Case | HBS Case Collection | July 2012 (Revised January 2014)

HGRM: Bringing Back High Touch Hospitality

by Lynda M. Applegate and Gabriele Piccoli

Abstract

The case centers on the dilemma faced by Carlo Fontana, the owner-operator of a small chain of two four-star urban hotels located in Lugano, Switzerland, and the other in Milan, Italy. Having developed an extensive customer service and operations information system, called Happy Guests Relationship Management, Fontana is entertaining the possibility of commercializing his innovation. Doing so may provide a welcome new source of income during the greatest economic slowdown in recent history, and it would help in keeping the HGRM design and development team motivated to refine and improve the solution. However, commercializing the innovation may also stretch his organization too thin and bring his team into a business, the software industry, completely foreign to them.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Customer Relationship Management;

Language: English Format: Print 27 pages EducatorsPurchase

Citation:

Applegate, Lynda M., and Gabriele Piccoli. "HGRM: Bringing Back High Touch Hospitality." Harvard Business School Case 813-019, July 2012. (Revised January 2014.)

Related Work

  2. Case | HBS Case Collection | July 2012 (Revised January 2014)

    HGRM: Bringing Back High Touch Hospitality

    Lynda M. Applegate and Gabriele Piccoli

    The case centers on the dilemma faced by Carlo Fontana, the owner-operator of a small chain of two four-star urban hotels located in Lugano, Switzerland, and the other in Milan, Italy. Having developed an extensive customer service and operations information system, called Happy Guests Relationship Management, Fontana is entertaining the possibility of commercializing his innovation. Doing so may provide a welcome new source of income during the greatest economic slowdown in recent history, and it would help in keeping the HGRM design and development team motivated to refine and improve the solution. However, commercializing the innovation may also stretch his organization too thin and bring his team into a business, the software industry, completely foreign to them.

    Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Customer Relationship Management;

    Citation:

    Applegate, Lynda M., and Gabriele Piccoli. "HGRM: Bringing Back High Touch Hospitality." Harvard Business School Case 813-019, July 2012. (Revised January 2014.)  View Details
    CiteView DetailsEducatorsPurchase Related

  3. Supplement | HBS Case Collection | September 2014

    HGRM (B): Launching Hoxell, a New IT Venture

    Lynda M. Applegate, Gabriele Piccoli and Arnold Peinado

    Keywords: entrepreneurial management; strategy; growth strategy and execution; business models; Disruptive Technologies; customer relations; international business; Entrepreneurship; Management Systems; Operations; Competitive Strategy;

    Citation:

    Applegate, Lynda M., Gabriele Piccoli, and Arnold Peinado. "HGRM (B): Launching Hoxell, a New IT Venture." Harvard Business School Supplement 815-057, September 2014.  View Details
    CiteView DetailsPurchase Related

About the Author

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Lynda M. Applegate
Baker Foundation Professor, Sarofim-Rock Professor of Business Administration, Emerita
Entrepreneurial Management
General Management

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