Hotel General Managers’ Strategic Management Process in Korea and Japan

This study assessed differences in the strategic decision-making processes of hotel general managers in Korea and Japan. This study hypothesized that certain organizational functions are regarded as having greater strategic importance than others. This study also hypothesized that perceptions toward organization classification by characters of their own property and competitors varies across countries. Results show general managers in both countries, Korea and Japan, believe that operation departments have the most influence in their respective businesses. In terms of resource allocation, marketing subunits receive additional resources in Korea, and sales subunits receive additional budgets in Japan. Once additional capital is available, Korean general managers use the capital in foreign markets, and Japanese general managers use the capital in the domestic market. The general managers in Korea classified themselves and their competitors as prospectors. On the other hand, more than half of the hotel general managers in Japan considered themselves to be analyzers and characterized their competitors as prospectors.