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The purpose of this paper is to identify the importance and performance of customers’ full-service restaurant selection factors in the USA using the importance-performance analysis model.

An online survey was distributed to participants who were 19 years of age or older and had dined at a full-service restaurant in the past month. A total of 413 valid surveys were collected. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the demographic information, satisfaction of restaurant attributes, revisit intention, and scores of importance-performance items. Path analysis was applied to group customer’s perceived importance of restaurant attributes and was used to analyze relationships among five attribute dimensions, satisfaction and revisit intention.

“Accurate guest check,” “prompt service,” “overall value of the dining experience,” and “lighting” were very important to customers but the restaurants’ performances in these areas were not satisfactory. Three attribute dimensions (food, service, and price and value) were positively and directly related to customer satisfaction and their effects are partially mediated. However, atmosphere and satisfaction are negatively and partially mediated in this study.

Food, service, price and value, and atmosphere dimensions have larger direct effects than indirect effect on revisit intentions. Their impacts on revisit intentions are partially mediated by satisfaction. Thus, great performance alone may not significantly improve revisit intentions. However, great performance can increase customer satisfaction, which has a stronger influence on revisit intentions.

This research explored the mediating effects of satisfaction between five restaurant dimensions and behavioral intentions.

This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/09596119010006823. When citing the article, please cite: Simon Crawford-Welch, Eliza Tse, (1990), “Mergers, Acquisitions and Alliances in the European Hospitality Industry”, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 2 Iss: 1.

Projections are made concerning the nature and focus of merger, acquisition, and alliance activity in the post‐1992 environment by both US and European hospitality firms. Recommendations are offered concerning the most viable business strategies facing hospitality organisations in the Internal Market of 1992.

In today′s complex and competitive environment, strategic management becomes the primary means of adapting organisations to their changing environment. For firms in the maturing hospitality industry to survive and grow, they will have to depend on their ability to align themselves strategically with the turbulent environment and select appropriate strategies to create defendable competitive positions. The findings of a nationwide study which was conducted to extend Porter′s framework of business strategy to the service industry by exploring the level of strategic management in restaurant firms in the United States are given. Companies′ emphasis in resource allocation in various competitive methods, and the nature of the relationship between strategy and structure are also examined.

The purpose of this study is to test the entrepreneurial orientation organization structure‐performance link within the context of the Asian hotel industry.

Performance was designated as the dependent variable while strategic posture and organization structure were considered the independent variables. Correlation and regression analysis were adopted to test relationships.

Results suggest that entrepreneurial strategic posture is positively associated with performance. Contrary to expectations, organic structures were negatively associated with performance. The study findings are in support of previous researchers who have suggested that western theories are not easily generalized to a non‐western context.

The cross‐sectional approach adopted in this research does not capture the effects of strategy‐structure alignment over time. The external validity of the results is also limited due to the geographically focused nature of the study sample.

This study offers useful insights for hoteliers based on empirical evidence.

Proposes primarily to test empirically Smith′s entrepreneurial typology and Miles and Snow′s typology of strategy in the restaurant sector, and then to establish whether or not there is a relationship between type of entrepreneur and type of strategy. Evidence suggests that Smith′s two entrepreneurial types may not be mutually exclusive and that a third group of entrepreneurs exists combining characteristics from both Smith′s craftsmen and opportunistic types. Finds support for Miles and Snow′s four generic strategies of defender, prospector, analyser and reactor. Through the use of discriminant analysis, it was possible to demonstrate a relationship between type of entrepreneur and type of strategy.

The purpose of this research is to investigate general managers' (GM) demographic characteristics and career paths in China's indigenous economy and budget hotels.

A questionnaire was chosen as the most appropriate means of obtaining information from 104 general managers in Guangdong Province, China.

The data from this study indicate that the majority of general managers are between ages of 31‐51, predominantly males with three‐year vocational college educations, and trained in either a hospitality/business‐related major or totally non‐business‐related major. The career paths of younger general managers show more similarities with their counterparts on the international market. However, some unique differences are identified. General managers in China have more years of non‐hotel experiences and pursue more diversified experiences. Experience in marketing and sales and human resources are considered particularly important in qualifying them for the GM position.

Non‐random sampling was used, and it only focused on GMs in one region of China.

The study shed some light on the demographic characteristics of GMs and the change of career paths over the past 20 years in China. The knowledge obtained from this study will help foreign hotels operating in China effectively select the right leaders and partners. Most importantly, the results will offer useful information to the Chinese hospitality industry as it expands its role in China.

While an updated career development research of hotel GMs is needed, the findings have an incremental contribution to the body of knowledge on career development and a better understanding of hotel GMs in China.

The purpose of this paper is to deliver empirical data comparing the effects of music with the effects of providing waiting time information on customers who are kept on hold when telephoning their bank. It aims to discover if either has a more positive impact on their affective responses (satisfaction), and to discern if these effects are measurably different to a telephone call without music, or waiting time information, and for different durations of wait.

The methodology is an empirical study using bank customers as participants. Questionnaires and user observations techniques are employed to collect quantitative data which are analysed using repeated measures ANOVAs.

Overall the presence of updates, or music, has a positive influence on satisfaction when compared to just a ringing tone, but for a waiting time of one minute music has no influence on satisfaction. The acceptable waiting time threshold plays a very critical influence on satisfaction with the service. A waiting time above this results in larger differences being observed in the responses to the four treatments, with music and updates both having greater influence. In general, the presence of music and updates are also shown to reduce the overestimation of perceived waiting time.

This paper reports findings from an existing UK telephone banking service with 197 customers in three different locations. Implications from the findings provide insights for telephone service managers when choosing between adopting music or updates for managing on‐hold periods.