Search results

Mergers and acquisitions are frequent occurrences in the world of business. While a merged firm may convert an acquired asset to other brands, the restaurant industry tends to acquire the same brand name and does not change the name of the acquired assets. Acquisitions can prove to be a risky proposition in any industry. This study attempts to determine if a product-diversified acquisition in the restaurant industry is a value-creating decision. By comparing focused and diversified acquisitions, we try to find if focused acquisitions create value and that diversified acquisitions do not. Our initial expectation was that focused acquisitions create more shareholder value. We find that both focused and diversified acquisitions make significant positive abnormal returns for acquirers.

The aim of this study is to investigate institutional investment behavior relating to lodging firms and their brand equity.

Ordinary least squares (OLS) and two‐stage least squares (2SLS) regressions are used. The dependent variable is institutional investor percentage and the independent variables are advertising expenditures, size, capital expenditures, proxy Q, debt ratio, price, share turnover and year.

The study found that institutional investors' holdings are positively related to advertising expenditures. There is a significant difference in institutional holdings between lodging firms with advertising expenditures and those without. Institutions favor lodging firms that have lower debt ratios. Institutional investors prefer small firms because they typically offer superior returns.

Further research may be done to see whether individual investors favor firms with brand equity. Additional research may be conducted in other segments, such as restaurants or casinos.

Findings may help lodging managers in raising financial capital from institutional investors; researchers in conducting future research on institutional investors; and educators in better describing institutional investors' important roles to hospitality students.

The paper is the first to show a relationship between institutional investors and advertising expenditures in the lodging industry.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) creates long-term shareholder value through managing risks from economic, environmental, and social developments. Among institutional owners, pension funds have a long-term investment horizon and can influence a firm's strategy. They promote CSR activities in the long run. Mutual funds and investment banks tend to have more of a short-term investment horizon. They are not strong supporters of CSR activities. Our results support the previous time horizon hypotheses. Although pension funds prefer CSR firms in the hotel and casino industry, mutual funds and brokerage firms had no interest in CSR firms. Pension fund and mutual fund ownership is negatively related to CSR firms in the restaurant industry. Brokerage firms are indifferent to CSR firms.

The purpose of this paper is to understand whether budgetary controls at clubs have changed from the mid‐1980s to the first decade of the twenty‐first century.

The survey instrument is mailed to the members of the Club Managers Association of America. The questionnaire includes demographic data as well as information on budgetary controls.

For control purposes, comparisons to the original budget and actual numbers during the current decade have increased significantly from comparisons in the prior decade. The median variance tolerance for food and labor costs has declined from the mid‐1980s to the mid‐1990s and now to the first decade of the twenty‐first century. Median variance tolerances for beverage costs are slightly higher in this study than in the mid‐1990s study.

The authors are unable to determine any statistical differences between current and prior studies due to a lack of prior data. Further research on tolerable control variances can be studied for other costs, such as supplies, energy, and fixed charges.

This paper provides findings that can help managers as they compare their budgetary control practices with US club industry practices. Educators can provide selected cost control information to their hospitality students focusing on club management and researchers can use this information as a base for further research in cost control areas.

This paper is the first paper on budgetary controls in the US club industry in the twenty‐first century.

Prior research suggests that hospitality firms behave differently than other firms in terms of financing and investment issues. Such behavior may be attributable in part to agency problems and corporate governance structures in hospitality firms. This paper contains a report of an investigation into whether corporate governance mechanisms differ in hospitality firms relative to other industries. Our findings suggest that hospitality firms are more likely to experience agency problems than are nonhospitality firms. Hospitality firms have lower governance control mechanisms, better financial performance and higher-quality earnings than nonhospitality firms. An understanding of corporate governance control mechanisms helps to reduce agency problems and improves the hospitality firm's performance in the hospitality corporation.