Analysis of environmental competitive strategies and dynamic capabilities of hotel businesses in creating competitive advantage

Recent research has begun to assess how the adoption of environmental strategies influences company performance, moreover, the evaluation and good understanding of the organizational components that link these performance strategies. However, the relationship between environmental strategies and other corporate strategies and how they could improve the company's performance is not well understood. In this study, the organizational capabilities that underpin the company's ability to generate and improve performance through the adoption of proactive environmental strategies are followed. The study develops and tests a dynamic capability model that improves the company's performance by developing environmental strategies. The results of a survey of 55 5-star hotels and six semi-structured interviews strongly support the model. The research background and research problem are summarized in the Introduction. In the first chapter of this thesis, environmental-friendly management approach, environmental-friendly activities in the accommodation sector and green competitive strategies are explained. In the second chapter, theoretical discussions about competitive advantage, dynamic capabilities concepts and their dimensions and the relationship between dynamic capabilities and competitive advantage are discussed. The last chapter of the study aims to demonstrate the effects of green competitive strategies and capabilities on competitive advantage in the context of the accommodation sector in Antalya. In addition, the methods applied in the analysis of the third chapter are discussed and the data collection and analysis methods are presented. This study used a mixed (quantitative and qualitative) research approach to get the best results by addressing research questions. It has targeted a population of 160 5-star hotels in Antalya that are certified with the Green Star certificate (more details are available in Chapter 3). In the first step, data was collected through an online survey. The survey was tested with the help of two participants from different hotels. This research attempted to encompass all the targeted hotels, but a positive response was received only from 55 hotels. The survey resulted in a response rate of 34.4%. Quantitative data was analyzed using the SPSS software. In the second stage, 6 interviews were conducted with the quality department managers, the responses were analyzed using the NVIVO 12 program. The results show that the Green Star certified 5-star hotels from Antalya not only carries out its environmental-sensitive activities, but also includes these activities in its policies and strategies. In this context, environmental friendly hotels are actively seeking to cooperate, develop partnerships, report on green practices and receive environmentally conscious rewards. Green competitive strategies use low-cost, differentiated or hybrid (a combination of two approaches) to create competitive advantage. The hotels sampled in this study were found to use a combination of all three approaches, but tended to rely on the need to create environmental sustainability legitimacy by emphasizing differentiation through environmental certification and waste management. In addition, the eco-efficiency strategy for the efficient use of water and energy is monitored. Most hotels are focused on getting environmentally friendly certifications and establishing environmentally friendly partnerships (components of a differentiation strategy). In terms of the presence of dynamic cabilities, the absorptive capability was the most obvious, followed by adaptiveness and ultimately innovation. Most hotels are focused on acquiring and transforming information (absorption elements). This study shows that the effect of dynamic capabilities on the competitive advantage of individual components varies according to the components. As a whole, only the adaptation ability has a significant direct impact on the competitive advantage. Instead, green competition strategies are strongly influenced by absorption and innovative capabilities, which means that dynamic capabilities (absorption and innovation) are mediated by creating green competitive strategies and achieving competitive advantage. Therefore, dynamic capabilities are an important element for environmentally friendly hotels that try to improve their performance while trying to adapt their strategies to environmental protection. It was also found that the age and size of the hotel did not have an impact on the dynamic capabilities and green strategies of the participating hotels. Keywords: Environmental Awareness, Competitive Strategy, Dynamic Capabilities, Competitive Advantage, Hotel Industry