Dimensión humana de la maestra: Entre el sentir y el rendir

A review of literature on competition strategy in tourism reveals little systematic study on the subject. There is limited tourism research on the study of competition, competitive advantage and industry structure, and this literature is focused on two areas:

Extending Porter’s concepts of competition to domestic tourism industry development, such as the restaurant industry and commercial short holiday break market (Edgar et al., 1996; Tse et al., 1990).

Investigating government policies and international market entry barriers which influence outbound market development in international tourism (Edgell, 1990).

Competition in Domestic Tourism:

In the United States, research has been conducted to extend Porter’s framework of business strategy to the service industry by exploring the level of strategic management in restaurant firms (Tse’s et al., 1990). Two dimensions were used to analyse firm performance. The external dimension (industrial) of a company is Porter’s Generic Strategy – “Cost leadership, Differentiation and Focus”. The internal dimension is “Formalisation, Complexity and Centralisation”. The research suggests that for “firms in a maturing industry, low cost may be a better choice or more profitable strategy if the concerns for operational efficiency and cost reduction are high on the company agenda” (Tse et al., 1990).

The research concludes that “In today’s complex and competitive environment, strategic management provides the primary mechanism for adaptive organisations to change. Ultimately, for firms in the maturing hospitality industry to survive and grow, they will have to depend increasingly on their ability to align themselves strategically

and select appropriate strategies to achieve defendable competitive position” (Tse et al., 1990).

Edgar et al.’s (1996) research is much more comprehensive. It applies Porter’s structural analysis to the commercial short holiday break (CSHB) market in Scotland. It analyses the competition structure in the CSHB market by using Porter’s (1980) industry competition model (refer to Figure 3.11). It also links strategic activities and value chain linkages to the creation of competitive advantage developed by Porter (1985).

Edgar et al. concludes that firms should raise the complexity of internal value chain linkages of their products and lower external complexity to simplify the decision and purchase process. By doing so, firms raised the entry barriers for new entrants. The study suggests that pricing and differentiation are not effective entry barriers on their own for sustainable competitive advantage.

Edgar et al. also linked strategy and competitive advantage to company performance in the CSHB market. They found that image in the CSHB market is the most effective form of competitive advantage. The combination of location and distribution also provided significant advantages to some firms.

Competition and Entry Barriers in International Tourism:

Since outbound travel means the loss of hard currencies to destination countries, government outbound policies (especially in the less developed countries) often try to regulate and limit the development of an outbound industry. Besides limiting the number of outbound operator licenses for home-grown companies, government economic policies often disadvantage foreign-owned travel and tourism businesses. The following are some of the controlling limitations for the establishment of foreign travel firms:

Local equity requirements;

Labor laws protecting domestic workers;

Limitations on market access by foreign companies; Discriminatory treatment of subsidiaries;

Inability to utilize computer reservation systems, and Restrictions on remittance of earnings.

Therefore, most research on market competition and industrial barriers is focussed on government policies where nationality plays an important role. As Edgell (1990) pointed out, “many obstacles affect companies that provide services to facilitate travel. For example, in most countries, travel agents and tour operators are licensed or regulated for the protection of consumers. Licensing practices are designed to promote financial responsibility and to assure that firms deliver the services advertised in a timely manner” (Edgell, 1990). When licenses are denied or delayed without good reason, according to Edgell (1990), the effect is unfairly limiting the competition and causing disruption in the marketplace.

As a result, research on the structure of the outbound travel industry and its evolution has been neglected. In fact, industry structure plays an important role not only in competition under government regulations, but also in future industry evolution and market competition in deregulated market situations such as China’s accession to the WTO.

3.6 Conclusion

In practice, avoiding a common perception of the ‘strategic fit’ situation is often a practical way to get a real and relatively long-lasting competitive advantage. To out- think incumbents, according to Sun Tzu, “go into emptiness, strike voids, bypass what he defends, hit him where he does not expect you.” Market incumbents are often weak in probing new market possibilities because they are very strong in doing what was successful in the past. The lack of imagination is often their void point. By

becoming different species and changing the way of thinking, distinctive strategies can be created and the rules of the game can be changed. Thus, the strengths of the incumbents become their weights, dragging them down.

On out-thinking competitors, Robert (1998) outlines four points for successful competitive strategy:

1. If you are not the leader, never play the game according to the rules the leader has set. Remember his rules are his strengths. Trying to ‘out-excel’ the leader in an industry is certain death over time. The leader designed the rules and therefore understands them better.

2. A better approach is to create a distinctive strategy to change the rules of play. By changing the rules of play, you neutralise and paralyse the leader.

3. Significant shifts in market share only occur by changing the rules of play on the leader, not by imitating the leader!

4. To maintain its competitive advantage, a firm is required to reinvent the game according to the competitive environment.

In summary it has been shown from the extensive literature review that there is a difference between trade entry strategy between western and eastern countries. The eastern view is not only different but in some cases argued to be superior and an explanation for Asia’s international trade success.

Furthermore, it is clear that the western approach has evolved through economic theory based upon corporate advantage, to competitive advantage and more recently a mix of approaches, particularly looking at the eastern approaches, especially from the point of view of incorporating analytic processes such as just-in-time and TQM. In developing a conceptual framework for the further analysis of the problem of entry strategies appropriate for western (and particularly) Australian penetration of the Chinese marketplace both the eastern and western views on strategic development

CHAPTER FOUR

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

In this chapter, a Chinese outbound industry framework for creating competitive advantage will be suggested; hypotheses for the testing and analysing of the framework will be developed; important factors for entry strategies will be identified; and opportunities for Australia companies will be amplified and examined. In the first part of the chapter, the competitive situation in the Chinese outbound industry will be discussed. Key characteristics of the market/industry will be identified. The purpose of the discussion is to set the orientation for competitive strategy at entry.