An Analysis Of Strategic Information Published By Large Spanish Hotel Chains.

At present when the market is increasingly demanding free-flowing information concerning corporate expectations, we often encounter criticism as to the absence of this type of information in annual reports. The relevance of this lack of information is based, among other reasons, on the fact that it is the only information that businesses make public. With this hypothesis as a point of departure, we have asked ourselves if this same situation is also produced in the Spanish hotel sector. Our interest in this business is due to the importance of the tourism sector in the Spanish economy. To contrast this hypothesis, we have carried out field work consisting of, firstly, a review of annual reports for the fiscal years 2000, 2001 and 2002 published by hotel chains representative of the sector and, secondly, an analysis of the information concerning the strategies published in these reports. This paper is part of a research stream that remains open and whose objective is the elaboration of a Balanced Scorecard prototype for the Spanish Hotel Sector.

An analysis of the Final Dissertation Assessment Process in new degrees

El R.D 1393/2007 de 29 de octubre establece que las enseñanzas de Grado culminarán con la elaboración y defensa de un Trabajo Fin de Grado (TFG), el cual estará orientado a la evaluación de competencias asociadas al título. Los títulos de grado que comenzaron su andadura en el curso 2008/09, culminarán en el próximo curso, con la presentación de los alumnos de un trabajo fin de grado. Aunque existen titulaciones con gran tradición en la elaboración de un trabajo o proyecto fin de carrera; no es este el caso en otras titulaciones vinculadas a las ciencias sociales. Por ello, el objeto de este trabajo consiste en seleccionar las competencias transversales objeto de evaluación, los agentes evaluadores; junto con el conjunto de indicadores empleados para medir el grado de cumplimiento con el que el alumno alcanza las competencias objeto de evaluación por el trabajo fin de grado.According to October 29th 1393/2007 R.D. all Spanish new degrees will end up with a final year project which is aimed at evaluating the degree competencies. Those degrees started in 2008/09 school year will be finished in 2011/12 and therefore in 2012 students will be able to present their final projects. Although, some degrees have traditionally included a final Project as part of their curriculum, this has not been the case for Spanish social sciences degrees. Therefore, this paper shows the process undertaken to select those cross-curricular competences which will be assessed with the degree in Tourism final project, which will be in charge of evaluating the projects, as well as a set of indicators or assessment criteria to appraise the level of achievement of cross-curricular competencie

Corporate social responsibility in cruising: Using materiality analysis to create shared value

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Creating Shared Value hinges on the interdependence between a company's success and social welfare, and also the identification and expansion of connections between that company and society. Because critics say the concept is counterproductive, in that it focuses too narrowly on the company's economic value creation, we take a materiality analysis approach of corporate social responsibility (CSR). This approach provides evidence of what is important to stakeholders and promotes meaningful corporate disclosure, central to the Global Reporting Initiative. This study reports on a materiality analysis of the cruise industry, comparing stakeholder concerns/demands with both the relevant literature and existing CSR reports to determine to what extent the current industry definition of its social responsibility matches the expectations of its stakeholders, and subsequently, to theorise reasons for the patterns found. Results evidence that cruise companies tend to both over-report immaterial issues and under-report material issues, without responding to stakeholders' requests

Analysis of the strategies that are taken and spread by hotel chains

Hotel chains do face important challenges nowadays. On one side the complexity of the environment in which the hospitality industry evolves, demands to define, develop and manage its strategies in order to guarantee its survival. On top of it, the market is increasingly demanding fluid information for a proper knowledge of the strategies and corporate long-term expectations of these companies. Therefore this task has a double contribution. Firstly, we analysed strategic information disclosed in annual reports of some leading hotel chains, and grouped them following the model of balanced scorecard. Secondly, and as we often encounter criticism as to the absence of this type of information in annual reports, we took a sample of 102 hotel chains and questioned them about which strategies are being developed, the need, convenience and conditions related to the disclosure of strategic information, as well as the information they are unveiling to third-parties and the source utilized.Strategy; hotel chains; balanced scorecard, corporate governance

Environmental management decision-making in certified hotels

This paper analyses environmental decision-making against two axes, motivations and decision-making processes, to understand the reasons for pro-environmental behaviour by the managements of Spanish Eco-management and Audit Scheme (EMAS)-certified hotels. Mixed methods were used to study perceptions of EMAS and reasons for being certified, with current and lapsed EMAS-certified firms triangulated against expert interviews and documentary evidence. Four groups of hotels were differentiated: Strategic hotels (22%) (with high levels of integrated environmental management), Followers (48%), Greenwashers (11%) and Laggers (19%) (with low levels of integrated environmental management). Most hotels were found to be internally driven in their purpose and ad hoc in their decision-making, with limited understanding of externally driven benefits and motivation for more systematic management systems. This questions the success of EMAS as both a continuous improvement management and as a market-based regulation tool for hotels. Few hotels overall related high environmental standards to the possibilities of gaining market advantage: most wished to avoid legal challenges. The paper also illustrates the ways in which hotels opportunistically switch certification systems to get what they see as a better deal. © 2011 Taylor & Francis

Corporate social responsibility: The disclosure-performance gap

As increased stakeholder pressure requires companies to be transparent about their CSR practices, it is essential to know how reliable corporate disclosure mechanisms are, testing the gap between corporate social responsibility claims and actual practice. This study benchmarks corporate social responsibility policies and practices of ten international hotel groups of particular importance to the European leisure market. We found that corporate systems are not necessarily reflective of actual operations, environmental performance is eco-savings driven, labour policies aim to comply with local legislation, socio-economic policies are inward looking with little acceptance of impacts on the destination, and customer engagement is limited. Generally larger hotel groups have more comprehensive policies but also greater gaps in implementation, while the smaller hotel groups focus only on environmental management and deliver what they promised. As the first survey of its kind in tourism, both the methodology and the findings have implications for further research. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd

Análisis de las estrategias adoptadas y difundidas por las cadenas hoteleras

[ES] Las cadenas hoteleras se enfrentan a importantes retos. Por una parte, el complejo entorno en el que se desenvuelve la industria turística les exige definir, desarrollar y gestionar sus estrategias para garantizar su supervivencia. Pero además, el mercado está demandando de forma creciente información fluida para conocer las estrategias y expectativas empresariales de futuro de las compañías. Por ello, la contribución de este trabajo es doble.En primer lugar, hemos estudiado la información publicada en los informes anuales de cadenas hoteleras líderes en nuestro país, y hemos agrupado las estrategias en torno a las perspectivas del cuadro de mando integral. En segundo lugar, y dado que se oyen frecuentes críticas respecto a la escasez de este tipo de información en las memorias de las empresas, hemos sondeado 102 cadenas hoteleras con el objeto de conocer las estrategias que estaban desarrollando; la necesidad, conveniencia y condicionamientos relativos a la publicación de información estratégica, así como la información que están ofreciendo a terceros interesados y el medio utilizado para ello.[EN] Hotel chains do face important challenges nowadays. On one side the complexity of the environment in which the hospitality industry evolves, demands to define, develop and manage its strategies in order to guarantee its survival. On top of it, the market is increasingly demanding fluid information for a proper knowledge of the strategies and corporate long-term expectations of these companies. Therefore this task has a double contribution.Firstly, we analysed strategic information disclosed in annual reports of some leading hotel chains, and grouped them following the model of balanced scorecard. Secondly, and as we often encounter criticism as to the absence of this type of information in annual reports, we took a sample of 102 hotel chains and questioned them about which strategies are being developed, the need, convenience and conditions related to the disclosure of strategic information, as well as the information they are unveiling to third-parties and the source utilized

Corporate sustainability reporting index and baseline data for the cruise industry

Sustainability policies and corporate reports demonstrate the impacts cruise companies acknowledge as their responsibility, and the actions put in place to address them. This paper develops a corporate social responsibility index based on the Global Reporting Initiative, with industry specific additions including labor and human rights, health and safety, and environmental and economic aspects. Companies disclose more management than performance data, which is typical of early stages of development. Companies disclosing less information focus on soft indicators which are easy to mimic and demonstrate posturing. Items disclosed tend to be marginal to the core of the business, have a positive economic impact or pre-empt sector regulation. Reports echo the voice of the corporations and not the demands of stakeholders. Institutional isomorphism has not influenced a homogenization in reporting, with only the largest firms reporting at this stage

Sustainability motivations and practices in small tourism enterprises in European protected areas

A survey of around 900 tourism enterprises in 57 European protected areas shows that small firms are more involved in taking responsibility for being sustainable than previously expected, including eco-savings related operational practices but also reporting a wide range of social and economic responsibility actions. Two-step cluster analysis was used to group the firms in three groups based on their motivations to be sustainable. Business driven firms implement primarily eco-savings activities and are commercially oriented. Legitimization driven firms respond to perceived stakeholder pressure and report a broad spectrum of activities. Lifestyle and value driven firms report the greatest number of environmental, social and economic activities. No profile has a higher business performance than average. The study has implications for policy programmes promoting sustainability behaviour change based primarily on a business case argument