Strategic Management and the Hospitality Industry - Research Paper Example

CRITIQUE OF A JOURNAL ARTICLE by Student’s Name Code + Course Name Professor University City/State Date Introduction There has been an increased interest in the value of strategic management in the hospitality sector. Between 2005 and 2007, strategy related articles in hospitality journals constituted 27% of the total journal articles (Harrington & Ottenbacher 2010, p.439). This figure reflects how important of strategic management research is in the hospitality industry. This paper will look at one of the recent publications regarding strategic management and the hospitality industry with the aim of reviewing and critiquing it. Of particular interest will be assessing how the author has presented various issues in relation to research and the hospitality field. The paper will also look at the study methodology and design as well as findings. In order to understand the relevance of strategic management, the paper will look at some points the author believes to be the most critical. Finally, the conclusion section will summarize the paper’s main ideas. It will also identify one aspect of the article that it feels would have been done better. Strategic Management and the Hospitality Industry One of the reasons there has been increased interest in strategic management and the hospitality industry is because it one of the factors that determines the sector’s strengths and weaknesses (Bardis 2010, p.17). In 2012, Bardis conducted a study to determine the role of strategic management and its impact on an organization in general. The study sought to find the internal and external factors, which influenced the strategic planning process. In addition, the study also wanted to find out what additional factors need to be taken into account to in strategic management. It appears that internal and external factors play an important role in strategic management; otherwise, Bardis would not have chosen to focus on them. Their relevance should not be undermined since they appear to have strategic value. The study revealed how these factors contributed to a better strategic management process. The study emphasizes the importance of conducting a SWOT analysis, PESTE evaluation, and Porter’s five forces review during strategic management. It appears that SWOT, PESTE, and Porter’s five forces model are very crucial tools in strategic management. These tools are widely used in other areas of business hence, one has to agree with Harrington and Ottenbacher (2010, p.440), when they note that research on strategic management and the hospitality field cannot be done in isolation of other fields or disciplines. The subject may be fragile and lack consensus due to sector’s unique structure, however, the value of strategic decisions and operational processes cannot be undermined (Harrington & Ottenbacher 2010, p.440). How to determine which aspect is strategic and which one is not is one of the issues that were cited in the article. The answer to this question seems to be enthroned in an individual’s perception. This brings out the issue of relatively and subjectivity when analyzing this topic. It is difficult to ascertain how these factors influences the hospitality industry since Harrington and Ottenbacher’s work do not adequately cover this area. Their work is more focused on determining the proportion taken by strategic management articles in hospitality journals, how the content differs from the general field, and which topics appear to have the greatest potential hence, bearing the greatest potential (Harrington & Ottenbacher 2010, p.440). The term strategic management has become common giving rise to numerous definitions. The article brings presents the reader with multiple definitions of strategic management. These definitions can be considered different author’s suggestions. The article has defined the strategic management in at least three different ways (Harrington & Ottenbacher 2010, p. 441). The different definitions bring to focus different aspects of strategic management. They broaden one’s perspective and stimulate the readers’ interests. In my opinion, the multiple definitions widen one’s understanding in addition to encouraging them to seek more information. Since strategic management is common in many fields perhaps the definition by Nag et al (2007, p.942) would be the most encompassing and boundary spinning. Nag et al (2007, p.942) acknowledge five critical aspects of strategic management namely; initiatives, management, utilizations of resources, performance, the organization and the external environment. The article does not give an in depth analysis of these aspects beyond pointing out that they are the distinguishing factors between hospitality and tourism strategic management. However, Sun (2011 p.270) illustrates how the environment, innovation and firm management are strategic factors that constitute core competencies in the hotel industry. This proposition was proven by a study conducted on Raffles Hotel, which showed how the hotel had managed to incorporate these aspects into their strategic management process. One of the things that came out strongly in Sun’s survey is that strategies needs to be backed with consistency otherwise they probability of them failing in very high (Sun 2011, p.272). Although the study managed to successfully determined the percentage of strategic journal articles to be 27% of total hospitality articles, Harrington and Ottenbacher (2010, p.439) acknowledges that their view on what strategy is, their interpretations and beliefs is what set the boundary conditions. Such a criterion makes their work appear rather subjective. Although the Harrington and Ottenbacher acknowledge that, the criterions were based on their best judgment this does not resolve subjectivity concerns. This work thus, can be deemed qualitative rather than quantitative. McKellar (n.d para.3) states that subjectivity represents some level of bias in research. Perhaps the lack of a widely acceptable interdisciplinary definition is one of the reasons why Mr. Harrington and Ottenbatcher chose to go with their best judgment when analyzing the articles. According to Weber and Strohmer (2013, p.1), the issue of subjectivity and the researcher’s position is increasingly being discussed in the fields of social research and has brought about different concepts and methodological approaches. The article also briefly touched on hospitality and tourism strategic management. It compared the two against mainstream strategic management and came up with several similarities and differences (Harrington & Ottenbacher 2010, p.442). During their analysis, they found out that there was limited literature on hospitality and tourism with most of the available literature failing to focus on strategic management. The article also pointed out those educators in this field drew their knowledge from wide and unrelated fields (Harrington & Ottenbacher 2010, P.441), this concrete analysis is one of the article’s strongest points. The article managed to demonstrate that enough has not been done within the hospitality sector terms of strategic management research. Further research on the matter reveals that not all is lost. There are scholars who have done researched the subject, however it is evident that more needs to be done. Some the present published information includes works by Okumus, Altinay, and Chathoth (2010) that covers various topics regarding strategic management and the global hospitality industry. Methodology and Design Mr. Harrington and Ottenbacher clearly state from the beginning that they will be relying on previously published journals as his main source of data. They acknowledge that the assessment process is not without criticism and they convincingly justify their approach. One of the advantages of using secondary data sources are they are cheaper and more cost effective compared to primary data collections methods. They are readily available and easy to use (Browne 2011, p. 50). Since not a lot of research has been conducted on the subject, industry journals might have been the only reliable and credible sources of information available. According to Kumar (2010 p.59), one of the limitations of secondary data sources is that the information may be outdated. In order to address this limitation, Harrington & Ottenbacher decided to review only the most recent journals. In research, the relevance of time on data is very crucial (Kumar 2010, p.59). The research organized the information well, basing its structure of relevance, academic expertise, and objectivity and time considerations. Looking at the way the data has been organized, and evaluated it appears that Harrington and Ottenbacher used the grounded theory approach to develop their arguments. The grounded theory uses available information to develop a theory that is not necessarily founded on specific data, research or theoretical lines (Bell 2010, p.8). Discussion of Findings At the end of the survey, the article pointed out ten topics that were frequently encountered. One of them is strategic management and uncertainty. From the article, one gets the impression that strategic management can be used to resolve uncertainty concerns within the industry. The article asked rather good questions that if well answered could bring strategic value to the organizations. The role of strategy and internal organization was discussed albeit not in depth. The article also covered areas such as competitive strategy and corporate governance. From the information availed, it seems that Harrington’s and Ottenbatcher’s aim was not to discuss these areas in detail rather; it was to pin point areas with the greatest strategic potential. One of the remarkable aspects that the co-authors were able to bring out is the use of critical questioning. The questions were extensive and elaborate. For example, questions asked under corporate strategy, governance focused on leadership, reward, motivation, growth strategies, environmental, and financial industry factors. It is important to note that critical questioning is one of the most effective ways of coming up with research questions (Law et al 1998, p. 7) hence; this tactic identified clearly potential areas for future research. The strategy process has also been brought up. The article pointed out that the strategic management process has an impact on performance (Harington & Ottenbatcher 2010, p.454). As much as the article pointed out gaps in the study, it also revealed areas of that hold the greatest strategic potential. It is quite notable that the research prompts one to consider the role of decision making in terms of drawing strategic value. The article does not delve much into this area besides acknowledging that it is a quite insightful area. It is easy to downplay its relevance but Harrington and Ottenbacher (2010, p.454) do nudge one to look that how strategic value can be drawn from decision-making techniques and tactics. Conclusion After a critical review of Harrington and Ottenbacher’s research, a few things come out clearly. Firstly, the hospitality industry has not yet fully embraced strategic management, therefore, they it has yet to appreciate its relevance, potential and benefits. Secondly, strategic management is a wide concept that has found application in various fields. The multiple definitions and extensive research in other field reveals that the hospitality industry has been left behind, but can catch up if stakeholders begin to appreciate its contribution and more research conducted on the same. One of the issues that clearly come out is that the research was based only on secondary source making it highly subjective. To address this issue, future research on the subject should consider gathering information from both primary and secondary sources. This approach will make the research less subjective and more objective. Reference List Bardis, P 2012, Strategic Management in a Hotel, viewed 19th May 2014, BELL, J 2007, Doing your research project a guide for first-time researchers in education, health and social science. Maidenhead, McGraw-Hill International (UK) Ltd. http://www.ECU.eblib.com.au/EBLWeb/patron/?target=patron&extendedid=E_223107userid=%5Eu. Browne, K 2011, An introduction to sociology. Cambridge, UK, Polity Press. Harrington, R. J & Ottenbacher, M. C 2011, 'Strategic management: an analysis of its representation and focus in recent hospitality research', International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 23, no.4, pp.439-462. kUMAR, R 2010, Research methodology, APH Publishing, New Dehli, India Law, M., Stewart, D., Letts, L., Pollock, N., Bosch, J & Westmorland, M 1998, 'Guidelines for critical review of qualitative studies', McMaster University Occupational Therapy Evidence-Based Practice Research Group. McKellar, F n.d, Subjectivity: Subjectivity in Qualitative Research, Viewed on 19th May 2014. Nag, R., Hambrick, D.C & Chen, M-J 2007, “What is strategic management, really? Inductive derivation of a consensus definition of the field”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 28 no. 9, pp. 935-55 Okumus, F., Altinay, L & Chathoth, P 2010, Strategic management for hospitality and tourism, Viewed on 19th May 2014 < http://www. sciencedirect. com/science/book/9780750665223.> Sun, L 2011, 'The Core Competences and Strategic Management of Raffles—A Case Study of Singapore Hotel Industry', International Journal of Innovation, Management and Technology, vol. 2, no.4, pp. 270-273. Weber, J. M & Strohmer, J 2013, The approach of subjectivity in qualitative social research–Work on signifiers (Lacan) in interview-research as a possibility to consider subjectivity and singularity in a disciplined way. Read More