Facilitating Benchmarking with Strategic Grouping and Data Envelopment Analysis: The Case of International Tourist Hotels in Taiwan

For a performance measure to be instructional in future operations, selecting the right strategic groups of firms from which appropriate benchmark targets are to determined is important in the development of business strategies. The immediate question is how to group firms and choose the best benchmark. In this study, a revised context-dependent data envelopment analysis model is applied to identify multilevel strategic groups. Empirical data are obtained for 56 international tourist hotels in Taiwan. Five strategic groups are identified in terms of efficiency frontiers, and the hotels within the groups are ranked by attractiveness scores that reveal their competitiveness. The hotels are also assessed by progress scores that reveal the effort needed for them to advance to a higher level. By integrating both these scores, a clear benchmarking path is designed for each hotel. This path can guide inefficient hotels to identify suitable role models for excellence.     

Cost Efficiency and the Choice of Operation Type: Evidence from Taiwan's International Tourist Hotels

This study investigated the endogenous relationship between the differences in cost efficiency and hotel owners' choices of either remaining an independently operated establishment or joining an international chain. We applied observations of 72 international tourist hotels in Taiwan from 1997 to 2008 to a simultaneous equations model with qualitative and limited dependent variables. The study results suggest that joining international chains significantly improves cost efficiency. We also found that net gains from improving both cost efficiency and hotel location are the two foremost determinants for an owner's decision to join an international hotel chain.     

Operating Efficiency of International Tourist Hotels in Taiwan by Taking Into Account Congestion

ABSTRACT

This study measures the congestion efficiency of 69 international tourist hotels (ITHs) in Taiwan between 1998 and 2009. Out of 69 ITHs, 62 faced a congestion situation and the number of guest rooms and total floor spaces of the catering divisions are the main congesting factors. The distance to a mass rapid transit station, pick-up service, and established years have significantly negative effects on congestion efficiency of ITHs, while the distance to nearest airport has a significantly positive impact on efficiency. American and Japanese tourists, independent ownership, and rural location significantly help improve an ITH’s efficiency.     

Book review

Tourism, The Business of Travel By Roy A. Cook, Laura J. Yale and Joseph J. Marqua Prentice‐Hall, Inc. (Simon & Schuster/A Viacom Company (Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458) ISBN 0–13–271032–3, 1999, (xvi+338‐pp. Tables, figures, index).     

Measuring and Decomposing Efficiency in International Tourist Hotels in Taipei Using a Multidivision DEA Model

Traditional efficiency studies using data envelopment analysis (DEA) models considered all resource inputs as homogeneous, which appears to be unwarranted. In this article, we propose an output-oriented, multidivision DEA model considering the heterogeneity of different operating departments in a hotel when measuring its efficiency. Using the data of 21 international tourist hotels (ITHs) in Taipei during 2005–2007, we first measured each hotel's systematic efficiency by maximizing the performance of two different departments (i.e., rooms along with food and beverage) and then we decomposed the systematic efficiency by separately measuring the subsystematic efficiency of each department. Managers of the underperforming ITHs would find the model application and results of this study beneficial in helping them identify the operating department(s) that was causing the inefficiency for the hotel during 2005–2007. As a result, strategies and efforts for tackling the inefficiency could then be proposed by the managers in a more desirable direction. Implications are discussed.     

饭店顾客意见信息的收集渠道及其优劣分析

顾客意见信息的有效获取,对于旅游饭店提高自身的管理与服务水平,满足并超越顾客需求,从而达到顾客满意的经营目标具有重要的现实意义。本文结合笔者自身的工作实践与体会,借鉴市场调研的相关原理与方法,给出了旅游饭店获取顾客意见信息的主要渠道,并针对各类渠道的特点,进行了比较详尽的优劣分析,探讨了在实际工作中运用不同渠道的一些注意事项。     

A stochastic cost efficiency analysis of international tourist hotels in Taiwan

The one-stage stochastic frontier approach (SFA) is used in this study to simultaneously estimate cost efficiency scores and factors of cost inefficiency for 66 international tourist hotels in Taiwan during 1997–2006. An SFA model with three outputs and three inputs is defined. The three outputs are room revenue, food and beverage revenue, and other operation revenue while the three inputs are price of labor, price of other operation, and price of food and beverage. This model also takes into account five environmental variables, including dummy variable of the hotels located in non-metropolitan area, dummy variable of chain hotels, the number of tourist guides, the minimum distance from each hotel to Taoyuan international airport and the minimum distance from each hotel to Kaohsiung international airport. Empirical results show that international tourist hotels in Taiwan are on average operating at 91.15% cost efficiency. All nominal variables are transformed into real variables in 1997 prices by GDP deflators. Chain systems, tourist guides, and international transportation can significantly improve the cost efficiency of international tourist hotels in Taiwan.     

论国际青年旅馆在中国的发展方向

国际青年旅馆运动发展已近90年历史,在我国只有两年,作为一种新型旅馆形式,它能否在中国大陆上发展起来,可发展多大规模?应在哪里发展?预期效果如何?国内外旅游界目前对此研究停留在概念阶段,而理论意义上的研究成果尚未及见.本文研究了国际青年旅馆的形成因素和中国现有青年旅馆发展现状,探讨了中外青年旅馆之间在机理上的差异,论证中国青年旅馆未来发展趋势、模式和举措.     

A study of economies of scale and economies of scope in Taiwan international tourist hotels

This paper is to investigate economies of scale and economies of scope for the international tourist hotel industry in Taiwan. The research sample contains 50 international tourist hotels in Taiwan. Research data is from financial statements in the official annual report published by the Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communication, R.O.C., and the sample period is from 1993 to 1997. The empirical model contains the Translog cost function, which includes three output variables and four input factors, the cost‐share equations, and the constraints on the parameters in the simultaneous cost system. The seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) is used to estimate the parameters of the simultaneous cost system. The results show that, based on the 1997 data, international tourist hotels in Taiwan are in general not operating efficiently, in terms of cost efficiency. There are some cost incentives or benefits from expansion both in scale and scope of business.     

Assessing Hotel Cost Control Through Value Engineering: A Case Study on the Budget Hotels in a Middle-sized City in China

This study employed a value engineering approach to identify and evaluate the factors integral to the efficiency of operation and management of the budget hotel sector in China. A combination of qualitative panel judgments and quantitative statistics was applied in the analysis of a Chinese budget brand which is publicly listed in the USA. Findings reveal that out of the six categories of costs identified, the two items of standard room cost and energy & maintenance achieved the ideal value, while lease rental and human resources are overvalued, with franchise fee and refurbishment cost being undervalued. The implication for hotel investors as well as operators is that for the budget sector to fully realize its potential, a delicate balance needs to be obtained so that resources can be more evenly distributed and customer experiences enriched.     

作业成本法(ABC)在酒店业的应用性研究

作业成本法是一种以作业为基础的成本计算方法,它从根本上解决了传统成本法的缺陷,同时给企业成本管理和经营管理决策提供了很好的基础.本文通过对作业成本法的理论探讨和案例分析,阐明了作业成本法在酒店业的应用流程和方式,揭示了作业成本法对于提高酒店经营管理决策水平和竞争力具有重要的理论意义和现实意义.     

Evolutional Model of Tourism Efficiency Based on the DEA Method: A Case Study of Cities in Guangdong Province,China

Efficiency is an important indicator of an industry's development. To explore the temporal dynamics of tourism efficiency, this paper attempts to discuss its evolutional models, based on data envelopment analysis and the Malmquist Index (MI) of the seven-year panel data for 21 cities. The results show that, first, the province as a whole has relatively high tourism efficiency. Variations among cities, however, are quite large. Second, MI shows a trend of improvement in tourism efficiency, although there are differences among cities. Third, based on the magnitude and fluctuation of tourism efficiency, a quadrant chart is constructed on which cities can be classified into four categories. Fourth, based on the trajectories of corresponding points of each city on the quadrant chart, four tourism efficiency evolutional models can be identified: stable model, reciprocating model, progressive model and radical model. These findings provide a new perspective for tourism research and management practice.     

中外国际旅游城市网络旅游信息国际友好度比较研究

随着国际旅游业的发展,我国许多城市明确提出了建设国际旅游城市的发展目标.本文尝试提出网络营销国际友好度的概念,从英文旅游信息总量、英文旅游信息质量,以及各旅游城市的官方旅游网站的国际友好度,来分析世界知名的国际旅游城市与我国国际旅游城市网络营销时面对境外游客所呈现出来的信息友好程度.通过对比,分析中外国际旅游城市在互联网上面向全球客源进行竞争和宣传的不同和相似,帮助国内旅游城市在走向国际化的过程中,能够有效运用国际互联网构建一个长期高效的对外旅游信息体系,降低开拓国际旅游的成本,吸引更多的海外游客.     

旅游流空间数据获取的基本方法分析——国内外研究综述及比较

有效、准确的旅游流数据获取是决定旅游流研究科学性的关键问题之一.文章通过对国内外旅游流相关研究中的旅游流空间数据获取方法的梳理,认为旅游流数据获取的基本方法有观察法、旅游者时空账户、现代追踪技术、二手面板数据和其他途径等5种,通过成本、效率、可操作性、拓展性和准确性等方面对5种方法进行了比较和述评,并对比国内外相关研究的差距与不同.文章指出,目前国内旅游流研究仍存在数据获取方法单一、现代技术应用不足、重视程度不够等问题,尚未实现与国际研究的全面接轨.文章旨在能够引起旅游管理部门和研究者对旅游流数据获取的重视,以科学、有效的途径收集准确、适用的数据,提高旅游流研究的科学性和对旅游业发展实践的指导意义.     

Tourist Motives and Destination Competitiveness: A Gap Analysis Perspective

This study explores the use of gap analysis in examining the demand-side and supply-side perceptions of international tourists’ motives for visiting Botswana, along with Botswana’s competitiveness as a tourist destination. Statistically significant negative gaps between tourists and tourism providers’ perceptions mean that further understanding of tourists by providers is necessary to enhance the destination’s competitiveness. The analysis of findings was based on 14 “pull” motivations adapted from Kozak (2002) and 104 destination competitiveness measures, some of which were adapted from Omerzel (2006). Factor analysis, reliability analysis, and a series of independent t-tests were used to analyze the data. Study results indicate that tourists visit Botswana mainly for pleasure seeking rather than culture. The study further reveals that Botswana’s competitiveness as a destination is average. Furthermore, the study found statistically significant differences between tourists and tourism providers on all of the “push” factors and nine of the 15 destination competitiveness factors. In order for Botswana to be globally competitive, there is need for further improvement with a view to match international tourists’ expectations. Particular attention should be directed at improving the way the destination is managed. Further developments should be made on created resources, safety, demand conditions, historical and cultural heritage resources, organized excursions, and cleanliness.     

现象世界的旅游体验:旅游世界与生活世界

本文从基础理论研究的角度探讨了旅游现象研究的几个基本范畴.作者认为,旅游现象是一种纷繁复杂的社会经济现象,而构成这种复杂现象的内核的元素就是旅游体验.这种旅游体验过程是一个有一定自组织能力的连续系统.它由一个个富有特色和专门意义的情境串联组合而成,这些情境则共同构成了一个有别于人们日常生活世界的另类行为环境:旅游世界.通过对旅游世界结构性要素的分析和描述,本文构建了一个理解旅游现象的新的视角,而这种视角的哲学渊源来自现象学方法.     

IPA分析法的修正及其在游客满意度研究的应用

传统的重要性绩效（IPA）分析法以受访者自述满意度和重要性评价来衡量各评价要素对提升客户满意度的意义。多数学者指出,这种分析方法存在两个弊端：一是重要性评价受满意程度的影响,二是单个评价要素的满意与否不一定能带来整体满意度相对称的变化。因此,单个评价要素的重要性也应当有所不同。所以,采用自述重要性的分析方式并不能反映客户的真实感受,分析方法需要改进。该研究以一山地景区的游客满意度为例,使用对数转化和偏相关系数法从满意度评价计算出引申重要性评价,去除满意度的影响,从而能较为客观地反映出游客对评价指标重要性感知。该研究对两种IPA分析方法进行了实证比较研究,并指出了结果存在差异性的原因,为完善使用IPA方法提供了有价值的理论阐述和实践检验。     

大篷车促销:中国旅游市场营销创新的成功实践--大篷车营销实现从实践到理论的飞跃

旅游大篷车是近些年来我国旅游市场营销的一大创新。国家旅游局组织全国旅游系统先后在欧美等地和日、韩等国家举办旅游大篷车 ,全国各地也已在国内外举办了上百次规模不等的旅游大篷车 ,并取得成功。目前大篷车宣传已渗透到经贸、科技、文化、体育等社会的许多领域。旅游大篷车的成功探索 ,推动了旅游业的发展和进步 ,特别是开创了旅游目的地营销的新范例。本文首次全面总结了旅游大篷车旅游营销活动的广泛性、轰动性、生动性、互动性、叠加性和多层面等六大特点 ,深入分析了大篷车旅游营销管理和运作的模式 ,阐述了旅游大篷车在旅游营销创新中取得的六大突破 ,即战略创新、模式创新、品牌创新、形象创新、市场创新和渠道创新。     

An Importance-Performance Analysis of Dining Attributes: A Comparison of Individual and Packaged Tourists in Taiwan

Utilizing an importance-performance analysis (IPA), this paper examines the importance and performance of dining attributes in Taiwan as perceived by individual and packaged tourists. This study obtained 435 samples including 180 individual tourists and 255 packaged tourists. The IPA grids indicated that “food hygiene and cleanliness of the restaurant” fell into the “concentrate here” quadrant in these two groups. In the same quadrant, “service quality of the staff” was identified in the individual tourists' sample and “food quality” was identified in the packaged tourists' sample. These are the main factors that need to be improved. Additionally, an independent sample t-test and Chi-square analysis were employed to examine any significant differences between the individual and packaged tourists and among different demographic profiles of tourists, respectively. Afterwards, a follow-up study interviewing the tourists was conducted to compare with the results of the IPA analysis. Implications for the foodservice industry, travel agency and academic research are discussed.