Strategic Management Applications in Rejuvenation Efforts of South-Western Nigerian Hotels: Facilities Management Perspective

Abstract

A survey was conducted of probabilistically determined fifty-seven hotels of various ‘stars’ in South-Western geo-political zone of Nigeria to investigate the responsiveness of the hotel organizations to strategic property management practices in particular level of use of facilities management, level of commitment to business development, use of information and communication technology and support services procurement methodology. Data were collected from hotel organizations through their general managers, staff and customers with the aid of questionnaires. A combination of stratified and cluster sampling techniques were used. Kothari’s formula was adopted to determine the appropriate sample size while descriptive statistics and balanced score card were used for data analysis. It was found that use of facilities management as a strategic management instrument is at low ebb (36%), the same is true of level of commitment to business development (46%), use of information and communication technology (39%) and support services outsourcing (46%). The use of balanced score card principle shows that the four variables all less than 50% may be balanced but in a negative sense suggesting non-responsiveness to the use of strategic management practices. This discovery also affirms that receptivity to FM is at low-ebb in the hotel sector of Nigeria’s economy and a pointer to ignorance of FM as instrument of strategic change. The study recommended that International Facilities Management Association (Nigeria Group), hotel organizations and Governments at all levels in Nigeria should be conscious of this development and put in place strategic actions to educate the gentries on the efficacy of FM in running hotel businesses. The hotel managements are also encouraged to be responsive to new ways of doing things especially when such a method would have a tremendous impact on the performance of the hotels.