Rosario Andreu

Growth strategies in the Spanish hotel sector: determining factors

Purpose – The central aim of this paper is to identify some of the motives behind the type of growth strategy followed by Spanish hotel enterprises in recent years.Design/methodology/approach – This study was elaborated from secondary data corresponding to news published on the web page of a digital newspaper specialising in tourism – HostelTur. The information obtained in this way was completed and contrasted using other sources like the BARATZ database (where all the news items published in the economic press since 1981 are collected), and the web pages of hotel enterprises, since many of them publish news about their main actions along with the most relevant events that take place within these organizations.Findings – From a sample of 444 observations, the results suggest that initial profitability, size, age and indebtedness level of firms are some of the factors determining growth strategies in this sector.Originality/value – The paper throws light on some of the reasons behind the behaviour of Spani...

Tourism in China: A Review of Research in Leading Journals

The Chinese tourism sector is experiencing one of the highest levels of growth, to the extent that China is set to become the leading world power in tourism within the coming decade. Therefore, studying this important sector deserves particular attention. The aim of this study is to analyze the state-of-the-art of China tourism research by reviewing 95 academic papers published between 1997 and 2008 in the worlds three leading tourism journals: Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research, and Tourism Management. We report the main topics analyzed as well as various rankings of journals, citations, and individual and institutional contributions.

Critical friends: a tool for quality improvement in universities

Quality programmes in higher education in Spain consist of a review to be conducted by a panel composed of external and internal members. These activities may contribute towards an improvement in teaching. However, we can use a number of complementary methods in order to evaluate teachers. The aim of this paper is to discuss the aspects that must be considered in order to succeed in the implementation of the critical friends technique to improve teaching, based on the experience of a group of six lecturers in a Spanish university.

Entry of Spanish tourism firms into new businesses.

Purpose – Diversification is one of the most promising strategies for tourism firms, the entry mode choice being an essential decision. For this reason, this paper seeks to analyze the entry mode into new business areas made by Spanish tourism firms in their diversification process. It aims to focus on firm factors drawn on the resource‐based view (RBV) to examine issues such as the link between the new business and the companys original one, its diversifying experience, the reasons for diversifying and the impact of the choice of internal growth, external growth or cooperation agreements. The effects of a fit between the entry mode and the type of diversification on profitability are also considered.Design/methodology/approach – From a mail survey to Spanish tourism firms 94 entries into new business areas were obtained and a multinomial logit regression applied.Findings – The results show that both the diversifying experience and the reasons behind the decision to diversify influence the entry mode and...

Destination Attributes and Chinese Outbound Tourism to Europe 目的地特性和中国对欧洲的对外旅游

China is one of the fastest growing outbound tourism markets. Europe is an attractive destination for Chinese tourists. However, Europe still accounts for a small percentage of Chinese outbound tourism. If European countries want to benefit from this market, they should pay attention to Chinese tourists’ preferences. This article contributes to the understanding of Chinese outbound tourism by analyzing those destination attributes that can influence the number of Chinese tourists received. From a sample of 47 European countries, our findings suggest that a greater cultural distance from China, a large number of World Heritage Sites, a large ethnic Chinese population, and a large number of flight connections to China are associated with the amount of Chinese tourists visiting each country.

Family ownership and Spanish hotel chains: an analysis of their expansion through internationalization

La relacion entre el caracter familiar de la empresa y la estrategia de internacionalizacion ha sido ampliamente abordada en la literatura sobre empresa familiar. Sin embargo, no existen trabajos que hayan analizado este tema para el caso concreto del sector hotelero espanol, aun siendo un sector que cuenta con una alta presencia de este tipo de empresas y, ademas, estar altamente internacionalizado. Por este motivo, el objetivo del presente trabajo es determinar si el caracter familiar de las cadenas hoteleras espanolas ha condicionado su estrategia de internacionalizacion.

Firm-specific factors and entry mode choice: An analysis of Chinese hotel chains

The Chinese hotel sector has experienced spectacular growth in recent years. Furthermore, it is expected that Chinese hotel chains will increase their presence abroad in the future. One of the key decisions in the internationalization process of hotel firms is the choice of entry mode into a foreign country. Many different factors influence this strategic decision. From a sample of 185 entries carried out by the largest Chinese hotel firms, this study analyses some of the main firm factors that might influence entry mode choice. The results support the relationship between the entry mode of Chinese hotel chains and firm size, previous international experience and asset intangibility.