STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT ROLE IN BOOSTING HOTEL PERFORMANCE

The foremost aim of this paper is to examine the right linkage of specific market orientation, innovation strategy and organizational performance of 114 hotels in Malaysia. Data were drawn from census method on 475 hotels' top and middle managers who are responsible for the progress of innovation and market orientation of their hotel. These research findings confirmed that all hypotheses give valuable indications on the strategic linkage of specific market orientation and innovation strategy to pursue for improved organizational performance. The results highlighted hotels pursuing competitor orientation focused on process innovation. Hotels that pursue customer orientation focused on service innovation. The result shows that competitor orientation, customer orientation, process innovation and service innovation have a significant effect on organizational performance. Remarkably, this research found process innovation partially mediates the association between competitor orientation and performance, while service innovation partially mediates the association of customer orientation and performance. The paper develops an integrated model that link specific market orientation, innovation strategy and organizational performance of hotels in Malaysia.