Performance improvement is at the heart of all strategic management. Thus, theprincipal objectives of this study were to develop an industry-specific instrument tomeasure lodging strategy, identify a set of strategic dimensions underlying such strategy,and relate performance differences among lodging units to varying strategic dimensionsemphasized by such units.
The study adopted the individual hotel as the unit of analysis, and realizedstrategy was measured as opposed to the intended. Five hundred and seventy nine hotels,which are part of the franchise systems of two industry-leading chains contributedinformation for this research.
Following a comparative approach to the measurement of the strategy construct,this study developed a lOS-item lodging industry-specific strategy measurement scale, capturing a comprehensive set of strategic characteristics from the business strategy(porter, 1980) and service management (Gronroos, 1990; Zeithaml, Parasuraman, andBerry, 1990) literatures. Through factor analysis, a parsimonious set of seven strategicdimensions, Service Quality Leadership, Technological Leadership, Push, Cost Control,Pull, Group Channels, and Cross-Training, underlying this lOS-item scale was delineated.
Using Yield Per Room, Market Share Index, and Return on Sales as theperformance measures, the study indicated that strategies followed by high and lowperforming hotels were different. The empirical evidence showed that, in general, thePush, Service Quality Leadership, and Technological Leadership strategic dimensionstended to be associated with high performance.
The evidence also indicated that strategies emphasized by high and lowperforming hotels differed by the four control variables studied: Location, (Service)Segment, (Ownership-Management) Affiliation, and Size. Additionally, similardifferences were also obtained when the hotels studied were classified by the performancemeasure most used by them to evaluate themselves, and the age of the properties.Preliminary indications were also obtained to confirm the existence of a strategic timelag effect.
The results from this study should be valuable not only for extending hospitalitystrategy research, but also for their normative implications.