Resources in the International Hotel Industry: A Framework for Analysis

Abstract

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.

Influence of Uncertain Demand on Product Variety: Evidence from the International Tourist Hotel Industry in Taiwan

“…Second, the excess capacity problem has been a major concern in the hotel industry for decades (Qu et al, 2002). Third, hotel capacity is fixed and can only be augmented at a relatively high sunk cost (Horsburgh, 1991). Many components of hotel costs are sunk costs such as rent, staff, electricity, food and laundry.…”

Hotel Theming in China: A Qualitative Study of Practitioners’ Views

“…Thus, the allocation of fewer resources for recruiting employees could allow managers to allocate more funds to the improvement of service quality, which must be particularly consistent in theme hotels (Xiao, Q. et al, 2013). Moreover, additional funds can be used to develop core competence and knowledge, and to generate and sustain competitive advantage (Horsburgh, 1991). Such elements can help in developing an appropriately themed hotel that, according to the participants, is more likely to survive and find success in the competitive Chinese market.…”

An Integrated Approach to Strategic Management for the Lodging Industry

“…These studies also focus on identifying functional resources specific to each organization (Horsburgh, 1991;Roberts & Shea, 1996). Functional resources, however, may be insufficient in implementing firm strategies, because functional resources do not appropriately reflect market-based resources such as market orientation.…”

“…A differentiation strategy provides customers with differentiated offerings having unique attributes that are better than those of competitors (Porter, 1980). Hotel firms have employed product/service quality most frequently to differentiate among themselves (Horsburgh, 1991;Senior & Morphew, 1990).…”