Resource Guide in:
S t r a t e g i c M a n a g e m e n t f o r T o u r i s m


I N T R O D U C T I O N

The subject of strategic management is often taught as a core topic at some stage (usually
the final year) during a tourism degree programme. Strategic management also acts as a key
feature of postgraduate tourism degree programmes. The topic consolidates what the student
has learnt in the preceding years of their degree and applies this knowledge at a strategic
level to tourism contexts. However, many of the concepts associated with strategy and
strategic management are abstract in nature and can often be difficult for teaching staff, let
alone students, to comprehend. It is important that lecturers and students are able to access
resources that enable their wider understanding of the subject matter and create opportunities
where theory can be effectively applied to practice.

Though there are many generic strategy resources that exist, these are predominately
‘manufacturing’ related, and specific subject resources focusing on tourism service contexts
can be difficult to find. Indeed, there are still only a few key strategic management textbooks
that focus specifically on tourism. This resource guide will thus be essential to anyone
teaching a strategic management module targeted at tourism students. The guide also
embraces examples from the hospitality industry so will be useful to tutors teaching on
strategic management modules with a hospitality focus.

The resource guide is separated into different sections. Firstly an annotated bibliography of
resources is presented. This section is further separated into the key themes that may
comprise a semesterised module in strategic management. It should be noted that the guide
takes a classical approach to the study of strategic management, and the structure and stated
resources therefore reflect this approach. As the two main textbooks in the field of strategic
management and tourism, the guide uses Evans et al (2003) and Tribe (1997) to direct
teaching staff to specific references where the strategic management theory has been applied
to a tourism context. In addition to this, a number of generic strategic management textbooks
(of which there are many!) are used to direct readers to chapters and case study material on
relevant topics.

The guide also lists a number of relevant strategic management related journals, and also
journals in the field of tourism that often include articles and research notes on strategic
issues. In addition, a number of web-based and electronic sources are provided which are
useful for retrieving company financial information and competitive intelligence data. A list of

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Resource Guide: Strategic Management for Tourism

video resources that are useful for illustrating and applying the theoretical concepts to live
situations is also included. Lastly, an example week by week teaching schedule and
assessment strategy is presented.

A N N O T A T E D B I B L I O G R A P H Y

Strategy Definitions and Perspectives
Strategy can be explored from a variety of different perspectives and there are many
definitions of what strategy is. It is important to understand these different strategic
perspectives so as to gain an holistic understanding of strategy formulation and
implementation. It is often the case that the opening chapter of any generic strategy textbook
will include an initial definition and interpretation of strategy. The following books make
specific reference to some of the main conceptualisations and perspectives on strategy.

Evans, N Campbell, D and Stonehouse, G (2003) Strategic Management for Travel and
Tourism. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, Chapter 15.
The final chapter in the book offers a relevant conceptualisation of the different approaches to
understanding strategy and provides a critical insight into the strengths and weaknesses of
each perspective.

Harrison, J S and Enz, C A (2004) Hospitality Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases.
Wiley, Chichester, Chapter 1.
The chapter outlines the different theoretical perspectives of strategic management and
places this within the context of the hospitality industry.

Johnson, G and Scholes, K (2002) British Airways and the vocabulary of strategy. In G
Johnson and K Scholes (2002) Exploring Corporate Strategy (6th edn). London: Prentice Hall,
14.
Provides a short case study illustration of BA’s use of strategic language through the
construction of their mission, goals, values, and overall competitive strategy.

Mintzberg, H, Lampel, J, Quinn, J B and Ghoshal, S (2003) The Strategy Process: Concepts,
Contexts and Cases. Harlow: Pearson, Chapter 1.
Mintzberg forwards his ‘five Ps’ of strategy including strategy as a plan, a ploy, a pattern of
behaviour, a perspective and as a position.

Olsen, M D (2004) Literature in Strategic Management in the Hospitality Industry.
International Journal of Hospitality Management 23, 411-424.
The author conducts a literature review of strategic management research in the hospitality
industry from 2002 to 2003. This includes theory relating to environmental scanning, strategic
choice, the resource-based view, core competences and strategy implementation.

Porter, M (1996) What is Strategy? Harvard Business Review, Nov/Dec.
One of the seminal writers in the field, Porter discusses a range of issues in determining what
we actually understand by strategy.

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Tribe, J (1997) Corporate Strategy for Tourism. London: Thomson, Chapter 1.
The author outlines the key aspects, definitions and perspectives associated with the subject
of strategic management.

Whittington, R (2001) What is Strategy and Does it Matter? (2nd edn). London: Thomson.
This is an interesting and very enlightening book. Whittington forwards four different
perspectives in which strategy can be understood. These include classical, evolutionary,
systemic and processual approaches.


The Macro Strategic Environment
An analysis of the macro environment is crucial in determining the factors which have a direct
impact and/or might influence the strategic direction of an organisation. A number of different
concepts can be used to analyse the external macro environment in an attempt to identify
those factors, which might have an impact upon the organisation, both in terms of being a
threat or an opportunity. The following are a list of book chapters and articles that introduce
and discuss the various approaches to analysing the external environment.

Evans, N Campbell, D and Stonehouse, G (2003) Strategic Management for Travel and
Tourism. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, Chapter 7.
The authors use the STEEP (Socio-demographic, Technological, Economic, Environmental
and Political influences) approach to analysing the external environment. Evans et al also
enlighten their analysis with useful tourism-related mini case studies to illustrate the
application of the concept.

Harrison, J S and Enz, C A (2004) Hospitality Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases.
Wiley, Chichester, Chapter 2.
Harrison and Enz offer a detailed analysis of the PEST factors influencing the broad
environment and use a number of hospitality-related examples to illustrate points made.

Okumus, F (2004) Potential Challenges of Employing a Formal Environmental Scanning
Approach in Hospitality Organizations. International Journal of Hospitality Management 23,
123-143.
As the title suggests, the author offers a rigorous review of research relating to environmental
scanning and discusses the various challenges of employing this technique within the context
of hospitality organisations.

Olsen, M D, Tse, E C-Y and West, J J (1998) Strategic Management in the Hospitality
Industry (2nd edn). New York: Wiley, Chapter 3.
The chapter outlines the basic concepts used for assessing the external environment, placing
this within the context of the hospitality industry. A relevant section on issues concerning
environmental uncertainty and complexity is also included.



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Peattie, K and Moutinho, L (2000) The Marketing Environment for Travel and Tourism. In L
Moutinho (ed.) Strategic Management in Tourism. Wallingford: CABI.
Whilst recognising the shortcomings of the PESTEL approach, the authors forward the
SCEPTICAL (Social, Cultural, Economic, Physical, Technical, International, Communications
and infrastructure, Administrative and institutional, Legal and political) model as a more
relevant concept for analysing those factors within the external tourism environment.

Thompson, J L (2001) Scenario Planning - British Airways. In J L Thompson (ed.) Strategic
Management (4th edn). London: Thomson Learning, 272-273.
Using BA as a case study example, Thompson highlights two different scenarios based upon
external factors that may occur and the influence this places on the strategic decisions for BA.

Tribe, J (1997) Corporate Strategy for Tourism. London: Thomson, Chapter 3.
Using tourism related examples, Tribe discusses the application of the PEST analysis to the
external tourism environment.

White, C (2004) Strategic Management. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, Chapter 5.
White presents the STEP (Social, Technical, Economic and Political) analysis and in doing so
discusses opportunistic and risk related factors that an organisation should consider.

White, C (2004) The airlines and the integration of global markets. In C White, Strategic
Management. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 79.
A short case study which addresses issues of globalisation in the airline industry.


The Micro Strategic Environment
The analysis of the immediate competitive environment is important for understanding the
strengths and weaknesses of the competition and the organisation’s relative position in the
industry. It is upon this basis that the organisation can then go on to formulate strategies that
enable a strategic advantage to be gained over competitors. A number of concepts can be
used to analyse the competitive environment and these are embedded within the following
resources.

Dale, C (2000) The UK Tour Operating Industry: A Competitive Analysis. Journal of Vacation
Marketing 6(4), 357-367.
The author applies and extends Porter’s five forces model to the context of the UK tour
operating industry. This article is useful in illustrating the application of the competitive forces
concept and also highlights how the model can be adapted to a tourism context.

Evans, N, Campbell, D and Stonehouse, G (2003) Strategic Management for Travel and
Tourism. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, Chapter 8.
The authors discuss and apply Porter’s competitive forces model to the context of the
European airline industry, whilst acknowledging the concept’s limitations.


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Higgins, E (2002) Ryanair – the low fares airline. In G Johnson and K Scholes (2002)
Exploring Corporate Strategy (6th edn). London: Prentice Hall, 870-885.
A comprehensive case study of Ryanair which is useful for analysing the dynamic and
competitive nature of the budget airline sector.

Lynch, R (2003) Customer strategy of Airbus: competing in the SuperJumbo aircraft segment.
In R Lynch, Corporate Strategy (3rd edn). London: Pitman, 187-191.
This is a useful case study in understanding the competitive nature and rivalry within the
supply end of the airline industry.

Olsen, M D, Tse, E C-Y and West, J J (1998) Strategic Management in the Hospitality
Industry (2nd edn). New York: Wiley, Chapter 4.
Environmental scanning models are discussed including Porter’s Five Forces. A useful case
study of Opryland Hotel, Nashville, Tennessee is also presented (134-139).

Porter, M E (1998) Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and
Competitors. New York: Free Press.
This is a seminal text introducing some of the definitive and long standing strategic
management concepts including the ‘five forces model’ for analysing industries.

Grant, R M (2002) Contemporary Strategy Analysis (4th edn). Oxford: Blackwell, Chapter 3.
In addition to offering a rigorous discussion and critical evaluation of the five forces model,
Grant argues that a sixth force should be included within Porter’s model. He also goes on to
discuss the process of creative destruction, hyper-competition and the identification of key
success factors within an industry.

Tribe, J (1997) Case Study E: The US air industry, London. In J Tribe, Corporate Strategy for
Tourism. London: Thomson, 81-83.
The author uses the US airline industry to demonstrate the dynamic forces at play and how
these can influence competitive rivalry within the industry.

White, C (2004) Bad strategy and bad fortune – Swissair and Qantas. In C White, Strategic
Management. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 103-109.
The case study documents how external factors such as deregulation of the airline industry
and September 11th have influenced the strategic position and direction of the two national
airline companies.


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Stakeholder Analysis
An understanding of stakeholder needs and expectations are paramount in the development,
implementation and success of an organisation’s strategy. It is therefore important to analyse
the power and interest stakeholders may have over an organisation. The following resources
provide an insight into the analysis and application of concepts for analysing stakeholder
power and influence.

Evans, N Campbell, D and Stonehouse, G (2003) Strategic Management for Travel and
Tourism. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, 20-22.
The authors provide an initial overview into the difference between internal and external
stakeholders and introduce Mendelow’s (1991) stakeholder map.

Harrison, J S and Enz, C A (2004) Hospitality Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases.
Wiley, Chichester, Chapters 2 and 7.
The authors present Freeman’s (1984) stakeholder concept and apply this to the hospitality
industry. Chapter 7 outlines how organisations can manage relationships with stakeholders.

Johnson, G and Scholes, K (2002) Sir Rocco Forte, Granada and the ‘Ice Maiden’. In G
Johnson and K Scholes, Exploring Corporate Strategy (6th edn). London: Prentice Hall, 197.
This case about the Forte empire and the hostile takeover bid by Granada illustrates the
power, interest and significance of key stakeholders.

Tribe, J. (1997) Case Study B: The Savoy Hotel, London. In J Tribe, Corporate Strategy for
Tourism. London: Thomson, 38-39.
The author presents an interesting case study of The Savoy Hotel and the ‘hierarchy’ of the
Savoy’s stakeholders based upon their power and interest to the organisation.

Thompson, J. L. (2001) Strategic Management (4th edn). London: Thomson Learning,
Chapter 3, 96-101.
Thompson outlines the different interests of stakeholders and presents models for
understanding how to satisfy these stakeholders.

White, C (2004) Strategic Management. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 26-33 and 669-
679.
White initially discusses the process of stakeholder mapping and further on in his textbook
outlines the promotion of strategy to stakeholder groups.

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Vision, Mission, Aims and Objectives
The formulation of the organisational vision, mission, aims and objectives are crucial for the
firm in having a clear strategic direction. However, the composition and content of the vision,
mission, aims and objectives is open to interpretation. The following list of resources discuss
the purpose of the vision, mission, aims and objectives whilst also illustrating how they can be
formulated.

Campbell, A and Yeung, S (1999) Creating a sense of mission. In P McNamee, Developing
Strategies for Competitive Advantage. Oxford: Elsevier Science.
The authors forward the Ashbridge mission model in determining the philosophy of an
organisation’s mission.

Evans, N Campbell, D and Stonehouse, G (2003) Strategic Management for Travel and
Tourism. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, 15-20.
The authors outline the purpose of a mission statement and what it should contain whilst also
outlining the vision, mission and objectives of a range of tourism organisations including
British Airways, Southwest Airlines, Maldives Tourism Promotion Board and Holiday Break
plc.

Harrison, J S and Enz, C A (2004) Hospitality Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases.
Wiley, Chichester, Chapter 4.
The authors discuss the different uses of a mission statement whilst also addressing
organisational values, social responsibility and ethics in determining the strategic direction of
a firm.

Johnson, G and Scholes, K (2002) Exploring Corporate Strategy (6th edn). London: Prentice
Hall, Chapter 5, 239-242.
Johnson and Scholes present a model that conceptualises the role of mission statements
based upon the ethical stance of the strategic intent of internal managers and the power of
external stakeholders.

Sufi, T and Lyons, H (2003) Mission statements exposed. International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality Management 15(5), 255-262.
The article reviews literature pertaining to the purpose and composition of mission statements
whilst also offering a manager’s guide to improving mission statements based upon an
evaluation of thirty top hospitality organisations.

Thompson, J L (2001) Strategic Management (4th edn). London: Thomson Learning, Chapter
3.
Thompson reviews the language and terminology used within organisational vision and
mission statements and discusses the role of stakeholders in their composition.

Thompson, J L (2001) London Zoo. In J L Thompson, Strategic Management (4th edn).
London: Thomson Learning, 113-114.
Thompson’s case study of London Zoo illustrates the tensions between stakeholders in the
formulation of a visitor attraction’s objectives.
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Tribe, J (1997) Corporate Strategy for Tourism. London: Thomson, Chapter 2.
Tribe discusses the different orientations of mission statements and, using examples from
within the tourism industry, presents a model that classifies mission statements by their social
and profit focus.


Resources, Competences and Core Competences
In contrast to analysing the external micro and macro environment, the resource-based view
(RBV) seeks to explore the internal resources of an organisation and how these can be
leveraged to gain a competitive advantage. An analysis of an organisation’s resources can
include its financial, physical, human, intellectual and reputational resources. In the
deployment of these resources, it is also important to understand the competences and core
competences of an organisation. Porter’s (1985) value chain concept is an important part of
this process. The following resources highlight material pertaining to the resource-based view
and the analysis of competences and core competences and their application to the tourism
industry.

Augustyn, M (2004) Coping with Resource Scarcity: The experience of UK Tourism SMEs. In
R Thomas (ed) Small Firms in Tourism: International Perspectives. London: Elsevier.
Offers a good review of RBV theory and applies this to the context of UK tourism SMEs.

Evans, N Campbell, D and Stonehouse, G (2003) Strategic Management for Travel and
Tourism. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, Chapter 3.
Evans et al offer a clear overview of the key definitions and terms relating to the resource
based view, competences and core competences. They also apply the concepts to a variety
of case situations including Marriott International, Club Med and British Airways.

Flagstead, A and Hope, C (2001) Strategic success in winter sports destinations: a
sustainable value creation perspective. Tourism Management 22, 445-461.
An alternative application of Porter’s (1985) value chain and its application to the tourism
industry is presented. The authors forward the notion of the ‘value fan’ and apply this to the
context of a winter sports destination.

Harrison, J S and Enz, C A (2004) Hospitality Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases.
Wiley, Chichester, Chapter 3.
The authors present a detailed analysis of organisational resources and how these can be
used to gain a competitive advantage.

Johnson, G and Scholes, K (2002) Exploring Corporate Strategy (6th edn). London: Prentice
Hall, Chapter 4.
The authors discuss the key terms whilst also presenting a model for identifying an
organisation’s threshold and unique resources and competences.



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Melian-Gonzalez, A and Garcia-Falcon, J M (2003) Competitive potential of tourism in
destinations. Annals of Tourism Research 30(3), 720-740.
This article offers a review of resource based theory and forwards a procedure for assessing
the competitive potential of tourism types in destinations. Deep-sea fishing in Gran Canaria,
Spain is used to illustrate the application of this procedure.

Olsen, M ., Tse, E –Y and West, J J (1998) Strategic Management in the Hospitality Industry.
(2nd edn). New York: Wiley, Chapter 6.
The authors present a rigorous analysis of core competence frameworks and apply these to
the hospitality industry.

Porter, M E (1985) Competitive Advantage. Free Press: New York.
Another seminal text from Porter, this time introducing the concept of ‘value chain analysis’.

Tribe, J (1997) Corporate Strategy for Tourism. London: Thomson, Chapter4, 90-96.
Tribe discusses the different organisational resources and creatively applies the value chain
to the context of the scheduled airline sector.

White, C (2004) Strategic Management. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, Chapter 7.
This chapter covers the key definitions and concepts associated with resources, competences
and core competences.


Competitive Strategies and Strategic Choice
Once an organisation has been through the process of analysing the external macro and
micro environment and has conducted a rigorous analysis of its internal resources and
culture, then the organisation is in a position to formulate strategies in pursuit of a competitive
advantage. The classical strategy approach often utilises Porter’s (1980) generic strategy
framework of focus, cost leadership, and differentiation to understand the particular strategic
direction an organisation may pursue. However, alternative frameworks such as the growth
share matrix and Ansoff’s (1968) directional matrix are also useful in determining an
organisation’s strategic direction. As outlined below, an extensive array of resources exist in
this area. Indeed, there is an abundance of case study material on the budget airline sector in
particular, which is useful for exploring the contemporary application of the strategic choice
concepts and principles.

Brent-Ritchie, J R and Crouch, G (2003) The competitive destination: A sustainable tourism
perspective. Wallingford: CABI.
Places strategic management within a destination context and forwards a model of
destination competitiveness.

Buhalis, D (2003) eTourism: Information technology for strategic tourism management.
Harlow: Pearson, Chapter 2.
This text contextualises strategic management theory within the field of tourism eCommerce
and eMediaries. It is very useful for understanding how classical strategic management
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concepts can be applied to new electronic forms of business enterprise and the new
economy.

Dale, C and Robinson, N (1999) Bermuda, Tourism and the Visiting Cruise Market: Strategies
for Sustained Growth. Journal of Vacation Marketing 5(4).
The authors apply Ansoff’s matrix (1968) to the context of Bermuda and forward strategies on
the future growth of the visiting cruise sector for the destination.

Evans, N Campbell, D and Stonehouse, G (2003) Strategic Management for Travel and
Tourism. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, Chapter 10.
The authors outline the key strategic choice models including Porter’s generic strategy
framework, Bowman’s strategy clock, Ansoff’s matrix and the resource based view. The
concepts are applied to a variety of tourism organisations such as Southwest Airlines and
easy Jet, Hyatt hotels, Travelodge, Holidaybreak, Club Med, First Choice and TUI Group.

Gilbert, D, Child, D and Bennett, M (2001) The qualitative study of the current practices of ‘no-
frills’ airlines operating in the UK. Journal of Vacation Marketing 7(4), 302-315.
The authors provide a strategic overview of the European budget airline sector and discuss
the common strategies that these airlines pursue.

Harrison, J S and Enz, C A (2004) Hospitality Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases.
Wiley, Chichester, Chapters 5 and 6.
The authors discuss the main strategic choice and direction concepts including Porter’s
generic strategies, strategic group analysis and portfolio analysis.

Johnson, G and Scholes, K (2002) Exploring Corporate Strategy (6th edn). London: Prentice
Hall, Chapter 7.
This chapter discusses business level strategy and focuses specifically on Bowman’s strategy
clock. The chapter also includes a case study on the strategic choices of easyJet (p 323).

Johnson, G and Scholes, K (2002) The Virgin Group. In G Johnson and K Scholes, Exploring
Corporate Strategy (6th edn). London: Prentice Hall, 311-314.
This case study presents an overview of the Virgin Group and provides questions on the
future strategic direction of a diverse organisation.

Kim, B Y and Oh, H (2004) How do hotel firms obtain a competitive advantage? International
Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 16(1), 65-71.
The authors review and evaluate Porter’s five forces approach, the resource based approach
and the relational approach in determining competitive advantage within hospitality firms.

Klemm, M. and Parkinson, L. (2001) UK Tour Operator Strategies: Causes and
Consequences. International Journal of Tourism Research 3, 367-375.
The article analyses the competitive strategies of tour operators with specific reference to the
impact of these strategies on a destination’s image.

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Document Outline

• Introduction
• Annotated Bibliography
  • Strategy Definitions and Perspectives
  • Resources, Competences and Core Competences
  • Strategic Methods
  • Strategic Evaluation and Implementation
  • Organisational Culture and Strategy
  • Managing Strategic Change
  • Managing Strategic Risk
• Annotated guide to journals
  • Strategic Management related journals
• Annotated guide to web resources
• Annotated Guide to Video Resources
• Teaching and Assessment

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