Case Analysis Of Four Seasons Goes To Paris

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Additionally, as Four Seasons ran into their cultural issues they were doomed to stumble upon political and structural issues. For example, when a manager had a problem with an employee, the issue generally was referred to the human resources department; since this was a French custom. However, Four Seasons did not want to adhere to this custom and required their operating managers to be present, deal with the issue, and lead the discussion. In addition, in the French hierarchical system, there is a strong tendency to refer things to the boss instead of managers taking accountability for decisions and policies themselves. With these issues the company emphasized in training and evaluations that all the staff members should deal with situations …show more content…

Within the case analysis students will develop a sense of managerial and cultural hindsight that is extremely pertinent in the business field. For instance, Four Seasons demonstrates the ability and need for cultural awareness. While the company entered international jurisdictions their President of Europe, Middle East, and Africa, Antoine Corinthios, stated that “if you are going to go global you cannot be one way.” In addition, throughout this case, Corinthios taught lessons on being a cultural chameleon; being able to effectively expand into a new market with ease. In addition, Four Seasons taught individuals that agreeableness is a weakness at times, especially concerning excuses since those are not to be tolerated. Individuals must maintain responsibility for their actions and not design excuses as results. As the students continued to absorb the information they learned that just because someone is in higher management does not mean they cannot lend a helping hand. Businesses should be maintained as all for one and one for all; if the one individual makes the business look bad then everyone looks bad. Additionally, students could learn that values and standards are the embodiment of the business. Four Seasons had a motto of: talk to me about my standards and you talk to me about my religion. The individuals that work for the company should constantly represent the values and standards of the company. Finally, the most important note for business students is that this case study allows them to effectively use the three lenses: culture, strategic, and political; to analyze an

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