Quality Management, Environmental Management and Organizational Design in the Hotel Industry: A Qualitative Study

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, the paper analyzes the relationship between quality management and environmental management and their effects on hotel performance. Second, the article examines the relationship between these two management systems and organizational design. The paper uses an exploratory, qualitative approach based on interviews with managers and experts in the hotel industry. Based on a content analysis of interviews, the results lead to several propositions. Specifically, quality and environmental management influence hotel performance through mediating variables. Moreover, the implementation of quality management facilitates the implementation of environmental management. Furthermore, the implementation of these two management systems is associated with an increase of formalization and decentralization. The paper contributes to the analysis of quality management, environmental management, organizational design and performance in a joint manner, which has not been attempted before in the hotel industry. In addition, it helps extend the findings about these links in manufacturing and service organizations to the hotel industry.

The differentiated effects of CSR actions in the service industry

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to attempt to explain why the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives may be different and/or more important in service firms compared to manufacturing firms. CSR is becoming a common strategy, hence its extensive research. Central to it is the analysis of the effect of CSR on a firm’s performance, whose outcome depends on firm-specific and industry-related factors. Design/methodology/approach – The event study methodology is applied to all the 248 companies that have ever traded on the Spanish Stock Market between 1990 and 2007. A regression analysis examines potential different effects of CSR on service and goods firms. Findings – The results show that CSR activities have a positive impact on firm performance that is higher for service firms than for manufacturing firms. Actions related to the environment, responsible labor relationships and good corporate governance are especially important in the service context. Research limitations/implications – This research is focused on shareholders’ performance, but it does not consider other stakeholders, such as real consumer behavior or employees’ commitment and productivity. Practical implications – Service firms are likely to gain from focusing on some CSR activities (environment, employees and good corporate governance) and should use their responsible behavior as a valuable tool for public relations and differentiation in the market. Originality/value – This article is the first attempt to empirically test and explain why the relationship between CSR and firm performance may be different (more positive) for service vs manufacturing firms.

Measuring color differences in gonioapparent materials used in the automotive industry

This paper illustrates how to design a visual experiment to measure color differences in gonioapparent materials and how to assess the merits of different advanced color-difference formulas trying to predict the results of such experiment. Successful color-difference formulas are necessary for industrial quality control and artificial color-vision applications. A color- difference formula must be accurate under a wide variety of experimental conditions including the use of challenging materials like, for example, gonioapparent samples. Improving the experimental design in a previous paper [Melgosaet al., Optics Express 22, 3458-3467 (2014)], we have tested 11 advanced color-difference formulas from visual assessments performed by a panel of 11 observers with normal colorvision using a set of 56 nearly achromatic colorpairs of automotive gonioapparent samples. Best predictions of our experimental results were found for the AUDI2000 color-difference formula, followed by color-difference formulas based on the color appearance model CIECAM02. Parameters in the original weighting function for lightness in the AUDI2000 formula were optimized obtaining small improvements. However, a power function from results provided by the AUDI2000 formula considerably improved results, producing values close to the inter-observer variability in our visual experiment. Additional research is required to obtain a modified AUDI2000 color-difference formula significantly better than the current one.

The effects of quality and environmental management on competitive advantage: A mixed methods study in the hotel industry

This paper reports results derived from a mixed methods study where 13 hotel managers were initially interviewed, followed by a quantitative study of 355 additional managers. Data were analysed using partial least squares path modelling. The research question related to the relationship between quality and environmental management and the competitive advantage sought by hotels. The results indicate that quality management and environmental management permit the improvement of competitive advantage in terms of both costs and differentiation. Moreover, hotels implementing quality programmes find fewer obstacles in implementing environmental management.

Exploring the relationship between educational mismatch, earnings and job satisfaction in the tourism industry

This article analyses the interrelationship between educational mismatch, wages and job satisfaction in the Spanish tourism sector in the first years of the global economic crisis. It is shown that there is a much higher incidence of over-education among workers in the Spanish tourism sector than in the rest of the economy despite this sector recording lower educational levels. This study estimates two models to analyse the influence of the educational mismatch on wages and job satisfaction for workers in the tourism industry and for the Spanish economy as a whole. The first model shows that in the tourism sector, the wage penalty associated with over-education is approximately 10%. The second reveals that in the tourism sector the levels of satisfaction of over-educated workers are considerably lower than those corresponding to workers well assigned. With respect to the differences between tourism and the overall economy in both aspects, the wage penalty is substantially lower in the case of tourism industries and the effect of over-education on job satisfaction is very similar to that of the economy as a whole in a context where both wages and the private returns to education are considerably lower in the tourism sector.

Estrategias y ventajas competitivas de los hoteles españoles y su relación con el desempeño

Actualmente, el sector hotelero está inmerso en un entorno de alta incertidumbre y muy competitivo por lo que necesita información estratégica para la correcta gestión de sus establecimientos. Dicha información puede obtenerse a partir de la clasificación de los hoteles en grupos estratégicos. Esta investigación empírica presenta los grupos estratégicos en el sector hotelero como una herramienta muy útil para la planificación y la implantación de estrategias de los hoteles ya que permiten identificar las estrategias y las ventajas competitivas de este sector. Además, se analiza si existen diferencias de desempeño entre los distintos grupos estratégicos hoteleros obtenidos. Para la identificación y la caracterización de los grupos se emplean las dimensiones compromiso de recursos y alcance de las actividades hoteleras.

Technical efficiency in the retail food industry: the influence of inventory investment, wage levels, and age of the firm

The objective of this paper is to estimate technical efficiency in retailing; and the influence of inventory investment, wage levels, and firm age on this efficiency. We use the output supermarket chains’ sales volume, calculated isolating the retailer price effect on its sales revenue. This output allows us to estimate a strictly technical concept of efficiency. The methodology is based on the estimation of a stochastic parametric function. The empirical analyses applied to panel data on a sample of 42 supermarket chains between 2000 and 2002 show that inventory investment and wage level have an impact on technical efficiency. In comparison, the effect of these factors on efficiency calculated through a monetary output (sales revenue) shows some differences that could be due to aspects related to product prices.