Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
social policy (Hall 2001a).
• The growth of 'local internationalisation', 'virtual regions', through the development of
economic ties between contiguous (e.g. 'border regions') or non-contiguous local and
regional state authorities (e.g. growth regions and triangles) in different national
economies which often bypass the level of the nation state but which still retain
support at the national level. For example, the Pacific North West Economic Region
(PNWER), consisting of the American states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and
Washington plus the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia and Yukon
Territory, as well private sector members, has a tourism working group to promote
greater economic development in the region (Hall 2001a).
• The widening and deepening of international and supranational regimes which cover
economic and economically relevant issues and which may also provide for regional
institutionalised governance.
• The internationalisation of national economic spaces through growing penetration
(inward flows) and extra version (outward flows) as with the increasing mobility of
tourists and capital.
• The extension and deepening of multinationalisation by multinational firms including
hospitality and tourism firms.
• The 'emergence of globalisation proper through the introduction and acceptance of
global norms and standards, the development of globally integrated markets together
with globally oriented strategies, and “deracinated” firms with no evident national
operational base' (Jessop 1999:23).
INTERNATIONAL HOTEL CHAINS
The hotel industry is arguably a global industry, since it fulfils some of the criteria which
distinguish businesses as truly global, whereby it may be one which can create a
competitive advantage from its activities on a worldwide basis. Alternatively it may be
one in which the strategic positions of competitors in major geographic or national
markets are fundamentally affected by their overall global positions (Porter 1980:175).
Much of the debate on the influence of international hotel chains may be dated to the
research by Dunning and McQueen (1982) on what constitutes a multinational,
international and transnational firm. Dunning and McQueen's (1982) use of an
international hotel company, which has direct investments and other types of contractual
agreements in more than one country, remains a simple but effective definition (see also
Shaw and Williams 1994:120-5). One concept which economists and sociologists have
embraced to analyse the linkages of transnational companies in local and regional tourism
economies is embeddedness. This essentially refers to the links between external capital
and local firms' relationships, though it has proved problematic to adequately
operationalise in tourism, since the concept is also opaque (Agarwal et al. 2000), as
researchers seek to define the most appropriate methodologies to use to measure and
understand embeddedness.
Britton (1991:460) analysed the product which hotel chains offered in terms of their
competitive strategies as a package of on-premises services which provide a certain
