Yeamduan Narangajavana

Carrying capacity in the tourism industry: a case study of Hengistbury Head

Abstract This paper argues that it is necessary to define and implement the concept of carrying capacity as a critical aspect for facilitating planning in the tourism process. In order to achieve this aim, this article shows how the growth of Bournemouth may exceed the environmental and ecological carrying capacity of Hengistbury Head, using the case study approach. The paper, therefore, studies the concept of carrying capacity alternatives to this model and includes a set of proposed solutions for determining, managing, controlling and increasing the environmental carrying capacity of a tourist destination.

Competitive strategies and performance in Spanish hospitality firms

Purpose – The aim of this article is to identify the relationships between strategic orientations and various performance measurements in Spanish hospitality enterprises.Design/methodology/approach – With a sample of 189 hospitality firms, this study uses the Miles and Snow strategy typology, and validates a performance scale using the structural equations technique.Findings – Following the application of ANOVA methodology, the paper confirms that the three viable strategy types identified in the literature (prospectors, defenders, and analysers) are likely to perform well. In contrast, reactors are linked with poor performance.Practical implications – Inferences drawn from this study should take into account the limitations of the sample and the methodology used, mainly as using qualitative data. However, the evidence of the findings suggests that any of the positive strategic profiles are effective forms of competing and organizing, and can be equally successful in any environment if the firm implements...

Crowdsourcing as a Competitive Advantage for New Business Models

The current organizational environment is characterized by the evolution and transformation of information and communication technologies, the eruption of social networks, and, with it, the growing importance of the participation of customers and other contributors in the behavior of these firms. Participating customers are increasingly influencing the development of marketing initiatives in the production process of firms, while the development of social networks and online communities has engendered new business or strategic models where diverse participants in social networks are becoming the crucial element for success. Taking into account these facts, this chapter focuses on the importance of this participation through the development of “crowdsourcing”. The chapter defines the concept, analyzes its possible uses for the improvement of different organizational areas, and finally explains the crowdsourcing implementation process via a series of steps. The study is important as it opens up new areas of research in the literature and also provides some practical analysis and examples of its use by organizations.

Pervasive information gathering and data mining for efficient business administration

Following a multidisciplinary perspective (that combines the literature from management, information systems, marketing and engineering telecommunications perspectives), the purpose of this article is to create and analyze a conceptual framework and to propose a new methodology that encompasses different techniques for pervasive information gathering in hotels and for identifying clients’ habits. Focusing on the future of hotels, this work presents new technologies for hotels suitable for correlating the customers’ on-site activities with online activities including passive location tracking using Wi-Fi devices’ connectivity, customer satisfaction evaluated via facial or voice recognition using inbuilt cameras/microphones altogether with data mining analysis. Moreover, this article explains how multidisciplinary consumer behavior can be analyzed by data mining to include this information in the vacation marketing approach for efficient business administration.

A Proposal for Using Lego Serious Play in Education

The dynamics of our society is forcing change in the education system. The knowledge students had to learn remained stable for long periods. And even when that knowledge changed the learning frameworks remained. Nowadays, the environment, what we know about any subject, and the stability of our knowledge are constantly changing. This paper presents an attempt to find new learning methods, with the objective of creating a process where students learn current models and frames, while preparing them for change. We have worked with Lego© Serious Play© over 12 months and it provides an alternative model of the way students learn and the work of teachers. In this new process, the teacher becomes a facilitator and consultant who prepares the learning journey and leads the process.

Two Views for Understanding How TQM Fosters Learning and Value Innovation: Absorptive Capabilities and Action-Based Management

In the last decade some frameworks have tried to explain how to devise strategies for innovation in value by determining the needs of customers and non-customers, also creating new industries in which competition becomes irrelevant (Hax, The delta model. Reinventing your business strategy. New York: Springer, 2010; Kim and Mauborgne, Blue ocean strategy. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2005; Madhok and Marques 2013). These reference frameworks are based on a common set of principles: Value is created through the relationship with the customer (Priem, Acad Manag Rev 23; 219–235, 2007; Vargo and Lusch 2008); Strategy is considered to be a continuous process of exploring new opportunities, through observation of customer behaviour, intuition of opportunities (as a result of inductive reasoning) and the definition of value proposals characterized by being focused, clear, and original (Hax, The delta model. Reinventing your business strategy. New York: Springer, 2010; Kim and Mauborgne, Blue ocean strategy. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2005); agility and speed to intuit and capture new opportunities, as well as flexibility to operationalize them through experimentation and subsequent trial and error actions (Madhok and Marques 2013).