CREATESPACE Marinas - Sustainable Solutions for a Profitable Business

MARINAS-Sustainable Solutions for a Profitable Business deserves a place on the desk and is essential reading material for any marina developer or operator. It gives a take on today's thought leadership that will become the benchmark for tomorrow's new and refurbished marinas. The first in a series, this book examines what is happening in today's marinas and explores the horizons of new technology and how they can be successfully applied to the business model. The authors demonstrate throughout the book how marinas that embrace the ethos of hospitality and design their facilities to provide an exceptional customer will be those that succeed. The book examines how marinas impact the environment, how they can be designed to blend with ecologically sensitive sites and the advent of the "green and clean" marina. It contains hitherto uncollected information and maps showing the location of the world's 17,300 marinas. With levels of detailed information not to be found anywhere in a single source, this book is one that no serious marina developer, owner or operator can afford to leave out of their library. About the Author Dr.Ralf Heron is a veteran of the marina industry having developed and operated marina facilities globally. He is Managing Partner and CEO of Homeport Corporation, a large marina management company and an Asset Manager of Marinas on a global base, building a chain of branded Marinas with the highest quality standards. The company specializes in the design, development, operations and management of Marinas, as well as providing market studies and consultancy services for marinas and upland developments. His early career focused on quality management and ISO 9000. He established QualiTech in Germany, which advised private and public companies in gaining their ISO 9000 certification/accreditation from TUV, Lloyds and Bureau Veritas. He successfully implemented ISO 9000 programs in many organizations across several industries. He is not a typical quality management guru but uses entrepreneurial concepts in applying QM to businesses. He is the author of Quality Management- Your Key to Success and Quality Management ISO 9000 An Introduction. Dr. Heron has been applying the principles of using quality programs to drive profitable marine related businesses for more than 20 years. In this context, he has owned several marina companies, has been CEO of one of the world’s most successful marina design, development and management company operating in the Middle East, Europe, Africa and Asia and worked as a consultant for many large Waterfront Developments around the World. When it comes to marinas, Dr. Heron’s undeniable strength is that he can view marina design, development, management and operations from the experience gained over two decades as a quality manager, business owner and yacht captain. This practical rather than theoretical understanding enables him to take a 360 degree view of the marina business.