Family Business on Tourism - Essay Example

? Tourism Summary Insert Insert Grade Insert Insert The research “Businessman or host? Individual differences between entrepreneurs and small business owners in the hospitality industry” by Wagener, Gorgievski and Rijsdijk (2010) is based on the importance of SMEs in today’s economy. The researchers acknowledges that there is a wide body of study that has covered the importance of SMEs to economies even though there is a gap in the study of the differences that exist among business owners. As a result, the study is conducted to be able to differentiate between entrepreneurial business owners and small business owners in hospitality industry. The differences identified by the authors through a review of available literature are based on major qualities like independence, risk-taking ability, tolerance of ambiguity, self-efficacy, innovativeness, market orientation and leadership qualities. The study methodology is, therefore, aligned to these characteristics through administration of ability questionnaires to sampled hospitality operators in the Netherlands. The main argument and conclusion is that entrepreneurs are high in the mentioned qualities and therefore there is need to classify business owners based on the activities they carry out as well as their goals. Anderson and Hughes (2010) conducted a study entitled “the business of caring: women’s self-employment and the marketization of care”. The study by the two is conducted in view of increased commercialization of care giving services by women since the authors have pointed out that there is a research gap on self employed paid care workers. The main aim of the study is to explore how women’s paid care giving is shaped by their employment status; whether self employed or an employee and the nature of care provided (direct/indirect). The study analyses qualitative interviews carried out in the summer of 2004 with 20 self-employed women in western Canada. SPSS has been used as the main analytical tool. The findings are then compared with existing data on employed caregivers. The study finds that self-employed caregivers are more dedicated in their work. Employment status and nature of care have been concluded to shape experiences of care workers. The third study in is on “Doing Gender, Doing Entrepreneurship: An Ethnographic Account of Intertwined Practices”. Bruni, Gheradi and Poggio (2004), contend that there is a connection between entrepreneurship and culture apart from it being an economic activity. The study picks onto gender as a result of the increased institutionalization of value and symbols that can be related to this social component in the operation of enterprises. The study relies on two selected ethnographic observations conducted in small enterprises in Italy. The methodology therefore involves a study of historical data on the issue of exceptional figures, which has a connection to gender roles in enterprises more specific to feminine gender. The two companies are Welder and Atlantis. Five processes are used in the analysis of these roles. They include managing dual presence, doing ceremonial and remedial chores, boundary keeping, footing and gender commodification. The study confirms that there is a relationship between entrepreneurship and masculinity. As such, it concludes that performing entrepreneurship involves gender positioning. Hjorth (2004) brings another perspective in the importance of entrepreneurship through his study: “Creating Space for Play/Invention Concepts of Space and Organizational Entrepreneurship”. The study examines the role of entrepreneurship in the various functions of management in organizations. This is based on the observation that management should be able to integrate innovation process of entrepreneurs into the organization’s main strategy. The purpose of this study is therefore is to bring into focus the nature of the relationship between management and entrepreneurship. This focus is analyzed in the context of creating space for innovation and creativity. The study bases its evaluation through a case study of Educator South (ES) Company. The ensuing analysis of the organization finds out that creating effective organizations require that employees be entrepreneurial in nature. Since entrepreneurship is important to organizations, the study concludes that management fuses well with entrepreneurship for the purposes of supportive creativity and innovation. A study by Williams (2008) has further identified a shocking aspect of entrepreneurs in England’s service sector that can be a revelation for stakeholders especially researchers. The study entitled “Beyond ideal-type depictions of entrepreneurship: some lessons from the service sector in England” is based on the risk taking characteristic of entrepreneurs as is always conventional in literature. This characteristic is closely examined with reference to the off-the-books practices entrepreneurs are likely to be engaged in. The purpose of this study is therefore to examine the relationship between entrepreneurship and off-the –book practices. The methodology used in the study is three pronged. The study first examines available literature on qualities of good entrepreneurs and then examines another set of studies that have related entrepreneurs to illegitimate business practices. Lastly, the study is enriched through an analysis of a survey conducted in the country on the prevalence of such practices among upcoming entrepreneurs as well as established ones in the service sector. The findings indicate that about 75% of the identified groups engage in illegitimate practices. As such, the study concludes that the heroic portrayal of entrepreneurs in the service sector by various researchers may be misleading. Zhao, Ritchie and Echtner (2011), have based their study on the recognition of tourism as a tool for international development. Their work is entitled “social capital and tourism entrepreneurship”. The study aims to provide an illustration of social capital model and its application to the reasons why residents in a destination may choose to establish and operate tourism enterprises while others may not. The target population is a rural setting in Chinese Guangxi where the study uses two samples. The data obtained from the responses from the samples are analyzed using logistic regression analysis technique. The study finds out that there is a positive relationship between individual social capital on entrepreneurship in the rural tourism sector. More specifically, structural social capital has been found to be positively related to both an individual’s ability to enterprise and the probability of establishing tourism business. The last study is on “family business on tourism” by Getz and Carlsen (2005). It studies the nature of family business in tourism. The two authors mainly strive to explain the meaning of family business with regards to tourism sector. They engage the various studies on the nature of family business in tourism sector. The main components identified include small and family business operations, family business and entrepreneurship and family business and development. The research finds out that there is a relationship between family business issues like gender, sustainability with tourism operations. The authors, therefore, propose that there should be studies focused on the dimensions of family business for the improvement of development, destination imaging and competitiveness. Bibliography Anderson, N and Hughes, K. 2010. The Business of Caring: Women’s Self-Employment and the Marketization of Care. Gender, Work and Organization, Vol. 17 No. 4 p 381-405 Bruni, A., Gherardi, S and Poggio, B. 2004. Doing Gender, Doing Entrepreneurship: An Ethnographic Account of Intertwined Practices. Gender, Work and Organization, Vol. 11 No. 4 p406 -429 Getz, D and Carlsen, J. 2005. FAMILY BUSINESS IN TOURISM-State of the Art. Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 237–258 Hjorth, D. 2004. Creating space for play/invention – concepts of space and organizational entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Vol.16, No. 1 p413–432 Wagenera, S., Gorgievskia, M and Rijsdijkb, S. 2010. Businessman or host? Individual differences between entrepreneurs and small business owners in the hospitality industry. The Service Industries Journal, Vol. 30, No. 9, p1513–1527 Williams, C. 2008. Beyond ideal-type depictions of entrepreneurship: some lessons from the service sector in England. The Service Industries Journal, Vol. 28, No. 7, p1041–1053 Zhao, W., Ritchie, J.R and Echtner, C. 2011. Social Capital and Tourism Entrepreneurship. Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 38, No. 4, pp. 1570–1593 Read More