The Role of Relations with Customers in the Innovative Activities of Hotel Companies

Authors

  • Barbara Kowalczyk Ośrodek Przetwarzania Informacji – Państwowy Instytut Badawczy Laboratorium Analiz Statystycznych i Ewaluacji
  • Marcin Olszewski Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny w Poznaniu Wydział Gospodarki Międzynarodowej Katedra Turystyki

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24917/20801653.322.21

Keywords:

hotel companies, open innovations, relations, user-driven innovation

Abstract

Nowadays enterprises, including the smallest ones, are facing strong pressure of implementing innovative solutions, which are regarded as one of the key factors of the companies’ performance and development. Due to the immanent characteristics of hotel enterprises, knowledge derived from customers’ relations can play an important role in their innovation activities. The purpose of the article is to identify the importance of relations with customers in the innovative activities of hotel enterprises in Poland. The article presents the concept of User-Driven Innovation, as well as the current state of research on this issue in the tourism industry, particularly in hotel enterprises. The results of an empirical study conducted among 400 randomly selected hotels in Poland, are the key part of the article. According to the survey, customers’ relations play great role in the innovative activities of hotel enterprises. In addition, the main sources of innovations, as well as the scope of customer engagement in innovative activities are presented. Employees who directly contact the guests have a key role in acquiring and utilising knowledge coming from customers. The survey shows that Polish hotels are still at an early stage of adapting the concept of user-driven innovations. Moreover, the utilisation of knowledge from the clients for innovations requires intensification of the activities in the field of knowledge, as well as human resources management.

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Author Biographies

Barbara Kowalczyk, Ośrodek Przetwarzania Informacji – Państwowy Instytut Badawczy Laboratorium Analiz Statystycznych i Ewaluacji

Barbara Kowalczyk, Ph.D., is Chief Researcher at the Laboratory of Statistical Analysis and Evaluation of the National Information Processing Institute. She has finished her Ph.D. studies in 2017 with a doctoral thesis on the influence of relationship with the users on innovativeness of hotel companies. She has graduated from the Poznań University of Economics and Business. Her interests are focused on innovativeness, R&D actions, higher education sector. She has participated in several research and commercial projects, financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, The National Center for Research and Development, European Commission. She is an author or co-author of several books and articles on innovation, entrepreneurship, R&D sector.

Marcin Olszewski, Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny w Poznaniu Wydział Gospodarki Międzynarodowej Katedra Turystyki

Marcin Olszewski, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Tourism, Faculty of International Business and Economics at the Poznań University of Economics and Business, Poland. He has finished his Ph.D. studies in 2011 with a doctoral thesis on knowledge management in hospitality industry. His areas of research include university-industry collaboration in tourism industry, knowledge management, tourism industry competitiveness, economics of tourism enterprise. He has participated in several research projects on tourism and hospitality industry (including those financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the National Science Center). He is an author or co-author of more than 50 papers (chapters in monographs, articles in journals and conference papers).

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Published

2018-06-29

How to Cite

Kowalczyk, B., & Olszewski, M. (2018). The Role of Relations with Customers in the Innovative Activities of Hotel Companies. Studies of the Industrial Geography Commission of the Polish Geographical Society, 32(2), 299–310. https://doi.org/10.24917/20801653.322.21

Issue

Vol. 32 No. 2 (2018): Conditions for the development of enterprises and selected sectors of the economy

Section

Articles

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Articles are published under the terms of the Creative Commons License (CC BY-ND 4.0; Attribution– NoDerivs).

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