Expanding the roundtable program

Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, May, 2008

This issue's focus on casinos comes on the heels of the two Las Vegas events that the Center for Hospitality Research was intimately involved in. One was the second annual HR in Hospitality Conference, presented by LRP Publications and sponsored by Cornell's School of Hotel Administration and ILR School; and the other was Whitesand Consulting's CEO/COO gaming forum, featuring Cornell professor Chris Anderson and adjunct professor Paul Wagner (of counsel to Shea, Stokes, Roberts & Wagner). Both LRP Publications and Whitesand Consulting are partners of the Center for Hospitality Research.

In addition to fitting in so well with this quarter's issue, these two conferences rang in the spring 2008 Roundtable series for the Center for Hospitality Research. Three Roundtables are scheduled for about the time this issue is published. In April, we hold the First Annual Service Innovation Roundtable; the Seventh Annual Labor and Employment Roundtable is being held in early May; and the Fourth Annual Marketing Roundtable follows immediately. We are especially excited this year because each of the Roundtables offers a distinctive experience for the Center and its participants.

As I said, the Service Innovation Roundtable is the first of its kind. This is an important topic, as shown, for instance, by a recent cover story in Business Week, which stated that "Service Innovation" is the next big thing for corporations. At the same time, there is considerable ambiguity about the meaning and drivers of successful service innovations in both industry and academic circles. Therefore, this Roundtable should initiate a stimulating discussion about an emerging and important topic for the hospitality sector. Professor Rohit Verma, also of the School of Hotel Administration, put together an impressive group of people and an excellent agenda filled with relevant and thought-provoking content. The participants for this Roundtable include senior executives from the United States, Europe, and Asia--representing both hospitality companies and their partner firms from other service industries. The agenda includes sessions on (1) what is service innovation and does it matter, (2) customer-driven service innovation, (3) service process innovation, (4) tools and techniques for fostering effective service innovation.

The Labor and Employment Roundtable has so far invited managers to focus on management issues. Last year, for instance, we discussed the Employee Free Choice Act, and most participants felt that some form of labor law reform would be passed if a Democrat won the presidency. This year we have expanded the invitation list to include two people with ties to organized labor. Professor Rick Hurd, of the ILR School, will join the panel to discuss what is being referred to as "An Ethical Code of Conduct in Union Organizing for Management and Labor." This code, developed by Richard Bensinger, the former organizing director of the AFL-CIO and the founder of the Organizing Institute, calls for a campaign by both sides and a representation election. But it also establishes new rules that require, among other things, access for union, no promises by the union, and honesty from both sides. For a full description of the rules, see www.employeechoice.org/. This discussion, which will also feature NYU Law Professor Sam Estreicher; Stewart Schwab, dean of the Cornell Law School; and Harry Katz, dean of Cornell's ILR School, promises to break new ground as union and management representatives join leading academics to debate the fairest way to deal with union organizing. We are hoping Richard Bensinger may also join in. In addition, we will be discussing immigration, the role of the EEOC, and wage and hour issues.

The Marketing Roundtable will also see major changes this year, with a substantially different format. The topic this year will be "Social Media: Implications for Marketing Theory and Practice." We envision a series of working sessions over the course of the day that examine the impact of social media on the existing frameworks we use to teach and practice marketing. The goal is to produce a working paper that can then be published as a Cornell Hospitality Report. To prepare for the Roundtable, we established an online discussion board where we collaboratively fleshed out our ideas and gathered feedback from Roundtable participants and other leading industry executives.

As always, we are looking forward to welcoming the Center's partners, other industry leaders, and academics to the Hotel School to discuss relevant issues, meet our students, and enjoy the academic atmosphere here at Comell.

--D.S.