Intellectual capital in the hotel industry: A case study from Slovenia

Abstract

Human, structural and non-end-customer-relationship capital in the hotel industry need end-customer-relationship capital to reflect themselves in financial performance, as a study of the Slovenian hotel industry has shown. Till now the classical intellectual capital (IC) model and its applications has dealt with three categories: human, structural and relationship capital. The paper takes a step further in the evolution of the IC model for the hotel industry and divides relationship capital into two categories: end-customer-relationship capital that only refers to relations with end-customers and non-end-customer-relationship capital that embraces relations with all the other customers and/or partners. Such an approach enabled us to measure the influence of each IC category on the financial performance of hotel firms separately. The application of this model in the Slovenian hotel industry showed positive correlations between all pairs of IC categories. Although the total IC has a significant impact on financial performance, the study shows that only end-customer relationships proved to have a strong direct impact on financial results. The study suggests that Slovenian hotel management should improve IC by investment in human capital and information technology, both of which are connected to the urgent need for speeding up the process of direct distribution channels development in the category of end-customer-relationship capital, thereby directly influencing the financial performance of Slovenian hotel firms.