Editorial

Citation

Okumus, F. (2009), "Editorial", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 21 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijchm.2009.04121aaa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Volume 21, Issue 1

I would like to thank all of the authors who patiently and diligently worked very hard fine-tuning their articles and the IJCHM referees who provided their time and feedback for this issue. This issue contains a wide variety of topics and issues that are particularly relevant for the hospitality industry. The first four articles explore hotel-related issues ranging from organizational issues to information technology, while the subsequent four articles cover a diverse range of food and beverage issues relevant to food and beverage outlets, franchising, and culinary creativity.

In particular, the first article investigates the impacts of outsourcing and examines the relationship between the outsourcing process and organizational performance in hotels.

Authors Bolat and Yilmaz look at the impacts of outsourcing on organizational performance and demonstrated that vendor cooperation can lead organizations to significant improvement in a host of organizational improvements. They conclude by suggesting that with proper planning and implementation, the results could impact organizational performance.

In the second article, authors Lockyer and Roberts attempt to understand the factors that influence the selection of accommodation by guests by looking at the factors or trigger points and determining how they influence motel accommodation selection. Conducting five focus groups, they identified three levels of trigger points, including the minimalist, essentials and enhancers. This study demonstrates how complex the guest accommodation process is and how trigger points for selection change with the length of stay.

Continuing with the hotel theme, in an attempt to clarify the definition of boutique hotels Endean and Lim looked at the aesthetic and operational characteristics of UK boutique hotels. Utilizing a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, boutique hotels were scrutinised by content analyses to determine vital operational characteristics and aesthetic features. In addition a comparative analysis was then carried out with the findings and interviews obtained from four boutique hotel managers to establish the common characteristics of boutique hotels. The results found that boutique hotels are privately owned and lack specific classifications.

Karadag, Cobanoglu, and Dickinson examined the most utilized information technology (IT) investment decision methods between hotels with centrally managed IT and hotels with locally managed IT. Utilizing data collected from hotel managers, their study found that financial and non-financial methods were used for the centrally managed IT hotels more often than the locally managed hotels. All in all the research findings point out the importance of using IT evaluation techniques and demonstrate the different techniques between locally and centrally managed IT.

Moving into the food and beverage discipline, Gil, Berenguer and Ruiz examined how restaurants position themselves according to their wine lists. Based on wine lists it was determined that three different restaurant profiles emerged:

1. 1.

   selection;

2. 2.

   specialization; and

3. 3.

   complementarity.

Consequently, differing practices and key standards were determined based on these profiles. In addition, practical implications were identified and offered for restaurant wine managers.

Franchisee satisfaction was investigated by Roh and Yoon by examining franchisors pre-opening support, central purchasing, congeniality and ongoing business support. Personal interviews were conducted with South Korean ice cream franchisees to learn about the items they were most and least satisfied with in terms of their franchisor. The authors offer valuable practical implications which could prove helpful to franchisees who are considering entering or expanding their franchise business.

The next study investigated how extrinsic environmental factors influence the development of culinary creativity. Using in-depth interviews and content analysis, Horng and Lee investigated the relationship between the creativity of culinary artists and the quality of their environment and found that it is important to develop and maintain a physical, social, cultural and educational environment that is conducive to culinary creativity. The authors’s findings can serve as a basis and frame of reference for the future planning of culinary education, the purpose of which is to cultivate a more creative mode of culinary thinking in students.

Finally, in a qualitative “Research in brief” investigation, Abdullah, Ingram and Welsh explored the role of tacit knowledge and managers’ supervision styles in a sample of Edinburgh’s Indian restaurants. According to their investigation, operational skills and knowledge are often tacit and culturally based. Recommendations are offered to make this information accessible to practical hospitality managers, policy-makers, students and teachers.

Fevzi OkumusEditor-in-Chief