Hotel Marketing Strategies in Turbulent Times: Path Analysis of Strategic Decisions - Essay Example

TЕL MАRKЕTING STRАTЕGIЕS IN TURBULЕNT TIMЕS: РАTH АNАLYSIS ОF STRАTЕGIС DЕСISIОNS SUMMARY A. Paradigm assumptions evident in the article This research is based on an interpretivist/constructivist paradigm of qualitative research. In general, an interpretivist or constructivist paradigm is defined by several characteristics. One of the most important characteristics of a constructivist paradigm is that in the research, it is assumed that the reality is socially constructed (Goldkuhl, 2012, p. 138). What this means is that reality or the truth, under this approach, is not seen as an objective aspect of the universe but rather as a subjective creation of the individuals who participate in the research. This characteristic of the interpretivist/constructivist research paradigm is evident in the research. Basically, the research was carried out to determine the manner in which strategic decisions were made by hotel managers to help the companies navigate through the effects of a recession. The effectiveness of the strategic decision making process is regarded as a result of the actual manner in which the different managers made their decisions. Therefore, it is assumed that the decision making process, which can be regarded as the truth in this case, is a subjective creation of the different managers who worked in different hotels at the time. Thus, the purpose of the research is to unravel this process and use it to create theories that can be used to explain the strategic decision making process carried out in the hotels. The subjective nature of the knowledge and the truth under this paradigm means that knowledge and the reality can only be considered within a specific context (2012, p. 39). Context, therefore, becomes an important attribute of the knowledge that is examined in a research under this paradigm. It is only within a particular context that specific findings can be applicable. In this case, it can be seen that the research was carried out within the context of change. The decision making processes of the managers of the hotel chains were evaluated within the context of the need of the managers to address the effects of the Global Economic Crisis. Thus, the researchers sought to find out the subjective reasons of the managers that informed their actions which were seen in the form of the decisions that they made to help their organizations reduce the losses in revenue that they were experiencing as a result of the economic crisis. It was based on this that the study was carried out to offer insights on theory building and collection of interpretive data to determine the strategy formulation processes that were used by multinational hotel chains (Martin & Isozaki, 2013, p. 1544). Third, the need to capture the experience of the participants is an important characteristic of research studies that are carried out using this paradigm. In the case of this research, it can be seen that the researchers chose to rely on qualitative data as opposed to quantitative data. Furthermore, the researchers sought to use interviews as a method of collecting data. The use of interviews was appropriate for this research because it enabled the researchers to capture the personal experiences of the managers who participated in the research. It was based on the experiences of the managers that the researchers were able to construct and interpret a body of knowledge on how the hotel chains developed strategic decisions that helped them to overcome the challenges that were occasioned by the economic crisis. In addition to this, the researchers used document analysis as a method of collecting data. They used case study reports for the two hotel chains to supplement the findings of the interviews that were carried out with the managers of the companies (2013, p. 1546). The use of interviews and analysis of documents as the primary methods of collecting data are, therefore, consistent with the key characteristics of interpretivist paradigm in research. B. Summary of Research Approach(es) Taken in the Article In general, the research is about how the hotel industry in Asia has managed to overcome the challenges that were caused by the Global Economic Crisis to report positive growth. Specifically, the research seeks to examine how the managers of two hotel chains operating in three countries in Asia, Singapore, Japan and China, made strategic marketing decisions that enabled the hotels to overcome the prevailing economic challenges and register positive growth. The research is carried out within the context of management of change. This is the case because it seeks to gain insights on how the managers of the hotels managed to respond to the economic situations that occurred in their business environment and threatened the revenue of their companies. The researchers are the key stakeholders in this research. This is the case because the publication of the research was beneficial to their careers and reputation, one of them being an academic while the other being a professional in the hotel industry (Martin & Isozaki, 2013, p. 1544). Second, hotels operating in different markets that were affected by the Global Economic Crisis are stakeholders in the research. The findings of the research can be used to inform the manner in which they make strategic decisions to help them overcome the economic challenges that they face during turbulent times. This research was carried out in the form of a qualitative interview design. Specifically, the research made use of the long interview method of qualitative interview design. According to McCracken (1998, cited in Martin & Isozaki, 2013, p. 1545), the use of the long interview method is achieved when an interviewer uses questions that are loosely structured when interviewing the subjects and complements them with follow-up questions. This method is similar to what Turner III (2010, p. 755) refers to as the general interview guide approach. By using this approach, an interviewer can avoid the complete informality on one hand and still be flexible enough to ask new questions that are based on issues that emerge in the course of the interview. This is the approach that is used in the research. Two managers of hotel chains that operate in Tokyo, Singapore and China were selected for the research because they have experience running operations of global companies and because the interview, who is a professional in the field, had worked with the two hotel chains in the past. The individuals were then presented with a set of general questions. The general questions were used to help the researcher learn about how the chains operated and assess the readiness of the individuals for the interview. The individuals were then interviewed, case studies about their respective companies read and reports about the interviews compiled. The paper concludes that the managers of the two hotel chains adopted marketing strategies that helped them to address the issue of loss of revenue which resulted from the effects of the Global Economic Crisis (Martin & Isozaki, 2013, p. 1549). The two hotel chains faced more or less similar challenges. One of the challenges was reduced number of visitors in the different hotels that the chains run operations. Reduced number of guest meant that the hotels experienced serious disruption in their businesses. This led them to reduce their overall scales of operations. To address this issue, the hotels used different strategies. One of the strategies that the hotels used was related to adopting a global strategy in their marketing operations. The managers decided to change their focus to the global market as a way of addressing the losses in revenue that the hotels were experiencing as a result of reduction in revenue. In addition to this, the hotels changed the overall manner in which they carry out their marketing activities. For example, the managers of the hotels decided to abandon the traditional marketing methods and adopt new methods that would help them to take advantage of new opportunities while addressing the challenges that had been caused by the recession. CRITIQUE One of the areas in which the researchers did well in the research is in the overall manner in which the research was conducted and this was effective in helping them reach the findings of the research. The research was carried out using the interpretivist/constructivist paradigm. As such, emphasis was laid on using the new methods of social sciences as opposed to the traditional scientific methods. Using the qualitative interviews approach, the researchers sought to gain insights in how the managers of the selected hotel chains managed to develop strategic decisions that helped their companies to overcome the economic challenges that they faced. To do this, the researchers first approached the potential candidates, provided them with a set of questions to determine their level of readiness and then guided them through the actual interview sessions. The results of the interviews were then analyzed and interpreted by a set of researchers who had not been involved in the actual interviews. It can be seen that the procedure that was followed was appropriate for examining the subject of the research. The researchers sought to minimize the chances of occurrence of the error that is associated with myopic interpretation of the results of the research by letting individuals who had not been involved in the actual interviews to analyze and interpret the results. The manner in which ethical issues are observed in the course of a research is an important aspect that can be used to evaluate the overall quality of a research. In theory, the ethical approach that is used in a research is supposed to be tied to the philosophical principles and approaches that are used for the research (Wiles, 2012, p. 3). In this research, several ethical issues were observed in different ways. First, the participants in the research were informed about the research prior to the interviews. It was based on this that the consent and voluntariness of the participants was observed in the process of carrying out the research. Also, the researchers were allowed to terminate the research whenever they felt like doing so (Martin & Isozaki, 2013, p. 1546). They were also given the freedom to skip any questions that they did not feel comfortable answering (p. 1546). What is clear from this is that the researchers used a principalist approach to ethics when carrying out the research. A principalist approach to research ethics is based on respecting the autonomy of the people who are required to participate in a research (Wiles, 2012, p. 5). It is based on respecting the autonomy of the participants that the researchers sought to gain the consent of the respondents and were willing to keep the identities of the respondents confidential. Two key quality issues are usually associated with qualitative research in general: reliability and validity. Reliability represents the extent to which the results obtained in a research are representative of the entire population, are consistent over the course of time and can be obtained when a similar methodology is used (Golafshani, 2003, p. 598). In qualitative research, reliability is usually based on the concept of trustworthiness (2003, p. 601). Loh (2013, p. 5) observes that trustworthiness in a qualitative research can be obtained using different methods, the most common ones being carrying out member checks, doing a dependability audit and carrying out thick description. Some of these techniques were actually used in the research, an example being thick description. However, it is not clear whether many of the techniques which are crucial to determining the trustworthiness of the research were used in this research. Therefore, although the researchers attempted to establish reliability of the research, based on the confines of the interpretivist paradigm on which the research was based, they would have done better by using more techniques to establish trustworthiness of their research. On the other hand, validity in research is used to indicate the extent to which the research actually measures the things that it was supposed to measure (Golafshani, 2003, p. 599). In interpretivist research, internal and external validity is established by use of techniques such as prolonged engagement, persistent observation and thick description (Loh, 2014, p. 5). It is important to note that the researchers used all these techniques in their research. This means that in terms of validity, the research can be said to have measured what it was actually supposed to measure. With regard to sampling, the researchers chose to use only two managers of specific hotel chains that were of interest to the researchers. The managers and the hotel chains were chosen because of two reasons: one, one of the researchers had worked in the hotel chains and two, the hotel chains had a global presence. The use of the small sample and the selection approach of the individuals who were selected to participate in the research were totally appropriate for the research. In general, an interpretivist research is usually based on the capturing how individuals interpret different phenomena. Therefore, the perspectives of the individuals who participate in the research are very important in determining the results of the research. In this research, it can be seen that the manner in which the researchers selected the managers who were interviewed in the research was appropriate for the research. Furthermore, the sample that was used for the study was appropriate in that it helped the researchers to achieve the objective of the study. By interviewing two managers of large hotel chains which had operations in Asia and other parts of the world, the researchers were able to gain insight on how hotels with a global presence made strategic decisions that helped them to overcome the effect of the Global Economic Crisis. The research made use of long interviews as the principal method of collecting data from the respondents. The respondents were subjected to interviews. The interviews were carried out in such a manner that the interviewers asked the participants specific questions about specific issues with regard to the subject of the study while at the same time asking the respondents to clarify new issues that emerged in the course of the interviews. The qualitative long interview instrument is one of the many different types of interviews that can be used in a qualitative research. In theory, it has been observed that the interviews that can be used in qualitative research fall under a continuum that ranges from complete informality on one end to highly structured and formal interviews on the other (Prescott, 2011, p. 19). It can be seen that it would not have been appropriate had the researchers decided to use a type of interview that is completely unstructured and informal. Such an approach would have made it difficult for the researchers to capture the specific methods and approaches that the respondents used to address the challenges of that their companies faced. On the other hand, the researchers would not have used a completely structured and formal interview as a tool of collecting data from the respondents. Such an approach would have made it difficult for the researchers to capture the subjective perspectives that the individual managers used when developing strategies to address the economic challenges that their companies faced. Therefore, qualitative long interviews provided a compromise for these two extreme forms of interviews. This approach was appropriate for the research and it helped the researchers to make the right conclusions in the research. References Golafshani, N. (2003). ‘Understanding reliability and validity in qualitative research.’ The Qualitative Report, 8(4), 597-607. Retrieved from http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR8-4/golafshani.pdf Goldkuhl, G. (2012). ‘Pragmatism vs interpretivism in qualitative information systems research.’ European Journal of Information Systems, 21(2), 135-146. Retrieved from http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:515141/FULLTEXT01.pdf3 Loh, J. (2013). Inquiry into issues of trustworthiness and quality in narrative studies: A perspective.’ The Quality Report, 18(65), 1-15. Retrieved from http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR18/loh65.pdf Martin, D., & Isozaki, M. (2013). Hotel marketing strategies in turbulent times: Path analysis of strategic decisions. Journal of Business Research, 66, 1544-1549. Prescott, F. J. (2011). Validating a long qualitative interview schedule. WoPalP, 5, 16-38. Retrieved from http://langped.elte.hu/WoPaLParticles/W5Prescott.pdf Turner III., D. W. (2010). Qualitative interview design: A practical guide to novice investigators. The Qualitative Report, 15(3), 754-760. Retrieved from http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR15-3/qid.pdf Wiles, R. (2012). What are qualitative research ethics? London: Bloomsbury. Read More