THE IMPACT OF COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE ACQUISITION AND UTILIZATION ON HOTELS' PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM MALAYSIA

Abstract

Acquisition and frequency utilisation of Competitive Intelligence (CI) are critical strategic activities designed to assist firms in evaluating emerging trends in their business environments, major and potential threats, capabilities, and competitions for businesses today, particularly in the tourism and hotel sectors. However, there is still ambiguity about the impact of competitive-intelligence acquisition (CIA) and utilisation (CIU) on firms' performance, particularly for the hotel industry in a developing country such as Malaysia. Thus, the purposes of this research are to define the nature of CI practice in Malaysian hotels, and to illustrate the relative importance of various CIA types and sources to marketing managers in Malaysian hotels, moreover, to investigate the impact of CIA and CIU on the financial and non-financial performance of Malaysian hotels. A quantitative research design was adopted in this study. To obtain the necessary data for analysing the hypothesised model of the study, 505 questionnaires were issued to marketing managers in member hotels of the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH), and a total of 184 analyzable questionnaires were gathered, with a response rate of 34.44%. The research data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling and statistical package for social sciences "SPSS". Despite that half of the responding hotels practiced CI informally, and many of these hotels began practicing CI five years ago, the study found that hotel marketing managers have high and medium interest levels for most types and sources of CI in Malaysia, these five CIA's types were the most important: (1) competitors, (2) customers, (3) human resources, (4) socio-cultural, and (5) Global. As well, these five CIA's sources were the most important: the internet and extranets, (2) customers, (3) electronic information services/intranets, (4) business associates, and (5) newspapers and periodicals, and industry trade associations. Furthermore, the results indicate that CIA and CIU had a positive and significant impact on hotels' performance, but CIU has the most effect. These findings enrich those in positions of power like owners, managers, and practitioners, as well as academicians, with greater knowledge of the relationship and influence of CIA and CIU on firms' performance, particularly for hospitality and tourism firms.