Strategic Management for Hospitality & Travel: Today and Tomorrow

Frederick J. DeMicco is ARAMARK Chair and Professor for the department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management at the University of Delaware. Formerly, he was Associate Director in the School of Hotel, Restaurant and Recreation Management at Penn State University, where he was Professor-in-Charge of the HRIM undergraduate program, and presently is a Penn State Conti Professor of Hotel, and Restaurant Management. Dr. DeMicco teaches courses in international management and strategy, foodservice management, with research in the areas of cost control, international strategic management, and gerontology. His research spans the human life cycle from children to older employees and mature customers in the hospitality and tourism industry. He has worked on projects with ARAMARK for the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Sydney, and Athens.

In 1986, he completed his Ph.D. in Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional management at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. In 1996, he completed a sabbatical in Hotel Management at Walt Disney World, Florida. He is on the Editorial Board of the Hospitality Research Journal, as well as author and co-author of more than 100 publications in the area of hospitality and tourism management. Dr. DeMicco is ranked 12th among the 119 most cited international hospitality faculty. Dr. DeMicco has taught and conducted research in Europe, Scandinavia, Australia, and the Caribbean (including cruise ships).

Dr. DeMicco is co-author with Dr. Marvin Cetron and Owen Davies of Hospitality 2010: The Future of Hospitality and Travel (Prentice Hall, 2006).

Dr. Marvin Cetron is one of the preeminent forecaster-futurists in the world. For some 50 years, he has pioneered corporate and government forecasting, developing many of the techniques that other forecasters now use daily.

During this long and productive career, Dr. Cetron has consulted for some 450 of the Fortune 500 firms, including Marriott International and Capital One; more than 100 government agencies, among them the Central Intelligence Agency, the Transportation Security Administration, and the National Security Agency; and 150 professional and academic associations, including World Travel Market, the National Restaurant Association, the International Association of Exhibition Management; and the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International. He served as an advisor to the White House for every administration, Republican and Democratic, from the time of John Kennedy through the Clinton years.

Dr. Cetron’s 1994 study, Terror 2000: The Future Face of Terror, circulated privately at the Pentagon, predicted virtually the entire course of terrorism in the years since. Specific forecasts included the rise of large-scale terrorist attacks by Muslim extremists, coordinated attacks on widely distant targets, a devastating assault on the World Trade Center, and even the deliberate crash of an airplane into the Pentagon. Hotels and restaurants owned or frequented by Americans led his list of probable targets.

During his 20-year career in research and development planning and forecasting with the U.S. Navy, Dr. Cetron was in charge of the design, development, and implementation of the largest, most comprehensive technological forecast of the United States ever conducted.

Dr. Cetron has a B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from Pennsylvania State University, a M.S. degree in Production Management from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Research and Development Management from American University.

He is a member of the Board of Advisors of both Pennsylvania State University and the University of Delaware.

Owen Davies is a veteran writer and forecaster in the fields of business, technology, and the future. He currently holds the position of Executive Editor at TechCast Global, a forecasting consultancy based in Washington, DC.

Since 1986, he has served as a consultant to Forecasting International, in Fairfax, VA. With FI, he has researched and written approximately 100 studies for commercial clients, professional associations, and government agencies, including Best Western, Capital One, and World Travel Market 2006; the National Restaurant Association, and International Association of Exhibition Management, and the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International; the Department of Defense, the Transportation Security Administration, and the National Security Agency.

He has written or edited 14 books, uncounted magazine articles, and many business reports and other specialized works, including more than 30 articles for the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International Marketing Review. He has held staff positions at Medical World News (1971-‘72), then considered the Newsweek of the medical community, American Druggist (1976-’77), and Omni (1979-’82). He has freelanced for some 45 years.

Davies’s books, many of them written with Dr. Marvin J. Cetron, president of Forecasting International, include:

• Hospitality 2015: The Future of Hospitality and Travel (American Hotel & Lodging Association), a second forecast of things to come in this fast-changing industry, written as always with Dr. Fred DeMicco and Dr Cetron
• Hospitality 2010: The Future of Hospitality and Travel (Prentice Hall), a look at the future of one of the world’s largest and most diverse industries, written with Dr. Fred DeMicco and Dr Cetron
• 55 Trends Now Shaping the Future of Ground Mass Transportation (Proteus USA), a forecast of rail and bus transportation over the next 15 years
• Probable Tomorrows: How Science and Technology Will Transform Our Lives in the Next Twenty Years (St. Martin’s Press), a look at the future of nine critical technologies now reshaping the world
• Terror 2000: The Future Face of Terrorism, a study circulated within the Pentagon and distributed to the President and members of Congress, 1994
• Crystal Globe: The Haves and Have-Nots of the New World Order (St. Martin’s Press), which forecast the reunification of Germany, the Gulf War, and the long-term recession in Japan (and appears to have given President George Bush his favorite description of the post-Soviet world)
• American Renaissance: Our Life at the Turn of the 21^st Century (St. Martin’s Press), a forecast of the future of American society a decade ahead