The Relevance of Organizational Characteristics for Crisis Planning

Abstract

The purpose of the research was to investigate the readiness of the touristic branch for facing economic and financial crisis. The paper is based on a study undertaken in the Madrid region in 2009. Predictors of crisis including gender have been surveyed for a total of 198 hotels and 291 restaurants in the province of Madrid. The study demonstrated that the age and size of the decision-making organization and the gender of the business’ leader did influence crisis planning. Major differences were found between hotels and restaurants, the last ones being more severely affected than hotels and thus placing more emphasis on planning ahead. Age was an indicator of the existence of “soft” crisis planning tools. Size was an indicator only for restaurants. Gender of the business owner also influenced crisis planning. Recommendations for policy makers on which types of owners they need to focus on for giving assistance in time of crisis were made. The scope of the study was geographically very limited and would need to be expanded to further parts of Spain or to other countries with strong tourism activities.