Editorial

Citation

Teare, R. (2007), "Editorial", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 19 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijchm.2007.04119aaa.001

Editorial

Welcome to Volume 19 of the journal, and my thanks to the editorial team and editorial advisory board (EAB) members for their work in support of IJCHM during 2006. Our EAB members are fully involved in the reviewing process and I am delighted that all but one member is continuing, with the addition of Anthony Clayton, an expert on sustainable development, based in Jamaica. I should also like to thank our readers, authors and the Emerald team in Bradford, led by publisher Claire Jones, for all they do in support of IJCHM. Emerald has recently launched a second hospitality and tourism journal: The International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research (IJCTHR) and I know that this will be of interest to our authors and readers.

This issue contains a broad range of material from authors based in Spain, the USA, Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Turkey and the UK. There are three articles that deal with operational issues and techniques. First, Enrique Claver-Cortés, José Molina-Azorín and Jorge Pereira Moliner examine the impact of strategic behaviours on hotel performance. Their study identifies the competitive strategies used by hotels in Alicante, Spain and suggests an array of action lines that hotel managers can use to improve performance. Second, Carola Raab and Karl Mayer explore an approach to menu engineering (ME) linked to activity-based costing (ABC) (for menu analysis). Traditionally, ME is based on food costing, whereas a combined approach uses food and other operating costs to predict contribution margins. Their case study reveals how this combination of methods produces a more accurate picture of profit and loss potential. Third, Alizee Avril and Vincent Magnini explore ways of profiling the expatriate selection process so as to make better informed decisions. They argue that a holistic approach (rather than focusing on technical competence) is likely to be more successful.

Human resource themes feature in three articles. First, Roísín Murray-Gibbons and Chris Gibbons present their study of occupational stress in the chef profession. Their survey involved 40 working chefs and their findings reveal that reported stress levels are higher than indicated by prior research. Their paper explores the findings and discusses the various ways in which head chefs and managers might deal with the occupational stress experienced by chefs. Second, Anastasios Zopiatis reviews the role of educational internships in Cyprus and offers a set of practical recommendations for the various stakeholders and finally, in the “Research in Brief” (RiB) section, Ayse Bas Collins reviews the staff selection procedures used by five-star hotel properties in Turkey.

Additionally, David Bojanic examines the take-away or “carryout” customer segment in the USA. His survey work provides profile data on regular carryout customers and his study explores the various ways in which casual dining restaurants might develop their carryout business potential. Our second RiB article, by John Pratten, offers a fascinating glimpse of the world of public house security in his article “Securing the doors: bouncers and the British licensed trade”.

Richard Teare