International Hotel Industry Research Articles

Accommodation Management: Perspectives for the International Hotel Industry

Accommodation Management: Perspectives for the International Hotel Industry

A study of economies of scale and economies of scope in Taiwan international tourist hotels

This paper is to investigate economies of scale and economies of scope for the international tourist hotel industry in Taiwan. The research sample contains 50 international tourist hotels in Taiwan. Research data is from financial statements in the official annual report published by the Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communication, R.O.C., and the sample period is from 1993 to 1997. The empirical model contains the Translog cost function, which includes three output variables and four input factors, the cost‐share equations, and the constraints on the parameters in the simultaneous cost system. The seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) is used to estimate the parameters of the simultaneous cost system. The results show that, based on the 1997 data, international tourist hotels in Taiwan are in general not operating efficiently, in terms of cost efficiency. There are some cost incentives or benefits from expansion both in scale and scope of business.

An integrative approach to enhancing customer value and corporate performance in the international hotel industry

This is a conceptual paper designed to explore the literature relating to a range of issues associated with strategic management and globalisation in the international hotel industry. More specifically it considers cultural influences and strategic orientations in relation to both the industrial organisation and resource-based strategic management paradigms, and those standardisation versus customisation decisions faced by international hotel companies. Finally, the analysis of these issues is synthesised in the presentation of a model, the `Strategic Constellation', which is designed to provoke further thought on research agendas related to this area.

Executive Values and Decision Making: The Relationship of Culture and Information Flows

The effect of culture on work values has been studied in a number of ways, largely from a western perspective. Studies have predominantly employed questionnaires as the principal agent of data collection. Yet the Confucian work ethic attributes greater emphasis to collectivist values which bear more centrally on personal relationships. This research used discourse analysis in order to try to identify the implicit features of cultural values as they affected the transmission of financial information, a problem highlighted by the Asian currency crisis in 1997/98.The international hotel industry operates in a multicultural environment where very often foreign operators manage locally owned premises. In these circumstances, budgetary planning and control is an important mechanism. A sample of the interactions between 18 hotel general managers and their financial controllers were studied in Hong Kong. Financial controllers are already subject to a number of role conflicts and it was found that these may be exaggerated by culture.Chinese financial controllers seem to distort the outputs of budgetary planning and control processes in recognition of important organizational relationships. It is suggested that recognizing the direction and effect of these relationships has implications for leadership and performance judgements generally.

Environmental Strategies and the International Hotel Industry

AbstractBusiness enterprises worldwide have recognised that linking green objectives to profit goals can be a source of competitive advantage. This paper outlines the forces inducing corporations to adopt proactive stances to environmental strategic postures and the arguments for and against such postures. It presents an expanded concept of efficiency management and a related menu of environmental strategies that corporations can adopt. Empirical evidence of the environmental strategies that are being used and their outcomes is drawn from leading international hotel corporations and from smaller enterprises in this industry and the implications are discussed.

Environmental Strategies and the International Hotel Industry

AbstractBusiness enterprises worldwide have recognised that linking green objectives to profit goals can be a source of competitive advantage. This paper outlines the forces inducing corporations to adopt proactive stances to environmental strategic postures and the arguments for and against such postures. It presents an expanded concept of efficiency management and a related menu of environmental strategies that corporations can adopt. Empirical evidence of the environmental strategies that are being used and their outcomes is drawn from leading international hotel corporations and from smaller enterprises in this industry and the implications are discussed.

A review of hotel internationalisation with a particular focus on the key role played by American organisations

The increase in influential, non-American companies in the hotel industry is discussed. The paper considers whether this was caused a decline of American hegemony of the international hotel industry. Recent trends that have led to a belief in declining American influence are discussed. A case study of Accor®, the French travel, tourism and hospitality transnational, founded in 1967, which now has a multi-tier brand marketing strategy, is presented. By 1995 the company had focused on 6 core brands; Sofitel, Novotel, Mecure, Ibis, Formule 1 and Motel 6 (all ®). It is argued that although this would appear to be a shift away from the American model, in reality the underlying rational for this multi-tier branding can, arguably, still be regarded as global standardization and of great similarity to the American ideal of absolute functionality, certainty and consistency. Data provided by the Economist Intelligence Unit in 1995 indicated that half (6 of 12) the hotel companies with at least 50 000 rooms and 75 hotels in at least 15 countries were American owned. It is concluded that American organisations played and continue to play a key role in the international hotel industry.

The hotel market in the former Eastern Bloc-An overview

This paper looks at the development of the international hotel industry in the former Eastern Bloc countries as they progress in their transition to a free market economy. By looking at occupancy and average rate figures for the main cities and comparing both growth rates in the number of passengers travelling to these cities and gross domestic product (GDP) figures for the countries, it is possible to get a clear picture of the current state of the hotel market and the likely opportunities for future developments.

Socialization control and market entry modes in the international hotel industry

Relates the type of expansion strategies used by international hotel groups to approaches to ensuring organizational cohesion within these organizational settings. Achieves this by exploring dimensions of control and co‐ordination of managerial resources. Uses a case‐study approach which concentrates on the human resource management function to highlight current experiences in six different hotel companies and identifies their engagement in high degrees of social control. This result may be easily understood where the company both owns and operates its properties; however, the evidence suggests that franchising, a mechanism which is often seen as allowing hotel unit investors or franchisees considerable latitude in running the operation, is also susceptible to social control through management transfer and development policies.

A Review of Current Financial Issues Facing the International Hotel Industry

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to identify the hotel financial issues reflected by articles published in academic and trade journals during the period 1983–1996 inclusive. The journals reviewed for this purpose include: Journal of the International Association of Hospitality Accounts, International Journal of Hospitality Management, FIU Hospitality Review, Cornell HRA Quarterly, Journal of Travel Research, Hotel & Motel Management, Lodging Hospitality, Real Estate Finance, Meeting & Conventions, and National Real Estate Investor. By reviewing these journals, four of the most intensively and frequently discussed issues are identified. These issues are: capital shortage & financing methods, capital sources, tax and deduction, and valuation. These four issues are discussed in the scope of international hotel financial management.

Ecoresort: a ‘green’ masterplan for the international resort industry

Strategies adopted by the international hotel industry for achieving greater environmental sensitivity and sustainability are assessed from three perspectives: ecotechniques, environmental sponsorship, and eco-packaging. The key finding is that the business as well as the environmental cases for a ‘green hotel’ fall short of tapping the potential of a ‘green resort’. Evidence is also presented for the increasing convergence of international tourism and international ecotourism, a trend that will effect a shift from vacation product to place product in defining the competitiveness and quality of international resort destinations. The article pioneers guidelines for an ecoresort masterplan, conceptualized specifically to benefit the international resort industry and introduced as complementary to the directives of the International Hotel Environment Initiative. The resort-plus scope of masterplanning, an expanded capacity to assimilate, and a layered approach to product development are the core principles that, in their interplay, will distinguish an ecoresort product from a resort product. The guidance provided by the ecoresort concept will be of greatest use to new developments. It will also help to structure the international multi-resort expansion of hotel groups, taking maximum advantage of the large-scale ecotourism initiatives undertaken by a growing number of countries and regions.

Resources in the International Hotel Industry: A Framework for Analysis

Given the increasingly competitive nature of the international hotel industry, understanding sources of competitive advantage is likely to become a critical management task in the 1990s. A framework for practising managers is presented within which to examine the link between the hotel′s resources and sustained competitive advantage, using anecdotal evidence from the international hotel industry. Three indicators that have the potential to generate durable advantages ‐ value, irreversibility, and inimitability – are discussed. The framework is applied to one major set of resources: organisational capability.

International hotel industry — capitalizing on change

More than 80% of hotel rooms are located in Europe and North America with the Asia—Pacific region pinpointed as the most rapidly expanding area in the 1990s. Hotel occupancy worldwide has not matched the growth of population and gross domestic product (GDP) in the industrialized western world implying the existence of a large untapped market. The major hotel management companies (HMCs) have been expanding in Europe, North America and the Asia—Pacific region, and the industry is becoming dominated by ‘mega-HMCs’ able to capitalize on economies of scale and having the necessary management expertise and financial backing.

US Multinational Involvement in the International Hotel Sector An Analysis

This paper seeks to explain the structure of the international hotel industry and the involvement of US multinational hotel corporations in it. This involvement has taken the non-traditional form of management contracts and franchising agreements, with little, if any, direct investment. From the point of view of the multinational corporation this form of involvement can be explained by the desire to expand rapidly to gain a major share of the world market, while minimising capital outlay and the risk of operation in an uncertain environment. Obviously, however, such involvement by multinational corporations would not have been possible, had not host countries looked on it with favour. Interestingly, such involvement has not only been merely acceptable, but indeed desirable to host countries, for it maximises skills transfer and access to a global marketing system, while reducing the control of the multinational corporation on domestic industry.

Multinational Corporations In the International Hotel Industry. John H. Dunning and Matthew McQueen. Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 9, no. 1, 1982, pp. 69-90. Pergamon Press, Inc., Maxwell House, Fairview Park, Elmsford, New York 10523. $55 annual subscription

Multinational Corporations In the International Hotel Industry. John H. Dunning and Matthew McQueen. Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 9, no. 1, 1982, pp. 69-90. Pergamon Press, Inc., Maxwell House, Fairview Park, Elmsford, New York 10523. $55 annual subscription

Appropriate policies towards multinational hotel corporations in developing countries

Despite the prevalence of international hotel chains in the tourism sector of developing countries, little research has been carried out on the structure of the industry, the sources of the competitive advantages of the hotel chains over indigenous hotels, reasons for the alternative forms of involvement of the hotel chains and deriving from this, their potential and actual impact on host countries. This article applies theories developed for the multinational enterprise in the manufacturing sector, to original data and observations on the international hotel industry. Given the state of the art and the limited information on the impact of MNE hotels, the paper is principally concerned with generating potentially useful hypotheses for consideration by host governments and to provide a framework for further research. Certain policy conclusions however, are drawn from the analysis, especially regarding the appropriate from of involvement by the international hotels.

Multinational corporations in the international hotel industry

Original data are presented on the growth of foreign-based international hotel chains and their distribution by home and host countries as well as by the principal sphere of economic activity of the parent company. A feature of the paper is the analysis of the source of competitive advantage of the international hotel chains and the non-equity forms of involvement which particularly characterize the industry. These characteristics may require that a clear distinction be made between ownership of an international-class hotel and control over its operations.

The eclectic theory of international production: A case study of the international hotel industry

AbstractThis paper presents comprehensive data on the growth, structure and forms of involvement of multinational enterprises in the international hotel industry, and uses this data to provide empirical support for the eclectic theory of international production. Our understanding of the international hotel industry is that the ownership of a hotel often has the characteristics of portfolio investment and that the owners may have little knowledge of hotel operations. In these circumstances they will invariably employ a professional management company to run the hotel under a long term contract providing them with full control over the operation of the hotel. A particular feature of this paper is therefore to distinguish between, what we term, ‘equity‐based control’ and ‘contract‐based control’ of the enterprise and to point out the implications of this distinction for the analysis of the multinational enterprise.