Customer accounting and marketing performance measures in the hotel industry: Evidence from Australia

Increasingly competitive environments have focused hotel managers’ attention on gaining competitive advantage by maximising the potential of their customer base. This paper provides the results of a study of the use and antecedents of customer accounting and marketing performance measures in the Australian hotel industry. The findings of a survey of 165 Australian hotel managers provide evidence that large, highly market orientated hotels with a decentralised structure use more customer focused accounting and marketing practices. Additionally, support was also found for a significant positive relationship between market orientation and a prospector-type strategy, as well as market orientation and both financial and non-financial performance.     

Hotel property performance: The role of strategic management accounting

In the current study, we contend that to enhance their competitiveness and performance, hotel properties need to develop and implement internal policies and procedures such as strategic management accounting that are consistent with their business strategies and account for changing competitive demands. We employ a sample composed of 80 hotel properties to investigate the key precursor of hotel property strategic management accounting use and its impact on hotel property customer and financial performance. The results highlight that market orientation business strategy is a key determinant of hotel property strategic management accounting use and illuminate the mediating influence of hotel property strategic management accounting use and hotel property customer performance on the relationship between hotel property market orientation business strategy use and hotel property financial performance. Recommendations are provided for both researchers and hotel managers concerning their future study of, or use of, strategic management accounting.     

Total quality management, market orientation and hotel performance: The moderating effects of external environmental factors

With the market competition of hotel industry being heated, it is critical that hotels have a breadth of resource and more flexible forms to meet the needs of a changing marketplace. In the past, the relation of total quality management (TQM), market orientation, and performance are equivocal. These mixed results may be due to some factors or not to include the environmental factors. This study adopts the Input-Processing-Output (IPO) concept model to construct all variables research model. The research surveyed samples of 588 and used Structural Equation Model and discriminate analysis for analysis and testing. The results show that TQM positively affects hotel performance. Market orientation positively affects hotel performance. Market orientation has the mediating effect between TQM and hotel performance. External environment factors truly play a moderator between TQM, market orientation and hotel performance, especially when external environment factors greater changes are going to help to build relationship with customer, to enhance hotel performance and further to gain chance of hotel's survival.     

Becoming an ambidextrous hotel: The role of customer orientation

Because competitive pressure in the hotel industry continues to increase, hotels have to develop service innovation (i.e., exploration) and service improvement (i.e., exploitation) capacities to become ambidextrous for continually creating customer value. In this study, a theory of the effect of customer orientation on service innovation and service improvement, which facilitates service quality and results in better market performance, was developed and investigated. By analyzing the data provided by senior executives and department managers from 126 hotels in Taiwan, both service innovation and service improvement were revealed to partially mediate the relationship between customer orientation and market performance. The results imply that customer orientation affects the market performance of a hotel through the development of service capabilities, and that customer orientation can transform a hotel into an ambidextrous hotel by concurrently developing service innovation and service improvement capacities.     

Key drivers of innovation capability in hotels: implications on performance

Innovation capability is critical for the modernization and competitiveness of the hotel industry. This work analyzes the role of hotels' innovative culture, market orientation, and internal marketing as forerunners of innovation capability in hotels, as well as the effect of innovation capability on hotels' performance. The proposed conceptual model is evaluated through structural equation modeling using a sample of 256 Spanish hotels. The results reveal that innovative culture by itself is not a key driver of the hotels' innovation capability. However, internal marketing and market orientation mediate the innovative culture-innovation capability relationship. Innovation capability proves to enhance hotels' market results directly and indirectly through customer equity. Our findings offer hotel managers useful guidance to understand how innovation capability is built within the firm by combining the right organizational culture and practices. Additionally, our study reinforces the financial and non-financial benefits of innovation capability in hotels.     

Effect of customer orientation and entrepreneurial orientation on innovativeness: Evidence from the hotel industry in Switzerland

While researchers have explored the relationship between customer orientation, entrepreneurship and innovativeness with business performance in different organizations, few such studies exist on the hotel industry. This current work investigates the potential influences of these variables on hotel industry performance. Data for this study was collected through personal questionnaires collected from 156 hotel managers and owners from German and French speaking cantons located in Switzerland in order to examine the interrelation between innovativeness, customer orientation, entrepreneurship and service business performance dimensions (i.e., profit goal achievement, sales goal achievement and ROI achievement). The findings support aspects of prior research, but also provide some new insights by exploring customer orientation and innovativeness simultaneously and revealing how these factors impact upon the performance of the Swiss hotel industry. In the light of existing literature, limitations and future research directions are subsequently addressed.     

Weekly occupancy fluctuations in Yorkshire and Humberside hotels 1982–1984: patterns and prescriptions

In this article it is argued that the formulation of planning policy for tourism in general, and the hotel industry in particular, requires detailed information on the temporal characteristics of visitor flows in relation to the capacity of the industry to accommodate them. In this light, a detailed analysis is performed on weekly fluctuations in visitor flows to hotels in Yorkshire and Humberside, as revealed by daily occupancy returns in 99 hotels over the study period.Clear temporal and spatial patterns are identified and linked with differences in market orientation, between areas, between hotels and between different seasons.Stepwise regression analyses relating occupancy performance to a range of hotel characteristics confirms the importance of market orientation and identifies other correlates of weekly occupancy pattern.Finally, the marketing and planning implications of the results are discussed, and different marketing options for improved occupancy performance are outlined.     

Failure of play on asset disposals and share buybacks: Application of game theory in the international hotel market

The principal purpose of this study has been to investigate the impact of an asset disposal strategy, often coupled with share repurchase programs, by international hotel companies on financial performance, earnings stability and share values. Utilising ratio analysis, stock returns and risk-adjusted measures, the study analyses the differences in performance, stability and market valuations between asset light and more capital intensive hotel companies. The findings of the study indicate negligible differences in most accounting measures of earnings growth and stability between asset light hotel companies and traditional hotel companies with significant holdings of owned or leased property. Drawing on game theory, we conclude that international hotel companies dispose of their assets in an effort to manipulate financial markets and make their stocks more attractive to investors and traders. Notwithstanding the absence of significant differentiation in accounting measures of performance fundamentals, market based measures show that hotel groups failed in the aim of manipulating financial markets. This study recommends avoiding playing this game as dual asset light/share repurchase strategy generated superior risk-weighted returns to that of more capital intensive traditional hotel companies across the period of the study.     

Enhancing business performance of hotels: The role of innovation and customer orientation

Innovation management and customer orientation have been widely recognized as key factors in enhancing the business performance of hotels. Our research investigates the interplay between customer orientation, innovation, and business performance in the Alpine hospitality industry. The study contributes to current innovation research by jointly investigating hotel innovativeness and innovation behavior as two distinct dimensions of the innovation concept. Analyzing data from 203 hotel managers, this study shows that the effect of hotels’ customer orientation exceeds the effects of innovativeness and innovation behavior on financial and non financial business performance. Mediation analysis shows that innovation behavior partially mediates the effect of customer orientation on business performance. The results of the study provide hotel management with relevant insights into the customer orientation innovation performance chain.     

The impact of regulation and ownership structure on market orientation in the tourism industry in China

The nature of market orientation and its impact on business performance and other related outcomes have been extensively researched in a range of service contexts including tourism. In contrast, our understanding of the factors that influence market orientation is still limited. This paper reports on a study that contributes to our understanding of the determinants of market orientation within the tourism sector by focusing specifically on the role played by two strategically important variables, namely government regulation and ownership structure. The study analyses two national samples of hotels and travel services in the rapidly growing tourism industry in China. The hotel sector has been open to foreign investment for two decades and has a diversified ownership structure, whereas the travel services sector has been dominated by government owned firms and relatively closed to foreign investment. The results of the survey suggest that of the two new antecedents, only government regulation has a significant role to play in driving market orientation. Internally, access to appropriate managerial and marketing capabilities was identified as a significant predictor of the development of market orientation.     

Managing Swiss Hospitality: How cultural antecedents of innovation and customer-oriented value systems can influence performance in the hotel industry

Research into innovativeness and customer orientation in the service industry is burgeoning, yet our understanding of the antecedents and consequences of both activities in hospitality management remain unclear. To address this problem we investigate the link between corporate culture, indicators of innovativeness and business performance in the Swiss hotel industry, because the Swiss have a proclivity toward innovation as well as a long established record in hospitality management. Data were generated from 96 businesses in the hotel industry and the results were analysed using structural equation modeling. They suggest that cultural dimensions are positively associated with customer orientation, innovativeness, and company performance. The implications of the findings are discussed along with limitations and future research directions.     

Market diversification and financial performance and stability: A study of hotel companies

The primary objective of this study was to investigate the effect of a diversification strategy by hotel companies on corporate financial performance and stability. Using 36 publicly traded hotel companies, this study analyzed the differences in financial performance and stability between market-diversified and undiversified hotel companies. Accounting measures, market measure, and risk-adjusted performance measure were employed to gauge financial performance. The results of this study indicated that diversification strategy does not provide profit growth, but diversification partly improves the stability of performance. This study supported the nature of the trade-off between financial performance and stability in the company diversification, and also implied that the market diversification strategy by hotel companies does not function as a means to improve financial performance.     

Market Orientation,Strategy and Revenue Growth in the Turkish Hotel Industry

This empirical analysis of hotel properties in south-western Turkey draws on the market orientation, strategy, and capabilities literature to highlight the benefits of a differentiation strategy and customer-value focus for competitors in this industry. Relationship management and organizational resource management are key drivers of sales growth in this industry, and hotel operators facing high competitive intensity are particularly encouraged to develop these capabilities and to adopt a differentiation strategy instead of resorting to price cutting and other pricing and promotional tactics to grow revenues. Notable opportunities for future research include examining relationships between market orientation, customer satisfaction, and employee satisfaction in the Turkish hotel industry.     

The influence of service brand orientation on hotel employees’ attitude and behaviors in China

As foreign hotel brands continue to roll out their investment in China, the competitive landscape intensifies. Central to the success of these hotel brands is their ability to offer the unique features of their service offering, as reflected in the brand, in which employees play a key role. However, in the Chinese market, where the introduction of foreign hotel brands is in its initial stages, employee brand knowledge may be limited resulting in service behaviors that are inconsistent with the brand. Therefore, the adoption of a service brand orientation to guide employee attitudes and behavior is considered to be necessary. In an effort to realize productive service employees, this study examines the consequences of adopting a service brand orientation. Results suggest that a service brand orientation is imperative for positive employee brand-oriented behaviors as well as customer-oriented behaviors that are a consequence of an employee customer orientation.     

Service innovativeness and the structuring of organizations: The moderating roles of learning orientation and inter-functional coordination

This paper aims to investigate the influence of organizational structure on service innovativeness by testing the moderating roles of learning orientation and inter-functional coordination. This helps to understand how organic structure influences service innovativeness when it is effectively leveraged with favorable organizational factors. Data were collected from 178 hotel managers and executives in Japan and moderated regression analysis was performed to analyze the data. Findings of the study suggest that higher levels of service innovativeness are positively related to higher levels of hotel business performance. In addition, organic structure makes a positive influence on service innovativeness and an increase in the levels of learning orientation boost the effectiveness of organic structure on service innovativeness. Moreover, the positive association between organic structure and service innovativeness become stronger when all firm’s functions make an attempt to cooperate and contribute to disseminating customers and competitors’ information in the hotels. These findings contribute to understanding how hotel service innovation is affected by service innovativeness, organizational structure, learning orientation and inter-functional coordination.     

Management Style and Environmental Scanning in the Search for Business Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract

Managers that scan the environment in their boundary spanning roles need to be attentive to the opportunities and challenges that may arise due to changes occurring within the environment. As an industry environment changes, an entrepreneurial management orientation helps firms adapt to changing market conditions. The purpose of this study is to examine the link between management style and environmental scanning. Based on responses from 201 top-level hotel executives, the findings suggest that entrepreneurial managers are more frequent scanners of the environment.     

Higher tourism specialization,better hotel industry efficiency?

This study examines the effects of both specialization in tourism and market competition on the efficiency of the hotel industry. For this purpose, stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) was employed to evaluate the efficiency of the hotel industry on a provincial level in China and to analyze how it is impacted by specialization in tourism and market competition. The results confirm that tourism specialization and market competition exert a synergistic effect on hotel industry efficiency in China. This study finds that tourism development as represented by a high level of tourism specialization by a destination does not guarantee high efficiency in hotels but does enhance the negative effect of market competition on hotel industry efficiency. Significant policy and managerial implications stem from these findings.     

Corporate brand strategy: Drivers and outcomes of hotel industry’s brand orientation

The MNC resellers are vastly competitive and capital-intensive. Based on the corporate brand orientation, the objective is to investigate how the individual dimensions of hotel industry’s brand orientation can improve a corporate experience and subsequently create superior hotel performance and retailer preferences. A model of the integration of the hotel industry’s brand orientation was tested in a survey conducted among MNC resellers from hospitality industry. Structural equation modelling was applied to gain insight into the various influences and relationships. The research makes two main contributions. It makes a theoretical contribution by classifying the integration of the hotel industry’s brand orientation for hospitality industry and from this extrapolate key suggestions for further study. The continuous evolution and economic influence of the hospitality industry require the application of innovative marketing practices.     

Performance analysis of the Gulf hotel industry: A Malmquist index with bias correction

This study uses the Malmquist index with bias correction to analyze the performance of hotel chains from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman. We show that Saudi Arabia hotel chains have the highest productivity growth, followed by the UAE and Omani hotel chains. A further decomposition of productivity indicates that a small number of hotel chains experienced an increase in revenues for lower occupancy rate, while most other hotel chains experienced an increase in occupancy rate for lower revenues. Related market discussions of the results are provided.     

Market Orientation and Organizational Performance Linkage in Chinese Hotels: The Mediating Roles of Corporate Social Responsibility and Customer Satisfaction

The nature of market orientation and its impact of business performance and other related outcomes have been extensively researched in a range of service contexts including tourism. Despite the empirical evidence to support the proposition that market orientation has positive impact on organizational performance, several researchers have reported nonsignificant or even negative effects for this linkage. This disparity in existing studies might be reconciled by investigations into the mediators of the relationship. However, research on the topic remains limited. In light of the gap, we proposed two new mediators, namely, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and customer satisfaction, and tested the mediating effects in an empirical study in China's hotel industry. Evidence to support the mediating effects was identified, and the managerial and research implications were discussed.