This study uses the strategic group approach to analyze and explain why different strategies, implemented in the hotel industry, result in different performance levels. The population consists of three 5-star Spanish hotels. The authors identified five business strategies and four strategic groups in this industry. There are significant differences between the strategic groups in three out of five of the performance variables analyzed, and the different strategies affect each strategic group in a heterogeneous way. This study informs hotel managers about the competitive strategies and subsequent benefits developed within their industry. Finally, the article proposes effective business strategies hoteliers should follow to improve each performance variable, according to their strategic group.
Andersen, Torben J.2001. Information technology, strategic decision making approaches and organizational performance in different industrial settings . Journal of Strategic Information Systems10 (2): 101-19.
2.
Armstrong, Scott, and Terry S. Overton .1977. Estimating nonresponse bias in mail surveys. Journal of Marketing Research14:396-402.
3.
Bain, Joe S.1959. Industrial organization. New York: John Wiley.
4.
Barney, Jay B.1991. Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage . Journal of Management17 (1): 99-120.
5.
Bastakis, Constantinos, Dimitrios Buhalis, and Richard Butler.2004. The perception of small and medium sized tourism accommodation providers on the impacts of the tour operators’ power in Eastern Mediterranean. Tourism Management25 (2): 151-70.
6.
Boudreau, John W., Wendy R. Boswell, and Timothy A. Judge .2001. Effects of personality on executive career success in the United States and Europe. Journal of Vocational Behavior58 (1): 53-81.
7.
Brotherton, Bob.2004. Critical success factors in UK corporate hotels . Service Industries Journal24 (3): 19-42.
8.
Brown, James R., and Chekitan S. Dev2000. Improving productivity in a service business. Evidence from the hotel industry. Journal of Service Research2 (4): 339-54.
9.
Buhalis, Dimitrios.2000. Relationship in the distribution channel of tourism: Conflicts between hoteliers and tour operators in the Mediterranean region . International Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Administration1 (1): 113-39.
10.
Camisón, César.1999. La medición de los resultados empresariales desde una óptica estratégica: construcción de un instrumento a partir de un estudio Delphi y aplicación a la empresa industrial española en el periodo 1983-96. Estudios Financieros62 (199): 201-64.
11.
Canina, Linda, Cathy A. Enz, and Jeffrey S. Harrison .2005. Agglomeration effects and strategic orientations: Evidence from the U.S. lodging industry. Academy of Management Journal48 (4): 565-81.
12.
Carmona-Moreno, Eva, José Céspedes-Lorente , and Jerónimo de Burgos-Giménez.2004. Environmental strategies in Spanish hotels: Contextual factors and performance. Service Industries Journal24 (3): 101-30.
13.
Chan, Eric S. W., and Simon C. K. Wong.2006. Hotel selection: When price is not the issue. Journal of Vacation Marketing12 (2): 142-59.
14.
Combs, James G., David Ketchen Jr., and Vera L. Hoover .2006. A strategic groups approach to the franchising-performance relationship. Journal of Business Venturing19 (6): 877-97.
15.
Cool, Karel, and Ingemar Dierickx .1993. Rivalry, strategic groups and firm profitability. Strategic Management Journal14 (1): 47-59.
16.
Cool, Karel, and Dan Schendel .1987. Strategic group formation and performance. The case of the U.S. pharmaceutical industry, 1963-1982Management Science33 (9): 1102-24.
17.
del Brío, Jesús A., Esteban Fernández, and Beatriz Junquera.2002. The role of the public administrations in the promotion of the environmental activity in Spanish industrial companies. Ecological Economics40 (2): 279-94.
18.
Dev, Chekitan, Kevin Z.Zhou, JimBrown, and Sanjeev Agarwal. 2009. Customer orientation or competitor orientation . Cornell Hospitality Quarterly50 (1): 19-28.
19.
Doty, D. Harold, William H. Glick, and George P. Huber .1993. Fit, equifinality, and organizational effectiveness: A test of two unfigurational theories. Academy of Management Journal36 (6): 1196-1250.
20.
Dranove, David, Margaret Peteraf, and Mark Shanley.1998. Do Strategic groups exist? An economic framework for analysis. Strategic Management Journal19 (11): 1029-44.
21.
Edgar, David A., David L. Littlejohn, and Myrtly L. Allardyce .1994. Strategic clusters and strategic space: The case of the short break market. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management6 (5): 20-26.
22.
Exceltur.2008. Indicadores Turísticos Exceltur. ISTE (PIB Turístico). http://www.exceltur.org/excel01/contenido/portal/listawrap.aspx?nid=95 (accessed January 15, 2009).
23.
Finn, Adam.2007. Doing a double take: Accounting for occasions in service performance assessment. Journal of Service Research9 (4): 372-87.
24.
Flavián, Carlos, and Yolanda Polo.2001. Diversidad estratégica y resultados en la distribución. Revista de Economía Aplicada9 (26): 29-56.
25.
Flynn, Barbar B., Roger G. Schroeder, and Sadao Sakakibara .1994. A framework for quality management research and an associated measurement instrument. Journal of Operations Management11 (4): 339-66.
26.
Fridolín, Mbarga.1995. Factores claves de éxito del sector industrial hotelero. Madrid, Spain: Ministerio de Comercio y Turismo, Instituto de Estudios Turísticos.
27.
Geller, A. Neal.1985. Tracking the critical success factors for hotel companies . Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly25 (4): 76-81.
28.
Griffin, Robert K.1995. A categorization scheme for critical success factors of lodging yield management systems. International Journal of Hospitality Management14 (3/4): 325-38.
29.
Hair, Joseph, Rolph E. Anderson, Ronald L. Tatham, and William C. Black .1998. Multivariate data analysis with readings. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
30.
Hamel, Gary, and C.K. Prahalad.1994. Competing for the future. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
31.
Hatten, Kenneth J., and Mary L. Hatten .1987. Strategic groups, asymmetrical mobility barriers and contestability. Strategic Management Journal8:329-42.
32.
Hodgkinson, Gerard P.1997. Cognitive inertia in a turbulent market: The case of U.K. residential estate agents. Journal of Management Studies34 (6): 921-45.
33.
Ingram, Hadyn, Kathy Biermann, Jacqueline Cannon, Jane Nell, and Catherine Waddle .2000. Internalizing action learning: A company perspective. Establishing critical success factors for action learning courses. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management12 (2): 107-14.
34.
Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE).2008. Cuenta Satélite del Turismo de España . http://www.iet.tourspain.es/informes/Documentacion/TurEspCifras2006.pdf (accessed January 15, 2009).
35.
Kalnins, Arturs, and Wilbur Chung.2004. Resource-seeking agglomeration: A study of market entry in the lodging industry. Strategic Management Journal25 (7): 689-99.
36.
Ketchen, David, Jr. , and Christopher L. Shook.1996. The application of cluster analysis in strategic management research: An analysis and critique . Strategic Management Journal17 (6): 441-58.
37.
Kwoka, John E., and David Ravenscraft .1986. Cooperation vs. rivalry: Price-cost margins by line of business. Economica53:351-63.
38.
Lant, Theresa K., and Joel A. C. Baum.1995. Cognitive sources of socially constructed competitive groups: Examples from the Manhattan hotel industry. In The institutional construction of organizations , ed. W. R. Scott and S. Christensen, 15-38. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
39.
Leask, Graham, and David Parker.2007. Strategic groups, competitive groups and performance within the U.K. pharmaceutical industry: Improving our understanding of the competitive process. Strategic Management Journal28 (7): 723-45.
40.
Lindell, Michael K., and David J. Whitney .2001. Accounting for common method variance in cross-sectional research designs. Journal of Applied Psychology86 (1): 114-21.
41.
Marlin, Dan, David Ketchen Jr., and Bruce Lamont.2007. Equifinality and the strategic groups-performance relationship. Journal of Managerial Issues19 (2): 208-32.
42.
McGee, John, Howard Thomas, and Mark Pruett.1995. Strategic groups and the analysis of market structure and industry dynamics. British Journal of Management6 (4): 257-70.
43.
McNamara, Gerry M., David L. Deephouse, and Rebecca A. Luce .2003. Competitive positioning within and across a strategic group structure: The performance of core, secondary and solitary firms. Strategic Management Journal24 (2): 161-81.
44.
Mehra, Ajay, and Steven W. Floyd .1998. Product market heterogeneity, resource imitability and strategic group formation. Journal of Management24 (4): 511-31.
45.
Mintzberg, Henry, Bruce Ahlstrand, and Joseph B. Lampel .2001. Strategy safari. The complete guide through the wilds of strategic management. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
46.
Nunnally, Jum C.1978. Psychometric Theory. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
47.
Ohmae, Kenichi.1982. The mind of the strategist: The art of Japanese business . New York: McGraw-Hill .
48.
O’Neill, John W., Bjorn Hanson, and Anna S. Mattila .2008. The relationship of sales and marketing expenses to hotel performance in the United States. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly49 (4): 355-63.
49.
O’Neill, John W., and Anna S. Mattila .2006. Strategic hotel development and positioning. The effects of revenue drivers on profitability. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly47 (2): 146-54.
50.
Ottenbacher, Michael, Juergen Gnoth, and Peter Jones.2006. Identifying determinants of success in development of new high-contact services. Insights from the hospitality industry. International Journal of Service Industry Management17 (4): 344-63.
51.
Pegels, C. Carl, Yong I. Song, and Baik Yang.2000. Management heterogeneity, competitive interaction groups, and firm performance. Strategic Management Journal21 (9): 911-23.
52.
Podsakoff, Phillip M., Scott B. MacKenzie, Jeong-Yeon Lee, and Nathan P. Podsakoff .2003. Common methods biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies . Journal of Applied Psychology88 (5): 879-903.
53.
Podsakoff, Phillip M., and Dennis W. Organ .1986. Self-reports in organizational research: Problems and prospects. Journal of Management12 (4): 531-44.
54.
Porter, Michael E.1979. The structure within industries and companies performance . Review of Economics and Statistics61 (2): 214-27.
55.
Prior, Diego, and Jordi Surroca.2006. Strategic groups based on marginal rates: An application to the Spanish banking industry. European Journal of Operational Research170 (1): 293-314.
56.
Reichel, Aire, and Sigal Haber.2005. A three-sector comparison of the business performance of small tourism enterprises: An exploratory study. Tourism Management26 (5): 681-90.
57.
Sanchís, Joan R., and Vanesa Campos.2001. Factores de éxito de la industria hotelera. Un estudio empírico aplicado a los hoteles de la Comunidad Valenciana. Papers de Turisme30:92-121.
58.
Saraph, Jayant V., P. George Benson, and Roger G. Schroeder .1989. An instrument for measuring the critical factors of quality management. Decision Sciences20 (4): 810-29.
59.
Short, Jeremy C., David Ketchen Jr., Timothy B. Palmer, and Thomas M. Hult.2007. Firm, strategic group, and industry influences on performance. Strategic Management Journal28 (2): 147-67.
60.
Thomas, Howard, and N. Venkatraman.1988. Research on strategic groups: Progress and prognosis. Journal of Management Studies26:537-55.
61.
Tihanyi, Laszlo, Alan E. Ellstrand, Catherine M. Daily, and Dan R. Dalton .2000. Composition of the top management team and firm international diversification. Journal of Management26 (6): 1157-77.
62.
Turespaña.2005.Guía Oficial de Hoteles de España 2005. Madrid. Secretaría de Estado deTurismo.
63.
Veliyath, Rajaram, and Stephen P. Ferris .1997. Agency influences on risk reduction and operating performance: An empirical investigation among strategic groups. Journal of Business Research39 (3): 219-30.
64.
Very, Philippe, Michael Lubatkin, Roland Calori, and John Veiga1997. Relative standing and performance of recently acquired European firms. Strategic Management Journal18 (8): 593-614.
65.
Wiggins, Robert R., and Timothy W. Ruefli .1995. Necessary conditions for the predictive validity of strategic groups: Analysis without reliance on clustering techniques. Academy of Management Journal38 (6): 1635-56.
66.
Winata, Lanita, and Lokman Mia.2005. Information technology and the performance effect of manager’s participation in the budgeting: Evidence from the hotel industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management24 (1): 21-39.
67.
World Tourism Organization (WTO).2007. Tourism highlights. www.unwto.org/facts/menu.html (accessed May 14, 2008).
68.
Wry, Tyler, David L. Deephouse, and Gerry M. McNamara .2007. Substantive and evaluative media reputations among and within cognitive strategic groups. Corporate Reputation Review9 (4): 225-42.
69.
Yeung, Tom Au, and Rob Law .2004. Extending the modified heuristic usability evaluation technique to chain and independent hotel websites . International Journal of Hospitality Management23 (3): 307-13.
70.
Zúñiga-Vicente, José A., Juan M. de la Fuente-Sabaté, and Julio Rodríguez-Puerta .2004. A study of industry evolution in the face of major environmental disturbances: Group and firm strategic behaviour of Spanish banks, 1983-1997. British Journal of Management15 (3): 219-45.
