Factors influencing the successful development of hospitality SMEs : a study of independent hotels in North Cyprus

In the field of business growth, most research has focused on the entrepreneur's characteristics and formulation of growth paths for business. In recognising this, the research presented in this thesis aimed to explore and evaluate the key factors controlling hotel growth in the tourism industry. More specifically, the thesis is concerned with entrepreneurship in a two specific contexts island tourism and socio-economic uncertainty. Islands are a feature of the tourism industry, and they may present special characteristics which influence small business growth (capacity constraints, lack of infrastructure, etc. ). Likewise much tourism is undertaken in contexts of socio-economic uncertainty due to political instability which might also affect how small businesses function and grow. From an extensive review of the entrepreneurship literature a number of different approaches to growth were identified and their propositions for achieving successful growth were evaluated. In addition, this review identified common key factors from different sectors and business variables which were further categorised into four groupings: entrepreneur/personality attributes, business, external influence and entrepreneur orientation. A qualitative case study approach was employed in order to develop a richer and deeper understanding of the key growth factors for hotel entrepreneurship. The key factors of growth were investigated in five successful hotels in North Cyprus. Data was collected from any person who was related to the activities of the hotel: entrepreneurs, family members, managers, employees, customers and friends. A series of in-depth semi-structured interviews and observations were carried out involving respondents in Kyrenia, North Cyprus. Relevant documents for analysis were collected from the five case study hotels and official bodies like the Tourism Ministry. The literature related to the growth of hotels indicated that the hotel business is complex and requires a different management style and personal skills compared to any other business sector, which makes forming strategies to pursue growth complicated for entrepreneurs. Of 25 key factors investigated, sixteen influences on the growth of hotels in North Cyprus were found, These are desire to succeed, active risk taker, education, family history, network of contacts, other business interests of the owner, age of founders, state support, location, familyt"investing" friends, key employees/partners, customer concentration, autonomy, innovativeness, proactiveness and competitive aggressiveness. Each growth factor is related to the others and the factors create the path of growth for the entrepreneurs. However, the entrepreneur's intention to grow also plays an important role in making the developments successful. It is therefore suggested that it is the entrepreneurs' decisions that lead them to see the opportunities and use them with the combination of factors to pursue successful growth. It was found that the key factors were primarily related to the entrepreneur's characteristics and leadership. The findings from the case study hotels further suggested that location, loyal customers and loyal employees played a key role in achieving growth. An entrepreneur's ability and skills to develop and manage a hotel with the combination of good networking, leadership, and seeing opportunities and adapting to changes in time, appear to depend very much on the country's circumstances and past life experiences of the entrepreneur.