At present, China’s online travel companies are expanding their market share by continuously burning money, and most enterprises are in a profit dilemma. Future tourism is the competition of comprehensive resources, and the process of resource integration is directly related to the performance of online tourism enterprises, and it is also the key for online travel enterprises to win in the fierce competition environment. Therefore, this paper aims to improve the competitive advantage of online tourism enterprises by optimizing the online tourism enterprise resource integration process, which brings high enterprise performance to online tourism enterprises.
The 21st century is an information era, and enterprises have created a new business competition environment with the help of information technology, and a new business mode of tourism, which is operated by the Internet as a carrier, is also emerging as an online tourism enterprise. With the continuous heating of online tourism, more and more capital is flowing into the online travel market, and the industry is divided and the competition is becoming more and more intense. In order to compete for market share, there are frequent price wars among online travel companies, and with the huge increase in marketing costs and operating costs, most online travel companies suffer huge losses. Data show that: In 2016, Ctrip annual net operating income of about 19.2 billion yuan, up 76% from a year earlier, a net loss of 1.4 billion yuan; Tuniu in the first quarter of 2017 net income of 456 million yuan ($66.3 million), compared with the same period in 2016 increased by 60.4%, compared with American accounting standards under, net loss in the first quarter of 2017 was 287.4 million yuan ($41.7 million). JingYu culture reported earnings in the first half of 2017, according to JingYu culture net operating income of 2.696 billion yuan, up 163.02% from a year earlier, the loss of 256 million yuan, is double losses in the first half of the same period last year. Taken together, the three companies’ net losses continue to grow and the current situation of online travel companies getting into a profit trap raises concerns.
While other online travel companies are losing money, Ctrip has seen a surge in profits. According to the report, in the first quarter of 2017, Ctrip’s net operating income was 6.1 billion yuan ($884 million), up 46 percent from a year earlier, while net operating income rose 20 percent in the first quarter of 2017. The growth of Ctrip has benefited from the integration of online tourism enterprises, which has alleviated the low price competition with online travel enterprises and reduced the cost.
The RBV believes that enterprises have the potential to achieve excess performance if they have valuable, scarce, inimitable and irreplaceable resources [
The resources of online tourism enterprises can be either from external resources or existing related resources within enterprises. Online tourism enterprises need to integrate resources through certain processes. Only through the integration of resources, enterprises can improve their various dynamic functions [
At present, few scholars have studied the influence of online tourism enterprise resource integration performance from the perspective of resource integration. Based on the resource integration process, this paper studies how the resources integration of online tourism enterprises can affect enterprise performance.
“Online tourism enterprises” is a new form of tourism enterprises. To be better understand its meaning, we first summarize the connotation of “online tourism”.
The concept of online travel first appeared in Europe and the United States, and was first developed in the early 1990s, first introduced in 1993 by Ravi Kalatoko, and developed by John Hagel [
Understanding the meaning of online travel, “online travel companies” defined in this paper is to point to in under the background of open Internet network, to the Internet as a basic business platform, with electronic information technology, mobile e-commerce, intelligent terminal equipment and other high-tech as the support, an online business information consultation, search of tourism, tourist products ordering, payment, tourist transportation and hotel reservation, the intelligent voice guide, the online travel business such as virtual reality tourism as the main body of tourism enterprises. At present, China’s more well-known online tourism enterprises have Ctrip, Tuniu, Tongcheng, Spring and autumn tourism, Lvmama, Mango and so on. Foreign well-known online Travel companies include Priceline, Expedia, Trip Advisor, Travel Zoo, Make My Trip, etc.
The development of online tourism enterprises in developed countries in western countries started earlier, so a number of scholars have conducted targeted research on the development of online tourism enterprises. Mark Font (2003) thinks that culture, innovation, resource integration is the most important element in the development of online travel companies, only tourist products, special to attract customers, expand market share, thereby enhancing the online travel market competitiveness of the enterprise [
The development of China’s online tourism enterprises is relatively late and there are some disadvantages in international competition. Moreover, the center of enterprise development is unclear, low competitiveness, small proportion of international market, and insufficient research on online travel enterprises, China’s online tourism enterprises still have a long way to go, and it will take a great effort to catch up with the development level of foreign online tourism enterprises [
The development of online travel enterprises in western developed countries is relatively early, so the research on online tourism enterprises is also quite sufficient, the literature on this subject than domestic is adequate, but western research mainly pay attention to the technology application of online travel companies, and business management pattern, few related studies of online travel enterprise resources integration ability. From at present, the research of online travel companies in China is not enough, Chinese scholars’ study of online travel companies focused on the concept of online travel companies, profit model, business model innovation and so on, these research results to some extent, it does have a big role, but there are also some deficiencies, for example, the study focuses on the theory and ignores the importance of the integration of offline resources to the development of online travel enterprises. This paper makes up for the gaps in the research. Starting from the perspective of resource-based view, and aimed at online travel companies, in-depth analysis of its resource integration ability, study how online travel enterprises resource integration ability affects corporate performance, for the rapid and healthy development of the online travel companies provide constructive advice.
Resources integration is a complex dynamic process, is refers to the enterprises of different sources, different levels, different structure, different content selection, absorbing, configuration of the resources of the organic fusion, activation etc to make it more strong, flexible, orderly, systematic, and value, and to reconstruct the original resources system, discard worthless resources, to form a new system of core resources [
Online travel enterprise resource integration process is that online travel companies are facing in the process of business activities outside option available, facing the internal configuration using the ability of different types of tourism resources, it determines the effectiveness of online travel enterprise resources can be fully effective play, will also affect the online travel business in the future market competitive advantage and growth.
On resources integration process, many scholars put forward different views: Brush (2001) put forward the enterprise resource development path, namely identification, absorb resources, personal resources into and utilizing organizational resources [
Resource identification refers to the process of analyzing and validating the external resources required by the enterprise based on its natural resource endowment, and finally determining the resources needed for the enterprise [
Therefore, this article assumes that:
H1a: There is a positive correlation between resource identification and enterprise performance.
Resource acquisition refers to the process of obtaining the required resources and making them serve the enterprise based on the identification and identification of resources [
Therefore, this article assumes that:
H2a: There is a positive correlation between resource acquisition and enterprise performance.
Resource allocation refers to the process of adjusting and combining resources to match and complement each other and gain competitive advantage after acquiring the necessary resources [
Therefore, this article assumes that:
H3a: There is a positive correlation between resource allocation and enterprise performance.
Resource utilization is to use the configured resources, form a market strong competitiveness, through play a dual role of resources and capacity to produce products or services, the process of creating value for customers [
H4a: There is a positive correlation between resource utilization and enterprise performance.
Based on this, this paper puts forward the influence path model of the online tourism enterprise resource integration process on enterprise performance (as shown in
In order to verify the hypothesis of this study and obtain the relationship
between them, this paper uses AMOS analysis software to test the model of figure 1 through the method of path analysis.
In order to guarantee the objectivity and validity of data, we choose the main Chinese online tourism enterprise managers and staff, on the basis of the questionnaire to collect, mainly with the help of friends, by E-mail, WeChat, responsible for the investigation by the enterprises in the online travel business informatization and the relevant department manager and staff questionnaire, and then track respondents and companies surveyed by telephone, thus improve the questionnaire recovery rate. In the first place, 50 questionnaires were carried out in Ctrip, Tongcheng travel and Take a trip around, that the three online travel companies. The 50 questionnaires were not included in the final analysis questionnaire and I correct the questionnaire according to the results of the pre-survey and the feedback. And the questionnaire was not included in the final analysis questionnaire. The formal research time was from April 11, 2017 to May 25, 2017. During the period, the study conducted 500 questionnaires in Ctrip, Tongcheng, Qunar, Lvmama, and Take a trip around. And the final effective questionnaire was 430. The recovery rate was 86%. The basic information of the sample is shown in
Based on the hypothesis of resource identification, resource acquisition, resource allocation, resource utilization and enterprise performance, the initial problem pool of resource integration process and enterprise performance is proposed, as
Generally speaking, the reliability coefficient of the questionnaire is 0.70 and above is acceptable reliability value (Devellis, 1991), which is the reliability of the questionnaire. The effective questionnaire of this survey was 430, and the reliability analysis was conducted with SPSS19.0, and the results were shown in
From the theoretical part, it can be seen that online tourism enterprise resource identification, resource acquisition, resource allocation and resource utilization have an impact on enterprise performance. In order to obtain the relationship, this paper uses AMOS analysis software and path analysis method to verify the model of
Potential independent variables in model, potential dependent variable, and did not measure variables, including resource identification (X1), resource access (X2), resource allocation (X3), and resource utilization (X4) is an exogenous variable, because the variables are not affected by other variables in the model, the influence of enterprise performance (X5) is the endogenous variable, because the variables affected by resource identification (X1), resource access (X2), resource allocation (X3), and the influence of resource utilization (X4).
In the theoretical part, has clarified the enterprise resource identification, resource acquisition, resource allocation and resource utilization impact on enterprise performance, i.e., the X1 and X5 (p51), X2 - X5 (p52), X3 and X5 (p53), X4, X5 (p54), using SPSS19.0 concluded between variable coefficient value, and build the following equation:
X5 = p51 X1 + p52 X2 + p53 X3 + p54 X4 + e5
X1 resource identification, X2 resource acquisition, X3 resource allocation, X4 resource utilization, X5 enterprise performance, ei standard residual, regression results are shown in
We need to evaluate the indirect effects according to the various influence coefficients of the variables according to the path coefficient, which mainly have direct influence coefficient, indirect influence coefficient and implicit correlation coefficient. As shown in
Theoretically, the indirect influence coefficient of the two variables, the direct influence coefficient, the implied correlation coefficient and the unanalyzed influence coefficient are equal to the observed value.
H1a believes resource identification has positive correlation to the enterprise performance,
Years of company has established | Type of enterprise | Number of employees | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
The following 1 year | 60 | Individual proprietorship | 101 | The following 100 persons | 140 |
1 - 5 years | 202 | Partnership | 142 | 100 - 500 persons | 155 |
6 - 10 years and above | 168 | Company type | 187 | 500 persons and above | 135 |
Total | 430 | 430 |
Resource Integration Process | Questions | Literature Sources |
---|---|---|
Resource Identification | 1. OTAs are well aware of the knowledge and skills they possess and can use. | Bursh (2001), Sirmo & Hitt (2003), Arild Aspelund (2005) |
2. OTAs know exactly which travel resources are necessary for online travel companies. | ||
3. OTAs recognize the value of the web for online travel companies. | ||
4. OTAs realize the gap between the identification of the resources and the demand of resources. | ||
5. OTAs can obtain relevant information from tourism resource suppliers and distributors. | ||
Resource Acquisition | 1. OTAs obtain the required physical resources and information resources from the tourism resource supplier. | Brush (2001), Reynolds & Miller (1992), Sirmon & Hitt (2003, 2007) |
2. OTAs has access to tourism demand information, tourism services and other intangible resources from tourists. | ||
3. OTAs use internet to attract tourism resources and gain key technologies for enterprise development. | ||
4. To obtain the intangible assets which tourism resources needed within the enterprise (such as customer service attitude) | ||
5. Collaborating with other online travel companies to promote learning and communication among employees. | ||
Resource Allocation | 1. OTAs increases the useful resources within the enterprise. | Sirmon & Hitt (2003, 2007), |
2. OTAs realizes the transfer of its own tourism. | ||
3. OTAs combines tourism resources with goals. | ||
4. OTAs bundle and make use of related resources according to tourism resource characteristics. | ||
5. OTAs implements the Shared configuration of resources within the enterprise. | ||
6. OTAs allocate personnel for the enterprise goals according to the characteristics of employees. | ||
Resource Utilization | 1. OTAs’ employees use their personal resource endowment to obtain other external tourism resources or information. | Kazanjian (1988), Miller (1984), Hitt (2001, 2007) |
2. OTAs use the endowment of individual resources to leverage other external tourism resources for enterprise services. | ||
3. OTAs use organizational resources to leverage other external tourism resources for enterprise services. | ||
4. OTAs’ employees use their own integrated tourism information resources to obtain other tourism information resources. | ||
5. OTAs organize and use the integration of tourism information resources to obtain other tourism information resources. | ||
Enterprise Performance | 1. Sales are growing fast. | Antonicic (2001), Yusuf (2002) |
2. High net profit. | ||
3. Employee income growth. | ||
4. Corporate investment returns are high. |
Items | Alpha | number of terms |
---|---|---|
The reliability coefficient of the overall questionnaire | 0.950 | 25 |
The reliability coefficient of Resource Identification | 0.818 | 5 |
The reliability coefficient of Resource Acquisition | 0.763 | 5 |
The reliability coefficient of Resource Allocation | 0.807 | 6 |
The reliability coefficient of Resource Utilization | 0.793 | 5 |
The reliability coefficient of Enterprise Performance | 0.703 | 4 |
Measurements of Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin | 0.951 | |
---|---|---|
Sphericity test of Bartlett | The approximate chi-square | 6602.885 |
df | 465 | |
Sig. | 0.000 |
Variables | Path Coefficient | Coefficient values | t-value | Significance (p-value) |
---|---|---|---|---|
X5 = p51 X1 + p52 X2 + p53 X3 + p54 X4 + e5 | ||||
X1Resource Identification | p51 | 0.016 | 0.415 | null |
X2 Resource Acquisition | p52 | 0.011 | 0.419 | null |
X3 Resource Allocation | p53 | 0.029 | 0.165 | 0.006 |
X4 Resource Utilization | p54 | 0.025 | 0.171 | 0.009 |
R2 = 0.815, Adjusted R2 = 0. 651,p = 0.000 |
Combination of variables | Correlation Coefficient | Relation Decomposition | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Direct Influence Coefficient | Indirect Influence Coefficient | Sum of Influence Coefficient | ||
X1→X5 | 0.230 | 0.015 | 0.230 | 0.235a |
X2→X5 | 0.263 | 0.012 | 0.251 | 0.263 |
X3→X5 | 0.163 | 0.025 | 0.138 | 0.163 |
X4→X5 | 0.161 | 0.029 | 0.132 | 0.161 |
Note: Due to the rounding in the calculation, the observed value and the sum of the coefficients have some deviation.
directly but not significant positive correlation between (p51 = 0. 015). Therefore, hypothesis 1 is supported. The results show that although the resource identification have no direct relationship with the enterprise performance, but it affects the process of resources integration, and resources integration process but has a direct effect to corporate performance. Therefore, enterprises should carefully identify key resources during the development process.
H2a believes resource acquisition has positive correlation to the enterprise performance,
H3a believes the allocation of resources has a positive relationship between the corporate performance,
H4a believes resources use has a positive relationship between the corporate performance,
In highly uncertain competitive environment, the online travel companies must always be on the market value of tourism resources, when a certain tourism resource is very scarce, online travel companies should by a certain means to obtain the tourism resources, with internal related tourism resources integration and take advantage of, and constantly strengthen the resources integration ability, improve business performance. To sum up, online travel companies ability of resource integration must pass through the tourism resources of external recognition and access to and internal configuration and the use of four process, because of the tourism resources is the basis of online travel companies build competitive advantage, is also an important source of corporate performance.
The purpose of this article is to study online travel enterprise resources integration process and the relationship between corporate performance and to test multiple hypothesis, this paper puts forward to the empirical analysis of 430 questionnaires, the results show that the assumption of obtained data support. Studies have shown that facing the external competition environment, online travel companies must integrate useful tourism resources, form a powerful tourism resources integration ability, in order to continuously maintain the competitive advantage to improve enterprise performance.
Theoretically, as an enterprise resource view, one of the main theories of strategic management, their theories have not been empirically, valuable, scarce resources such as how to bring enterprise competitive advantage and improve enterprise performance, resource integration process and the relationship between corporate performance and so on. In this paper, the research results help deepen everyone understanding of online travel enterprise resource integration, not only enriched the resource-based theory, in practice, also for online travel enterprise integration of tourism resources, and improve enterprise performance theory instruction are put forward. This article research also has the following limitations: first of all, this paper combines a number of well-known scholars questionnaire about the process of resource integration, such as resource integration process of the reliability of the questionnaire still needs to be empirically in practice many times; Secondly, the relationship between resource integration and enterprise performance of online tourism enterprises is to be graded in a self-assessment way, while self-assessment is subjective and can lead to deviation. Once again, the data in this paper comes from online travel companies in China, but in different countries and different backgrounds, the results may vary.
Guo, C.F. and Zhang, M.M. (2017) Research on the Relationship between Enterprise Resource Integration and Enterprise Performance. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 7, 1031-1044. https://doi.org/10.4236/ajibm.2017.79073