Institutional Challenges and Opportunities
Using Heritage and Tradition to Innovate in the Accommodation Sector
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Angelo Presenza, Lorn Sheehan
Innovative hotels have been shown to outperform their less innovative competitors because of their ability to provide differentiated services that are more valued by consumers. While product, process, organizational/managerial, and market innovations are the most common types of innovations in hospitality, institutional innovations are also important to consider in terms of the practical development of competitive advantage. This research deepens the understanding of institutional innovations by exploring how heritage-related innovations might support a competitive advantage within the hospitality sector. In an attempt to add to the extant body of knowledge on the topic, this research explores the power that a relatively new and growing form of accommodation in Italy called “Albergo Diffuso” (meaning “distributed hotel” in English), has in describing innovation through heritage. The empirical analysis employs a mixed method (including desk analysis, direct interviews, and local site visits) to triangulate key findings and better comprehend the Albergo Diffuso concept as an example of institutional innovation. In hospitality (and in tourism, more generally) the ability to innovate is germane to competitive advantage and perhaps even survival in certain environments. This research will introduce challenges linked to heritage-based strategies that improve the ability of tourism firms to innovate.
The Revitalization of Obsolete Infrastructures into Leisure: The Case of the Portuguese Railway
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Marisa P. De Brito
Places are being transformed and, as competition increases between destinations, places are also in need of reinventing themselves. At the same time, there are other challenges that places, and in particularly cities, face such as to reinvent (obsolete) infrastructure and make use of these spaces. Technological evolutions have made some physical activities unnecessary and many structures have become obsolete. For instance, in many places, a portion of infrastructure has no use today. These might be historic buildings, port spaces, railway stations, or industrial complexes. This fact provoked a search for the reframing of obsolete infrastructure and its function. In particular, and in Europe, the mode of rail transport has been widely used for many years. The modernization of the stations, through the use of emerging technologies with the advancement of information technologies, has made, in many cases, its spaces unnecessary. This has happened as well in Portugal, which will be the focus of the study. In Portugal a search for the revitalization of train stations has occurred in recent years. We use examples from different stages of decision-making. This research explores how this process of reframing obsolete spaces into use happens. As theoretical background, we build on social practices, organizational and social theories of change, and on works on urban sociology and sociology of culture. In this study the data were collected through direct and participant observation, conversations, and dialogues and through photos and videos made available in the public domain, especially in digital media.
Institutional Challenges Faced by Hospitality Industry in Developing Economies: Evidence from Morocco
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Antonia M. García-Cabrera, Sonia M. Suárez Ortega, Dalai Perdomo Pérez
Developing economies usually have unstable and weak institutions (Choi et al., 2010). Therefore, internationalization to these countries involves several risks (Phillips et al., 2009) that may be stronger in cases of institutional differences between the investors’ home country and the host country (Cavusgil et al., 2014; Johanson and Vahlne, 1977). However, developing economies offer strong business opportunities to foreign firms, with tourism emerging as a key sector. Morocco, the main tourism destination of North Africa (OMT, 2016), can be considered a good example of it. Our work identifies institutional challenges encountered by small lodgings that operate in Morocco, and whether those challenges are faced by local and foreign entrepreneurs in the same way. For the exploratory study, we surveyed hotels, riads, and hostels on Booking.com in 2017. Out of 847 establishments with an email address or phone number, we got 50 valid replies. Sample lodgings are owned by 19 Moroccans, and 31 foreigners, mainly French (12) and Spanish (5). The main challenges encountered are: lack of expertise in tourism planning at the national level, inefficient public administration, lack of tourism promotion, corruption and unfair competition, especially by some riads and illegal guest houses. Foreigners clearly perceive more challenges than Moroccans in relation with educational system, lack of suppliers, unqualified suppliers, discriminatory taxes, unofficial dealings and cultural challenges due to religious issues. Finally, we found that the greater the institutional and cultural distances between the respondent’s home country and Morocco, the greater the level of institutional challenges perceived.
Information Technology and Innovation in Hotel Industry in a Context of Change
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Margarita Fernández Monroy, Lucía Melián-Alzola
Tourism is a dynamic industry; therefore, organizations become vulnerable and have to respond to changes, whether involving risks or opportunities. This scenario of change requires a new management model that encourages organizational agility. In this context, information technologies (IT) have an important role as providers of agility, meaning that they develop other resources and capabilities that are necessary in adapting to the environment. Furthermore, IT constitute a key element that facilitates innovation in the development of adaptation and flexibility strategies in the tourist context, particularly in the hospitality industry. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore the mediating role of organizational innovation between IT and hotel agility. The model was tested on the general managers of 4- and 5-star and Great Luxury hotels on the Canary Islands using a survey method. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses. Results show that the uses of IT have a direct positive effect on innovation capability and on hotel agility. Moreover, innovation mediates the relationship between IT and hotel agility. The paper identifies the different uses of IT in hotels, focusing on the relationships with the main internal and external interest groups. The proposed uses of IT make it possible to adapt products, services, and processes to tourists´ changing demands. The findings of this study suggest the main uses of IT that promote innovation initiatives and make hotels agile.
