The role of multinational hotel enterprises in technology transfer to hotels in China

Abstract

The primary objective of this study was to identify the role of Multinational Hotel Enterprises (MNHEs) in technology transfer to hotels in China and to make recommendations aimed at creating an optimum situation for such transfer. The initial literature search revealed that local people played an important role in this transfer process, and proper education and training were necessary in order to prepare them for this role. In terms of technology transfer by MNHEs in China's hotel industry, overseas cross-training deserved further investigation because it was one of the main channels for MNHEs to transfer the western management technology from overseas to MNHE hotels in China. This study is one of the first empirical investigations on cross-training as a transfer mechanism for western management technology. The methodology was based on an extensive review of literature and results from a preliminary investigation. Thirty-nine MNHE hotels in China were selected by convenience and simple random sampling. Thirty-nine training managers from these hotels and 134 trainees chosen by the training managers participated in the empirical survey, which was supplemented by personal interviews when possible. The findings from the empirical survey suggested that; 1. the extent of cross-training provided by MNHE hotels in China was mainly job/department-specific, with particular emphasis on the technology which would be employed by the front-line departments, 2. training managers held high expectations for trainees to participate in cross-training and were generally satisfied with the outcomes. They were also aware of the fact that internal and external barriers existed during cross-training, 3. trainees had higher expectations than their perceptions for cross-training, and their lower perceptions were associated with the barriers contributing to the failure of cross-training both at home and abroad, 4. there were major differences between the expectations and perceptions of cross-training held by trainees, and such differences called for proper measures from MNHE hotels in China to improve the arrangements of cross-training so that a better result can be obtained by trainees, 5. training managers and trainees generally held similar expectations for cross-training, but there were some minor differences existing between these two groups, 6. more differences existed between training managers and trainees in respect to the perceptions of barriers as contributing to the failure of cross-training in overseas hotels than the perceptions of barriers as contributing to the failure of cross-training at home hotels in China, 7. training managers and trainees generally held similar perceptions to the outcomes of cross-training, and only some minor differences existed between these two groups.