Hotel Industry Leadership in Greater China—A Biographical Comparison

Abstract

The relationship between leaders and followers plays a major role in shaping organizational cultures. There is an established literature within many disciplines showing evidence of how leaders seek to influence their followers. The present paper extends this legacy by presenting a detailed investigation of two hospitality leaders in order to provide insights about the formation as of leaders in Greater China. A biographical comparison is conducted to analyse leadership traits in the hospitality industry context of an Asian leader, Mr. Stephen Ho (President for Greater China of Hyatt Global Operation) and a non-Asian (European) leader, Mr. Ricco de Blank (CEO of Sun Hung Kai Properties Hotel Section). Information about each of the two leaders is assembled, analysed, and then compared with reference to their respective backgrounds, characteristics and families as these have impacted on their leadership styles. The findings show the continuing influence of Confucian values within Asia and that leadership styles and behaviours can also be shaped by a Western cultural background. The two subjects have exercised charisma in leading their respective companies to success.The paper concludes by noting practical implications, limitations and opportunities for further research.

Travel Industry Leadership in Italy and China — A Biographical Comparison

“…Comparative leadership biographical analyses have been undertaken previously within tourism (Kamisan and Chu and King, 2019). However, travel leadership has been inadequately studied, especially in the context of China's outbound tourism in Europe (Jørgensen, Law & King, 2016).…”