How Small Hotel Owners Practice Resilience

Abstract

Through three dramatic periods—the period of communism, the period of the war and transition during the 1990s, and the period of EU admission—this longitudinal study investigates how small hotel owners in Croatia understand and practice resilience. Findings demonstrate that entrepreneurs have proactive understanding of resilience and practice different actions before the shock of a disruptive event/s occur/s. Interestingly, entrepreneurs perceive this disruption as opportunities to exploit for their business development. One of the most prevalent practices is diversification, where entrepreneurs start another firm in different, often unrelated, sectors.