Rapid urbanization both in emerging markets and mature markets drives the breadth and number of cities across the world to grow. Opportunities and constraints that urbanization brings would affect companies’ policies and strategies. According to Burgess and Venables (2004), urbanization is one of the clearest features of the development of manufacturing and service activity. Whitbread is a hospitality company which operates hotels, coffee chain and restaurants; therefore it is inevitable that urbanization would be one of the key issues that affect the company, bringing them both opportunities as well as constraints. It is crucial for Whitbread to harness the “new opportunities arising from lifestyles shaped by rising population density and…show more content… Whitbread launched a new brand in 2014, Hub by Premier Inn, which uses minimum space and offers their customer a lower price. Guests’ response was that the compact space of hotel rooms was not an issue, whereas the design and technology as well as the location were their priority concerns. (Hotelnewsnow, 2014) It shows that consumers’ preferences are changing and Whitbread can take advantage of this opportunity to increase its competitiveness and expand its market share worldwide through Hub by Premier Inn. Whitbread refers the hotel room of Hub by Premier inn as “compact” and according to Simon Ewins (2014), business development director of Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants; this space will be a phenomenon globally in the next 15 years and beyond. (Hotelnewsnow, 2014) “The economic power held by cities will shift eastward, tilting particularly toward China.” (Ernest and Young, 2015) Whitbread harnesses this megatrend to expand their business internationally, especially in China, India and the Middle East market. Whitbread has two dimensions to their strategy which are expansion in the Middle Eat and Asia using an asset light approach and Germany as Whitbread believes that the market is similar to the UK market a few years ago. (Hotelanalyst.co.uk, 2015) Rapid urbanization drives important sector shifts and in Africa it is helping new service industries to emerge, (Ernest and Young, 2015) which creates great potential for Whitbread to expand further