Competitiveness of the hotel industry: a knowledge management approach

The principal goal of this study is to identify the role of knowledge management organizational processes as a determinant of competitiveness in the hotel industry, particularly how knowledge management strategies centered on the source (internal and external) and knowledge (tacit and explicit) have a positive impact on the competitiveness of hotels. Authors use a quantitative approach based in an email survey applied to 55 Portuguese hotels. Results show that the knowledge management strategies oriented to source and type of knowledge are critical for hotels' competitiveness and obtaining competitive advantages. This will help hotel managers better understand how to align the knowledge management strategies in order to improve hotel competitiveness. This chapter is among the first research into the links among knowledge management strategy, based on knowledge source (internal, external) and type (tacit, explicit) and hotel competitiveness, an integrated framework.