Processes of internationalization that fit emerging markets in the hotel sector

: the case of Pestana Group in Brazil

Abstract

The service sector has, in the last decades, increased considerably its importance in the world’s economy. Within this sector, the hotel industry has accompanied this movement, and it’s now an important source of income and employment for various countries. This dissertation has the objective of better understanding how a hotel company from a developed country, internationalizes its activities into an emerging country, and implements its strategy while managing the turbulence of an emergent market. Thus, this work can contribute to the literature that regards the service sector industry, and that is still very insufficient. So an exploratory research was conducted, namely a case study, about the internationalization of the biggest Portuguese hotel company, the Pestana Group, into the Brazilian market, since they have successfully been there for the last 18 years. The data collected was retrieved through interviews made to the CEO and CDO of the Group. The findings show that in this kind of business, in order to have success, you have to consider the operational activity and the asset management one. There are no predefined modes of entry, being the crucial factors, the right timing and the right partnerships. Findings also showed that an emergent market poses challenges of various natures, and that they are the same ones faced by the manufacturing sector. In order to solve them, or at least mitigate some of them, you need to be ready for unexpected events, and be flexible to adapt your strategy and way of doing business.

Date of Award	16 Feb 2017
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Laure Leglise (Supervisor)