A Comparison of the Performance of Brand-Affiliated and Unaffiliated Hotel Properties

Research has shown that performance differences exist between brand-affiliated hotels and unaffiliated properties. However, the extant empirical results are mixed. Some research has shown that brands outperform unaffiliated hotels on various metrics, whereas other research has shown the opposite. This article analyzes this issue using a matched-pair approach where we compare the performance differences of brand-affiliated and unaffiliated properties between 1998 and 2010. The matched-pair approach ensures that local competitive conditions as well as hotel characteristics are the same across the comparison pair. In addition, all potential omitted-variable bias and model misspecifications are avoided. Thus, to address our research question, we compare branded hotels with unaffiliated properties that are identical in age, market segment, location, and duration of operation, as well as having a similar number of rooms. Our analysis shows that performance differentials are present, albeit not systematic. We found no consistent advantages in all segments for either the affiliated hotels or the comparable unaffiliated properties, taking into account our comparison factors. That said, the methodology of our approach yields results that are more informative to the affiliation choice of owners and to the growth strategies of hotel brand–owner companies than those of previous empirical studies.

Utilizing “Big Data” to Improve the Hotel Sector’s Energy Efficiency: Lessons from Recent Economics Research

Hotel chains have access to a treasure trove of “big data” on individual hotels’ monthly electricity and water consumption. Benchmarked comparisons of hotels within a specific chain create the opportunity to cost-effectively improve the environmental performance of specific hotels. This paper describes a simple approach for using such data to achieve the joint goals of reducing operating expenditure and achieving broad sustainability goals. In recent years, energy economists have used such “big data” to generate insights about the energy consumption of the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors. Lessons from these studies are directly applicable for the hotel sector. A hotel’s administrative data provide a “laboratory” for conducting random control trials to establish what works in enhancing hotel energy efficiency.

Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index 2016: Energy, Water, and Carbon

Several studies have been undertaken or attempted by industry and academe to address the need for lodging industry carbon benchmarking. However, these studies have focused on normalizing resource use with the goal of rating or comparing all properties based on multivariate regression according to an industry-wide set of variables, with the result that data sets for analysis were limited. This approach is backward, because practical hotel industry benchmarking must first be undertaken within a specific location and segment.1 Therefore, the CHSB study’s goal is to build a representative database providing raw benchmarks as a base for industry comparisons.2 These results are presented in the CHSB2016 Index, through which a user can obtain the range of benchmarks for energy consumption, water consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions for hotels within specific segments and geographic locations.

Gestão da cadeia de suprimento e vantagem competitiva: uma análise em setores industriais a partir da visão relacional

This work has as its main purpose to investigate the contribution of supply chain management in order to obtain competitive advantage by companies from the textile industry and from Ceará footwear industry, focusing its analysis mainly in the interorganizational relations (dyadic). For this, the theoretical referential contemplates different explanatory streams of the competitive advantage, detaching the relational perception of the resources theory, as well as, the main presuppositions of the supply chain management which culminates with the development of an analysis sample that runs the empirical study; the one which considers an expanded purpose of the supply chain which includes the government and the abetment institutions as institutional environment representatives. Besides supply chain management consideration as a competitive advantage source, the work also tried to identify other possible competitive advantage sources for the companies of the investigated sectors. It represents a study of multiple interpretive cases, having four cases as a total; meaning two cases in each one of the sectors, which used as a primary data collecting instrument a semi-structured interview schedule. Different methods were used for the data analysis, the content analysis and the constant comparison methods, the analytical procedure originated from the grounded theory research strategy, which were applied the Atlas/ti software recourse. Considering the theoretical referential and the used analysis sample, four basic categories of the work were defined, including its respective proprieties and dimensions: (1) characteristics concerning to the relationship with the supplier; (2) the company relations with the government; (3) the company relations with the abetment institutions and; (4) obtaining sources of competitive advantage. In general, the applied research in the footwear sector revealed that in the relationships of the researched companies related to its suppliers, there is a predominance of the partnership system and the main presuppositions of the supply chain management are applied which contributes for the acquisition of the relational competitive advantage; while in the textile sector, only some of these presuppositions are applied, with little contribution for the relational competitive advantage. The main resource which was accessed by the companies in both sectors through its relationships with the government and the abetment institutions are the tax incentives which, for the footwear companies, contribute for the acquisition of the temporary competitive advantage in relation to the contestants who do not own productive installations in the Northeast region, it also conducts to a competitive parity situation in relation to the contestants who own productive installations in the Northeast region and to the external market contestants; while for the companies of the textile sector, the tax incentives run the companies to a competitive parity situation in relation to its contestants. Furthermore, the investigated companies from the two sectors possess acquisition sources of the competitive advantage which collimate with different explanatory streams (industrial analysis, resources theory, Austrian school and the dynamic capabilities theory), although there is a predominance of the product innovation as a competitive advantage source in both sectors, due to the bond of these with the fashion tendencies

Effektivisering av mjukvaruinstallationer : Genom automatiserad mjukvarudistribution

Software deployment, eller mjukvarudistribution översatt till svenska kan ses som processen där alla aktiviteter ingår för att göra en mjukvara tillgänglig för användare utan en manuell installation på användarens dator eller annan maskin. Det finns ett flertal software deployment-verktyg, som hanterar automatiska installationer, tillgängliga för företag på marknaden idag.  Avdelningen HVDC på ABB i Ludvika har behov att börja använda ett verktyg för automatiserade installationer av mjukvaror då installationer idag utförs manuellt och är tidsödande. Som Microsoftpartners vill ABB se hur Microsofts verktyg för mjukvarudistribution skulle kunna hjälpa för detta behov.  Vår studie syftade till att undersöka hur arbetet med installationer av mjukvara ser ut idag, samt hitta förbättringsmöjligheter för installationer som inte kan automatiseras i nuläget. I studien ingick även att ta fram ett generellt ramverk för hur verksamheter kan gå tillväga när de vill börja använda sig utav software deployment-verktyg. I ramverket ingår en utformad kravspecifikation som ska utvärderas mot Microsofts verktyg.  För att skapa en uppfattning om hur arbetet i verksamheten ser ut idag har vi utfört enkätundersökning och intervjuer med personal på HVDC. För att utveckla ett ramverk har vi använt oss av insamlade data från de intervjuer, enkätundersökning och gruppintervju som utförts, detta för att identifiera krav och önskemål från personalen hos ett software deployment-verktyg. Litteraturstudier utfördes för att skapa en teoretisk referensram att utgå ifrån vid utvecklande av ramverket och kravspecifikationen.  Studien har resulterat i en beskrivning av software deployment, förbättringsmöjligheter i arbetet med installationer av mjukvara samt ett generellt ramverk som beskriver hur verksamheter kan gå tillväga när de ska börja använda ett software deployment-verktyg. Ramverket innehåller också en kravspecifikation som använts för att utvärdera Microsofts verktyg för mjukvarudistribution. I vår studie har vi inte sett att någon tidigare har tagit fram ett generellt ramverk och kravspecifikation som verksamheter kan använda sig av som underlag när de ska börja använda ett software deployment-verktyg. Vårt resultat av studien kan täcka upp detta kunskapsgap.    

Shining Examples of Service When the Lights Went Out: Hotel Employees and Service Recovery during the Blackout of 2003

The electrical outage in the summer of 2003 that interrupted power to thousands of hotels wrought a variety of facilities failures and service-process problems. Fortunately, strong service-recovery efforts from hotel employees mitigated the worst of the blackout’s effects. Using survey data from hotel managers who experienced the blackout, this study highlights those employee actions that most contributed to immediate service recovery; however, the study also reveals limited organizational learning or efforts to failsafe hospitality service from the eventuality of future power failures.

Service Loyalty: An Integrative Model and Examination across Service Contexts

Marketing academics and practitioners generally agree that customer loyalty is vital to business success. There is less agreement on the factors that determine customer loyalty, particularly in service contexts. Research on the determinants of service loyalty has taken three distinct paths: 1) quality/value/satisfaction; 2) relationship quality; and, 3) relational benefits. In this research, the authors coalesce these paths to derive a model that links dimensions of customer loyalty (cognitive, affective, intention, and behavioral) with a system of determinants. The model is tested with data from varied services (airlines, banks, beauty salons, hospitals, hotels, and mobile telephone) and 3,500 customers in China. Results are consistent across contexts and support a multidimensional view of customer loyalty. Key loyalty determinants are customer satisfaction, commitment, service fairness, service quality, trust, and a construct new to service loyalty models—commercial friendship. The research contributes to the literature by providing a more complete, integrated view of customer loyalty and its determinants in services contexts.

Do tratamento das reclamações à gestão da insatisfação: o comportamento de empresas hoteleiras mediante a insatisfação de seus clientes

Consumer dissatisfaction, when properly handled, is a significant information source for the manager. Studies in this area allow broadening the understanding of certain customer attitudes and behaviors, such as loyalty, repurchase intention or satisfaction and trust increase. Above and beyond supporting consumer feedback, dissatisfaction can provide significant opportunities for organizational learning. Starting from dissatisfied customer information, companies can detect service flaws and develop new products. This work presents the results of an investigation on the behavior of businesses belonging to the hotel sector in Natal, RN, through the dissatisfaction of their customers. We have sought to map the main problems presented by customers to hotels, in the perception of managers and employees, as well as to understand both the process of dissatisfactionrelated data collection, analysis, and processing, and the utilization of such information by businesses. Beyond this, we have compared the habits of organizations to the company reaction approaches described in the literature: Complaint Handling, Complaint Management, and Dissatisfaction Management. The used methodology has been based on case study. Data was collected via indepth interviews with managers and employees in six hotels, two independent ones and four belonging to national and international hotel networks. We have also made use of documents provided by the organizations, such as guest complaint registers and reports from satisfaction surveys on which content analysis was subsequently performed. The results of the investigation point to a high level of awareness in the companies concerning the importance of consumer dissatisfaction. Even though the maximum grade in the procedure scale is not achieved, it has been observed that answer to dissatisfaction is given in planned and systematic form, geared towards consumer satisfaction and improvement of products and processes. Hotel businesses still have to look into other possibilities for mapping consumer dissatisfaction, which implies, among other aspects, articulation with a range of public and private organizations in such a way as to guarantee sustainability of touristic activities in the long term

Gerenciamento de impressões e qualidade dos serviços em hotéis da Paraíba

The present study has got as its aim to show how the impressions management is being used by the hotels in Paraiba State. For that, the dramma or role play perspective has been adopted as a model for service management. From the theater metaphor, the physical environment and its components can be seen as a scenery of the service show. We conduct the reader to notice the importance of the consummer about the service quality demand and its influence on his satisfaction. A methodology with exploring and qualifying nature has been adopted by using the analyses of content technique in interviews applied to hotel managers lebeled as having 4 and 5 stars in the State, trying to check how impression management takes place, identifying impression management tools used in relation to the physical evidences and to contacting people, as well as checking managers views in the survey about the use of impression management for client satisfaction make. The information revealed that managers, maybe for being unaware about impression management theory, haven t considered neither the physical evidences yet, nor contacting people as marketing tools. About the physical evidences, we could see that hotels take actions in a pulverized way referring to environment decoration and colors, however there isn t a global usage of physical evidences to highlight the service. Contacting people by their turn, receive better importance and attention. It was possible to make sure that managers are aware about the influence of the employee over the attendance quality. This way, we may come into a conclusion that impression management at Paraiba hotels has been under used, as long as managers seem to be, most times, turned to actions related to contacting people, not having realized the planning importance and national-wide use of service scenery in a genaral way yet

Influência dos intermediários de distribuição de produtos turísticos no processo de decisão do meio de hospedagem pelo consumidor

This study examines the complex hotel buyer decision process in front of the tourism distribution channels. Its objective is to describe the influence level of the tourism marketing intermediaries, mainly the travel agents and tour operators, over the hotel decision process by the buyer-tourist. The data collection process was done trough a survey with three hundred brazilian tourists hosted in nineteen hotels of Natal, capital of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. The data analysis was done using some multivariate statistic techniques as correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis, factor analysis and multiple discriminant analysis. The research characterizes the hotel services consumers profile and his trip, and identifying the distribution channels used by them. Furthermore, the research verifies the intermediaries influence exercised over hotel buyer decision process, looking for identify causality relations between the influence level and the buyer profile. Verifies that information about hotels available on internet reduces the probability that this influence can be practiced; however it was possible identifying those consumers considers this information complementary and non-substitutes than the information from intermediaries. The characteristics of the data do not allow indentifying the factors that constraint the intermediaries influence neither identifying discriminant functions of the specific distribution channel choice by consumers. The study concludes that consumers don t agree in have been influenced by intermediaries or don t know if they have, still considering important to consult them and internet doesn t substitute their function as information source

Des activités physiques et sportives pratiquées par les femmes au Québec : Témoignages et collections (1880-1974)

Ce mémoire porte sur la pratique du sport et de l‟activité physique par les femmes au Québec entre 1880 et 1974, par l‟étude de la collection d‟objets sportifs du Musée de la civilisation, le dépouillement de catalogues commerciaux et d‟autres documents d‟archives, ainsi que l‟analyse de contenu de témoignages oraux recueillis par la chercheure et tenus dans le cadre du projet « Vivre sa ville : Québec au XXe siècle » du Laboratoire d‟ethnologie urbaine. L‟utilisation de ces trois sources de données permet de faire ressortir les modalités d‟insertion des femmes dans la pratique sportive. Les normes et les pratiques du sport féminin seront abordées notamment en ce qui a trait à l‟hygiène, à la morale chrétienne, aux installations et aux organisations sportives.

Gestão do marketing de relacionamento: um estudo em empresas hoteleiras de Natal - RN

The present study it analyzes the Management of the Marketing of strategy Relationship as distinguishing for the host s companies of the city of Natal - RN. To carry through this analysis interviews with managers had been carried through, as well as the direct comment of processes, documents, actions and strategies developed for the hotels, with intention to know the level of perception and valuation of the relationship with customers, to verify resources and technologies used in the Management of the Relationship Marketing, identification, segmentation and differentiation of customers, personalization of products and services, and results of the emphasis in the relationship with customers for the host s companies. The research can be classified as exploratory - descriptive, and its universe is limited to the city of Natal, having enclosed hotels that have carried through tourist activity in 2005 and 2006. Still on the criteria of election of the sample, the study it investigated host s companies who if fit in the category superior luxury, or either, five stars, pertaining the national nets and international. How much to the treatment and analysis of the data the was made to leave of the theoretical support of the authors who work the thematic one and of the analysis of the interviews with managers, documents and processes observed for the researcher in the studied hotels. The research sample that the interviewed ones understand the importance to work the Management of the Marketing of Relationship in the host s companies me intention to get sustainable competitive advantage. One still evidenced that the searched hotels make use of strategies and instruments of Management of the Marketing of Relationship, however without an ample theoretical knowledge and yes only as base in the experience of the managers and spread processes already, generating one moment competitive advantage and not relationships of long duration

Effects of IFRS adoption on the financial statements of Nigerian listed entities: the case of oil and gas companies

On 28 July 2010, the Nigerian Federal Executive Council approved January 1, 2012 as the effective date for the convergence of Nigerian Statement of Accounting Standards (SAS) or Nigerian GAAP (NG-GAAP) with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). By this pronouncement, all publicly listed companies and significant public interest entities in Nigeria were statutorily required to issue IFRS based financial statements for the year ended December, 2012. This study investigates the impact of the adoption of IFRS on the financial statements of Nigerian listed Oil and Gas entities using six years of data which covers three years before and three years after IFRS adoption in Nigeria and other African countries. First, the study evaluates the impact of IFRS adoption on the Exploration and Evaluation (E&E) expenditures of listed Oil and Gas companies. Second, it examines the impact of IFRS adoption on the provision for decommissioning of Oil and Gas installations and environmental rehabilitation expenditures. Third, the study analyses the impact of the adoption of IFRS on the average daily Crude Oil production cost per Barrel. Fourth, it examines the extent to which the adoption and implementation of IFRS affects the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of listed Oil and Gas companies. The study further explores the impact of IFRS adoption on the contractual relationships between Nigerian Government and Oil and Gas companies in terms of Joint Ventures (JVs) and Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) as it relates to taxes, royalties, bonuses and Profit Oil Split. A Paired Samples t-test, Wilcoxon Signed Rank test and Gray’s (Gray, 1980) Index of Conservatism analyses were conducted simultaneously where the accounting numbers, financial ratios and industry specific performance measures of GAAP and IFRS were computed and analysed and the significance of the differences of the mean, median and Conservatism Index values were compared before and after IFRS adoption. Questionnaires were then administered to the key stakeholders in the adoption and implementation of IFRS and the responses collated and analysed. The results of the analyses reveal that most of the accounting numbers, financial ratios and industry specific performance measures examined changed significantly as a result of the transition from GAAP to IFRS. The E&E expenditures and the mean cost of Crude Oil production per barrel of Oil and Gas companies increased significantly. The GAAP values of inventories, GPM, ROA, Equity and TA were also significantly different from the IFRS values. However, the differences in the provision for decommissioning expenditures were not statistically significant. Gray’s (Gray, 1980) Conservatism Index shows that Oil and Gas companies were more conservative under GAAP when compared to the IFRS regime. The Questionnaire analyses reveal that IFRS based financial statements are of higher quality, easier to prepare and present to management and easier to compare among competitors across the Oil and Gas sector but slightly more difficult to audit compared to GAAP based financial statements. To my knowledge, this is the first empirical research to investigate the impact of IFRS adoption on the financial statements of listed Oil and Gas companies. The study will therefore make an enormous contribution to academic literature and body of knowledge and void the existing knowledge gap regarding the impact and implications of IFRS adoption on the financial statements of Oil and Gas companies.

Les états de transformation dans une installation à partir de la matrice-tableau

Ce mémoire propose de retracer un parcours sur l’expérience du processus, mes essais en productions et en diffusion. Développé en trois parties, il décrit d’abord mes premières impressions perceptuelles des oeuvres, ensuite les différentes étapes qui auront ponctué ma recherche-création. Attentive à ce qui se passe en dehors des ateliers et des centres de diffusion en arts visuels, mes écrits sont teintés de mes expériences de diffusion et de création dans les lieux urbains et même, dans le dernier mois, dans le paysage naturel. J’explore mes méthodes de recherche-création instinctive et les différentes facettes entre les thèmes de la tension et de l’abandon. Je m’intéresse à la perception de ces mondes, à leurs cohabitations, à ce qu’ils produisent dans l’oeuvre finale et même, à l’expérience de mon propre corps. Je traiterai également du médium vidéo et de la valeur de l’image en comparaison aux autres médiums exploités, un ensemble d’oeuvres qui matérialisent une certaine temporalité de l’image en mouvement, où l’expérience à vivre est celle de l’instant suspendu ou une vision renouvelée du temps qui passe.

Implementação de um plano de segurança de águas num hospital

Dissertação de Natureza Científica para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Civil