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The purpose of this paper is to present directions for researching “new territories” by systematically reviewing contemporary research in the area of hotel internationalization.

Comprehensive analysis drawing on frameworks and debates in the international services management literature of research published over the period 1996‐2005 identifies approaches and results of hotel internationalization research. Work is organized into two broad categories: studies that relate hotel organizations to their external environments and those taking an internal perspective. This analysis is complemented by a short review of relevant demand and policy trends to ensure relevance of the critique.

Modal choice research has now reached a stage where it can provide greater depth of understanding in the relationships between this choice and organizational capabilities. Secondly, there has been a welcome increase in more internalised, qualitative research. Thirdly, while there have been some comparative industry studies more is encouraged as dialogue between researchers in different service (and manufacturing) industries will be of value as hotel internationalization meets new supply and demand conditions.

Eclectic paradigms to be supplemented by more focused industry and comparative industry studies; internal, organization focused research must account for cultural diversity amongst new hotel developers, firms and customers to prevent parochialism or ethnocentrism; more specific work could explore policy dimensions.

The paper outlines some future trends which will affect the internationalization process and bases of competitiveness/competitive advantage of hotel companies.

Through a timely review of one of the first service businesses to internationalise the paper contributes to knowledge of hotel internationalization by a rigorous review of contemporary research and suggests a research compass for the future.

Argues the case for interdisciplinary research in hospitality management. Education in the industry, by and large, does take this more holistic stance. Using a case illustrates the value and benefits of interdisciplinary research. One of the biggest problems is finding a suitable vehicle for presenting the research findings. Current journals tend to be too narrow in discipline focus. However, there is a growth in conferences etc. which take a more interdisciplinary approach and these are a possible solution. Hospitality management transcends many other subject boundaries, so it is important that research in these areas is made more accessible and credible to the world at large.

The term “budget” hotel has become a buzz word in the hotel and catering industry. It is argued that it is a misnomer as it implies a homogeneous product when, in fact, “budget” hotels are highly segmented. The major segments are identified and the implications of “budget” concepts for hotel companies and their customers considered.

The international hotel industry's growth has been achieved via the simultaneous divestment of real estate portfolios and adoption of low risk or “asset light” market entry modes such as management contracting. The management implications of these market entry mode decisions have however been poorly explored in the literature and the purpose of this paper is to address these omissions.

Research was undertaken with senior human resource executives and their teams across eight international hotel companies (IHCs). Data were collected by means of semi‐structured interviews, observations and the collection of company documentation.

The findings demonstrate that management contracts as “asset light” options for international market entry not only provide valuable equity and strategic opportunities but also limit IHCs' chances of developing and sustaining human resource competitive advantage. Only where companies leverage their specific market entry expertise and develop mutually supportive relationships with their property‐owning partners can the challenges of managing human resources in these complex and diversely owned arrangements be surmounted.

A limitation of this paper is the focus on the human resource specialists' perspectives of the impact of internationalization through asset light market entry modes.

This paper presents important insights into the tensions, practices and implications of management contracts as market entry modes which create complex inter‐organisational relationships subsequently shaping international human resource management strategies, practices and competitive advantage.

This article aims to explore how understanding the challenges faced by companies' attempts to create competitive advantage through their human resources and HRM practices can be enhanced by insights into the concept of strategic groups within industries. Based within the international hotel industry, this study identifies how strategic groups emerge in the analysis of HRM practices and approaches. It sheds light on the value of strategic groups as a way of readdressing the focus on firm and industry level analyses.

Senior human resource executives and their teams across eight international hotel companies (IHCs) were interviewed in corporate and regional headquarters, with observations and the collection of company documentation complementing the interviews.

The findings demonstrate that strategic groups emerge from analysis of the HRM practices and strategies used to develop hotel general managers (HGMs) as strategic human resources in the international hotel industry. The value of understanding industry structures and dynamics and intermediary levels of analysis are apparent where specific industries place occupational constraints on their managerial resources and limit the range of strategies and expansion modes companies can adopt.

This study indicates that further research on strategic groups will enhance the theoretical understanding of strategic human resource management and specifically the forces that act to constrain the achievement of competitive advantage through human resources. A limitation of this study is the dependence on the human resource divisions' perspectives on realising international expansion ambitions in the hotel industry.

This study has implications for companies' engagement with their executives' perceptions of opportunities and threats, and suggests companies will struggle to achieve competitive advantage where such perceptions are consistent with their competitors.

Developments in strategic human resource management have relied on the conceptual and theoretical developments in strategic management, however, an understanding of the impact of strategic groups and their shaping of SHRM has not been previously explored.

Hotel groups have expanded extensively over recent years, with key players now operating on a global basis. Presents a critical evaluation of the literature relating to the internationalization of hotel groups and previous success studies and prescriptive strategic management models in relation to multinational hotel groups. Addresses issues which include the measurement of internationalization, overreliance of profitability as a single measure of success and the dominance of western business cultures. Forwards proposals for a research framework designed specifically to investigate success in international hotel groups and to emphasize the need for “holistic” approach. Recognizes the need to research success using a multidisciplinary framework.

Recent research has queried the capability of hotel consortia organizations to compete in the hotel sector. Discusses the results of this investigation. A working definition was developed and employed to classify a fieldwork sample of 29 organizations. The concepts of generic strategy and organization structure and process were then used as a framework for identifying and isolating distinctive organizational characteristics relating to each consortium in order to construct strategic groups. The subsequent classification of multiple strategic groups indicated the forces of competitive rivalry in the hotel sector and the pertinent linkages between strategy and structure were identifiable in these groupings. An extended analysis of three consortia used a qualitative case approach to address in more detail the characteristics of a smaller set of organizations. Shows that consortia by nature can only partially, if at all, optimize the structure and process characteristics necessary for sustaining effective collective strategies. Therefore questions the long‐term survival of these “transorganizational” forms.

To discuss the entrepreneurial role and importance of organisational members in implementing franchising decisions internationally.

A single embedded case study of an international hotel firm was the focus of the enquiry. Interviews, observations and document analysis were used as the data collection techniques.

Findings suggest that Development Directors, as the organisational members in host country markets, display many characteristics of entrepreneurial salespeople in the process of selling the franchise system. However, they face organisational obstacles which mean that they cannot fully exploit their entrepreneurial effort. The paper concludes by suggesting that it is Development Directors, as opposed to senior decision makers, who possess an international orientation and are therefore crucial to the internationalisation process of the firm. In addition, there is an indication that there is a relationship between entrepreneurial efforts within sales and the performance of a firm.

The hotel industry has been chosen as the focus of the study, and the comparability with other industries is therefore questionable. Although the research findings have not indicated any substantial differences in terms of the international management of the hotel firms and other types of organisations, the findings of this research cannot be generalised.

This paper both illuminates the challenges franchise organisations face internationally and highlights the options that companies may consider as part of their growth strategies.

This paper illustrates the role and importance of organisational entrepreneurs in the international expansion process and sheds new light on the implementation of franchising decisions internationally. It identifies an important factor in the operationalisation of international franchising – the need for entrepreneurial sales people in the franchise‐selling procedure.

The purpose of the paper is to explain how and why strategic alliances, in the form of clubs and consortiums, played an important role in the internationalisation of banks.

A longitudinal analysis, commencing in 1964 with the emergence of the Eurocurrency market and culminating with the creation of the European single market in the early 1990s, is used to provide an insight into the creation of clubs and consortium banks. The authors adopt the Lawson realist methodology and identify broad structural changes in the markets in which banks operate, i.e. “mechanisms” and relate these to major trends, i.e. “events” such as the creation of strategic alliances.

It is generally recognised that banks became international in response to the globalisation strategies of their multinational customers. However, the paper reveals that banks were also internationalising in response to structural changes in the financial services markets.

A criticism of the Lawson methodology is that it is not always possible to discern causal linkages between mechanisms and events. This explains why research of this kind is typically retrospective because it is only with the benefit of hindsight that the causal linkages can be fully understood.

The study provides new insights into the emergence of international banking and the role of clubs and consortiums in this process.