Hotel management in Cuba and the transfer of best practices.

The main purpose of this paper is to analyse the management challenges faced by international hotel operators when applying universally accepted management principles to the Cuban hospitality market. The authors use both secondary and primary research sources based on fieldwork carried out in Cuba during the first semester of 2003 and a later visit during the months of December 2003 and January 2004. Eight in depth interviews were conducted with senior executives of Cuban, Spanish and French hotel corporations. The paper presents a scenario where the state’s role in the protection of the socialist revolutionary principles, combined with the need to adopt some market based management practices, constitutes a singular case in the world of hotel management. In the current Cuban institutional context, the implementation of some western best management practices can produce significant results, while others produce negative outcomes, and therefore, should be held back until the institutional context is changed. The paper has implications for managers in suggesting that from a hotel perspective, the application of universally accepted best management practices must be carried out practice by practice and country by country. This paper contributes to increased knowledge about the dilemmas of managing hotels in a still highly centralised socialist country but with an increasingly market based economyCuba; Best practice; Hospitality management; Hotel and catering industry;

Global integration without expatriates.

A paper provides a case study of a company that, while it has a fully international operation, makes no use at all of expatriates. The global activities of the giant retail clothing company Zara, and the way in which it adapts to cultural differences, are outlined. By exploring why the company does not use expatriates, and how it develops organizational learning without them, the example provides a challenge to many of the assumptions on which international staffing are basedCase studies; Retailing industry; Multinational corporations; Employment policies; Expatriate employees; Corporate planning; Multiculturalism & pluralism;

Los estudios de casos como estrategia de investigación : características, críticas y defensas

En este trabajo se analiza la naturaleza, ámbito de aplicación, y status epistemológico de la metodología del caso como estrategia de investigación. Tras defInir los estudios de casos, se señalan una serie de confusiones en tomo a ellos, relativas a su denominación, su relación con la metodología cuantitativa, y su base teórica. Seguidamente, contraponiéndolos a los estudios cuantitativos, se explican sus características distintivas, y se especifIcan las situaciones en que deben o pueden ser elaborados. El artículo concluye con una revisión de las críticas y defensas de esta estrategia de investigació

Global integration without expatriates

The definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.comA paper provides a case study of a company that, while it has a fully international operation, makes no use at all of expatriates. The global activities of the giant retail clothing company Zara, and the way in which it adapts to cultural differences, are outlined. By exploring why the company does not use expatriates, and how it develops organizational learning without them, the example provides a challenge to many of the assumptions on which international staffing are basedPublicad

Hotel management in Cuba and the transfer of best practices

The main purpose of this paper is to analyse the management challenges faced by international hotel operators when applying universally accepted management principles to the Cuban hospitality market. The authors use both secondary and primary research sources based on fieldwork carried out in Cuba during the first semester of 2003 and a later visit during the months of December 2003 and January 2004. Eight in depth interviews were conducted with senior executives of Cuban, Spanish and French hotel corporations. The paper presents a scenario where the state’s role in the protection of the socialist revolutionary principles, combined with the need to adopt some market based management practices, constitutes a singular case in the world of hotel management. In the current Cuban institutional context, the implementation of some western best management practices can produce significant results, while others produce negative outcomes, and therefore, should be held back until the institutional context is changed. The paper has implications for managers in suggesting that from a hotel perspective, the application of universally accepted best management practices must be carried out practice by practice and country by country. This paper contributes to increased knowledge about the dilemmas of managing hotels in a still highly centralised socialist country but with an increasingly market based economyPublicad

Cuban retailing : from a centrally planned to a mixed dual system.

Many studies have analyzed the retail and distribution systems in transitional economies, either from a general perspective or by analyzing specific countries. However, only a few, if any, have analyzed the situation and changes taking place in the Cuban market. The purpuse of this paper is to provide a current overview of Cuban wholesaling distribution and retailing for consumer products. It examines the challenges that are taking place in the wholesale and retail distribution system in the country and describes the sharp contrats between the state of retailing in Cuba before and after the collapse in the Soviet UnionCuba; National economy; Retail trade; Wholesaling; Developing countries; Distribution channels and markets;

Compensating international mobility in a workers' cooperative: an interpretative study

This study uses an interpretive research design to analyze how worker-members in cooperatives understand and handle the challenge of designing a compensation system for their international workforce. The empirical study, conducted in a cooperative belonging to the Mondragon Corporation, reveals how such a challenge is understood as one of finding a system that combines international business performance with the need to uphold and maintain the cooperative’s identity. Drawing on that understanding, the cooperative adopts a number of management decisions and criteria for the distribution of rewards and the justification of unequal working conditions among its international assignees that are very different to the mainstream ones in conventional firms. The study’s findings are an invitation to question many of the traditional theoretical assumptions and practices involved in global compensation, prompting the need to develop theories and research initiatives in this field that are more in keeping with the needs and characteristics of social enterprises.This work was supported by Spanish Ministry of Science [grant number ECO2015-68343-R]

When are international managers a cost effective solution? an exploratory study in a sample of spanish mncs

A common claim in the literature of expatriation is the one referring to the high costs of expatriation. In this paper, on the basis of transaction cost literature, we show how limited this approach is. In particular, we 'consider a set of costs that, although ignored in traditional expatriation literature, must be accounted for when an MNC is deciding on whether to recruit expatriates or local managers in its subsidiaries. These costs include selection, training and performance evaluation costs. We also formulate a series of hypotheses around the situations in which the total costs of recruiting expatriates are lower than those generated by local managers. We them test these hypotheses in a sample of 124 SpaniSh MNCs. The results of the study allow us to explain the apparent contradiction that, although businesses have a need to reduce costs, they continue to employ apparently costly practices such as expatriation

A computer-based aid for the design of a strategic organizational culture

This paper presents a theoretical framework for the alignment of organizational culture and strategy by integrating knowledge from diverse areas of organizational studies including strategic human resource management, organizational culture, and the specific design of human resource practices. It then describes a computer-based aid which offers practitioners a step by step guide for improving their competitive position through the development of a "strategic" culture. It is proposed that organizations can achieve a "strategic" culture through two processes: l)the careful design of HR practices which promote behavioral norms necessary for achieving the organization's strategy and 2)the deliberate selection of candidates who share the desired values which reinforce the organization' s cultural norm

The acceptance of newly introduced HR practices Some evidence from Spain on the role of management behavior and organizational climate

Purpose - HR practices are only effective if they are well accepted by employees. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of two forms of support on the acceptance of newly introduced HR practices (NHRPs): that of top managers and of supervisors. In addition, the authors analyze how these two forms of support work in conjunction with one another. The authors argue that a lack of consistency between the two impairs NHRP acceptance. The authors also explore variations in acceptance under different organizational climates. Design/methodology/approach - The analysis is based on an original sample of 307 employees from nine multinational companies operating in Spain. Multilevel regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses. Findings - The authors found that top management support, supervisor support, and innovation climate are all predictors of NHRP acceptance. The authors also found that low supervisor support reduces the effect of top management support. Finally, the authors found that innovation climate is not a substitute for management and supervisor support. Practical implications - The findings suggest that top management and supervisor behavior is critical to gaining employee acceptance of NHRPs, no matter how well designed such practices are or how well they address the needs of the organization and its employees. The findings also indicate that top managers and supervisors should coordinate the introduction of NHRPs, since employees perceive support signals from these two agents not only individually but also in conjunction. Originality/value - Recognizing that employee acceptance is an important determinant of the effectiveness of HR practices, the authors make a unique contribution to the literature by investigating some critical contextual enablers of acceptance.The authors thank financial support from the 7th EU Framework Program (Marie Curie IRG contract 205031), the Spanish Minister of Science (ECO2012-37314)