Marketing Review — Summer 2008 - (Page 53) result. In a 2005 survey of nearly 1,200 companies, 81 percent—and 98 percent of large firms—said corporate citizenship is a priority; 84 percent said that being socially responsible has improved profits. Once the business-friendly Bush administration leaves Washington, government intervention will rebound in sectors from finance to industrial chemicals. To avoid political backlash from the right, regulation is likely to be carefully targeted and limited, at least for a time. ASSESSMENT: This trend is well established in the industrialized world, but only beginning in the developing world. It can be expected to grow more powerful as the no-nonsense, bottom-line-oriented Generation Xers and Millennials gain influence. IMPLICATIONS: Once the current, business-friendly administration leaves Washington, government intervention will supplant deregulation in the airline industry (in the interest of safety and services), financial services (to control instability and costs), electric utilities (nuclear problems), and the chemical industry (toxic wastes). In the United States, frequent incidents of political corruption may spread the demand for greater responsibility into the field of government and public service, although that is not yet clear. As the Internet spreads Western attitudes throughout the world, consumers and environmental activists in other regions will find more ways to use local court systems to promote their goals. Litigation is likely to become a global risk for companies that do not make the environment a priority. IMPLICATIONS FOR HOSPITALITY AND TRAVEL: This will bring still more pressure to minimize fuel consumption and cut air and noise pollution. The impact of jet exhaust on the ozone layer will continue to draw unwelcome publicity to air travel, but with little impact on seat-miles or the bottom line. Cruise lines whose itineraries permit may wish to add day trips to rain forests and other environmentally sensitive locations. Carefully managed excursions to poor areas are another possible option, if they can be structured to benefit the community. “Green” furnishings and supplies are the trend at hotels and resorts. Look for bamboo flooring in the rooms, eggs from free-range chickens in the kitchen, and a growing demand from guests for better worker benefits and pay. In all but extreme-luxury locations, hotels will save energy and water by providing fresh towels and linens only every other day, or when guests request them. Even simple measures, like saving water by providing it only at the customer’s request, can help to burnish a restaurant’s eco-reputation. However, many necessary—or at least unavoidable—measures will be harder to accept. Demands for nutritional information on the menu eventually will become impossible to resist. They will be accompanied by calls for eco-conscious sourcing of foods and other supplies, better pay and at least minimal benefits for restaurant workers, and Americanstyle work rules in offshore subsidiaries. Look at the pressure put on Nike to improve working conditions at the plants of overseas suppliers, and you see the future of the restaurant industry. Trends such as eco-tourism and “pro-poor” tourism are just getting started. While tourists from China and India will still be eager to see Paris and Orlando, their more experienced peers from Europe and America will be looking for the last few eleSUMMER 2008 • 55 TRENDS FOR TRAVEL & HOSPITALITY phants, coral reefs (before they are gone), and impoverished natives still living by the ways of their ancestors. However, they will want the people and sites they visit to benefit from their spending, not just the companies arranging their vacations. 52 52) On average, institutions are growing more transparent in their operations, and more accountable for their misdeeds. Many different forces are promoting this change in various parts of the world. In the United States, the wave of business scandals in 2004, the exposure of child abuse within the Catholic Church, and other perceived offenses by large organizations have inspired demands for greater transparency and accountability. China, rated by Kurtzman Group as the most opaque of the major nations, was forced to open many of its records as a precondition for joining the World Trade Organization. In India, a country often regarded as one of the world’s most corrupt, the Central Vigilance Commission has opened the country’s banking system to more effective oversight. Lesser “vigilance commissions” now oversee many parts of the Indian economy and government. More generally, wars against terrorism, drug trafficking, and money laundering are opening the world’s money conduits to greater scrutiny. They also are opening the operations of nongovernmental organizations that function primarily as charitable and social-service agencies but are linked to terrorism as well. ASSESSMENT: There are roughly as many reactions against this trend as there are governments, agencies, and individuals with something to hide. Yet, the benefits of transparency are so clear that the general decline of barriers to oversight is likely to continue until societies develop a consensus about how much—or little—secrecy is really necessary. We give this trend at least 20 years of continued vigor. IMPLICATIONS: Countries with high levels of transparency tend to be much more stable than more opaque lands. They also tend to be much more prosperous, in part because they find it easier to attract foreign investment. Greater transparency reduces the operational effectiveness of the world’s miscreants. It impedes drug traffickers and terrorist organizations, as well as dishonest governments and corrupt bureaucrats. IMPLICATIONS FOR HOSPITALITY AND TRAVEL: Like other companies, large hospitality firms are likely to face demands for more rigorous accounting practices and other transparency-oriented changes in their operations. Companies based in lands such as China and India may find it more costly to borrow capital for expansion than those in the West. Western firms expanding into some of the developing countries also may find themselves paying unaccustomedly high rates for capital, particularly if they are forced to take on local partners. 53
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