Title: Assessing the strategic relevance of organisational capabilities: evidence from Turkish hotels

Authors: Mehmet Ali Koseoglu; John A. Parnell; Cafer Topaloglu

Addresses: Department of Business Administration, College of Business, Minot State University, Minot, ND 58707, USA; School of Management, Yildirim Beyazit University, Çankırı Caddesi Çiçek Sokak No: 3 Altındağ-Ulus, Ankara, Turkey ' William Henry Belk Professor of Management, School of Business Administration, University of North Carolina at Pembroke, Pembroke, NC 28372, USA ' School of Tourism and Hotel Management, Muğla University, Kotekli Campus, Kotekli, Muğla 48000, Turkey

Abstract: This study identified capabilities with links to strategic behaviour and performance in Turkish hotels. Executives in 111 Turkish hotels attached greater importance to market and market-linking capabilities than other capabilities. The generic strategy employed per the Miles and Snow typology was associated with differences in all the capabilities, with the greatest disparities seen among defenders. Although hotels tend to adopt the cost-leadership approach, differentiation was also associated with capability development, particularly in marketing, technology, management, and market-linking capabilities. A significant and positive relationship was found between environmental uncertainties and capabilities, and between capabilities and both financial and non-financial performance. Results demonstrated no differences between each of strategic capabilities and hotel characteristics such as star rating, hotel scale, work time, global alliances, and ownership. Implications for managers and future research are discussed.

Keywords: organisational capabilities; Turkey; hotels; hospitality industry; generic strategy; Miles and Snow typology; cost-leadership approach; differentiation; marketing; technology; hotel management; market-linking capabilities; environmental uncertainties; financial performance; non-financial performance; strategic capabilities; star rating; hotel scale; work time; global alliances; hotel ownership.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMDM.2013.054456

International Journal of Management and Decision Making, 2013 Vol.12 No.2, pp.96 - 120

Received: 26 Apr 2012
Accepted: 03 Jan 2013
Published online: 24 Jul 2014 *

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