Strategic Management of Tourist Companies
Code: 104955 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2500894 Tourism | OB | 3 | 2 |
Contact
- Name:
- Vera Butkouskaya
- Email:
- vera.butkouskaya@uab.cat
Teaching groups languages
To check the language/s of instruction, you must click on "Methodolody" section of the course guide.
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites.
Objectives and Contextualisation
Creating a business from scratch is not an easy task. And neither is its survival after a few years or that it ends up performing better than its competitors. However, there are many companies that are able to achieve it. This course aims to present no magic formula to explain this fact but to give you instead of a toolbox of methods and techniques that enable you to succeed in business. During the course, we will see how external factors affect the company's strategy to follow, how the industry in which are will shape our opportunities, and how strategies are selected and implemented. Finally, we will see how companies diversify or internationalize their markets, and we will briefly highlight the latest trends in this field.
At the end of the course you should be able to:
1. Identify the economic, social, ethical, or political factors that influence the company and/or industry strategy.
2. Identify the key drivers of industry profitability.
3. Identify new business opportunities in the different segments of the tourism industry.
4. Identify the skills and resources necessary to carry out a certain business strategy.
5. Evaluate and select alternatives, establishing appropriate mechanisms for implementing and monitoring strategies.
6. Understand the importance of business internationalization, as well as its complexity.
7. Develop managerial and conflict management skills.
8. Extrapolate expertise and make decisions based on the best corporate practices (benchmarking).
Competences
- Apply the concepts related to tourism products and businesses (economy and finance, human resources, commercial policy, markets, operations and strategy) in the different parts of the sector.
- Behave ethically and adapt to different intercultural contexts.
- Behave responsibly towards the environment.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the functioning and evolution of different tourism models in order to choose the most suitable one and apply it in the current environment.
- Develop a capacity for independent learning.
- Display a customer service orientation.
- Have a business vision, pinpoint the customer's needs and pre-empt possible changes in the environment.
- Plan, organise and coordinate a work team, creating synergies and showing empathy.
- Propose creative alternative solutions to problems arising in the field of tourism management, planning, businesses and products.
- Show initiative and an entrepreneurial approach to business creation and management in the tourism sector.
- Take decisions in situations of uncertainty, taking into account potential consequences of these decisions in the short, medium and long term.
- Use communication techniques at all levels.
- Work in a team.
Learning Outcomes
- Analyse and diagnose the situation of a tourist destination, resource or space.
- Apply the techniques of budgeting and strategic planning.
- Behave ethically and adapt to different intercultural contexts.
- Behave responsibly towards the environment.
- Develop a capacity for independent learning.
- Develop problem-solving skills in business.
- Develop skills in leadership and conflict management.
- Develop the skills needed to adapt to new business scenarios.
- Display a customer service orientation.
- Have a business vision, pinpoint the customer's needs and pre-empt possible changes in the environment.
- Identify and evaluate new business opportunities in the sector.
- Identify the resources and capacities needed to develop new businesses.
- Perform an internal and external analysis to diagnose a business's commercial situation.
- Plan, organise and coordinate a work team, creating synergies and showing empathy.
- Take decisions in situations of uncertainty, taking into account potential consequences of these decisions in the short, medium and long term.
- Use communication techniques at all levels.
- Work in a team.
Content
The course is divided into eight main topics:
Topic 1. Strategic Position
1. What is a business strategy? We will take about the origins of business strategy and its development throughout the last decades of the 20th century. We will also introduce the concepts of the mission and vision of the firm.
2. The company macro environment. We will see how the political, economic, social, and technological factors can determine our performance or the strategies we have to adopt.
3. Industry analysis. Every company operates in an industry that has to deal with competitors, but also with customers, suppliers, or companies that produce similar products. Depending on their relative strength, industries will differ on their potential attractiveness. Several performance measures will be introduced in this chapter.
4. Internal analysis. External or industry factors are not the only ones that will determine the business profitability. Our resources and capabilities will also determine that we adopt one or another strategy. We will also introduce the concept of the "value chain."
Topic 2. Strategy implementation.
5. Competitive strategies. We will present Porter’s competitive strategies theory and we will discuss the three main strategies: cost leadership, differentiation, and focus.
6. Strategic directions. The section will be discussing growth strategies and corporate level decisions.
Topic 3. Strategy in action.
7. Strategy implementation. Once we have defined the generic strategy, it is time to choose a particular one and put it into practice. This topic will alsodiscuss the product portfolio analysis and the different varieties of diversification.
8. Contemporary trends in business strategy. This topic will discuss current management issues that have not been covered in previous issues. Such as control of the strategy, management of change, etc. In this topic, we will use scenario-analysis and Delphi techniques. Gender perspective in strategic management.
Methodology
Teaching language: English
The course runs based on three teaching-learning methodologies:
-
The methodology of the theoretical part of the course:
Classroom-based classes with an explanation regarding the different agenda items. Self-study of the theoretical materialsTheoretical classes will be audiovisual (PowerPoint presentations, video viewing to support the theory, etc.).
-
The methodology of the practical part of the course:
Preparation and class-based presentation of case studies related to theoretical explanations. These exercises and cases are based on the analysis of the activities of the companies.
-
The methodology of the outclass learning part of the course (Campus Virtual):
The Campus Virtual platform will be used to share information and alternative media in the classroom between students and the teacher. Campus Virtual will contain the profile of the course, additional theoretical material in digital form, cases and exercises, links to websites, etc.
4. Business project. One of the key skills to work in this course is to develop an entrepreneurial spirit to create and manage products and companies in the tourism sector. To achieve it, part of the course will be used to carry out a business project, focusing on issues of strategic nature (product definition, analysis of the environment and trends, market definition, competitors ...). This work will be done in groups and will include the delivery of an interim document, which will be analyzed and discussed with the teacher.
Note. 15 min of the last class will be dedicated to make UAB evaluation survey.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Public presentation of the Project | 4 | 0.16 | 2, 4, 7, 6, 8, 5, 16, 14, 15, 9, 17 |
| Resolution of Practical cases | 30 | 1.2 | 7, 6, 8, 5, 14, 15, 9, 10, 17 |
| Theoretical classes | 30 | 1.2 | 1, 13, 12, 11, 10 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Tutorials | 24 | 0.96 | 5, 10 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Project Development | 15 | 0.6 | 4, 3, 7, 6, 8, 5, 12, 11, 15, 10 |
| Resolutions of practical cases | 15 | 0.6 | 2, 4, 3, 7, 6, 8, 5, 13, 12, 11, 16, 14, 15, 17 |
| Study | 15 | 0.6 | 5 |
Assessment
1. Continuous evaluation:
- a) Practical activities (20%): The home-realization and exhibition-discussion of the exercises and individual cases throughout the course, which will be delivered within the pre-determined period.
- b) Project (30%): The realization of a team Project based on the course materials. Project work must be delivered on the established date and publicly exposed in class.
- c) Periodical control (50%): The realization of an examination that will include both the theoretical subject exposed in the lectures and aspects related to the practical part of the subject.
To approve the subject it is necessary to obtain a score above 5 (five) on average. It is necessary to participate in each (1a, 1b, and 1c) of the continuous evaluation activities to calculate the final grade for the course. Otherwise, he/she should go to the final exam.
2. Single assessment:
- Instead of continuous evaluations (1a, 1b, and 1c) shown above, students have the option to directly take the final exam. The grade of the final exam will be 100% of the final grade.
3. Re-evaluation
Students with a grade between 3.5 and 4.9 in the final exam will have the possibility to repeat the exam, in accordance with the calendar of academic activities, which is reported in the course guide to students or on the center's website.
The recovery of the subject by single assessment will be the same as that of the rest of the students, and to present themselves for the re-assessment it will be necessary that they have obtained at least a 3.5 in all the evidence of those that include the single assessment.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Examen Theoretical | 50% | 4 | 0.16 | 1, 4, 3, 13, 10 |
| Practical activities | 20% | 10 | 0.4 | 2, 4, 3, 7, 6, 8, 5, 13, 16, 14, 15, 9, 10 |
| Project | 30% | 3 | 0.12 | 4, 3, 12, 11, 14, 17 |
Bibliography
Bibliografia Bàsica (no obligatoria)
- Evans, Nigel (2019). Strategic management for tourism, hospitality and events. Taylor & Francis Group. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uab/detail.action?docID=5846141
- Johnson, Gerry; Scholes, Kevan; y Richard Whittington (2011): Fundamentals of Strategy. (2ª Edición) FT Prentice Hall
Bibliografia Addicional
- Marques Joan (2021). Exploring Gender at Work: Multiple Perspectives. Springer International Publishing AG.
- Tajeddini, Ratten, V., & Merkle, Thorsten (2020). Tourism, Hospitality and Digital Transformation: Strategic Management Aspects (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429054396
- Wunder Thomas (2019). Rethinking Strategic Management: Sustainable Strategizing for Positive Impact. Springer International Publishing AG.
Utilitzarem també casos d'estudi i retallades d'articles que estaran disponibles al Campus Virtual.
Software
- MS Teams/Zoom
- MS Office