Strategic alliances in the hotel industry

Strategic alliances in the hotel industry

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Strategic Alliances in the Hotel Industry Although strategic alliances have their pitfalls, a well-conceived alliance can offer both partners competitive advantages that they could not attain separately by Chekitan S. Dev and Saul Klein STRATEGIC ALLIANCES are becoming an important form of business activity m many industries, particularly m wew of the reahzatlon th at travel and tourism companms are competing on a global field In the words of one analyst, globahzation mandates alhances 1 In the travel industry, which IS global by definltmn, we are witnessing the formation of global alliances between firms of

different types (e g , hotel firms with alrhnes) as well as by similar businesses (e g , Marriott and New Otanl) In this article, we will elaborate on the development of such alliances m the hotel industry and offer some lmphcatlons for hospitality managers

Industry Environment The key to prosperity in the current hotel-industry environment is growth With the locationspecific nature of the hotel industry, growth translates into greater market coverage, increased wslbi1-

~Kemchl Ohmae, The Borderless World Power and Strategy ~n the Interhnked Economy (New York Harper Colhns, 1990)

© 1993, Cornell University

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and greater opportunltms for cross-destination m arket i ng --in addition to the benefits of economms of scale and scope Hotel companies continue to seek new ways to increase their market share in changing markets lty,

A frequent contributor to The Quarterly, C h e k i t a n S. Dev, Ph D , ~s an assistant professor of strategic marketing at Cornell Unwers~ty's School of Hotel A d m m tstratton S a u l Klein, Ph D , ~s an assistant professor of marketing and tnternatmnal business at Northeastern Unwers~ty's College of Busmess A d m m t s t r a t w n THE CORNELL H.R.A. QUARTERLY

The first factor dmwng this push for expansion is globahzatlon In the United States, globahzatlon is manifested as an increase in the number of customers from overseas 2 and greater acqmsltlon of domestic hotels by international investors Recent examples include the acqulsltmn of Hilton Internatmnal by Ladbroke (Umted Kingdom), Inter-Continental by Selbu Salson (Japan), Westm by Aolo (Japan), Ramada Internatmnal by World (Hong Kong), and Motel 6 by Groupe Accor (France) Regardless of the location or ownership of a company, there is pressure on all hotel companies to become significant players in the global hotel business For example, Choice Hotels' CEO Robert Hazard has lndmated that global expansion is the ticket to Choice's future Another strong drlwng force for strategic alhances is heavy competition and low profitablhty Despite the growth m demand of the 1980s, supply expanded even faster, leawng hotel occupancy rates to dechne from 71 percent in 1979 to 61 percent in 1991 3 (The estimated break-even point is in the mld60s 4) Driven by a need to gam greater market presence and market share, hotel companies have continued to acqmre, convert, and build new propertms Although there has been considerable consohdatlon m recent years, the hotel industry remains relatively fragmented In contrast to the alrhne industry, where the top five companies control over 80 percent of domestic capacity, the top 12 hotel companies account for just over 50 percent of capacity 5 2PKF International, annual report, 1991 ~Pauhne YoshlhashL "Hotel Recovery Will Be a Late Arrival," Wall Street Journal, July 27, 1992, p B1 4Faye Rme, "Where the Bargains Are m Hotels," Fortune, April 20, 1992, pp 91-98 °Michael S Morgan, Chekltan S Dev, and Frank S Chamg, "Serwce Market Structure and Strateguc Groups," Cornell Umverslty School of Hotel Admmmtratmn, 1992, p 47

F E B R U A R Y 1993

Companms operating in a fragmented environment must seek growth and counter the dlseconomles of scale associated with small market shares 6 While the pressure for expanstun mounts, the lndustry's llhqmdlty creates problems in achlewng expansion With the unfavorable treatment being accorded to real estate by U S tax law and the d~smal performance of most investors' hotel portfohos, the pool of capital available for hotel development has been severely restricted The shortage of funds is not expected to ease in the near future, since lenders have been slow to return to mal~ng loans to the hotel developers

Routes to Expansion Hotel companies can expand in different ways They can grow through mternal, incremental means, but the process is slow and ties up considerable capital m facflltms Moreover, incremental expansmn offers a company only a hmlted ablhty to respond quickly to either customer demand or competitive pressure Compames can also grow by acquls~tlon, a popular route in recent years Ownership of several brands, however, may be unwieldy and compromise an organlzatmn's ablhty to respond to changing market cond~tlons Choice Hotels, which once offered a clearly diversified portfoho of hotel brands, has been having indigestion ever since it gobbled up Econolodge, Rodeway, and Frmndship Customers are confused about the pomtmmng of the brands, and franchisees are concerned about the impact of having coowned brands on adjacent corners Likewise, franchisees of Ramada, Howard Johnson, and Days Inns are not certain that their best 6Michael E Porter, Competztwe Strategy Techmques for Analyztng Industmes and Competitors (New York Free Press, 1980)

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interests are being served in the wake of Hospltahty Franchise Systems' purchase of those brands Moreover, recent acquisitions have not been free of legal entanglement Bass Brothers has filed smt against Promus Corporation for unloading what Bass says is a non-performing asset m the form of Hohday Inn Worldwide In another case, SAS reversed its partial purchase of Inter-Continental for financial reasons and because the two companies' operational procedures and corporate cultures d~d not mix well We think it ~s fair to conclude that the aggresslve-acqmsltlon strategy to grow market share has had mixed results The challenge for hotel chains, then, is to find a way to maximize market coverage, while also achlewng economies of scale and scope and minimizing capital investment One such methodology is to form alhances by whmh firms develop long-term relationships for specific purposes Hawng full control of an asset does not necessarily mean it is being managed ideally In fact, performance may be enhanced when one company compensates for another firm's weak points Advocates of alliances argue that acting independently is usually more difficult, expensive, and time-consuming than acting collaboratlvely 7 To date, httle systemat~c analysis of the benefits and risks of such collaboration has been conducted, and the particular characteristics of the hotel industry with regard to alhances have not been assessed

Types of Alliances Alhances are relatmnshlps between independent parties that agree to cooperate but still retain their separate identities Still uncommon, alhances between hotel companms are begunmng to 7Ohmae, p 135

emerge There has been a longer history of alhances between hotel compames and other firms in the travel industry, such as mrhnes and car-rental compames Alliances are akin to interpersonal relatmnshlps and may be categorized accordingly O n e - n i g h t s t a n d s . There are short-term, opportunistic relationships th at have a hmlted focus-essentmlly, one-mght stands While each party receives some satlsfactmn through a clearly defined set of expectations, there is no commitment to the relatmnshlp Hotels have engaged in hmlted promotmns w~th other businesses, including cross-advertising and joint coupons Between hotel companies, one example of an opportumstlc alhance ~s the crossselhng agreement between Radlsson Hotels and Britain's Edwardmn Hotels Affairs. A second category is medmm-term, tactical relationships, similar to affmrs or llmsons While such relationships are characterized by some degree of sharing and are clearly deeper than the short-term relationships, there remains a strong sense of self-protection among the partners, and the alhances' durations are hmlted Hotels partmlpate m such alhances with mrhnes m their frequent-flyer programs Between

hotel compames, an example of a tactical alhance is the marketlngservmes agreement between Marriott and New Otam I do. The third alhance category is long-term, strategic relatmnshzps, the equivalent of marriages The parties m these arrangements clearly expect continuity and mutual commitment The level of sharmg is high, and these relatzonships offer considerable opportunity for synergy Strategm relationshzps are becoming common m mdustrms other than hospltahty, and hotel compames are beginning to follow suit Competing computer grants IBM and Apple have formed an alhance, as have General Motors and Toyota and SAS and Continental Airlines In m any cases, such alhances are cemented by eqmty cross-znvestments Alhances need not be confined to two partms Sixteen of the largest hotel chains m the United States, for example, are cooperatzng m THISCO,The Hotel Industry Switch Company THISCOinvolves a computer product tamed at glwng travel agents more-direct access to member compames' databases of more than four mflhon rooms worldwide The three types of alhances represent a hmrarchy, m the sense that relatmnshlps can progress from a simple level to a more44

involved arrangement Reversion to a lower level, however, is rare Problems arme when the parties disagree as to what type of alhance they are consummating Only the strategm alhance offers companies the ablhty to respond to the pressures of global competition and llhquldlty Potential benefits include enhanced market coverage, both geographmally and by segment, and greater economies of scale in advertising, sales, dlstmbutlon, and purchasing, and complementary strengths in operations and marketing Benefits from alhances may be reflected on the cost or revenue side of a firm's business Alliances intended to minimize costs mm to enhance efficmncy by improving operations On the revenue side, alhances aim to increase effectiveness by attracting more, higherpaying customers We expect that strategic alhances will become the market-expansion strategy of choice in the hotel industry In theory, alhances allow firms to focus on their core strengths and offer a stronger product hne with better market coverage In practme, however, alhances are characterlzed by high rates of failure 8 An alhance-based expansmn strategy c a m e s r~sks, as divorce rates are high and the pitfalls are many (as explained in the next sectmn)

Partner Selection Choosing the mght partner is a cmtlcal part of making an alhance work Some winters argue that alhances between strong and weak partners rarely work, they fail to prowde the missing attributes necessary for growth, and they lead to medmcre performance 9 ~Mmhael Hergert and Delgan Morns, "Trends m Internatmnal Collaborative Agreements," m Cooperattve Strategtes zn International Business, eds, F J Contractor and P Lorange (Lexington, MA Lexington Books, 1988) "Joel Bleeke and David Ernst, "The Way to Wm Cross-Border Alhances," Harvard Buszne~ Revtew, November-December 1991

THE CORNELL H.R A. Q U A R T E R L Y

Ascertammg that the partners offer complementary strengths is the key matter, but care must also be taken to find compames w~th compatible objectives and styles Alhances rinse the poss~bfllty of conflict between the partners and the risks of dependence on one another They also bring about new problems m performance evaluatmn It ~s often difficult to estabhsh whose performance should be measured, to agree on the appropriate time schedule for evaluatmn, and to make trade-offs between partners' d~vergent mterests Alhances mvariably create tensmn Would-be partners should be aware of the sources of that tensmn, ~ts potentml negative consequences, and possible coping strategies for deahng w~th the unavoidable by-products of alhances lo Socm-cultural forces can create differences m perceptmn and mterpretatmn of phenomena The chmf reason for the divorce of Inter-Continental and SAS Hotels was a poor fit of corporate culture SAS is an entrepreneurial-style company with a troy executive staff and a flat orgamzatmnal pyramid ~°Arwnd Parkhe, "Interfirm Diversity, Orgamzatmnal Learmng, and Longewty m Global Strategic Alhances," Journal of Internattonal Bustne~ Studtes, 22, No 4 (1991), pp 579 601

FEBRUARY 1993

environments Selecting a compatible partner at one point m time is no guarantee that this will also be true m the future Hilton Hotels (Umted States) and Hilton Internatlonal worked together on sales and advertising efforts, but now the international company is suing the U S firm for going overseas under the "Conrad International" brand (despite the fact that Hilton Internatmnal does business in the U S as Vista) Flexible partnership structures must be developed, either through a commitment to lncrementahsm or by building m extra slack at the Declsmn-makmg . outset On a authority is left ~ . ~ o functional level, with the property , ~ ~ t ~ f r , , b e c a u s e different GM as much as ~ --~s ~ _ ~ - m a n a g e m e n t possible On the i ~ ~/¢9~ ~ practmes and other hand, Inter~'~, [ ~ ] ~ ~ ~ styles and Continental has a different organldeep organlza~ ~ ' ~ y ] zatlonal structmnal pyramid, ~ ~ - ~ / ~ , ~ tures exist, with several ~'-~~____~-~ authority and layers of executwe ~ ~ ~ . ~ / ~ levels of depenstaff Declsmns _~x ~ " ~ j ) ~ deuce must be are generally ~ ~ 1 ~ [ t = = clarified An made centrally ~ ~ ~ alhance may Those two cul~ c~(~ ~ otherwise become tures could not bogged down in coexist poor communicaTo overcome sources of misuntions and slow decision-making derstanding, both formal and cross- processes cultural training programs and F u r t h e r r e s e a r c h . Alhances extensive informal contacts must are not a panacea for the hotel be maintained Differences m lndustry's current ailments In fact, home-country enwronments, as alhances can be difficult to manage reflected in government pohcles and prone to failure if they are not toward cooperatmn, industry thought out and negotiated m structures, and mstltutmnal advance Nevertheless, the use of support systems, create differences alhances will grow in the future in expectatmns and experiences because the combmatlon of Different corporate cultures, with strengths found m a well-arranged umque ideologies and grading alhance will serve as an antidote to values, may reqmre alhance many of the lndustry's dlfficultms partners to restructure their norms We predict that an analysis of and behef systems strategic alhances m the lnternaDifferences m the strategic tmnal travel mdustry that focuses d~rectmn between partners may on the issues of risks and rewards emerge from changes m their would confirm the value of such individual external or internal orgamzatlonal partnerships c o

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