel sales department creates value by selling catering and providing entertainment. Based on the concept that "the core competitiveness of a hotel can create something different from other hotels", we know that production, operation, marketing and sales are universal as the core competitiveness of a hotel. Of course, universality does not mean absoluteness, and many hotels do not regard these two as their core competitiveness, or more than these two. For example, some hotels pay more attention to hotel culture. They sell hotel culture as the core product to create value. Some hotels outsource catering and only focus on production and operation.
For example, the catering department of Yizhengyuan Hotel in Linyi, Shandong Province, as a place to provide accommodation, training and other commercial services for the public, is one of the important departments of the hotel. However, because the operation and management of the food and beverage department in the whole hotel is the most complicated, the factor return rate is decreasing (decreasing factor return rate refers to increasing the input of a certain production factor under the condition of constant technical level, and when the input of the production factor increases to a certain extent, the output increment brought by increasing a unit factor is decreasing), and the cost is also the most difficult to control. In addition, with the continuous improvement of specialization, scale and collectivization of catering industry in today's society, the competitive pressure is increasing, and the catering department has unexpectedly become the "weakness" of the hotel. Therefore, Yizhengyuan decisively outsourced the catering department to Jinan Shark's Fin Emperor Catering Group, a socialized professional catering company, and established Yizhengyuan Baochihuang Restaurant, achieving a win-win goal.
It can be seen that the determination of core competitiveness should be measured according to the actual situation of the hotel, and it is forbidden to follow the trend or take theoretical textbooks as the Bible.
Secondly, it is necessary to select outsourcing professional companies scientifically and reasonably. The outsourcing company is responsible for the whole process of outsourcing activities and is the guarantee for the normal operation of outsourcing activities. A good outsourcing company is the key to effective outsourcing management of hotels. Therefore, hotels should take the choice of outsourcing companies as an important link to complete.
Outsourcing projects are provided to guests as part of hotel products. If the project is not completed successfully, it will definitely destroy the good image of the hotel among the guests and affect the future development of the hotel. Therefore, hotels should inspect outsourcing companies from all aspects and choose carefully. The hotel should first consider whether the outsourcing company matches the brand, grade and organizational culture of the hotel, and then investigate whether the outsourcing company's qualifications in economic strength, scale level, management ability, integrity and technical level have competitive advantages in this field through various channels. In the inspection stage, the hotel can also set up an evaluation team to evaluate the service price, outsourcing quality, outsourcing company's innovation ability and enterprise compatibility, so as to be fair, just, objective and comprehensive. In the meantime, we may have to consider the subjective factors of hotel leaders, which will also become one of the basis and evaluation criteria for choosing outsourcing companies.
Considering the cost, some hotels will list the outsourcing cost as the primary factor in choosing an outsourcing company. However, if we only start from the outsourcing cost, or take the outsourcing cost as a decisive indicator, the hotel is likely to bear the risk that the outsourcing project will not meet the standard. Therefore, the author suggests that hotels should adhere to the principle of comprehensive investigation and objective evaluation when choosing outsourcing companies, so as to make scientific and reasonable judgments.
It is worth mentioning that hotels should properly handle the relationship with outsourcing companies while selecting them scientifically and reasonably. In order to ensure the smooth cooperation between the two parties, hotels and outsourcing companies should realize the information sharing of outsourcing projects. The principal-agent problem is mainly caused by the asymmetry of information between the two parties. Strengthening information exchange can reduce the probability of problems to some extent. In addition, as the principal, the hotel can only maximize its own interests if the outsourcing company's behavior maximizes its utility, and in order to make the outsourcing company take the behavior of maximizing its utility, the hotel must effectively encourage it. Hotels and outsourcing companies are partners, sharing benefits and risks. Implementing effective incentives will help hotels and outsourcing companies "win-win". The establishment of a stable and long-term alliance between the two sides will also be conducive to mutual understanding and trust, while reducing transaction costs and reducing the opportunistic behavior of outsourcing companies trying to seek additional benefits through illegal operations.
Finally, we should sign a contract to clarify the responsibilities and rights of both parties. The relationship between hotel and outsourcing company is "principal-agent", that is, the principal (hotel) chooses the agent (outsourcing company) to complete certain tasks. In the principal-agent theory, there is a hidden danger called "moral hazard" The problem of "moral hazard" arises after entrustment, that is, one party to the contract does not master private information until the contract is concluded. This is manifested in the hotel's business outsourcing service, that is, after the hotel signed a contract with the outsourcing company, the outsourcing company began to perform the contract, and the specific behavior of the outsourcing company in the process of executing the contract content became his private information. To put it simply, the hotel only gets the result (good or bad), and the hotel doesn't know whether the outsourcing company will strictly follow the conditions put forward in the contract during the period. Therefore, hotels take certain risks on the behavior results of outsourcing companies, and signing perfect contracts is an effective measure to avoid this risk.
The outsourcing contract should specify the content, service quality requirements, workflow, implementation methods and time requirements of outsourcing services, especially the punishment for violations, which greatly restricts the problem of "moral hazard". Only in this way can the effectiveness and order of outsourcing services be realized. For the hotel, a meticulous and perfect outsourcing contract can not only ensure that the hotel can realize its due rights and interests to the maximum extent during the duration of the outsourcing relationship, but also ensure that the daily operation of the outsourcing company is carried out under the constraints of hotel rules and regulations, thus maintaining the good image of the hotel in the eyes of guests and promoting the sustainable development of the hotel.