Strategic orientation and performance of tourism firms: Evidence from a developing country

This study investigates whether tourism firms in a developing country, namely Turkey, which adopt one of the four strategic orientations of Miles and Snow (1978), differ based on their financial and non-financial performance. The study results show that there is a difference in both financial and non-financial performance based on the strategic orientations followed by tourism enterprises. Generally, prospectors were found to outperform defenders, whereas analyzers showed a comparable performance to prospectors. The findings of this study imply that in developing countries, tourism businesses may be indifferent when choosing between these two strategies based on their internal characteristics since they yield similar financial results. Specific factors and developments in the macro environment and company-specific factors seem to affect tourism firms' strategic orientation as well as their performance. Better understanding and closer analysis of such factors can help improve the performance of tourism businesses in developing countries. Further research using both perceptual and objective measures is needed to confirm the present results to better assess possible differences in performance among strategic orientations in some other developing countries.     

Insider ownership and firm performance: An examination of restaurant firms

This study investigated the relationship between insider ownership and firm performance in the restaurant industry. Convergence-of-interests and entrenchment hypotheses were tested via cross-sectional and panel two-stage least square (2SLS) GMM estimation methods for linear and non-linear models. The study found that there is an overall positive and significant relationship between insider ownership and firm performance. The quadratic model showed that restaurant firm performance increased until insider ownership was between 38 and 40%, whereas it decreased after that point. Consistent with the quadratic model, the piece-wise regression model showed that insider ownership had a positive impact on firm performance within a range of 5–25% and a negative influence beyond 25% insider ownership. Consequently, this study revealed that convergence-of-interests and entrenchment effects of insider ownership co-exist in the restaurant industry. While convergence-of-interests effects are effective, an excessive granting of stock options or awards to managers could weaken firm performance due to entrenchment effects.     

Mergers and acquisitions and firm growth: Investigating restaurant firms

Merger and acquisition (M&A) has been viewed as an efficient strategy for firm growth because M&As allow firms to quickly achieve their ideal size. However, whether consistent growth can be maintained after an M&A is questionable because post-M&A integration is a difficult process. In order to identify whether M&A is really an effective tool for producing consistent growth in restaurant firms, this study examined post-M&A firm growth in comparison to non-M&A firm growth. Using financial data from 1980 to 2007, this study analyzed the sales growth of restaurant firms up to five years after an M&A. This study found that post-M&A growth patterns varied across firm sizes and time periods (from one to five years after an M&A). This study also revealed that both small and large acquirers experienced positive sales growth in the year following M&A. However, this positive effect completely disappeared during or after the third year post-M&A. M&A firms showed the same growth patterns as non-M&A firms three to five years after an M&A. This study provides useful post-M&A growth information regarding restaurant firms, which can be practically useful for firms considering M&A.     

Board structure and CEO compensation: Evidence from U.S. lodging industry

Using a sample of U.S. lodging firms, this paper examines the relationship between board of director characteristics and chief executive officer (CEO) compensation. Previous research shows that larger boards are detrimental to the effectiveness of the board of directors and deteriorate the control imposed on CEO actions and pay. Board independence is also suggested as an important quality to emphasize the control on the CEO. We propose that U.S. lodging firms’ board of directors provide a nice setting to investigate the effects of size and independence on CEO compensation level. Our findings suggest that CEO compensation is not related to board size, and positively related to proportion of the outside board members. These findings are contrary to the findings of previous studies. Our findings may provide significant insights to lodging firms’ board of directors to structure efficient compensation packages.     

Board diversity and firm performance in the U.S. tourism sector: The effect of institutional ownership

This study examines the relationship between board diversity and firm performance in the U.S. tourism sector by using institutional ownership as a contingency that moderates this relationship. The study's sample includes publicly-traded companies from the U.S. restaurant, hotel and airline industries. The hypotheses are tested via two-way fixed-effects regression, and the findings of the study indicate that board diversity is positively associated with financial performance (Tobin's Q), and the effect of board diversity on performance is contingent on the degree of institutional ownership. More precisely, the study finds that board diversity has a larger effect on financial performance when institutional ownership is low on a tourism firm's ownership structure. Overall, the findings suggest that boards' internal control and monitoring on management is important to derive higher financial performance, and even yet it is more important when external monitoring by institutional owners, proxied by percentage of institutional ownership, is weak.     

The relationship between board diversity and firm performance in the lodging industry: The moderating role of internationalization

Following the emphasis on board diversity and its roles on firm performance, an examination on the relationship between board diversity and firm performance in the lodging industry is conducted. Further, this study employs internationalization, a moderator, to more comprehensively investigate the board diversity-firm performance relationship. This study found that gender diversity shows a positive and significant effect on firm performance while age diversity has an insignificant effect on firm performance. Regarding the moderating effect of internationalization, the degree of internationalization significantly magnifies the effect of gender diversity on firm performance but insignificantly moderates the effect of age diversity on firm performance. This study attempts to contribute to the hospitality and tourism literature by examining the topic that has been rarely dealt with and provide practical guidelines for stakeholders of a lodging firm especially when selecting board members.     

The economy,tourism growth and corporate performance in the Taiwanese hotel industry

This study investigates the impact of economy and tourism growth on the corporate performance of tourist hotels in Taiwan. The indicators of corporate performance under consideration are occupancy rate (OPR), return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), stock return, and the overall financial performance measured by a comprehensive score (a combined measure of asset management, profitability, short-term solvency or liquidity and long-term solvency based on factor analysis). The effects of changes in the state of economy (real GDP   growth rate, ΔGDP$\Delta \mathit{GDP}$) and tourism growth (growth rate of total foreign tourist arrivals, ΔTA$\Delta \mathit{TA}$) on the corporate performance of tourist hotels are then examined via panel regression tests. Test results show that both ΔGDP$\Delta \mathit{GDP}$ and ΔTA$\Delta \mathit{TA}$ are significant explanatory factors of OPR  , but only ΔTA$\Delta \mathit{TA}$ can strongly explain ROA and ROE  . However, neither ΔGDP$\Delta \mathit{GDP}$ nor ΔTA$\Delta \mathit{TA}$ have a significant influence on hotel stock performance. Further, the economic factor (ΔGDP)$\left(\Delta \mathit{GDP}\right)$ is slightly more crucial than the industry factor (ΔTA)$\left(\Delta \mathit{TA}\right)$ in describing the overall financial performance in the Taiwanese hotel industry. Empirical findings offer valuable information for government tourism policymakers and tourist hotel owners and managers.     

Women entrepreneurship orientation,networks and firm performance in the tourism industry in resource-scarce contexts

Drawing on network theory, this study examines how the entrepreneurship orientation (EO)-performance nexus is intermediated by networks firms establish with government agencies, suppliers, and resource acquisition. Structural equation modelling is used to test the model on a sample of 556 women tourism entrepreneurs in Ghana and Nigeria. Findings indicate that EO positively influences firms’ social ties, resource acquisition, and performance. The results also indicate that establishing strong ties with government agencies leads to more resource acquisition among women owned tourism businesses than strong business ties with suppliers. Furthermore, business ties are more beneficial when they mediate the effect of EO on performance and become weak and negative when the effect is sequentially mediated by business ties and network resource acquisition. Political ties negatively influenced performance. This study provides novel insights into the EO, networks and performance nexus in resource-scarce contexts. The managerial implications for supporting women entrepreneurs are critically examined.     

Entrepreneurial bricolage,ambidexterity structure,and new venture growth: Evidence from the hospitality and tourism sector

This study aims to investigate the links between entrepreneurial bricolage, ambidexterity structure, and new venture growth in the Chinese hospitality and tourism industry. Survey data were collected from 345 entrepreneurs involved with new hospitality and tourism ventures in China. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses of this study. The results indicate that both the combined and balanced dimensions of ambidexterity play mediating roles between entrepreneurial bricolage and new venture growth performance. By exploring the underlying mechanism of the relationship between entrepreneurial bricolage and new venture growth in the hospitality and tourism sector using a comprehensive theoretical model viewed through the lens of ambidexterity, the theoretical and practical implications for management are addressed, and possible directions for future research are discussed.     

The effect of environment risk,corporate strategy,and capital structure on firm performance: An empirical investigation of restaurant firms

The co-alignment process has been used in hospitality strategy as a framework to explain strategic orientation of firms. In this study, using a sample from the US restaurant industry, the authors test the simultaneous impact of surrogates from constructs identified as part of the co-alignment model, i.e. environment, strategy, and structure, on firm performance. Results indicate that a significant variance in firm performance is explained by the variables from the foregoing constructs of the co-alignment model. The robustness of this study provides restaurant firms’ managers a basis to evaluate their firms’ strategic orientation vis-à-vis its impact on firm performance.     

Tourism expansion, tourism uncertainty and economic growth: New evidence from Taiwan and Korea

This study examines the causal relationship between tourism expansion and economic growth in two Asian countries: Taiwan and South Korea. An EGARCH-M model with uncertainty factors is employed to examine the direction of causality between tourism expansion and economic growth, as well as the impulse impacts of uncertainty on both variables. The results indicate that the tourism-led economic growth hypothesis is supported for Taiwan while a reciprocal causal relationship is found for South Korea. The significant impacts of uncertainty on growth are also identified.     

The relationship between tourism,CO2 emissions and economic growth: a case of Mediterranean countries

This study explores the impact of tourism on economic growth considering CO₂ emissions utilizing panel data techniques for a sample of Mediterranean countries. The cointegration tests reveal that there is a positive long-run equilibrium between tourism, CO₂ emissions and economic growth. This positive long-run relationship may suggest that tourism increases the level of CO₂ emissions and has a statistically significant impact on economic growth in Mediterranean countries. Emirmahmutoglu and Kose (2011. Testing for Granger causality in heterogeneous mixed panels. Economic Modelling, 28(3), 870–876.) test results reveal that the tourism-led growth hypothesis, which suggests that tourism contributes to economic growth, is valid for Egypt, Italy, and Spain. Additionally, there exists a bidirectional relationship between tourism and economic growth both in Morocco and Turkey.     

Sustainability implementation in restaurants: A comprehensive model of drivers,barriers, and competitiveness-mediated effects on firm performance

This study examines sustainability implementation in restaurants by theorizing and testing a comprehensive model of antecedents and effects. It represents positive and negative pressures toward sustainability respectively by entrepreneurs’ attitude and barriers to sustainability, while hypothesizing that customer satisfaction and competitiveness mediate effects of these practices on firm performance. Covariance-based structural equation modeling is used to analyze survey data on 334 restaurants in North Italy. Results show that sustainability attitude exerts pressure toward sustainability, while barriers in terms of costs, fear of regulation or skepticism about benefits have negative, but lower, effects. Sustainability implementation positively contributes to firm performance, but only via two intermediate measures of business success: competitiveness and customer satisfaction. The study fills a gap in the literature by presenting a whole construct of sustainability, by testing two mediating effects not yet hypothesized and by highlighting in the same model the role of factors enabling and deterring sustainability.     

Nexus of tourism,terrorism, and economic growth in Thailand: new evidence from asymmetric ARDL cointegration approach

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the asymmetric (nonlinear) relationship between tourism, terrorism, and economic growth of Thailand. The study employed an annual data set that ranges from 1990 to 2017 by using a novel co-integrating technique known as asymmetric ARDL cointegration approach advanced by Shin, Yu, and Greenwood-Nimmo. The outcome of the present study revealed significant differences in the reaction of the economic growth because of negative and positive changes in tourism and terrorism. The obtained asymmetric results can be helpful for more proficient policymaking and forecasting regarding the economy of Thailand. Ignoring intrinsic asymmetries may misrepresent implication.     

Transformational leadership style,market competition and departmental performance: Evidence from luxury hotels in Australia

This study examined the relationship between hotel departments’ financial and non-financial performance, market competition, and transformational leadership style. A self-administered postal survey was used to collect the data. Completed and usable questionnaires were received from rooms and food and beverage department managers of 56 hotels and resorts. The transformational leadership style, market competition, and departmental performance were measured using instruments adapted from previous studies [Bass, B., Avolio, B., 1994. Improving organisational effectiveness through transformational leadership. Sage Publication, Thousand Oaks, CA; Gupta, A., Govindarajan, V., 1984. Business unit strategy, managerial characteristics and business unit effectiveness at strategy implementation. Academy of Management Journal, 27 (1), 25–41; Khandwalla, P., 1972. The effects of different types of competition on the use of management control. Journal of Accounting Research, Autumn, 275–285]. The results of the study indicated that transformational leadership style was positively associated with the non-financial performance, which, in turn, was positively associated with the financial performance of the departments. However, no such relationship was found between market competition and the non-financial, and financial performance.