1. What factors would you use to judge the operations performance of Ferndale Sands???? Mario Romano, the owner and General Manager of Ferndale Sands Conference Centre, had just seen an article in The Conference Centre Journal, and he was furious. The excellent reputation that he had worked so hard to build up over the last ten years was being threatened by one unreasonable customer and a piece of sloppy, sensationalist journalism. ‘It really is unfair. Why do they let one mistake dictate the whole story? I’ll tell you why, it’s because they are more interested in a damning headline than they are in representing the truth.’

Ferndale Sands Conference Centre is a conference venue of 52 rooms in the state of Victoria, Australia, about 20 km outside Melbourne. Established by Mario’s father, initially as a hotel, it was relaunched as a conference centre four years ago and Mario was broadly pleased with the business he had attracted so far. The centre had managed to establish a presence in the fast-growing and profitable conference market. Specifically, it aimed at the ‘executive retreat’, rather than the ‘company meeting’ market. These events could be anything from one day’s through to two weeks’ duration. He had also negotiated deals with three higher education institutions to accommodate their executive education programmes. With its traditional ‘Victorian’

architecture, tranquil setting and excellent kitchen, Ferndale Sands offered a ‘. . . supremely comfortable setting in which to work on those important decisions that will shape the future of your organisation’. (Ferndale Sands brochure)