Customer agility and firm performance in the tourism industry

Abstract

The growing importance of agility in any business process is universally accepted and extensively investigated in different disciplines. However, lacking empirical pieces of evidence for the suggested theoretical framework of agility hinders its application in the practices. Thus, this study attempts to address this issue by empirically testing a framework of customer agility’s antecedents and consequences using the tourism industry context. The framework is tested on data collected from 231 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the tourism industry in Vietnam and analyzed using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings suggest that not all attributes of customer agility exert positive impacts on the firm’s performance and human factors are posited as the most important antecedents for organizational agility. A number of practical implications are also suggested from the research findings

An empirical investigation of the relationship among agile manufacturing practices and business performance: a pilot study

“…According to Udokporo et al (2020a), rapidly changing customer requirements is one of the main challenges faced by manufacturing industry. Ngo and Vu (2020) proved that customers’ desires sensing and responding capabilities are the key constructs for organizational agility and business performance. Dubey and Gunasekaran (2015) also mentioned that customer focus helps organizations to meet the customer needs and even exceed their expectations by offering product of services in the shortest possible time in a reasonable price range. Business innovation has to occur in all dimensions of the business – product, process and organization to improve competitiveness and business performance (Udokporo et al , 2020a).…”

Firm-Specific Factors Influencing the Performance of Young Small and Micro-Sized Firms Located in Algarve

“…The study of Lim et al (2020) highlights that intangible assets play an increasingly determinant role in the current economy, making traditional accounting-based measurement more and more distant from reality. Ngo and Vu (2020) provide empirical evidence of the impacts of customer agility on the performance of firms in the tourism sector. Nowadays, an increasing number of firms build their market value exclusively by brand reputation, knowledge, patents, intellectual capital, and social or environmental concept implementation.…”

Customer agility, market orientation, and brand image in the context of Chinese market

“…Agility is described by Ngo and Vu (2020) as a few groups of particular corporate procedures that identify environmental changes and respond quickly and successfully. CA is fundamentally about “deploying resources to respond to rapidly changing market conditions and developing routines in pursuit of improved effectiveness in responses to emerging demands” ( Zhou et al, 2018 , p. 515).…”

“…It is a customer-centered dynamic capability of an organization ( Roberts and Grover, 2012a ). Its ultimate purpose is to quickly grasp customers’ need changes and flexibly meet their demands grasp through CA activities implementation ( Ngo and Vu, 2020 ). Many resources of enterprises will be invested and integrated to address the core needs of consumers ( Zhou et al, 2018 ).…”

“…The current research has focused on some key antecedents of CA, such as technology capability, knowledge management, and organizational structure ( Roberts and Grover, 2012a ; Chatfield and Reddick, 2018 ; Panda and Rath, 2021 ), and its consequences, such as firm performance and competitive activities ( Roberts and Grover, 2012b ). As the essence of customer-centered concept, CA implementation and its effectiveness have a profound impact on market-perspective and customer-perspective performance ( Ngo and Vu, 2020 ; Wamba, 2022 ). However, the prior CA research framework has not been systematized, and does not appear in business analysis as a broader concept.…”