Marketing strategies for hotels

The aims of this article are to investigate the application of hotel marketing strategies by independent vs group (chain) hotels and to investigate comparatively the performance — along a number of criteria — of these two types of hotel organisation.The study presents in detail the main stages in developing a hotel marketing strategy and a taxonomy of the 9 major strategies available for hotels, discussing their features, characteristics and when appropriate for application.Any meaningful analysis of hotel marketing should be based on the marketing strategies employed by the individual establishment and group/chain organisation. No doubt effective selling of hotels' products and services depends to a large extent on the marketing strategies selected. As the market for hotels' services is dynamic and accompanied by rapid changes in the environment due to uncertain economic conditions, increased competition, advancement in technology, and inflation, increased attention will be given by hotels in the future to the selection of an appropriate marketing strategy.     

On China’s Exchange Rate Flexibility and Stability: The More Flexible against the U.S. Dollar, the More Stable in Effective Terms

I. IntroductionFor many years, the Chinese authorities have often expressed their appreciation for the merits of a flexible exchange rate regime for China and their willingness to make the exchange rate of the renminbi, China’s national currency, be determined by market forces. 1 In the same breath, however, they also stressed the importance of a “stable exchange rate” forChina, although it is not clear what the authorities meant by a “stable exchange rate.” (The People’s bank of Chin…     

Reviews

RESTRUCTURING.

Stewart, P., Garrahan, P. and Crowther, S. (eds) 1990: Restructuring for Economic Flexibility. Aldershot: Avebury/Gower, £29.50 cloth.

THE GREEN ECONOMY.

Jacobs, M. 1991: The Green Economy: Environment, Sustainable Development and the Politics of the Future. London: Pluto Press, £9.95 paper.     

Globalizing the emerging high-technology company

Two traditional models of global expansion were evaluated in an exploratory effort to explain the globalization patterns of emerging high-technology companies. In-depth field interviews were conducted with 19 Massachusetts-based companies that supply software or peripheral products for desktop computing to explore: their timing and aggressiveness in entering markets outside of North America; their structures and patterns for expansion; and their success. Sampled companies report nondomestic revenues ranging from 6% to 58% of their totals. Statistical analyses of “globalization success,”, defined here as how quickly a company achieves substantial percentage of revenues from nondomestic markets, support an integrated model of globalization that combines a cluster of other influences with elements of Vernon's specific product cycle model and aspects of the more generic internationalization process models. In accordance with Vernon, high-tech products are developed primarily for the home market but are soon transferred overseas, more slowly to “lagging markets.” In contrast with Vernon, many different selling arrangements are employed, and overseas production does not follow for most high-tech firms. In accordance with the general internationalization theory, when high-tech companies perceive foreign markets as risky they proceed cautiously, often using outside specialists to facilitate market entry and increase their involvement over time as their familiarity increases. But in contrast with this, many high-tech firms, especially the most successful, do not even perceive such riskiness and do not exhibit such caution. Unrelated to either of those two models, and building upon the work of Ragman et al.[1], globalization success is most strongly linked to how aggressively senior management allocates internal resources to developing an overseas business model that approximates the company's u.S. model of selling/distributing. External environmental forces, too, such as the varied adoption rates of the underlying desktop computing platforms themselves as well as regulatory factors, also affect globalization of high-tech products and companies.     

Should training be competence-based?

Gleeson, D. (ed) 1990: Training and Its Alternatives. Buckingham: Open University Press, £32.50 cloth, £10.99 paper.