Strategic Decision Tools and Organizational Performance in the Hotel Industry

The aim of this study was to investigate which strategic decision tools hotel managers use or do not use when formulating strategic decisions, their reasons for using or not using these tools and the relationship between tool use and hotel performance. A questionnaire containing 28 commonly used strategy tools and 19 performance items was distributed to managers of 50 hotels in China. The three most commonly used tools were Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats Analysis, budget analysis and core competence analysis. Several demographic characteristics of the managers had a significant influence on which tools they decided to use. Out of the ten most commonly used strategy tools, only three showed differences in hotel performance depending on their use among hotel managers. This study provides theoretical and practical implications as well as future research directions.