Case 4 Maverick Lodging
Objective
The Maverick Lodging case concerns the initial results of installing a new, comprehensive performance review system. As a consultant to Maverick Lodging and the Marriott Corporation, your task is to evaluate the efficacy of the new performance evaluation system. Your direct point of contact is Ms. Cindy Baum who was responsible for managing the rollout of the new performance evaluation system.
Assignment Value
10 % of your grade
Approach
Point of View: Your team will act as consultants to Cindy Baum, the Vice President of Asset Management at Maverick Lodging. You are to help prepare her for her meeting with her boss, Robert Sandlin, President and CEO of Maverick Lodging to discuss the results for 1999 and to assess the balanced scorecard framework as both a measurement system and management system. Presentation Format Your presentation will cover the following areas: 1. Background: The team needs to succinctly explain the purpose of your recommendations. It answers the question: Why are we all here? 2. Analysis: This section contains your analysis of the case using concepts from your readings. 3. Problems: What problems or issues did you identify from your analysis? How would you define Maverick Lodgings problems? 4. Solutions: What are your recommendations based on your analysis? They should be based on your analysis. Also, why are these recommendations superior to other alternatives? 5. Action Plan: This section summarizes your follow-up steps for management and your team.
Deliverables
Wednesday, November 18: Morning Session 1. Each team must submit three copies of its presentation at the beginning of class Wednesday, November 18. Teams should plan on being in class at 8.45 am and be prepared to load presentations onto the class computer right away. Presentations will start at 9.00am. 2. Each team should clearly identify itself on the presentation. That is, you must put both your generic and creative team names on the presentation (e.g. A1--Sparta). 3. Though no writeup is required for this case, all team members must be ready to answer questions thoroughly.
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4. 5. 6. 7.
The professor will randomly choose two people from each team to present. Nonpresenting team members will answer all questions. Each team will present for 12 to 15 minutes. There will be about five minutes of questions and answers after each presentation. The class will provide written feedback to presenting teams. We will provide you with sheets for this. The professor has final say on the top presentations. The top presentation from each cohort will make it to the final on Wednesday November 18. A really good presentation from all three Cohorts may be a wildcard fourth presentation in the final.
Wednesday, November 18: Afternoon Session 1. External judges will decide who the winning team is. 2. The presentation will take place at the Grand Hall of the Bello Center from 2pm to 4.00pm. 3. Each team will present for 12 to 15 minutes and answer questions from the judges right after the presentation.
Research Tool Kit
At this point of the course, you have learned about the importance of planning, including budgeting, and subsequently, evaluating those plans. You are welcome to consult your text books, other texts and sources to help you better understand and evaluate the case.
Guiding Case Research Questions
You will find below a number of questions for your teams review. They do not all have to be answered. The goal of your critique is to achieve an overall assessment of Maverick Lodging and provide a set of recommendations and action steps for improvement. The questions are only meant to be suggestive and to stimulate your thinking. General Questions for Case 4: 1. What happened in 1999? Was it a good year for the company? 2. What is the Balanced Scorecard? What are the strengths and limitations of a Balanced Scorecard approach as it applies in this case? 3. What is Mavericks value-added proposition? What competitive advantage is the company trying to achieve in its competitive landscape? What are its strategic goals and is the company organized to achieve them? 4. Who are the stakeholders? In other words who are the parties who stand to benefit from an effective performance evaluation system and why would they benefit? 5. What is your overall evaluation of Maverick Lodgings management-control and performance-measurement systems? 6. What other management issues can you discover? 7. What is your assessment of the Flowthrough Flexible Budget System? 8. How do you assess how Ms. Baum went about implementing the new system? 9. If you were Cindy Baum, what would you do differently?
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Some discipline-specific questions 10. Are the accounting and financial-related evaluation items sufficient? Are they effective? 11. Are there sufficient evaluation items for IT-related activities? How would you evaluate IT performance? 12. What information technology strategies and projects add value to the business organization, operations, tactics? 13. How would you use IT to help enhance the budgeting process? 14. Are the management and strategy-related evaluation items sufficient? Are they effective? 15. What are the types of controls that Maverick uses? What is your assessment of their control system and its metrics or measures? Are there unintended consequences? What would you do differently? 16. Do the Balanced Score card system and its related bonus plan help Maverick achieve its strategic goals or make things worse? What changes would you recommend? Grading Each team will be graded on how well it addresses the five areas presented above (i.e. Background, Analysis, Problems, Solutions, Action Plan) and answers related questions. While the top teams will be chosen soon after all presentations are completed, all presentations will be reviewed by all three Cohort professors on Thursday to complete the grading process.
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