An analysis of the relationship between market orientation and business performance in the hotel industry

The purpose of this study was to conduct an investigation into the link between market orientation and business performance in the hotel industry. Data were generated from 63 hotels in Hong Kong. The findings indicated that market orientation is positively and significantly associated with the marketing performance and financial performance of a hotel. The implications of the findings are discussed and the limitations of the study as well as future research directions are addressed.     

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.     

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.     

Hotels’ corporate social responsibility practices,organizational culture,firm reputation,and performance

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices are considered one of the key success factors influencing firm performance. However, how CSR practices should be integrated into an organization’s business practices has not been investigated empirically. The present research proposes an integrated model incorporating the interrelationships among CSR practices, organizational culture, and corporate reputation to improve firm performance in the hotel industry. The proposed model is developed using stakeholder theory and the perceptions of the general managers. According to the study’s results, organizational culture influences different dimensions of CSR. The results further indicate that hotels using CSR practices related to employees and customers strengthen their reputation. Through improved reputation, CSR practices positively influence firm performance. Furthermore, hotel managers perceive that CSR activities in the local community and related to the environment do not significantly affect a hotel’s reputation. Theoretical and practical implications are provided, and the limitations of the study and future lines of research are discussed.     

Social responsibility and total quality in the hospitality industry: does gender matter?

This empirical study examines the role of gender diversity in top management teams (TMTs) and their impact on corporate social responsibility (CSR), which is an underexplored topic within the hotel sector. Based on stakeholder theory, we argue that the relationship between gender diversity and hotel performance is indirect and mediated by CSR. Our study also analyses how the implementation of total quality management (TQM) and CSR influences hotel stakeholder results, and hence business performance. Using a sample of Spanish hotels, we provide evidence that gender diversity in TMTs increases the level of implementation of CSR within the hotel industry. The results show that the impact of gender diversity on hotel performance is mediated by CSR. The findings also suggest that the adoption of TQM and CSR management philosophies improves the capacity of hotels to benefit their stakeholders, and that this improvement has a positive effect on hotel 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,corporate social responsibility and performance in the hotel industry

Total quality management (TQM) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are relevant management philosophies in the hotel industry to be able to generate a sustainable competitive advantage. This paper examines how the implementation of both TQM and CSR influences the results of hotels’ stakeholders as an antecedent of business performance. An empirical study of a sample of 141 Spanish hotels from the Andalusian region shows that the adoption of such approaches improves the capacity of hotels to create benefits for their stakeholders, and these results have a positive effect on hotel performance. The study also provides evidence of the complementarity of both management philosophies as TQM can enhance the development of CSR.     

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.     

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.     

An Examination of Quality Management in Luxury Hotels

Abstract

The purpose of this case study was to analyze and compare the total quality management (TQM) practices of three luxury hotels. Leadership, guest and market focus, and information and analysis emerged as the three most significant TQM factors successfully implemented in these three hotels. The human resource focus factor was less successfully integrated into these hotels' operations. Although the three hotels claimed that they managed their processes effectively, these processes were not as well-designed or complex as in many other quality-conscious companies. Strategic planning emerged as one of the most difficult factors to implement. The general managers interviewed argued that these six factors contributed positively to their hotel's business results. Managerial and research implications are also discussed.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Do green HR practices enhance green motivation and proactive environmental management maturity in hotel industry?

The devastating effects on the environment have raised many questions on the environmental performance of an organization. As the environment is severely affected by the operations of giant businesses, i.e. ‘hotel industry.’ There is a need to explore the factors that influence employee environmental performance by incorporating green motivation and proactive environmental management maturity as mediators. The data are collected using the survey method. The statistical techniques applied to the dataset were confirmatory factor analysis and partial least square structural equation modeling. The findings reveal that green HR practices positively and significantly related to green intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and proactive environmental management maturity. Similarly, green motivation is significantly and positively linked with employee environmental performance. In contrast, proactive environmental management maturity is positively and insignificantly linked with employees’ environmental performance. In contrast, mediation analysis reveals that green motivation, i.e., intrinsic and extrinsic, partially mediates the association between green HR practices and employee environmental performance. However, no mediating effect of proactive environmental management maturity is found between the proposed associations. The paper contributes to the literature in many ways. Firstly, it explains the role of Green HR practices in forming green motivation among employees of the hotel industry, and previously no researchers studied this combination in the context of the hotel industry. Secondly, green motivation and proactive environmental management maturity are incorporated as mediators to have in-depth knowledge about the employees’ environmental performance.     

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.     

Learning orientation and self-initiated expatriates’ work performance: a moderated-mediation model

The hospitality industry is looking for talent beyond national boundaries. Self-initiated expatriation is a widespread phenomenon that has gained limited attention. This study investigates if learning orientation and cultural distance affect the work performance of self-initiated expatriates. The study also tests the moderated-mediation effect of prior international experience on work performance when mediated through cross-cultural adjustment. The authors collected data from 311 self-initiated expatriates from the Malaysian hotel industry. The results confirm that learning orientation was positively related to work performance when mediated through cross-cultural adjustment. The greater the distance between home and host country culture, the higher the cross-cultural adjustment, thus supporting the cultural distance paradox. Prior international experience moderated the relationship between learning outcome and work performance when mediated through cross-cultural adjustment, thus supporting the moderated-mediation model. This study includes the theoretical and practical implications of the findings. It also outlines the limitations and avenues for further research.     

不保与盈利：环境管理对酒店绩效的影响

环境管理对酒店绩效的影响越来越受到人们的关注。国外学者使用了不同的方法来研究其关系,但至今没有一个明确的定论。以“波特假说”为代表的学者认为,环境管理所带来的效益可以弥补环境管理所需的费用,并让酒店产品产生差异化,增加新的竞争力。然而,一些学者却认为,对环境管理的投入会减少酒店的利益和酒店的竞争力。因为其所节约的成本不足以弥补所要付出的费用。为了对这两种观点在实践中的表现进行验证,该文通过对广州高星级酒店的调查,获取第一手数据,借SPSS统计软件的相关功能,确定酒店环境管理对其绩效的影响表现。结果显示,酒店环境管理的投入越多,其对绩效的积极影响越明显。同时,酒店环境管理中的几个变量对酒店绩效存在着不同程度的影响,可得到酒店环境管理对其绩效产生影响的回归方程。最后,文章提出了一些建议及研究展望。     

How do hotels adapt their pricing strategies to macroeconomic factors?

The hospitality industry is naturally highly sensitive to subtle changes in the external environment, and its performance is affected by various external factors. Therefore, hoteliers should carefully monitor the various macroeconomic indicators affecting the market, when making important strategic management decisions. In particular, hotels’ pricing decisions are important because they play a crucial role in the determination of hotel revenue and in the process of profit maximization. In this paper we classify hotels by business model (i.e., chain management, franchise and independent) and analyze how these different types of hotels in Switzerland adapt their pricing strategies to macroeconomic factors (i.e., exchange rate, room supply and market demand). We find that hotels adopting different business models react differently to the same macro shock. Implications of our findings and future research directions are discussed.     

The impact of quality management on productivity in the hospitality sector

This paper attempts to determine the relationship between quality and productivity in the hospitality sector. Although both variables are crucial to the competitive and value creation processes in hotels, few empirical studies have explicitly analyzed the relationship between them. Thus, we estimated a production function for a hotel sample that shows how a set of determinants influences labour productivity. Among these determinants we included different quality variables, defined from the point of view of total quality. The estimation results show a direct and significant effect of quality on labour productivity. This suggests that the implementation of total quality management (TQM) systems, or the adoption of the TQM principles, have a positive impact on hotel labour productivity.     

Privatization,market competition,international attractiveness,management tenure and hotel performance: Evidence from Slovenia

This paper tests several hypothesis related to the impact of privatization, market competition, management tenure and international attractiveness on the cost efficiency of tourist hotels. We measure efficiency using the innovative Bayesian frontier methodology. The data involve a sample of Slovenian hotels which operate in a highly dynamic environment. From the results, it is clear that hotel efficiency is positively related to privatization and international attractiveness, and negatively related to longer management tenure. No significant link, on the other hand, is found between market competition and hotel efficiency. Further discussions of these findings and related managerial implications are provided.