In Discussion Forum 7, post your response to the following discussion topic. Reply to at least two classmates’ responses by the date indicated in the Course Calendar.
The Marriott Corporation is in the following businesses, among others:
Hotels of different types
Long-stay residential hotels
Luxury resorts
Time-share properties
Airline catering
Institutional food services
Franchised operations
Credit card tie-ins
Travel operations
Given the above listing, would you say that Marriott’s business lineup reflects a strategy of related or unrelated diversification? Explain your answer in terms of the extent to which the value chains of Marriott’s different businesses seem to have competitively valuable cross-business relationships.