Business Commons^™

Attracting Talent Through Sustainability: Leading Question - Does Sustainability Help Attract And Retain Talent, Ralf Burbach, Julia Lenz, Stefan Joos

Books / Book chapters

Facing significant talent shortages, many hospitality organisations struggle to attract, develop, and retain talent, and ultimately are not able to develop sustainable talent pipelines. In this chapter, we consider how organisations in the hospitality industry can introduce sustainable practices to manage talent. The chapter first presents an overview of the meaning of talent and talent management. We then introduce sustainability in the context of talent management and present three aspects that relate to a sustainable approach: (1) diverse and creative talent, (2) employer branding and employee value proposition, and (3) coopetition as an alternative to the competitive narrative in the …

Festivals And The City: The Contested Geographies Of Urban Events, Andrew Smith, Guy Osborn, Bernadette Quinn

Books / Book chapters

This book explores how festivals and events affect urban places and public spaces, with a particular focus on their role in fostering inclusion. The ‘festivalisation’ of culture, politics and space in cities is often regarded as problematic, but this book examines the positive and negative ways that festivals affect cities by examining festive spaces as contested spaces. The book focuses on Western European cities, a particularly interesting context given the social and cultural pressures associated with high levels of in-migration and concerns over the commercialisation and privatisation of public spaces.

The key themes of this book are the quest for …

Virtual Reality As A Promotional Tool: Insights From A Consumer Travel Fair, Mary O'Rawe, Alex Gibson

Books / Book chapters

Although the potential of virtual reality (VR) as a technology in tourism has been recognised for more than twenty years, (Horan, 1996; Williams and Hobson, 1995), we have witnessed a renewed interest in both academic and business circles recently (Jung, tom Dieck, Lee, & Chung, 2016). From a marketing perspective, VR offers the potential to build a sensory experience of a tourism destination or attraction, and can be used in sales contexts to complement, or indeed, supplant traditional promotional tools such as brochures. The immersive nature of the experience offers a deeper and more emotional assessment of the tourist offering …

Understanding How Social Entrepreneurs Fit Into The Tourism Discourse, Ziene Mottiar, Karla Boluk

Books / Book chapters

This chapter discusses how social entrepreneurs fit into the existing tourism discourse. It examines four areas of literature in particular, tourism entrepreneurs, sustainability, destination development and intrapreneurship, and analyzes how introducing the concept of social entrepreneurs into these discussions is useful, and contributes to our understanding. Furthermore the paper illustrates that as social entrepreneurs are relevant to a broad range of issues in the tourism literature this should prevent the development of research silos where social entrepreneurship scholars seek out their own vein of research. The nexus of common ground and interests, as displayed in this chapter, should enhance the …

Economic Recession As A Catalyst To Increased Collaboration In Rural Tourism, Catherine Gorman, Ziene Mottiar

Books / Book chapters

Purpose: This chapter illustrates the collaborative strategies used by a rural village and community to counteract the rapid decline in economic and social activity in tourism that occurred during and after the recession in Ireland.

Design/methodology/approach: A review of literature focuses on collaborative strategies evident within a rural context, and considers benefits, challenges, inter and intra- relationships including ties, structure and communication. Motivational factors relating to social and economic need are also discussed. The case study is set in context with a brief review of the Irish economic environment, rural policy and rural tourism.

Findings: In a community rich in …

A Review Of Key Factors Affecting Consumers' Adoption And Usage Of Self-Service Technologies In The Tourism Sector, Jennifer Lawlor, Petranka Kelly, Michael Mulvey

Books / Book chapters

During the past ten years self-service technologies (SSTs) have attracted research attention especially in the banking, retail and airline sectors. The infusion of technology in the service encounter has been identified as being advantageous to both the service provider and the consumer, provided that SSTs gain adoption among consumers. In light of the importance of consumer participation in SSTs, this paper reviews the state of the SST adoption literature in an attempt to identify the most important influencing factors. Seven factors emerged as the ones of key research interest in the literature and they are discussed in more detail. These …

Contemporary Issues In Irish And Global Tourism And Hospitality, Geraldine Gorham, Ziene Mottiar

Books / Book chapters

This book contains an edited collection of papers presented at the Tourism and Hospitality Research in Ireland Conference 2009 (THRIC). This annual conference provides an invaluable opportunity for Irish and international tourism and hospitality academics and practitioners to debate the key contemporary challenges facing the sector. Based on this selection of conference papers a broad range of issues are addressed in the following chapters. These are issues, which are pertinent not only for Irish tourism and hospitality academics, policy makers and industry, but also resonate with international counterparts. Contributions to this book are made by an eclectic mix of highly …

Towards Performance Measurement In Hotels:An Incremental Approach, Detta Melia, Leigh Robinson

Books / Book chapters

The overall aim of this paper was to investigate the phenomenon of performance measurement in independently owned hotels in Ireland in order to understand the role of measurement in the management of the largest component of the hotel sector. The primary objectives of this paper was to investigate the extent to which Irish hotel operators are utilising performance measurement techniques, to establish the rationale for the use of selected performance measures in independently owned hotels and to understand approaches to performance measurement in the management of independently owned hotels.

A comprehensive investigation of existing performance management and measurement activity is …

The Role Of The Customer As A Quasi-Employee In Service Organisations: A Research Agenda, Jennifer Lawlor

Books / Book chapters

The travel, tourism and hospitality sectors are increasingly encouraging customers to act as quasi-employees by inviting and/or requiring them to adopt a range of technology-enabled services or self-service technologies (SSTs), i.e. ‘technological interfaces that enable customers to produce a service independent of direct service employee involvement’ (Meuter, Ostrom, Roundtree and Bitner, 2000:50). Specific examples in these sectors include self-check-in online, ‘bag and tag’ facilities at airports, and electronic kiosks for accommodation booking purposes. Inherent in the use of SSTs is the requirement for the consumer to learn about and develop familiarity with such technology.

Host As Entrepreneurs: Female Commercial Home Entrepreneurs In Gaeltacht Areas In The West Of Ireland, Ziene Mottiar, Lucia Laurinckova

Books / Book chapters

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Smes In Tourism Development: An Industrial District Approach Applied To Killarney, Ireland, Ziene Mottiar, Theresa Ryan

Books / Book chapters

No abstract provided.

The Use Of Relationship Marketing In Developing Network And Co-Operative Links Within Tourism Product Marketing Groups (Pmg’S, Catherine Gorman

Books / Book chapters

Co-operative marketing groups are common in tourism, particularly in the case of destination marketing. Destination tourism marketing groups offer a diverse range of tourism products and experiences which complement each other and are delineated by a specific geographical parameter. Tourism product marketing groups offer similar tourism products or services and through a co-operative approach focus on an identified target markets. Co-operative marketing can make greater impact in terms of market presence and can be more cost effective. Members need to see the value in their membership in order to remain involved. Many tourism product providers are SMTE’s (Small and Medium …

Ireland, Ziene Mottiar

Books / Book chapters

No abstract provided.

Smes In Tourism: An International Review, Ziene Mottiar

Books / Book chapters

Ireland has become known as the Celtic Tiger due to average annual GNP growth of 9 percent during the 1990s. The reasons for this growth are many and varied and tourism and tourism firms have played no small part in this rapid growth. In total the sector sustains approximately 150,000 jobs (or job equivalents) amounting to 8.6 percent of total employment (Bord Failte, 2001). In some ways the tourism sector is representative of the broader industrial profile of Ireland with a number of large international firms but the majority of firms are SMEs. Both types of firms have gained from …

Community Tourism Groups: Development For Sustainability, Ann Conway

Books / Book chapters

Environmental policy in Ireland draws on the principles and priorities set out in the National Sustainable Development Strategy, which was endorsed by Government and published in 1997. It recognises that future development in tourism can be sustainable only if the natural assets upon which they depend are protected. Sustainable tourism aims to meet the needs and aspirations of the host area and its people, holiday makers and operators alike in a way which respects them all and those who will follow on. There are many different government departments and national, regional and local agencies involved directly and indirectly in the …

Moving Beyond Product Innovation In Tourism: Benefits And Challenges, Mary O'Rawe

Books / Book chapters

Many difficulties still exist in translating innovation theories into action in the tourism industry. A substantial literature base is now in place addressing innovation typologies and methodologies and assessing organisational structures, cultures and sizes. Despite this, transferring leading-edge research on organisational innovation and creativity into pragmatic strategies for tourism enterprises has not been fully successful. The most cited and obvious form of innovation is product innovation. It is on this basis that the success of organisations is often judged. In tourism, this criterion for measuring innovativeness is flawed. It encourages companies to spend heavily on visible product changes, often at …

Industrial Districts And Netwoks: Different Modes Of Development Of The Furniture In Ireland, David Jacobson, Kevin Heanue, Ziene Mottiar

Books / Book chapters

No abstract provided.

Sole Survivors: How Exceptional Companies Survive And Thrive At The Edge, Anto Kerins

Books / Book chapters

Some companies seem born to fail, while others manage to survive and thrive despite great adversity. What are the secrets of the survivors?. Sole Survivors puts nine such companies under the microscope to discover what sets them apart from their less-successful competitors, what make them "exceptional". But these nine are neither blue-chip multinationals nor high-tech operators. They are small to medium-sized European companies in a traditional section that has been decimated in recent times-footwear manufacturing. This book tells the stories of these companies in detail from their historical development through to their current business strategies, from their organisational structures to …

Rural And Agri-Tourism In Central And Eastern Europe, Frank Mcmahon

Books / Book chapters

No abstract provided.