Innovation inequality within service sectors : preliminary evidence from the hospitality sector in Kenya
Date
2014
Authors
Oduori, Fredrick
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Strathmore University
Abstract
Limited attention has been paid to the issue of NSD between sectors. To address this critique of the literature a comparative study of NSD strategy and process of the hospitality and financial sectors was conducted. The exploratory study used a cross-sectional survey-based methodology and case study strategy from 35 hotels. Three-stage sampling procedure was used in the study. Findings from empirical studies of the financial sector were used for comparison. The data showed that there is a significant difference in the implementation of the NSD strategy between chain and independent hotels. The type of management adopted by the establishment influenced the execution of NSD strategy. There is no evidence that the number of new services developed is related to hotel‟s star rating for hospitality sector. The analysis has been restricted to two sectors: hospitality and financial services. This suggests the need for further comparative studies of NSD between other service sectors. The findings of this research support the notion that some of the key NSD strategy and process may be common across all service sectors whereas others must be adjusted for sector variations. The insights from this study can help service managers to better understand innovation inequality within the service sectors and manage their NSD efforts in a sector-specific context. The findings of the research are expected to advance the understanding of service cataloging and their implications on a firm‟s NSD strategy and process.
Description
Conference paper presented at the 1st African Conference on Sustainable Tourism in Strathmore University, Kenya.
Keywords
Hospitality, Innovation, Service sector