Resources and capabilities as drivers of hotel environmental marketing strategy: Implications for competitive advantage and performance

Abstract

Building on the resource-based view, we develop a model of drivers and outcomes of environmentally friendly marketing strategies in the Greek hotel sector. Data collected from 152 hotels reveal that possessing sufficient physical and financial resources is instrumental in achieving effective green marketing strategies. In addition, shared vision and technology sensing/response capabilities help develop a sound environmentally friendly marketing strategy. In turn, the adoption of such a strategy is conducive to obtaining competitive advantage, which subsequently increases the potential to achieve superior market and financial performance. Furthermore, the study finds that the effect of environmental marketing strategy on competitive advantage is stronger in the case of intense competitive situations, while market dynamism has no moderating effect on this association. Several implications can be drawn from the study findings for both corporate and public policy makers and interesting directions for future research are provided.

What are the determinants of investment in environmental R&D?

“…Resource-based theory highlights the importance of using internal capabilities and resources to maintain the sustainability of competitive advantage (Chen 2008, Leonidou 2013. These resources entail human knowledge, information technology and capital.…”

Corporate Social Responsibility: Adoption of Green Marketing by Hotel Industry

“…Due to a recent growth in environmental concerns among the communities over the last few decades, the demand for sustainable development and green marketing has been achieving its momentum greatly (Chen & Chang, 2012;Jhawar et al, 2012;Leonidou, Leonidou, Fotiadis & Zeriti, 2013). The ultimate goal of sustainability is depicted as a development that includes formulating a social and economic system which must be incorporated within environmental concerns (Griffin & Prakash, 2010;Saadatian, Lim, Mat & Sopian, 2012).…”

“…Indistinguishably associated with the tourism is the hotel industry which consumes a vast amount of energy, water and non-durable products also provides huge damages to the environment more than the other categories of services of comparable size (Bohdanowicz, 2006;Hsieh, 2012;Leonidou et al, 2013;Nicholls & Kang, 2012;Robinot & Giannelloni, 2010). Being a country that is blessed with lush rainforests and splendid species of wildlife, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has ranked Malaysia as the ninth most travelled destination point in the world (Ministry of Tourism Malaysia, 2012).…”

“…Since tourism has become a significant source of income for the country, its contribution to the hotel industry is extremely huge (Leonidou et al, 2013). According to a research done by Klee (as cited in Zainordin, Abdullah & Baharum, 2012), buildings are consuming about one-third of the world's energy and the consumption of worldwide energy is estimated to increase by 45% from year 2002 to 2025.…”

Ecological Practices as an Element of the Environmental Management of Polish Smes

“…This growing concern about the state of the environment caused a revolution in the approach to the issues of its protection and contributed to an increase in the number of ecological practices in organizations. (Leonidou et al 2013) As the years passed pro-environmental strategies began to be not only a domain of international corporations or large enterprises but also became a part of the management of smaller organizations such as SMEs.…”