ABSTRACT
We began this book by saying that hospitality business development might be
seen as a quite obvious, clear and straightforward process. We have been
working with a very broad definition of the processes involved to try to
capture the ways in which the businesses can use internal, external and joint
resources to maintain or improve their positions in the markets. The busi-
nesses can move within the same markets or seek to enter new ones, by
launching a modified offer or an extended offer. Certainly the process
depends on identifying smart goals and objectives, allocating the required
resources for its implementation and then getting it done. In reality, never-
theless, business development is not always an easy task for hospitality
organisations because it involves several interacting controllable and
uncontrollable factors such as the organisation, its stakeholders and the
dynamic changing nature of its micro and macro environments. We think
that this very broad definition is essential from a management point of view
because it forces us to look at the possibilities of business development from
many different perspectives that can then fully reflect both the content and
context of hospitality business development. We have attempted to demon-
strate the complexity of this with the examples and case studies that you
have been working through. By adopting a processual model of business
development we have been able to explore the constituent elements of
business development. This means that this book has moved through
a series of chapters that have addressed the various aspects of hospitality
business development. What we want to do in this conclusion is not only
remind you of the arguments that we have made but demonstrate how the
elements come together. We have presented an analytical separation but the
complexities of analysing the development of hospitality businesses demand
a synthetic approach.
