<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> Introduction. Competitive advantage determines the success of modern enterprises, such as hospitality companies, on the market. In turn, competitive advantage is gained as the result of skillful management, taking into account the factors that characterize the company environment. In the management process, methods and concepts that, when properly applied, facilitate the company's innovative activities play the key role, thus contributing to building competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to specify and characterize the methods and management concepts most commonly used by hospitality companies in the process of building competitive advantage. The core benefit of these considerations is that they serve to identify those activities of hospitality companies in which the analyzed methods and concepts found practical application. The final part of the article is devoted to an attempt to identify barriers and problems that significantly limit the use of these methods and concepts. Material and methods. In order to achieve this objective, a survey and interviews were carried out in all three- and four-star hotels in the Rzeszów area in the first quarter of 2012. Results. The results revealed that the concept most commonly used by hoteliers was knowledge-based organization (knowledge management), followed by outsourcing, benchmarking and internal competition, respectively. Conclusions. The study also demonstrated that the managers of these hospitality companies significantly lacked substantive knowledge of emerging “market” management methods and concepts.</p></abstract>

Introduction. Competitive advantage determines the success of modern enterprises, such as hospitality companies, on the market. In turn, competitive advantage is gained as the result of skillful management, taking into account the factors that characterize the company environment. In the management process, methods and concepts that, when properly applied, facilitate the company's innovative activities play the key role, thus contributing to building competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to specify and characterize the methods and management concepts most commonly used by hospitality companies in the process of building competitive advantage. The core benefit of these considerations is that they serve to identify those activities of hospitality companies in which the analyzed methods and concepts found practical application. The final part of the article is devoted to an attempt to identify barriers and problems that significantly limit the use of these methods and concepts. Material and methods. In order to achieve this objective, a survey and interviews were carried out in all three- and four-star hotels in the Rzeszów area in the first quarter of 2012. Results. The results revealed that the concept most commonly used by hoteliers was knowledge-based organization (knowledge management), followed by outsourcing, benchmarking and internal competition, respectively. Conclusions. The study also demonstrated that the managers of these hospitality companies significantly lacked substantive knowledge of emerging “market” management methods and concepts.

Management Methods and Concepts for Building Competitive Advantage in Hospitality Companies

University of Rzeszów, Chair of Tourism Economy, Department of Economics and Management

Polish Journal of Sport and Tourism

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Introduction. Competitive advantage determines the success of modern enterprises, such as hospitality companies, on the market. In turn, competitive advantage...

Management Methods and Concepts for Building Competitive Advantage in Hospitality Companies

Published Online: Nov 20, 2014

Page range: 178 - 183

Received: Apr 20, 2014

Accepted: Jul 07, 2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/pjst-2014-0018

© by Beata Gierczak

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.