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Tyler Stumpf’s Three Minute Thesis


Navigating the Elusive Industry: A Grounded Investigation into Hotel Business Management in a Developing Pacific Island Country

 

Despite a theoretical comparative advantage in tourism, some Pacific Island countries (PICs) have been unable to develop viable tourism industries. Many such PICs are also characterized by environments where ease of doing business is very low. Despite the gamut of micro and macro-level challenges, some hotel businesses in these low-performing PICs have continued to survive. How this is accomplished has yet to be systematically studied and accounted for. The aim of this research is to elucidate a grounded theory on how to design and maintain a workable hotel business model in a developing Pacific Island country that does not have a workable tourism business model, and where ease of doing business is low. Grounded theory method is used as the research method, and transaction cost economics is used as meta-theoretical lens for the data collection and analysis. Two rounds of empirical interview data are collected from hotel operators and other relevant subjects via on-location field work. The result is an endemic theory on hotel business management which stands in stark contrast to the status quo approach to business management and development frequently advocated for in PICs. As opposed to either ignoring normative systems or predicating the success of business on their reform, the present findings reveal an alternative theoretical perspective on how hotel entrepreneurs structure transaction cost economizing business arrangements by effectively working within these systems.

 

About Tyler

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Tyler Stumpf is pursuing a Ph.D. in business administration with concentration in hospitality and tourism business management at WSU. He enjoys teaching courses relating to travel, tourism and service business management. His research focuses on hotel business management and tourism development in Pacific Island countries.

Stumpf earned an MBA from Gonzaga University and a BUS from North Dakota State University. Prior to joining WSU, He worked as a classroom instructor and small business owner in the Federated States of Micronesia.