Opportunities and Threats in the Tourism Industry: relational strategic analysis of the case of leading hotels of the city of Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

In the contemporary competitive environment, to be assertive, organizations, including those working in tourism, must take into account in their analysis and decision-making not only the implications of factors related to industry performance and internal resources of firms, but also to their relationships with other organizations. This article presents the results of a research that, in light of the discussion above, applied a relational framework for strategic analysis to the case of leading hotels of the city of Rio de Janeiro. The paper analyzes the opportunities and threats created by strategic alliances of these hotels not only considering their goals to compete on the global stage, but also their own roles in the development of a tourist destination. For this, we analyzed both non-relational factors (macro environmental and key strategic players in the performance of their traditional roles) and relational factors (pertaining to relationships, like alliances, and the network composed of these) to identify the most significant strategic implications at industry level. The results showed that by including in the strategic analysis relational factors, most of the threat posed is neutralized, providing new insights into the management decision process. In addition, it also showed the potential of the studied hotels to seize the opportunities revealed by their alliances in order to contribute to the socioeconomic development of the city through its role as central actors in the network of relationships in the tourism industry.