journal of cross-functional business research (jcbr) · iii editorial dear readers in today's...
TRANSCRIPT
Journal of Cross-functional Business Research
(JCBR)
Inaugural Edition (Fall 2017)
Knowgen Education Services Pvt Ltd 3C Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Rd
Kolkata 700013
ii
EDITORIAL BOARD
Co Editors : Rajib Kumar & Suvendu Narayan Roy
Editorial Assistant : Soham Roy
Honorary Subject Editors
HR &IR : Dr. Rana Bandopadhyay & Mr. Indranil Banerjee
Marketing : Dr. Rajdeep Bakshi
Finance and Economics : Prof Imon Ghosh
Mass Communication and Public Relations : Mr. Biswajit Matilal
Systems & Operations : Dr. S N Roy
Journal of Cross-functional Business Research (JCBR) is a quarterly publication of Knowgen Education
Services Pvt Ltd. Views expressed in the journal by the authors do not necessarily purport to constitute an
official position of JCBR or Knowgen Education Services Pvt Ltd.
Journal of Cross-functional Business Research (JCBR)
Inaugural Edition (Fall 2017)
SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
Journal of Cross-functional Business Research (JCBR)
(Quarterly publication)
Price per edition : Rs. 150/-
1 Year Subscription (4 editions) : 550/- (by ordinary post)
Overseas Readers : US $ 5 (1 edition); US $ 15 (for 4 editions)
Extra: Courier charges at actual.
A/C Payee Cheques/Drafts are to be drawn in favour of "Knowgen Education Services Pvt Ltd"
Payment can be made electronically in favour of "Knowgen Education Services Pvt Ltd"
A/C No: 10170002027967, Bandhan Bank, Park Street, Kolkata-700016, Branch,
IFSC Code: BDBL0001640
Email for correspondence, general queries, permission for reprint, submission of papers:
Address for correspondence (Editorial & Subscription):
JCBR
C/o Knowgen Education Services Pvt Ltd
3C Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Rd, Kolkata 700013
Printed at Repro Digital Pvt Ltd
The views expressed in JCBR are those of the authors and do not necessarily purport to constitute an official position of
JCBR or the editorial team or Knowgen Education Services Pvt Ltd.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the Knowgen Education
Services Pvt Ltd. Copyright © 2017 by Knowgen Education Services Pvt Ltd. All rights reserved.
iii
Editorial
Dear Readers
In today's global competitive business environment, segregated functional disposition is a thing of past. For
realizing the fullest potential of the organization and its resources, cross functional approach is the key to
sustainability. Further, the increased diversity of stakeholders and lessening of the margin of tolerance makes it
imperative to take decisions with a holistic perspective.
The above widely recognized precept has been at the core of our modest effort. There are quality publications in
the circuit which focus on different functional areas; however, there is seemingly a wide gap in terms of
endeavouring to comprehend and respond to industry issues from a cross functional perspective, leave along
dimension.
However, the comprehension and responses from such a dimension is but THE most viable proposition and
further it is only vide such a treatment of industry issues that we may be able to realize the fullest potential of
leveraging the academia-industry relationship.
Nevertheless, JCBR recognizes the challenges in such exploration. Industry practitioners tend to be deliberately
non-committal towards exploring the linkages between their functional dispositions with those of peers for
assorted reasons: ranging from facing contentions of “interference” to the fear of being assignedadditional
responsibilities by superiors. However, needless to emphasize, an attempt at comprehending the same would
do a world of good to them, fellow functional practitioners and ofcourse the organization as a whole.
In this inaugural edition of JCBR we have taken a small step with the support of a diverse and passionate panel of
contributors:
Academician Anupriyo Mallick explores the evolving field of industrial social work, examining in the process, the
challenges and opportunities of social workers in industrial establishments. His paper would do justice to the
cause of ever expanding stakeholder circuit.
Consultant, author, teacher and co-editor of JCBR, Suvendu Narayan Roy in his paper underscores the
relationship between HR and Marketing functions in the FMCG sector and how the relationship can be suitably
leveraged for organizational profitability.
A budding young author Soham Roy writes on the HRM-CRM interface. He analyses how the efficiency of the
interface of human resource management and customer relationship management could be enhanced for
greater organizational & industrial benefit.
Sudipta Kumar Pal, aHospitality educator and PhD scholar attempts to provide sincere insights into the largely
uncharted area of online channels for distribution of accommodation products in the hotel industry.
An Australia educated new age entrepreneur Debasish Sinha probes how lack of exposure of low-end Public
sector employees to practical settings have led to severe challenges. In this context he analyses the gaps in the
Indian education system underscoring the failure to equip the young people with appropriate skills in the
backdrop of the HR function's role.
Please send us your feedback at [email protected]
Happy Reading!
Rajib Kumar
Co-editor
iv
Contents
Page No.
Emerging scope of social work profession in Indian industrial setting 1
Dr. Anupriyo Mallick
HR and Marketing interface in Indian FMCG industry 9
Suvendu Narayan Roy
Human Resource Management and Customer Relationship 15
Management interface
Soham Roy
Discourse on the engagement of lower segment employees and 21
Indian education system
Debasish Sinha
A review on evaluation of portfolio of online distribution channels 26
across mid-market hotels
Sudipta Kumar Pal
v
HR and Marketing Interface in Indian FMCG Industry
Suvendu Narayan Roy
Financial Consultant & Author
Director, Watzmore e Services Pvt. Ltd
Co-editor : JCBR
Abstract
This article is about the HR-Marketing interface in FMCG industry in India. In this article, it is shown how HR and Marketing
collaborate and co-ordinate with each others for improving corporate revenue. The different aspects of HR-Marketing
interface have been highlighted while making up the diametrical article. In addition, effective recommendations have been
developed with the objective of improving HR-Marketing interface in Indian FMCG industry.
Key Words: FMCG, HR, Marketing, Business.
INTRODUCTION
Human Resources and Marketing aren't as separate
as we might think. A company needs to attract
potential clients or customers to achieve decent sales
numbers. However, acquiring top talents interested in
your company is critical for achieving long term
objectives and obtaining and hold larger market
share. Whenever you're trying to convince people to
help you, whether you're after their dollars or their
working hours, you need to position and market your
proposition so it looks attractive.
FMCG industry in India has been growing because of
its intensive concentration on the aggressive sales
and marketing policy. In the age of modern business
environment, it has become necessary for every
company to lay emphasis on the development of HR-
Marketing interface. Through developing HR-
Marketing interface, the organisational productivity
can be ensured thereby resulting in ensuring steady
growth in revenue generation. FMCG industry in India
possesses the great level of potentiality in terms of
revenue generation and business profitability. Indian
FMCG companies, like Dabur, Marico, Nestle, Procter
& Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive have been focusing
on the effective sales and marketing growth strategy
with the objective of improving sales performance. As
a result of this FMCG sector has emerged as the
fastest developing industry in India. This sector plays
an important role in boosting and accelerating GDP
growth in India. However, the organisations
belonging to this FMCG sector have witnessed the
trend of growth and financial profitability due to the
prevalent interface between HR and Marketing
functions.
Brief Overview of FMCG industry in India
For illustrating the matter of HR-Marketing interface,
it can be said that HR plays an important role with
respect to the employer branding in FMCG sectors.
FMCG companies in India, such as HUL gives intensive
focus on the maintenance of brand of employers. The
brand of employers can be maintained if a company
can attract and retain best talents. For ensuring
employee branding in FMCG industr y, the
organisations have been giving utmost level of
importance to the innovation, such as Procter &
Gamble (Bharucha, 2016). Companies like Heinz,
Procter & Gamble, and HUL have been giving
importance to hiring right people for the right
positions. In this way, the organisations have been
able to improve the efficiency of sales force. Some of
the companies, such as NESTLE, Dabur, Marico
usually rely upon the third parties (Recruitment
Consultancy Service Providers) for acquiring best
manpower or talents. Due to the effective and
aggressive marketing strategy, the organisations of
FMCG industry have been able to generate the
approximation of 50 billion US dollars in the year
2016. The growth has been so much significant that it
has been expected that in the year 2020, the FMCG
industry will be able to generate more than 100
billion US dollars.
vi
Vol 1 | Issue 1 Journal of Cross-functional Business Research
120
103.7
100
80
60
40
20
0 2007
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2015 2016*
2020*
Figure: Trend of Growth in Indian FMCG Industry
Different aspects of HR-Marketing Interface in
Indian FMCG industry
Of late, a new trend in HR-Marketing interface has
been evident in Indian FMCG industry. Both of the
functions have been playing important role in
keeping the organisational activities in sync with
organisational strategic objectives. HR and Marketing
both play prominent role in maximising overall
organisational productivity through adopting
effective initiatives. Some of the aspects of HR-
Marketing interface can be highlighted with special
reference to the Indian FMCG industry.
Keeping up with change
Keeping up with changing process can be considered
as one of the most prominent aspects with respect to
the HR-Marketing interface. The FMCG companies in
India believe in the idea of being evolved with the
prevalent changing nature in business environment.
Most of the CEOs and Marketing Heads of FMCG
companies believe that long-term growth ought to
be given top most priority for improving the business
performance. Long-term demand can also be
considered as a significant factor in FMCG market in
India. For ensuring the improvement in business
performance, the FMCG organisations have been
focusing on the design and creation of new products
with the objective of capturing the attention of
consumers (Comyn, 2014). In this way, the FMCG
organisations have been giving focus on holding
their market share in the industry so that their growth
trend can be maintained. The implementation of
change process in the organisation can be made
possible through effective coordination between HR
and Marketing functions.
Workers Management
The FMCG organisations in India have been facing
few challenges, such as management of knowledge
workers. In FMCG industry, different kinds of people
can be found who do not give serious thought in
abiding by the management's principles with respect
to the traditional group. The HR functions have been
focusing on the development of the sense of
commitment in sales force so that it can contribute to
the development of organisation in terms of financial
profitability. The HR functions in FMCG industry have
been giving focus on building up effective training
44.9 47.3 49.0
34.8 36.8
30.2
17.8 21.3
24.2
Revenu
e in
bill
ion
U.S
. d
olla
rs
vii
HR and Marketingh Inerface in Indian FMCG Industry Vol 1 | Issue 1
and development programs so that efficient sales
force can be developed for improving business
performance. The trained and efficient sales force can
help in implementing marketing mix strategy for
improving revenue generation and business
profitability. The effective career management has
been proved as utilitarian for creating the motivated
sales force in the FMCG organisations. The CEOs of
the FMCG organisations have been giving intensive
focus for creating attractive career opportunities for
improving the overall productivity of the
organisations (Esfahani et al. 2013). Setting
challenging sales targets for the sales executives, line
managers and area managers has been proved as
utilitarian in the context of improving sales
performance. In Marico, both marketers and HR
people play an important role in the management of
workers. The marketing managers are supposed to
manage their team leaders and team leaders are
supposed to manage their executives. In this way, the
overall efficiency of the organisational workforce can
be maintained. On the other hand, the marketing
managers and team leaders can go to HR people in
case they feel that they are not able to manage their
subordinates in a proper manner. The executives can
also put their queries before managers in case they
feel demotivated. In this way, both HR and Marketing
functions' role can be considered as significant in the
context of workers' management.
Creation and Development of Brand Image
The creation of brand image and Unique Selling
Proposition has become a matter of necessity in the
context of modern business management. FMCG
companies like Nestle have been giving intensive
focus on building up favourable corporate image in
the industry with the objective of improving goodwill
in market. For improving brand image, FMCG
organisations have been giving focus on the
adoption of differentiation strategy so that effective
and strong line of defence can be created against the
rivals. HR and Marketing functions associated with
FMCG industry have been giving sincere efforts in
improving corporate brand image in the industry. For
this purpose, the marketers have been giving efforts
in developing products as per the specifications of
customers. On the other hand, the HR professionals
have been giving utmost level of importance to
interests of sales force through devising
communication and reward strategies. HR function
plays significant role in creating corporate brand by
bringing about effective changes in organisational
culture, philosophy and approach (Kaufmann, 2014).
HR function is no more considered as a mere tool for
ensuring talent flow in the organisations. It has
become an important factor with respect to
corporate branding. The HR function focuses on
creating brand image through ensuring employment
ethics in the organisations. On the other hand,
marketing function focuses on the development of
corporate image and brand value in the eyes of
customers through public relation and promotional
activities. However, the marketers will not be able to
play prominent role in contributing to the
development of organisations if they do not engage
themselves in promotional activities (Sondhi &
Chawla, 2017). In this way, both HR and Marketing
functions play important role in developing brand
image for FMCG organisations in India.
Application of Marketing Approaches with respect
to Organisational Development
Of late, the HR functions in the FMCG organisations
have been giving focus on the application of
marketing tools and approaches for ensuring
organisational development. It has been seen that
marketers intend to create Unique Selling
Proposition for the products while promoting the
same. In the same way, the HR functions in FMCG
organisations have shown sincere efforts in creating
value for the consumers, i.e. Internal Customers. The
HR and Marketing functions in FMCG organisations
ensures that the organisational activities can be
productive. The HR personnel in FMCG organisations
lay emphasis on listening to the queries of internal
customers so that utmost level of their satisfaction
can be ensured. In addition, the HR functions in
Indian FMCG organisations have been laying
emphasis on retention of its sales force through the
adoption of a variety of initiatives, such as lowering
acquisition costs of employees, reduction in attrition
rate, improvement in employee engagement and
maximisation of overall organisational productivity
(Kukreja, Soni & Kohli, 2015). In this way, HR functions
in Indian FMCG companies ensure organisational
development as well as productivity.
viii
Vol 1 | Issue 1 Journal of Cross-functional Business Research
Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction
The development of service quality with the objective
of improving customer satisfaction level is no more
the sole responsibility of marketers. HR also plays
significant role in building up customer friendly
culture. Through the optimal utilisation of different
initiatives, the HR functions in FMCG industry have
been giving sincere efforts in improving business
performance. The HR functions in Indian FMCG
industry make effective utilisation of different HR
tools for improving long-term relationship with the
consumers, such as evaluation programs,
recruitment, selection, training & development
(Singh, 2015). The FMCG organisations' HR functions
provide all kinds of facilities related to technical
support facilities to the sales and marketing
personnel so that they can maintain long-lasting
relationship with the consumers. In addition, HR
functions in Indian FMCG organisations deal with
customers' queries in an effective manner. The
promotion of customer satisfaction has also been
included in the list of roles and responsibilities of HR
personnel in FMCG industry. In this way, HR plays a
significant role in bringing up improvement in
corporate revenue. While conducting analysis in 800
stores associated with Sears, it has been found out
that with 5% improvement in the attitude of
employees, 1.3% increment in customer satisfaction
can be ensured thereby resulting in raising corporate
revenue half-percentage point (Kumar, 2014). HR
plays a significant role in training and developing
sales force in such a way, that the marketers and sales
personnel are able to channelise their traits and
qualities while developing long-term relationship
with the consumers. It has been seen that the
customers, in case they are not satisfied with the
quality of service, directly make a call to the
customers in order to get their queries resolved. In
this way, the organisations in FMCG industry have laid
e mph a s is on th e H R -Ma rke tin g e ffe c tive
collaboration and co-ordination for maximising
organisational productivity.
Business Behaviour and Strategy
Marketing and HR both plays important role in
influencing business behaviour as well as strategy for
improving business performance. In accordance with
the opinion of Jack Welch, HR personnel play the role
of pastors and parents in organisations. However, in
FMCG organisations of India, HR people are not given
much authority except few of them. Despite this fact,
the role of HR cannot be denied when it comes to the
matter of mapping out business strategy for ensuring
the maximisation of business productivity as well as
corporate revenue generation. The business
managers and HR managers in FMCG organisations
co-operate and co-ordinate with each other while
mapping out business strategy (Sarkar, Kundu &
Chaudhuri, 2016). In case of mapping out training and
development strategy, both of the functions show the
positive attitude of collaboration and co-ordination.
In addition, both of the functions play significant role
in communicating the strategic objectives to the
workers associated with FMCG organisations, such as
Procter & Gamble.
Creation of Collaborative Culture in Organisation
In recent years, many surveys have confirmed how
difficult it is to create collaboration between the
marketing and sales relationship. For example,
marketers in FMCG companies consider that
salespeople are too focused on clients' interests. On
the other hand, sales people find that the offers and
promotional plans designed by marketers do not
meet customers' needs (Kaufmann, 2014). In general,
sales people complain that marketers do not listen to
their queries and they lack the sense of empathy
while dealing with the queries made by sales people.
The marketers put pressure on the sales people for
achieving monthly and yearly sales target. However,
the fact is that marketers are out of touch with reality
prevalent in competitive market. On the other hand,
marketers consider sales people too willing to grant
price reduction, too tactical, not strategic enough,
and too focused on short term issues. Such
recriminations are aggravated when positions are
functional (i.e., there are few bridges between
functions), and evaluation, promotion, and
compensation systems are not transparent. HR plays
an important role in ensuring the non-occurrence of
such recriminations.
Bonds of trust and collaboration between marketing
and sales groups support quality relationships,
increased interactions, and mutual enrichment. In
ix
HR and Marketingh Inerface in Indian FMCG Industry Vol 1 | Issue 1
addition, shared understanding contributes to a
c om m on v is ion of in te rn a l a n d e x te rn a l
environments. These factors are considered precious
for organising social capital. In addition, they put
positive impact on the performance of firms, which
have vested interests in developing them between
marketing and sales teams. To encourage these
attitudes, companies utilise effective tools at their
disposal, such as respect for equity in decision-
making and resource allocation processes as well as
h u m a n r e s o u r c e p o l i c i e s ( i n p a r t i c u l a r,
compensation). HR plays prominent role in
implementing these tools for maximising business
productivity. In FMCG organisations in India, the HR
functions have been giving intensive focus in creating
collaboration between sales people and marketers.
Leadership
In Indian FMCG organisations, such as Nestle and
HUL, the HR and Marketing functions take active part
in the development of leadership strategy with the
objective of improving organisational productivity.
Both of the functions work with each other with
effective emphasis on collaboration and co-
ordination so that so that effective solutions can be
found out for ensuring employee satisfaction (Sarkar,
Kundu & Chaudhuri, 2016). In FMCG organisations,
the role of HR cannot be denied when it comes to the
matter of developing leadership. The organisations
like Procter & Gamble and Nestle have been giving
diametrical focus on the development of leadership
qualities amongst the people associated with
marketing activities.
Recommendations
For improving HR-Marketing interface in FMCG,
organisations, some recommendations can be
developed. They are as follows:
The FMCG organisations should focus on the
creation and development of such environment
that can be able to support leadership quality
development amongst the people associated
with marketing. For developing leadership
qualities amongst the marketing people, the
HR departments of FMCG organisations should
focus on the introduction of leadership
development programs.
The FMCG organisations should focus on the
implementation of democratic and participative
style of leadership so that the employees can be
able to participate in the decision-making
process. In this way, the employees' satisfaction
will be ensured. For this, HR functions of FMCG
organisations should play important role in
implementing change management system.
The FMCG organisations' HR functions should
focus on the implementation of 360 degree
performance appraisal system so that the
performance can be monitored in an effective
manner. For implementing, 360 degree
performance appraisal system, the effective
collaboration between HR and Marketing
functions is necessary.
The FMCG organisations can be recommended
to appoint change agent so that the cross-
functional capabilities can be developed along
with the implementation of organisational
change and development system.
Conclusion
Through the effective implementation of above
mentioned recommendations, the FMCG industry in
India will be developed in terms of financial
profitability as well as business development. The
organisations of FMCG industry will be able to
develop their cross-functional capabilities through
th e e f f e c ti v e i m p l e m e n ta ti o n of c h a n g e
management. Through the development of effective
cross functional capabilities, the FMCG organisations
will be able to develop their organisational
productivity level.
Even the small business owners can develop business
with the help of combined forces of customer focus
and strong employee focus. Just they need to
understand the linkage between these managerial
perspectives. Only then they are likely to gain a
competitive advantage, improve customer
satisfaction and improve the firm's financial
performance
References
1. Bharucha, J. (2016). Cadbury Vs Nestle: A Study of The
Chocolate War. International Journal of Research in
Social Sciences, 6(9), 609-620.
x
Vol 1 | Issue 1 Journal of Cross-functional Business Research
2. Comyn, P. (2014). Linking employment services, skills
development & labor market needs: Issues for India.
Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 49(3), 378-389.
3. Esfahani, A. N., Amirosadat, S. N., Rahimi, H. R., &
Marandi, M. H. (2013). Investigating relationship
between internal marketing and job satisfaction with
using structural equation modeling. International
journal of academic research in economics and
management sciences, 2(3), 1.
4. Kaufmann, H. R. (Ed.). (2014). Handbook of Research on
Consumerism in Business and Marketing: Concepts
and Practices: Concepts and Practices. Pennsylvania: IGI
Global.
5. Kukreja, B. K., Soni, K., & Kohli, K. (2015). Current market
trends and regulatory aspects of herbal antioxidants
and natural dietary supplements: A boon for health and
treatment of diseases. World J. Pharm. Pharm. Sci, 4(10),
2373-2406.
6. Kumar, A. (2014). An Exploratory Research of Consumer
Decision Making Styles of Indian Poor for Fast Moving
Consumer Goods. Asian Journal of Research in Business
Economics and Management, 4(8), 105.
7. Sarkar, D. N., Kundu, K., & Chaudhuri, H. R. (2016).
Conceptual Expansion of the Discipline of Rural
Marketing: An Objective Analysis. Vision, 20(3), 169-
183.
8. Sarkar, D. N., Kundu, K., & Chaudhuri, H. R. (2016).
Constructing a conceptual model of purchase
behaviour of village shopkeepers–a study of small rural
retailers in Eastern India. Journal of Retailing and
Consumer Services, 28, 1-16.
9. Singh, S. (2015). The Impact of Marketing Variables on
Business Performance: An Analysis of FMCG, Consumer
Durables and Textile Industries. IUP Journal of Business
Strategy, 12(2), 54.
10. Sondhi, N., & Chawla, D. (2017). Segmenting and
Profiling the Chocolate Consumer: An Emerging
Market Perspective. Journal of Food Products
Marketing, 23(2), 123-143.
The author can be reached at [email protected]
xi
Human Resource Management and Customer Relationship Management Interface
Soham Roy
Content Writer & Skills Trainer
Abstract
As the name of the title of the study implies, two variables have been selected while writing this article- CRM or Customer
Relationship Management and HRM or Human Resource Management. In this study, sincere efforts have been made in
analysing the different aspects of the HRM-CRM interface. Initially, light has been shed on describing the overview of the
customer relationship management and human resource management. In addition to that, the emphasis has been laid
upon giving an analytical description on the interrelationship between human resource management and customer
relationship management. The theoretical underpinnings of both the variables have been described in a brief manner. The
role of leadership has been discussed in the context of the customer relationship management. Furthermore, light has been
shed on the discourse pertinent to the use of technology for increasing the efficiency of human resource management and
customer relationship management. A brief analysis has also been given on the interface of HRM and CRM with reference
to a case study of a non-profit organisation. The recommendations have also been made for increasing the efficiency of the
interface of human resource management and customer relationship management. While analysing the entire study from
different perspectives, the authentic journals and books written by prominent scholars have been utilised with the
objective of making the entire article informative.
Key Words: Management, Business, CRM, Employees.
Introduction
There was a time when Human Resource
Management was regarded as the function which
only takes care of the recruitment part of the business
entities. However, things have been changed in a
drastic manner and with the changing time, the scope
of Human Resource Management has been
expanding. Roles and responsibilities of human
resource personnel are not limited to recruitment and
downsizing anymore (Alfes et al. 2013). Human
resource professionals are surmised to take care of
the consumers too. In this way, a new trend has been
set. It has been seen many times that the consumers
contact with the human resource manager in case
they have no other option but to do it whenever they
feel dissatisfied with the consumer services. It is the
responsibility of the human resource department to
ensure that the efficacy of the customer support
service does not get hampered. For that reason, it
focuses on acquiring the potential talents who can
play an important role in managing the customers.
The employee training programs are developed in
such a way that it can train the management trainees
in getting insight into the customer demands.
Furthermore, it has been seen that the human
resource department in most of the business
corporations has been focusing on the utilisation of
the CRM technologies with the objective of
managing the most valuable asset of the
organisation, that is, human resource. It is essential to
have a brief understanding on both the variables that
are, customer relationship management and human
resource management in the context of the modern
business scenario. In addition to that, I will also focus
on illustrating the pattern of the interface between
human resource management and customer
relationship management with special reference to
their relevance in modern context. The role of
strategic leadership will also be highlighted in this
regard.
Customer Relationship Management
The business revenue generation cannot be ensured
without the prevalence of efficacy in the customer
relationship management (Schmitt, 2010). Hence,
every company must ensure that the customers can
be served in a proper manner. If the customers are
served in a proper manner, the existing customers will
be retained. The retained customers will bring more
customers through recommendations. It will ensure
the steady growth of revenue generation of the
xii
Vol 1 | Issue 1 Journal of Cross-functional Business Research
organisations. With the help of effective Customer
Relationship Management, the managers can make
reduction in the customer response times in an
efficient manner thereby resulting in making the
business operations and customer support efficient
(Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). In addition to that, the
Customer Relationship Management is utilitarian in
spotting the best amongst the customer through
effective utilisation of the cost-effective CRM
technologies. Most of the business corporations have
been focussing on developing the capacities of the
state-of-the-art internet facilities, with the help of
which, the business corporations can make effective
analysis of the needs and wants of the customers. It
will be utilitarian in making the analysis of the nature
of the market demand based upon the segmentation
of the customers.
Human Resource Management
Human resource management is not regarded as a
“hire and fire” function anymore. It has become more
than that. The chief role of human resource
management function is to ensure that the concept of
maximisation of employee performance can literally
become a reality. The performance of the employees
can be subject to maximisation with the adoption of
effective training program and employee retention
policy (Batt & Colvin, 2011). However, the
materialisation of the employee retention concept
can be made possible through the formation of
effective compensation policy thereby resulting in
ensuring the development of the framework of
intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Furthermore, the HR
function is surmised to ensure that the people
associated with the business corporations can
possess the knowledge on the use of sophisticated
technologies for managing the relationship with the
customers.
The Way CRM Influences HRM
As averred by Buller & McEvoy (2012), the one of the
chief roles played by HR function is to make sure that
the goodwill of the business organisations is to be
maintained in the corporate world. It results in
increasing the brand value of the business
organisations. However, the brand value of the
companies cannot be increased without the existence
of the efficacy in the customer support and marketing
function. Without the utmost level commitment of
the marketing function in promoting customer
relationship management, the human resource
function is unable to ensure the maximisation of
stakeholders (Tooksoon, 2011). For example, if the
marketing function is unable to generate business
revenue through customer retention policy, the
stakeholders will lose their faith in the management
of the company. Consequently, the goodwill of the
company will be affected thereby resulting in
affecting the profitability of the company
(Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010). The HR functions may
provide training within the specific framework.
However, it is up to the employees when it comes to
the matter of implementation of the received
training. Nowadays, most of the HR functions have
been putting the focus on the utilisation of CRM
technologies for ensuring that the marketing related
activities can be productive in terms of financial
profitability and long-term relationship with the end
users (Lin, Chen & Kuan-Shun Chiu, 2010).
The Way HRM Influences CRM
HR function of a business corporation is of great value
in terms of contributions it makes towards building
up an integrated corporate culture where the idea of
reinforcement of customer satisfaction is the ultimate
words to be spoken of. However, the members of the
organisation cannot make the contribution towards
building up effective customer satisfaction driven
corporate culture if their interests are not protected.
Here the HR function will have to play the prominent
role in maximising the satisfaction of the employees
for they are internal customers who are making the
contribution towards the generation of the business
revenue which is utilitarian in thriving the business in
the market. As commented by Chuang & Liao (2010),
the HR function should play an important role in
taking up balanced approach when it comes to the
matter of protecting the interests of the business
corporations consisting their employees and
customers. This can be done if the employees are able
to maintain work-life balance. The role of HRM is not
limited to providing the employees with job training
be it in the form of on-the-job and off-the-job
(Trkman, 2010). The training programs are surmised
xiii
Human Resource Management and Customer Relationship Management Interface Vol 1 | Issue 1
to be developed in such a way that the employees
under the training can have understanding of the way
of stress management while performing the task
related activities. Most of the business corporations
have been putting their diametrical focus on
retaining the star performers. Simultaneously, they
are giving sincere efforts in developing potential
talent pool by coordinating with the HR function in an
efficient manner. Hence, it can be said that the loyalty
of the customers can be developed by laying
emphasis on developing the pattern of the loyalty of
the employees (Lee, Lee & Wu, 2010).
Theoretical Underpinnings of CRM
While making effective implementation of the
Customer Relationship Management process, it is
important to lay emphasis on meeting certain criteria.
The first and foremost thing to be done is to engage
in the process of collecting data pertinent to the
customers through optimum utilisation of the
computerised database (Demil & Lecocq, 2010).
Once the customers are targeted based upon the
profitability criteria, effectual marketing mixtures are
to be devised for the purpose of establishing effective
communication with the customer thereby resulting
in establishing the base of relationship marketing.
The entire process needs to be put under effective
control and monitoring process for generating better
results.
The whole concept of implementation of Customer
Relationship Management is based upon three
dimensions. The information technology related
dimension consists of some of the factors such as
knowledge management, different sorts of CRM
related apps, e-markets etc. This dimension can be
utilised for identifying the customers based upon the
criteria pertinent to the profitability of the business
corporations. Social dimension includes internal as
well as the external stakeholders (Fan & Ku, 2010). It is
important to lay emphasis on increasing the
effectiveness of the relationship marketing through
establishing effective communication with the
customers and employees. In this way, the interaction
with the customers can be increased. In addition to
that, the interpersonal relationship with the
employees can be improved resulting in the creation
of highly motivated workforce. Intellectual
dimensions consists of strategic planning, leadership,
business models etc. With the help of these elements,
the organisations can be led to the path of
profitability in terms of business revenue generation.
While discussing the theoretical underpinnings of
Customer Relationship Management, it is important
to shed light on making discourse on Swift's model.
Swift's Model has shed light on some of the aspects of
Customer Relationship Management, such as
discovery of knowledge, devising marketing
planning, making frequent interaction with the
consumers, analysis of the data related to the
consumers etc (Kumar, 2010).
The role of Seven Aspects of marketing mix cannot be
denied in the context of Customer Relationship
Management. The new customers can be attracted
through effective utilisation of promotional strategy.
Moreover, the existing customers can be retained
through making improvement in the business
process by making the customer experience
exceptional and fantastic (Guchait & Cho, 2010).
Theoretical underpinnings of HRM
Some of the aspects of the theoretical underpinnings
of Human Resource Management can be highlighted
for getting insight into the role of human resource
personnel in context of organisational behavior.
Human resource management is all about
performance management and monitoring so that
the employees can give their best for increasing the
level of profitability in terms of business revenue
generation and growth of market share (Guest, 2011).
In addition to that, HRM plays the prominent role in
engaging the employees in their task-related
activities through creation of enthusiasm in their role.
In this way, HRM plays the prominent role in
employee engagement. Furthermore, the role of
HRM cannot be denied in the context of employee
motivation. The emphasis is on the creation of highly
motivated workforce by most of the business
organisations thereby resulting in increasing the level
of overall organisational productivity.
The Role of Leadership
It requires committed leadership for adoption of
effective solutions related to CRM. Without the
existence of committed leadership, no sign of
improvement can be conspicuous in the
xiv
Vol 1 | Issue 1 Journal of Cross-functional Business Research
maximisation of the customer satisfaction. With the
help of customer focused leadership, the business
organisations can resort to adoption of effective
approaches for increasing financial profitability of the
organisations by increasing the level of the customer
satisfaction. The prominent organisations in the
corporate world have been focussing on installation
of “walk the talk” behavior for implementing the
effective CRM solutions (Keramati, Mehrabi & Mojir,
2010). The leaders of the organisations ought to lead
the team in such a way that every member of the team
can be motivated to developing their leadership
capabilities and it will motivate them to play the
prominent role in thriving the business and
improving market performance of the business
organisations through maximisation of satisfaction of
the end-users. It has been found by the American
Management Association that intensive emphasis on
coaching can bring better results in terms of revenue
generation and growth of market share (Gummesson,
Lusch & Vargo, 2010). Hence, with the help of HRM
function, the effectiveness of the leadership coaching
must be increased.
The use of technology in the context of HRM and
CRM
Most of the business organisations have been
focusing on the utilisation of interactive technologies
for growing the business in terms of the higher level
of market share and revenue generation. The
business organisations are putting their diametrical
focus on the use of email, collaborative chat, and
telephony, VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol etc.
with the purpose of making the customer
communication and relationship marketing effectual
and productive (Harzing & Pinnington, 2010).
On the other hand, the HR personnel of the business
organisations have been focussing diametrically on
the utilisation of technologies in each and every stage
of the selection of employees of the organisations.
For recruiting people, it is using different sorts of e-
recruitment portals. However, most of the
organisations are assigning this task of recruiting
people to the third party organisations or recruitment
consultants as they do not have time to put effort into
lengthy recruitment process (Keller, Parameswaran &
Jacob, 2011). They have other functions like strategy
and administration to take care of. Even for
monitoring the performance of the employees, the
computerised performance monitoring tools are
used. For training and development also, the
utilisation of technologies is conspicuous.
Brief illustration of a case study in the light of
HRM-CRM Interface
The Arc of Dauphin and Lebanon Countries is one of
the non-profit organisations which provides support
to all people with developmental and intellectual
disabilities so that they can live their lives with dignity
and respect (arcofdc.org, 2016). It has been using
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Business Solutions with the
help of which, they have been serving approximately
800 clients. In addition to that, Individual Education
Plans have been utilised for making improvement in
the pattern of relationship with the members.
Furthermore, the organisation has been able to
shorten its response time in the context of granting
applications to its members. With the help of the
effective software system, the organisation has been
able to resort to effective management of its
members. In this way, the productivity of the
members of the organisation has been improved with
radical modification. The capabilities of the customer
service function have been improved in the context of
tracking the activities of the clients. The employees
have been able to perform their task-related activities
in a smarter way thereby resulting in increasing the
productivity through the centralised database.
Recommendations
Some of the recommendations can be made for
making improvement in the interface between
Human Resource Management and Customer
Relationship Management. They are as follows:
It is recommended for human resource function to
take an active role in maximising the customer
satisfaction by collaborating with the marketing
function.
It is recommended to put the diametrical focus
on the utilisation of information technology
for analysing the demand of the market based
upon which the specific group of customers
can be targeted.
xv
Human Resource Management and Customer Relationship Management Interface Vol 1 | Issue 1
It is recommended for the human resource
personnel to lay emphasis on the use of different
kinds of software such as talentpool, zoho
people, IBM Kenexa etc.
It is recommended for the human resource
function to develop effective training programs
with the help of which the business
organisations can enable the employees in
playing important role in maximising the
customer satisfaction. The training should be
given in both of the method- on-the-job and off-
the-job.
The leadership development programs are to be
developed for developing the leadership
qualities amongst the trainees.
The marketing mix strategy is to be made
effective and business profit oriented.
The emphasis should be laid upon the retention of
existing customers rather than the attraction of
new customers with the help of the effective
service quality.
The collaboration should be developed between
different organisational functions for serving the
customers in a better manner by improving the
quality of the service. In short, sincere efforts
should be made for increasing the effectiveness
of t h e o r g a n i s a t i o n a l i n t e r- d e p a r t m e
n t a l collaboration and human resource
function is surmised to play the prominent
role in materialising this idea.
It is recommended to conduct a survey
throughout the organisations so that it can be
known which leadership style can be proved as
utilitarian in increasing the effectiveness of the
customer relationship management.
Conclusion
In this whole study, the sincere efforts have been
made in illustrating the different aspects of the HRM-
CRM interface. While analysing the different aspects
of HRM-CRM interface, efforts have been made in
illustrating the different theoretical underpinnings.
Furth more, the interrelationship between HRM and
CRM has been illustrated with the help of different
academic sources.
References
1. Alfes, K., Shantz, A. D., Truss, C., & Soane, E. C. (2013).
The link between perceived human resource
management practices, engagement and employee
behaviour: a moderated mediation model. The
i n te r n a ti o n a l j o u r n a l of h u m a n re s o u rc e
management, 24(2), 330-351.
2. Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong's
handbook of human resource management practice.
Kogan Page Publishers.
3. Batt, R., & Colvin, A. J. (2011). An employment systems
approach to turnover: Human resources practices,
quits, dismissals, and performance. Academy of
management Journal, 54(4), 695-717.
4. Buller, P. F., & McEvoy, G. M. (2012). Strategy, human
resource management and performance: Sharpening
line of sight. Human resource management review,
22(1), 43-56.
5. Chuang, C. H., & Liao, H. U. I. (2010). Strategic human
resource management in service context: Taking care
of business by taking care of employees and
customers. Personnel Psychology, 63(1), 153-196.
6. Demil, B., & Lecocq, X. (2010). Business model
evolution: in search of dynamic consistency. Long
range planning, 43(2), 227-246.
7. Fan, Y. W., & Ku, E. (2010). Customer focus, service
process fit and customer relationship management
profitability: the effect of knowledge sharing. The
Service Industries Journal, 30(2), 203-223.
8. Guchait, P., & Cho, S. (2010). The impact of human
resource management practices on intention to leave
of employees in the service industry in India: the
mediating role of organizational commitment. The
International Journal of Human Resource
Management, 21(8), 1228-1247.
9. Guest, D. E. (2011). Human resource management and
performance: still searching for some answers.
Human Resource Management Journal, 21(1), 3-13.
10. Gummesson, E., Lusch, R. F., & Vargo, S. L. (2010).
Transitioning from service management to service-
dominant logic: Observations and recommendations.
International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences,
2(1), 8-22.
11. Harzing, A. W., & Pinnington, A. (Eds.). (2010).
International human resource management. Sage.
12. Keller, K. L., Parameswaran, M. G., & Jacob, I. (2011).
Strategic brand management: Building, measuring,
xvi
Vol 1 | Issue 1 Journal of Cross-functional Business Research
and managing brand equity. Pearson Education India.
13. Keramati, A., Mehrabi, H., & Mojir, N. (2010). A
process-oriented perspective on customer
relationship management and organizational
performance: An empirical investigation. Industrial
Marketing Management, 39(7), 1170-1185.
14. K u m a r, V. ( 2 0 1 0 ) . C u s to m e r re l a ti o n s h i p
management. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
15. Lee, F. H., Lee, T. Z., & Wu, W. Y. (2010). The relationship
between human resource management practices,
business strategy and firm performance: evidence
from steel industry in Taiwan. The International
journal of human resource management, 21(9), 1351-
1372.
16. Lin, R. J., Chen, R. H., & Kuan-Shun Chiu, K. (2010).
Customer relationship management and innovation
capability: an empirical study. Industrial Management
& Data Systems, 110(1), 111-133.
17. Osterwalder, A., & Pigneur, Y. (2010). Business model
generation: a handbook for visionaries, game
changers, and challengers. John Wiley & Sons.
18. Schmitt, B. H. (2010). Customer experience
management: A revolutionar y approach to
connecting with your customers. John Wiley & Sons.
19. Services. (2016). The Arc of Dauphin County.
R e t r i e v e d 6 N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 6 , f r o m
http://arcofdc.org/services/
20. Tooksoon, H. M. P. (2011). Conceptual framework on
the relationship between human resource
management practices, job satisfaction, and turnover.
Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, 2(2), 41-
49.
21. Trkman, P. (2010). The critical success factors of
business process management. International journal
of information management, 30(2), 125-134.
The author can be reached at [email protected]
xvii
Discourse on The Engagement of Lower Segment Employees and Indian Education System
Debasish Sinha
Founder - Insysd Corporation Pvt. Ltd.
Author & Analyst
Abstract
In this paper, efforts have been made in highlighting how the lower segment employees in Government and Private sector
have been suffering due to lack of practical exposure to the real life situations. This paper also shows how the Indian
education system has ignored the importance of introducing skill development programs in the curriculum with special
emphasis on its consequences. Apt examples have been cited while highlighting different aspects of the mindsets of
employees belonging to lower segment. HR related issues have also been highlighted while making up this article. This
article shows how the unemployment problem has become rampant issue in developing countries like India for the lack of
developed skills amongst the lower segment employees. Through this article the recommended strategies has been
developed for improving the productivity of the organisations in private and public sector through ensuring the loyalty of
lower segment employees.
Key Words: Education System, Skills, Unemployment, Lower Segment.
Introduction
Of late, Forbes magazine has made prediction that
after 150 years the economy of India will surpass that
of the United Kingdom. It has also been predicted by
other prominent magazines and scholars that India
will surpass United Kingdom by 2020 in terms of
economic development and prosperity (Shah, 2016).
It will not be an exaggeration in averring that this
prediction made by prominent magazines and
scholars is quite dramatic and interesting. After the
occurrence of Brexit in the 21st century, the dramatic
changes have been brought about in the calculated
economical prediction of scholars with respect to the
economic growth and development of India. Since
the economic reform in 1991, India has been able to
emerge as a growing economic power with the
introduction of several initiatives and existence of its
young potential manpower.
Indian education system
The education system was structured in such a way
that it does not help the young generation in
developing entrepreneurial qualities and risk taking
mindset. Indian education system has always been
focused on generating salaried employees. They are
later transformed into the machine with no existence
of creativity and entrepreneurial qualities as well as
aptitude. Hence, it can be said that the Indian
education system, despite being able to generate
young people with educated mindset and culture,
does not encourage in producing people with
independent mind and risk-taking ability (Sadiqe,
2014). The parents usually do not encourage their
children in taking the risk of starting their own
ventures thereby resulting in creating the hindrance
in the way of the development of entrepreneurial
qualities amongst the young people. Therefore,
directly and indirectly the education system of India
and the society itself can be held responsible for
creating the illusion in the young generation's mind
that grabbing Government's jobs can be the sole way
of earning handsome amount of money and respect
in society as job security is associated with them (Vij &
Sharma, 2014). Even the Government has been put
under intensive pressure for generating jobs for the
large number of candidates. However, it is imperative
to consider whether the Government will be able to
control the situation when need for resources and
enough funds to provide jobs will be arising. If the
Government shows inability in providing salaries to
the employees, the people's trust on the Government
will wither away. The Government will lose its
credibility before the younger generation. It can
result in discouraging the society to educate their
next generations. As a result, the value of education
will be decreased.
xviii
Vol 1 | Issue 1 Journal of Cross-functional Business Research
Due to the acceleration of development in the field of
medical science and technology over the time period,
the life expectancy of human being has been
increased since the past century. It has helped in
reducing the mortality rate of children thereby
resulting in the sudden increase of the world
population. It directly and indirectly enforced the
society and government to explore the unexplored
land and resources. This initiative has increased the
pollution level thereby resulting in increasing the
possibility of the occurrence of global warming. The
global warming is considered as a one of the biggest
issues at this moment worldwide. The developing
countries have been trying to control the fossil fuel
burning to reduce the pollution and global warming
(Haski-Leventhal, 2013). However, the developed
countries do not show willingness in sharing their
technologies, which they have already developed to
avoid fossil fuel burning. It implies political
unpreparedness of the developed countries and all
global originations associated with the preservation
of environmental balance.
Unmatched skills and unmatched degree
production in India and unemployment
Due to the existence of traditional education system,
a lot of educated people have been suffering in every
part of the India. It is because the traditional Indian
education system prefers to ensure the deliverance of
theoretical knowledge to the learners rather than
laying emphasis on practical exposure to the real life
situations. Recently, when I asked one of my cousins
after the completion of his MBA from an Indian
University to write a business plan, the most
astonishing reply came to me “What is Business
Plan?” That reply surprised me a lot. In another
incident, when I was on my first job, I had seen fellow
new employees being scared of their new manager.
He was shouting at them as if they are his slaves. I was
surprised seeing his attitude. On one side, I was
surprised to see how the fresher MBAs were talking
without being confident and on the other side, I have
experienced how the manager was literally shouting.
In the presentable word, I would rather say they were
literally being bullied by the manager. Due to the
power and authority, the manager forgot manners
and the new employees were not enlightened about
the real management. They simply passed the exams
by memorizing the management theories and
models. As a result, they never get exposure to the
real life management. Therefore, it will not be an
exaggeration in averring that the Indian education
system has been failed in fulfilling the need of
learners. As a result, the employees fail to generate
profits for the organizations due to the lack of
exposure to the real life business situations. In this
context, it can be said that it does not take an MBA
degree for managing the business in a successful
manner. It requires real life exposure to the
competitive business environment be it external or
internal and knowledge for ensuring the effective
business management.
Due to the lack of willingness for ensuring skill
development of learners, the unemployment in India
has become rampant (Cowan, 2017). The
organizations do not prefer to consider the score
cards of job applicants during hiring process. They
prefer skills over the academic scores. Unfortunately
in our education system, the academic score has been
given utmost importance. It has been seen that
despite being able to score high marks in
examinations, a person fails to be a great performer in
the organization. It occurs due to the lack of
developed skills and training. The lack of skills can
create hindrance in acquiring job opportunities. It
may lead to the unemployment. Hence, it will not be
difficult to conclude that the unemployment problem
has become rampant in India due to the
Government's procrastination in the context of
developing skills along with knowledge. The co-
existence of skill and knowledge is necessary for
ensuring the overall development of a person. A
person cannot stay in job for longer period if he/she
does not utilize his/her skills for contributing to the
development of organization in terms of financial
profitability and business development.
Lower segment employees and their mindsets
Apart from the government employees, no other
employees belonging to lower segment were
secured. For this, only the government job seems
lucrative for any low educated citizen. Even in the
government class, 4 employees were deprived
financially by the class 1 and class 2 types of
xix
Discourse on The Engagement of Lower Segment Employees and Indian Education System Vol 1 | Issue 1
employees. It has been done by taking the advantage
of the low level of education possessed by the class 4
employees.
One of such example one Smt Saraswati Pal DRAW
was engaged in the office of DRDA (Dhalai) during
1999 by ADAM & Collector cum P.D. DRDA (Dhalai)
but she was paid Rs.500.00/- per month though she
was entitled to get RS 1680.00/- per month according
to finance department approved wages for draws of
that time. The subsequent PD with approval of the
Governing Body of DRDA allowed the legitimate
entitlement of her wages Rs.1680.00/- per month.
But the Government blocked the promotion of the
officer to IAS 2007 of MT cadre charging that the
increase of wages from RS 500/- to RS 1680/- was
illegal though in enquiry the charge was not proved.
Again one Jamuna Das DRW appeared for
Madhyamik Examination in 1999 with due permission
from the BDO Amarpur under different plea her
promotion was denied though she cleared her
Madhyamik Examination in 1999 until 2017 when the
then BDO clarified that her prayer was genuine one.
These kinds of things occur for the insensitive
attitude of officers in handling such issues or for their
ignorance in the subject matter while dealing with
them. She has been given promotion very recently.
Things happened for insensitive attitude officers
handling such issues or for their ignorance in the
subject matter dealing with.
The situation of the class 4 employees clearly shows
how the low-level employees are ignored even in the
government sectors, though Government jobs are
always regarded as lucrative because of job security.
On the other hand, the low-level employees working
in private sector do not have job security and they are
totally dependent on the mercy of the originations'
owners or the superiors associated with the
originations (Bhuvanaiah & Raya, 2015). On account
of that, the job satisfaction of the lower segment
employees has always been less for which the
frequency of leaving the job in lower segment
employees has always been higher than any other
segment of the employees in the hierarchy
(timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 2016). The unmatched
skills and unmatched degree production in India have
been contributing to making unemployment issues
in India rampant.
HR management Issues with Lower segment
employees
Even the HR management hardly focuses on any
managerial decisions covering the lower segment of
the employees. Most of the job satisfaction and
employee motivation related decisions are made for
the white collar employees. The blue collar
employees always face the discrimination and are
forced to work beyond their physical limitations. The
HR managers and management face challenges while
ensuring the retention of blue-collar employees
thereby resulting in hampering the organizational
productivity (Bhattacharya, 2015). That is why it has
become imperative for the management to ensure
that the employee can be retained and attrition rate
can be controlled. However, it cannot be denied that
the employee retention can be ensured only when
the management will be giving serious thoughts in
motivating employees through providing them
monetary and non-monetary rewards in a proper
manner.
Strategy to engage and retain the lower segment
employees
According to the human tendencies, employees think
of leaving the job in every 3 to 4 months. So, if HR
management is able to ensure employee
engagement in a positive manner, employees shall be
able to show utmost level of loyalty towards
organizations. In addition, they can be loyal towards
the employers for a longer period, which can result in
the employee retention in the organizations.
Few steps can be taken by the HR management to
engage the employee positively and make them loyal
for ensuring employee retention for a longer period.
1. Introducing better incentive system for lower
segment employees’
2. Awarding them in every 3 months considering
their last 3 months performance level.
3. Not depriving the lower segment employees of
their rewards while providing them with
incentives.
4. Giving the lower segment employees better
allowances for their house rents.
5. Introducing better feedback system for them.
xx
Vol 1 | Issue 1 Journal of Cross-functional Business Research
6. Ensuring better communication in between the
higher level employees.
7. Giving enough respect and importance to them
and make them feel they are important as well for
the organizational growth.
8. Allocating the lower segment employees with
responsibilities and empowering them while
d e v i s i n g d e c i s i o n - m a k i n g p r o c e s s i n
organisations.
9. Training the higher level employees to behave
well and developing their interpersonal skill so
that they do not behave poorly with lower
segment employees.
10. Making the lower segment employees feel secure
in their jobs and motivating them to perform
better while performing their job related
responsibilities.
It has always been observed that when the
employees feel secured and their needs and
requirements are taken care of, then employees can
be transformed into loyal employees. It has also been
obser ved that employees don't leave the
organization, they leave the manager or their
immediate superior (Lipman, 2015). It can be rectified
by introducing better training and development
system for developing interpersonal skills amongst
the higher level employees so that they can
communicate with their subordinates through
gaining understanding on their issues.
Psychological effect on the employees
When the organizations provide a better incentive
scheme in every 3 months, the employees do not
think of leaving their present companies because of
the better compensation package. On the other
hand, when the superiors treat the subordinates with
respect and good behavior, it makes a direct impact
on the lower segment employees (Ali, 2013). If they
are allocated with the right role and responsibilities,
they will get the feeling of being important with
respect to their tasks and positions. As a result, they
will be motivated to perform their task related
activities. It will make them feel important and will
bring the sense of loyalty amongst the employees
who are mostly ignored in the private organizations
including the government bodies.
Conclusion
The loyal employees will always be beneficiary for the
organizations, as they know their responsibilities
towards the organizations. They work for the
organizations which also look after its employees as
valuable assets. It will directly impact on the financial
growth of the organizations. The experienced
employees' performance always makes the
difference compared to that of new arrivals and
unskilled employees.
References
1. Ali, M. (2013). Socio-economic analysis of rickshaw
pullers in urban centres: A case study of Uttar Pradesh,
India. International Journal of Advanced Research in
Management and Social Sciences, 2(1), 98-109.
2. Bhattacharya, Y. (2015). Employee engagement in the
shipping industry: a study of engagement among
Indian officers. WMU Journal of Maritime Affairs,
14(2), 267-292.
3. Bhuvanaiah, T., & Raya, R. P. (2015). Mechanism of
improved performance: intrinsic motivation and
employee engagement. SCMS Journal of Indian
Management, 12(4), 92.
4. Cowan, D. (2017). Strategic internal communication:
how to build employee engagement and
performance. London: Kogan Page Publishers.
5. Haski-Leventhal, D. (2013). Employee engagement in
CSR: The case of payroll giving in Australia. Corporate
S o c i a l Re s p o n s i b i l i t y a n d E n v i r o n m e n t a l
Management, 20(2), 113-128.
6. Lipman, V. (2015). People Leave Managers, Not
Companies. Retrieved 19 June 2017, from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/victorlipman/2015/08/
0 4 / p e o p l e - l e a v e - m a n a g e r s - n o t -
companies/#37ac06116f3a.
7. Sadiqe, M. (2014). Employee Engagement in
Hospitality Industry in India: An Overview. Global
Journal of Finance and Management, 6(4), 375-378.
8. Shah, A. (2016). India's Economy Surpasses That Of
Great Britain. Retrieved 19 June 2017, from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2016/12/16/i
n d i a s - e c o n o m y - s u r p a s s e s - t h a t- o f- g r e a t-
britain/#4d55574139eb.
9. The Times of India.(2016). BTechs and MBAs in UP line
up for sweepers' jobs. Retrieved 19 June 2017, from
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/B Te
xxi
Discourse on The Engagement of Lower Segment Employees and Indian Education System Vol 1 | Issue 1
c h s -a n d -M B A s -i n -U P -l i n e -u p -fo r-s w e e p e r s -
jobs/articleshow/55884377.cms.
10. Vij, P., & Sharma, M. (2014). The effect of human capital
management practices on employee positive
behavioural outcomes. International Journal of
Management Practice, 7(3), 204-221.
The author can be reached at [email protected]
Humour Quotes
(On a serious note, business can be quite funny!)
The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-
restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.
– Theodore Roosevelt
The problem with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat.
– Lilly Tomlin
People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing – that's why we recommend it
daily.
– Zig Ziglar
First rule of leadership: everything is your fault.
– A Bug's Life
Always drink upstream from the herd.
– Will Rogers
Delegating work works, provided the one delegating works, too.
– Robert Half
I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.
– Mohandas K. Ghandi
xxii
A Review on Evaluation of Portfolio of Online Distribution Channels across Mid-Market Hotels
Sudipta Kumar Pal
Assistant Professor (Hotel Management)
Guru Nanak Institute of Hotel Management, Kolkata
Abstract
Purpose - The purpose of this study is to provide an insight on current trend of research in the area of online channels for
distribution of accommodation products across mid-market hotels from the hoteliers' perspective and to suggest future
research avenues.
Design/methodology/approach - The study was based upon analysis of 12relevant research papers published in peer-
reviewed international tourism-hospitalityjournalsduring the period of 2004 - 2015. The selected papers were critically
reviewed to update on ongoing researches on the area and to point out significant research gaps that indicated further
research scope.
Findings - Online hotel booking is steadily growing since the inception of internet and its adaptation for distributing
accommodation products by the lodging industry across the globe. Numerous studies have been undertaken to determine
the performance of online distribution channels (ODCs), as the choice of channels is critical for mid-market hotels in order
to secure reservations and revenue. These hotels need to constitute a portfolio of ODCs to sustain and counter
competition.
Research limitations/implications - The findings can be generalized only to the population of selected research papers
for the mentioned time period and not to the larger universe. However, the study identifies various understudied areas for
further research in terms of customers' perspective, market segments, research methods etc.
Practical implications - The study sought to outline the existing strategies for managing distribution through online
channels and subsequently to identify the areas of due attention. It may, therefore, provide new ideas to hospitality
marketing managers and recommendations to academia for future research.
Originality/value - This study is one of the few attempts to provide a comprehensive review of research papers on
evaluation of ODCs published in the past 12 years, indicating areas for further exploration.
Key Words: Social Work, Industry, Personnel, Management, Labour, HR.
Paper type: Literature review
INTRODUCTION
The recent socio-economic and technical
developments have changed the way hotels
distribute their products. Until the emergence of
internet, hotels used to depend upon Central
Reservation System (CRS), Global Distribution System
(GDS) and traditional intermediaries (e.g. tour
operator and travel agent) for distributing
accommodation inventory. With the onset of
internet, online booking started rising in 1990s, as the
hotels gradually started distributing rooms over
internet channels, too. In due course of time and
advancement of internet technology, hotels realized
the potent benefits of ODCs and began distributing
larger inventory through online mode. ODCs are cost
effective, while they provide global exposure to the
participating hotels, irrespective of their size and
location. ODC services are provided by specialized
i n t e r m e d i a r i e s , k n o w n a s O n l i n e Tr a v e l
Agents/Aggregators (OTAs). They tie-up with many
hotels, situated at the same or distant location, and
put their accommodation products on sale (besides
many other retail travel-tourism products) on their
websites, for the online customers to choose form a
wide variety of options. As the consumer behavior is
gradually shifting from conventional to online mode,
the importance of OTAs, therefore, to the hotel
industry is incremental and this fact has been well
established by different research studies . On the
other hand, it is crucial for any hotel to identify and to
xxiii
A Review on Evaluation of Portfolio of Online Distribution Channels across Mid-Market Hotels Vol 1 | Issue 1
determine the extent to which it should use the
services of OTAs for the purpose of online distribution
of its accommodation products, because the choice
of ODCs will have a direct effect on its revenue
generation'. ODCs open the global market to the
hotel, but often at a high operational cost; higher
than any other conventional distribution channel .
Hence, it becomes necessary for the hotel to offer
higher rate category on such channels to cover up the
high operational cost of the channel. This
phenomenon often results in rate disparity across
ODCs used by the same hotel, including its own
website and further creates rate confusion among its
online customers '. This clearly indicates the necessity
of judicious selection of distribution channel
partners, which will support achieving overall
revenue objective of the organization.The total
number of channels to be used to ensure revenue
maximization is also subjected to systematic
evaluation of each available channel for its suitability
'. Hence, a hotel is supposed to use the services of
limited number of and carefully selected combination
of OTAs, and this pool of ODCs constitutes the
Portfolio of Online Distribution Channels (PODC) of
that hotel. The recent trend shows most hotels are
maintaining such portfolio in order to sustain
marketing-competition along with a good control
over inventory and rates and for many hotels,PODC is
the key to revenue success. The degree of
dependency on its PODC for a hotel generally
depends upon the distribution options available to
the hotel; more alternatives reduce dependency and
fewer alternatives make PODC inevitable for the
hotel. Dependency on PODC, therefore, is the
maximum in budget hotels, moderate in mid-market
hotels and minimum in luxury hotels sector.
This literature review confirms that though significant
research studies have been undertaken to establish
methods of evaluating individual distribution
channel's performance across a variety of hotels ';
research study on evaluating the aggregate effect of
ODCs as PODC on the hotel's performance in terms of
reservation and revenue generation is yet to be
undertaken.
Review of Literature
Online reservation of hotel rooms is on the rise. The
modern distribution and development trends of
hotel industry was studied and found that, the use of
modern technology was one of the most important
factors of dynamic changes in the modern hotel
industry and the largest user group of modern
technologies was the young travellers (Generation Y
or Millennials, born between 1980 and 2000). The
authors also estimated that, during 2013, more than
one fifth of room-nights had been generated through
online bookings, where as, it was only 1 in every 12
reservations in 2002 . Through the study, quantitative
and qualitative expansion of hotel groups were found
to be characterised primarily by creating new brands,
within existing corporate groups, thus covering all
market segments. This phenomenon called for
adaptation of suitable PODC by hotelsfor their newly
created brands to outreach the target market in order
to fetch due revenue.
The evolution of electronic distribution and its effects
on hotels and intermediaries were closely examined
by and found that, the rise of internet-based room
reservations put hoteliers with a strategic challenge
of controlling their distribution, while also working
with intermediaries that can help to sell rooms.
According to the authors, online intermediaries
eventually captured about half of the room bookings,
while hotel groups' websites controlled the other half.
The study revealed that, there were a number of
bookings made via call to travel agents, while
information search and rate comparison done online.
About 20 percent of customers, who looked at the
group's website, ended up calling the Central
Reservation Office (CRO) to make bookings. But this
scenario is rapidly changing and recent studies have
found substantial growth in number of online room
reservations. The study also found that, the hotel
industry was always a preferred source of revenue for
the intermediaries and the rapid development of
internet technologies equipped them to reap more
revenue from this sector. As the dependencies upon
online intermediaries increased, intermediaries came
up as competitors to the service providers. To
counteract intermediaries' attempts to control
distribution channels, hotel groups promoted and
enhanced their own websites, attracting more web
traffic than that of their ODC partners. The study,
therefore, brought out the necessity of careful
selection of online distributors to keep control over
inventory and rates.
xxiv
Vol 1 | Issue 1 Journal of Cross-functional Business Research
Kracht and Wang (2010) examined the evolution and
transformation of tourism distribution channels,
focusing on the role the Internet played in such a
process. Their study established that, tourism
distribution channels attracted tremendous amount
of attention in the last decade for their important role
in the tourism industry. Specifically, distribution
channels served as a part of the marketing mix that
made the products available to consumers, linking
between suppliers and consumers. The study also
revealed, the advancement of Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) could not reduce
the number of intermediaries in the distribution
channels, rather resulted in a compounding array of
intermediaries and the structure of the tourism
industry took the form of a complex global network.
This evolution and transformation of tourism
distribution channels, facilitated by ICT, created a
more complex industry structure along with
increased competition for distribution participants
and greater choice for the consumers. The same had
an impact on the complexity of the purchasing
process as it leveraged online customers with the
capability of comparison shopping, without any
human interaction. Hence, the authors expressed
their concerns about building customer loyalty and
protection of brand value of the ser vice
providersasreaching to the distributor's site often
routed through web search engine. Thus, the study
again reinforced the necessity of further research
towards the direction of online distribution practices
in the hotel industry.
Gazzoli, Kim and Palakurthi (2008) found that, the
internet had significantly changed the way hotels
distributed and priced their products. The
authorsfound the online intermediaries very
successful due to their ability to adopt newer and
smarter business practices and often due to poor
management and application of hotels' online
pricing strategies.Another major reason for these e-
intermediaries' success was their ability to provide
cheaper room rates than the hotel brand's websites
or their reservation offices. The success of online
intermediaries caused financial problems for hotel
chains since online travel agencies had offered better
prices than the hotel brand websites, further creating
pricing disparities across different channels of
distribution. Price disparities among the distribution
channels altered the buying behavior of online
consumers to shopping around for better deals.
According to the authors, this might lead to brand
and rate erosion, if rate parity and rate integrity of
inventory is not assured by the brand itself. The study
also found that, the international hotels lacked more
in maintaining rate parity and delivering the “best
rate guarantee” promise, in comparison to their
counterparts in the country. These globalized
companies should project a consistent brand image
worldwide by providing almost equal rates across
online channels and preferably lower price on their
own website than third party sites and thereby
ensuring customer loyalty.
The research study conducted by Dutta and
Manaktola (2009) tried to outline the present
practices in managing online distribution for tourism
growth in India. The study discussed about the
practices currently employed by the mid-segment
hotels for the distribution of their services and sought
to explain how they could use this as a tool for
working towards sustainable growth. The paper
highlighted the elements which should be
incorporated in brand websites so as to effectively
distribute inventory by making it easily accessible to
the tourists looking for accommodation. This would
reduce involvement of intermediaries and result in
sustainable low-cost economic growth with
paperless transaction. As about 73 percent of
travellers used internet search engines prior to
making bookings and 76.6 percent of those searching
were done by using a broad generic term, marketers
needed to add key words in order to secure a higher
ranking from generic searches. The study further
supported the need for improvement of website
functionality to facilitate online purchase with secure
payment methods alongside up to date details on
prices, special offers and discounts, as all of these
were considered necessary to increase web traffic
towards the site. It was, therefore, understood from
the study that, though using a balanced combination
of ODCs was the need of the time, upgrading hotel's
own website alone could fetch many benefits.
O’connor and Murphy (2008) investigated hotels'
yield management practices across multiple
electronic distribution channels to find out whether
xxv
A Review on Evaluation of Portfolio of Online Distribution Channels across Mid-Market Hotels Vol 1 | Issue 1
up-market hotels used three following yield
management practices:
1. Varying room rates with market demand
2. Varying participation in Internet channels with
market demand
3. Differentiating rates on Internet channels in times
of high demand
Their investigation found that, less than one fourth of
the hotels surveyed used the most basic yield
management technique - vary price in response to
market demand, indicating more professional
management of pricing than in the others. Variables,
such as brand membership, hotel size or star rating,
failed to explain the reason behind not practicing
yield management for the rest of the hotels under
study. Varying participation in internet channels in
accordance with market demand was not in practice
partially due to contractual agreement with the
online intermediaries, restricting hotels from closing
them off during high demand. Differential pricing on
third-party channels to compensate for the higher
cost of distribution and equalize net contribution was
also low, used by about 10 percent of the hotels.The
study identified the set of yield management
strategies regarding online distribution used in the
hotel industry, but reserved opinions about profiling
of ODCs and use of PODC for the success of revenue
management strategies. This opens the way towards
further research on the same.
Christodoulidou et al (2006) investigated the existing
challenges of electronic distribution channels
commonly faced by hotel operators and tried to find
out their solutions. They found, to achieve their goal
of distributing their rooms more effectively required
knowledge and selection of a variety of distribution
channels. One challenge was determining the
combinations of distribution channels and relative
number of hotel rooms to be offered for sale through
each channel. The hotel's channel management
strategy was found to be the key in determining the
outlets for room inventory. Hotel revenue managers
knew that the cost of selling a room through one
channel, such as a consolidator, is different from the
cost of selling through the front desk, the hotel's
website, or through a third party Internet site. The
ability to manage and selectively use a multitude of
channels was the focus of hotel managers, who
concentrated on how to best select and work with
third party intermediaries and channels instead of
attempting to eliminate them. The study evidently
identified the challenges as control of channels in
respect to rate parity and inventory, customer loyalty
and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and
recommended that, future research should also
examine the importance of distribution channels
from the consumer's perspective. While managing
hotel distribution channels was purely a business
operation; consumer's opinions must be valued
because the choice of a distribution channel should
reflect the needs and wants of hotel guests.
O’Connor tried to establish an evaluation
methodology for hotel electronic channels of
distribution, with both economic and non-economic
approach. They found that, electronic channels
played an increasingly important role in hotel
distribution, with most companies utilizing a
portfolio of channels to reach the customer in an
effective manner. However channels could not simply
be added ad infinitum as they emerge; system
complexity, technical factors and the management
overhead associated with using multiple channels
mean that choices must be made between alternative
solutions. Hotel distribution channels had mainly two
separate yet interrelated functions;
1. To provide consumers with information to help
them in their purchase decision
2. To facilitate the purchase decision and the
purchase itself
One of the key enablers in distributing information
and making the reservations process more
convenient was found to be the ICT. However, hotel
electronic distribution systems were in a state of
transition as a result of technological advancements,
dis-intermediation, re-intermediation and a shift in
the balance of power among suppliers, buyers and
intermediaries. Distribution costs were on rise due to
the increasing number of intermediaries involved in
the hotel distribution process, and the complex
technological infrastructure needed to support
distribution to a growing spectrum of potential
channels. The decision as to which channel(s) to use
became increasingly complex, and hotel managers
xxvi
Vol 1 | Issue 1 Journal of Cross-functional Business Research
had little guidance to help them determine which
best match their needs. Technical and operational
issues were found important, but financial aspects
(particularly those on the revenue side of the
equation) were found to be more important in the
adoption evaluation decision, suggesting that it was
the channel's actual performance in practice that
should be the key determinant so as to whether to
continue to use it. These findings clearly laid the
background for a clear understanding of interrelation
between distribution channels and revenue models
of the hotels and encouraged research studies
towards this vertical.
Dabas and Manaktola (2007) set-up a study to
evaluate current room inventory distribution
strategies of mid-segment hotels in India and to
identify the influencing factors for the managerial
decisions in selecting electronic distribution channel
for their properties. Based on data collected from five
mid-segment hotels in National Capital Region of
India (NCR), the study tried to validate the following
four propositions, mentioned in its methodology:
Proposition-1
Mid-segment hotels in the national capital region
of India rely on traditional channels for room
inventory distribution.
Proposition-2
Electronic distribution through travel portals is
perceived to be expensive and not suitable for
mid-segment hotels.
Proposition-3
There is a scope to optimize RevPAR (Revenue Per
Available Room) of mid-segment hotels provided
contemporary distribution channels are used.
Proposition-4
There is an existing evidence of adequate
knowledge amongst managers of mid-segment
hotels regarding distribution the inventory over
the electronic channels.
After analyzing the data collected through structured
interview from mangers of the participating hotels,
the first three propositions stood supported, leaving
the fourth proposition not supported. The study
significantly concluded that, the mid-segment hotels
in India were not confident about using a mix of
distribution channels, including online channels for
distributing room inventory. This happened due to
lack of awareness about the subject and electronic
distribution through travel portals was perceived to
be expensive and not suitable for mid-segment
hotels. The study reconfirmed findings of the FHRAI
Report 2014, wherein the RevPAR of five star hotels
was found as 2.67 times more than that of three-four
star hotels in the same region during the study. This
wide gap of RevPAR between these two categories of
hotels could be reduced provided mid-segment
hotels started targeting new market segments and
distributing their inventories through all possible
channels, including online channels. Thus the study
pointed out that, the necessity of distribution
through online channels was not only restricted to
upmarket and larger group of hotels, but equally
fruitful for mid-segment hotels.
Leung, Xue and Bai (2015) commented that,
researches on internet marketing started to appear
since 1990 and drawn increasing attention since
2000. More academic researchers were increasingly
seeking to understand new technologies, explained
new phenomena, discussed updated applications
and forecasted future developments brought by the
internet. An evidence of this trend was the increasing
number of research articles on internet marketing in
the hospitality and tourism journals. According to the
authors, about half of the online marketing articles
(46.5 percent) were devoted to studying consumer
behavior, whereas the articles on marketing function
through distribution channels constituted only 3.9
percent. During the period of 2008-2013, plenty of
new topics emerged and turned out to be the hot
topics in the areas such as, experience, trust/loyalty,
e - W O M / s a t i s f a c t i o n / c o m p l a i n t , d e c i s i o n -
making/purchase intention, social media marketing,
search engine marketing, online branding/image,
pricing issues, distribution channel and marketing
effectiveness. In this period, hospitality and tourism
businesses strove for a deeper understanding of their
online customers. Businesses were interested in
knowing the reason behind customers making online
purchases, what factors affected their online
experience and their loyalty and what triggered their
purchase intention. During this period, research focus
was not only on the customer side but also on the
xxvii
A Review on Evaluation of Portfolio of Online Distribution Channels across Mid-Market Hotels Vol 1 | Issue 1
business side. The authors also suggested that,
internet marketing research might combine
information technology and social psychology
theories with communication theories to develop
ground-breaking models for scientific inquiries.
Conclusion
It is highlighted from the literature review that, more
and more hotel guests are preferring online mode
over other available modes of reservation around the
globe. It has been possible due to multi-dimensional
development of ICT and its easy access to a greater
number of online visitors and potential guests. Hotels
must concentrate on online distribution strategies to
reap benefit out of it. Significance of online
distribution of room inventory has been well studied
and accepted, but management and strategic
application of the same in the industry is still not
satisfactory. It is mostly due to lack of technical know-
how of the subject and failure to recognize its latent
potential. Still many hotels have started distributing
their inventories through online channels, as it gives
them global exposure and better positioning, but
often at a high operational cost. Cost of distributing
inventories on each online channel is not the same,
neither the benefits they bring for the hotel. The
degree of dependency on online channels for
distribution also varies according to the target market
of the hotel. This calls for the necessity of selecting
only profitable ODCs integrated with the revenue
management model of the organization. In order to
meet revenue management objectives, it is of utmost
importance for a hotel to carefully evaluate the
performance of each available channel before
accepting its services. Researchers have established
methods for evaluating ODCs and hotel managers
can use them for prioritizing the choice of their
distribution needs. As a hotel can use only limited
number of channels, only the highly profitable
channels must be chosen. These chosen ODCs will
figure-out the PODC of the hotel. The challenge,
therefore, is the process to construct the PODC, which
is capable of generating the highest possible
reservation and revenue for the hotel. Some research
studies have been conducted in Europe and America
to evaluate and to determine the performance of
individual distribution channel for hotels, but
constituting PODC for hotels is yet to be attempted.
Similar studies have been undertaken in India, too,
where generalizations are moot points due to use of
small sample size for the studies. Taken as a whole, it
appears that, a holistic study to determine the
process of constituting PODCfor mid-market hotels
and to compare their performance in terms of
reservation and revenue generationis necessary in
order to understand its suitability for industrial
application.
References
1. Carroll, B., and Siguaw, J. (2005). The Evolution of
Electronic Distribution: Effects on Hotel and
Intermediaries. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant
A d m i n i s t r a t i o n Q u a r t e l y , 4 4 ( 4 ) , 3 8 - 5 0 .
https://doi.org/10.1177/0010880403444004
2. Christodoulidou, B. N., Brewer, P., Feinstein, A. H., and
Bai, B. (2006). Electronic Channels of Distribution?:
Challenges and Solutions for Hotel Operators. FIU
H o s p i t a l i t y R e v i e w , 2 5 ( 2 ) , 9 2 - 1 0 1 .
https://doi.org/Article
3. Dabas, S., and Manaktola, K. (2007). Managing
reservations through online distribution channels.
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
M a n a g e m e n t , 1 9 ( 5 ) , 3 8 8 - 3 9 6 .
https://doi.org/10.1108/09596110710757552
4. Ðorðeviæ, D. Ž., and Jankoviæ, M. (2015). Modern
distribution and development of hotel industry in the
world. SCIENTIFIC REVIEW ARTICLE, 61(september),
9 9 - 1 1 0 . h t t p s : / / d o i . o r g / 1 0 . 5 9 3 7 /
ekonomika1503099D
5. Dutta, K., and Manaktola, K. (2009). Managing online
distribution for tourism growth in India. Worldwide
Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 1, 40-51.
https://doi.org/10.1108/17554210910949878
6. Gazzoli, G., Kim, W. G., and Palakurthi, R. (2008).
Online distribution strategies and competition: are
the global hotel companies getting it right?
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
M a n a g e m e n t , 2 0 ( 4 ) , 3 7 5 - 3 8 7 .
https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2013.0599
7. Kracht, J., and Wang, Y. (2010). Examining the tourism
distribution channel: evolution and transformation.
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
M a n a g e m e n t , 2 2 ( 5 ) , 7 3 6 - 7 5 7 .
https://doi.org/10.1108/09596111011053837
8. Law, R., Leung, R., and Buhalis, D. (2009). Information
xxviii
Vol 1 | Issue 1 Journal of Cross-functional Business Research
Technology Applications in Hospitality and Tourism: a
Review of Publications From 2005 To 2007. Journal of
Travel and Tourism Marketing, 26(5-6), 599-623.
https://doi.org/10.1080/10548400903163160
9. Leung, X. Y., Xue, L., and Bai, B. (2015). Internet
marketing research in hospitality and tourism: a
review and journal preferences. International Journal
of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(7),
1556-1572. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/
10.1108/09564230910978511
10. O'Connor, P., and Frew, A. F. (2004). An evaluation
methodology for hotel electronic channels of
distribution. International Journal of Hospitality
M a n a g e m e n t , 2 3 ( 2 ) , 1 7 9 - 1 9 9 .
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2003.10.002
11. O'Connor, P., and Murphy, J. (2008). Hotel Yield
Management Practices Across Multiple Electronic
Distribution Channels. Information Technology and
T o u r i s m , 1 0 ( 2 ) , 1 6 1 - 1 7 2 .
https://doi.org/10.3727/109830508784913103
The author can be reached at [email protected]