Structures, Systems and Organizational Communication Processes in Franchises in times of crisis: the Spanish case

Current economic crisis together with the Internet revolution has had direct impacts on the franchise sector of Spain: in particular on its unique communication network. The aim of this research is to analyse how Spanish franchise companies have adapted to these changes through its corporate communications management. We want to determine whether the management of communications is ideal to the growth and consolidation of companies in the market. Corporate communications plans and organizational structures were analyzed to verify whether or not information technology (i.e. the use of the Internet) is maximized: the communications aspect being a critical area of company growth. We found that most franchise companies surveyed had adapted well to the changes in information technology, despite economic challenges. The Internet as a communications tool has been limited to its utility as a “bulletin board” for information. The marketing advantage of Internet communication, or its use as an avenue for customer exchange and exchange of goods and services has yet to be maximized. Future research may look into the details of how companies are able to maximize the communications-marketing advantage that Online/Internet can contribute to the franchise sector.

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.

Organizational design, quality management and competitive advantage in hotels

Purpose – The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between practices of quality management (QM) and the characteristics of organizational design, and QM and competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses a partial least squares approach to test these relationships in 350 hotels in Spain. Findings – The findings show that QM influences specialization, formalization and interdepartmental interactions, and that QM practices influence both cost and differentiation competitive advantage. The results also indicate the importance of QM strategic and operational systems as practices that have a key impact on the characteristics of organizational design. Similarly, the QM operational system is key in the relationship between QM and cost competitive advantage. Finally, the QM operational, information and strategic systems positively influence differentiation competitive advantage. Practical implications – When hotels adopt QM practices, there will be significant changes in a number of organizational variables, including specialization, formalization and interdepartmental interactions. This paper provides empirical evidence that QM practices improve both cost and differentiation competitive advantage in the hotel industry. Originality/value – There has been little research on the effects of QM on organizational design in the hotel industry. The contribution of this paper is that analyze the effects of QM on organizational design and competitive advantage, extending knowledge about these issues in a specific sector.