Estratégia DEVELOPING A STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL SC

291EstratégiaDEVELOPINGASTRATEGICENVIRONMENTALSCANNINGPROCESSINTHEPORTUGUESEHOTELSECTORA.JorgeCosta([e-mail])ProfessorTitulardeGestãoEstratégicaeDirectorUniversidadeFernandoPessoaCentrodeEstudosdeTendênciasemHotelariaeTurismoPraça9deAbril,3494249-004Porto,PortugalABSTRACTInvestigatestheenvironmentalscanningactivitiesofhotelchainsoperatinginPortugal.Attitudestowardsenvironmentalscanningbycompanieswherestrategywasformalisedthroughaformalwrittenstrategicplan(Intenders)andthosecompanieswherestrategywasinformallydevelopedthrougha‘vision’or‘informalplan’(Realizers)wereanalysedandcompared.Face-to-faceinterviewswereconductedwithboardlevelexecutivestoidentifyandassesstherelevanceofaformalenvironmentalscanningprocess,thecharacteristicsofsuchaprocess,barrierstoitsdevelopmentandwaystoovercomethem.Acognitivemappingtechniquewasusedintheanalysisofrespondents’perceptionstowardsthedevelopmentofsuchprocess,withthemapsshowingmoresimilaritiesthandifferencesbetweenthecomparisongroups,thushighlightingtheimportanceofthisprocessforbothintendersandrealizers.Keywords:environmentalscanning;strategicplanning;hotelchains;cognitivemapping,Portugal1INTRODUCTIONThedevelopmentofthehotelsectorinPortugalhasbeenscarcelydocumentedwithlittleliteraturepublished,andthatwhichisavailable,mostlyreportingontheoccupancyratesandrevenuesofhotelsinthecountry.Morerecently,however,duetotheincreasingcompetitionofothertouristdestinationsandthebargainingpoweroftouroperators,Portuguesehoteliersbecameawareoftheneedtotakeamorerigorousmanagerialapproachtotheirbusiness(Cavaco,1993).This,coupledwithanawarenesscampaigndevelopedbythegovernmentandsupportedbyEuropeanfunds,ledtotheidentificationofthemainchallengesfacingthePortuguesehotelsector:toimprovequality,productandmarketdiversification;toincreaseproductivityandreducecosts;todefinespecificmarketingpoliciesandtoimprovemanagementstructures(Relvas,1993;Martins,1993).Thesechallengescontributedtoanadditionalpressureonhotelierstore-thinktheirapproachtostrategydevelopmentwhichtraditionallyhadbeenhighlyreactiveandinformal(Martins,1993).Thisreactiveandinformalapproach,however,cannotbeseenasexclusivetothePortuguesehotelsectorasresearchhasrevealed(Olsen,MurphyandTeare,1994;Olsen,TseandWest,1992;WestandOlsen,1989).Infact,accordingtotheseauthors,theidentificationandanalysisoftrendsinthebusinessenvironment,whichshouldbeusedtoplanthedevelopmentofstrategies,aremostofthetimesscannedinformally.Ontheotherhand,theformalisationofstrategiesisnotageneralisedprocedureamongstorganisations(Costa,1997;Mintzberg,1994;1992).Inreality,asCostaandMintzberghaveidentifiedintheirresearch,strategiescanbeformallydeveloped(intendedstrategies),or‘incrementallydevelopedinthecourseofaction’(realizedstrategies).Basedontheimportanceoftrendsidentificationandanalysisforstrategicplanninganddecisionmaking,andontheprocessesofstrategydevelopment,thispaperexploresandassessestherelevanceandstructureofaformalenvironmentalscanningprocesstobeadoptedbyhotelchains,thebarrierstothisprocessandpossibleactions292toovercomethem.Despitethefactthatpreviousstudiessuggestedthatorganisationswouldbenefitfromaformalapproachtoenvironmentalscanning,findingsalsodemonstratethattheseactivitiesamongsthospitalityorganisationsaremostlyinformalinnature(Costa,1997;Olsen,1994).Intryingtounderstandthereasonsbehindtheexistingscanningactivitiesandtheimpactofthestrategymakingapproachpractisedbyhospitalityorganisations(intendedorrealized),respondents’viewsonthecharacteristicsofanidealformalenvironmentalscanningprocess,itsrelevance,possiblebarrierstosuchprocessandsolutionstoovercomethemwereresearchedandanalysed.Thedatawereanalysedusingacognitivemappingapproachtodisplayandexploreexistingsituationsandidealsolutionsaccordingtotheirperspectives.Asthecorecontributionofthisanalysisaseriesofoutputpropositionsweredevelopedandusedtosupportadescriptivemodelofaformalenvironmentalscanningprocess.2BACKGROUND2.1StrategicplanningandenvironmentalscanningThereisnogenerallyaccepteddefinitionofstrategicplanninganddifferentauthorsusedifferenttermstodefinethesameconcept(StonerandFreeman,1986).Indefiningstrategicplanningasthedevelopmentoflongrangeplansfortheeffectivemanagementofenvironmentalopportunitiesandthreatsinthelightofcorporatestrengthsandweaknesses,WheelenandHunger(1989,p.14),addressbasicallythesameaspectsasotherauthors,whilstatthesametimeprovidingagoodillustrationofitsprocessandcontent.AccordingtoMintzberg(1992),thedevelopmentofstrategiesisnotalwayscarriedoutinsuchaformalway.Infact,asheargues,thereareorganisationswherestrategiesarenotdeliberatebutemergent.This'realized'approachtostrategydevelopment,asMintzbergcallsit,islikelytoresultindifferentattitudestowardsthemanagementofenvironmentalopportunitiesasproposedbyWheelenandHunger.Inadditiontoconsiderstrategicplanningactivities,theemergentapproachtostrategyalsorequiresclarificationnamelyinrespectofhowanorganisation'sobjectivesareformallydefinedandstrategiesdeveloped.ThisisalsooneofthelimitationsidentifiedbyWest(1988)inhisstudyoftherelationshipsbetweenstrategy