are all looking rather tired, and the debate about the t between business strategy

and HRM, and between best practice and company performance really needed some
reference to Hoques (1999) research and Purcells (1999) more recent work. The next
edition should spell Keith Sissons name correctly!
Despite these niggles, this is still an important and challenging book. It should be
essential reading for all human resource management lecturers, researchers and
students. I hope Conrad will go on to write a third edition which will be based on
some new empirical data. My nal point is about the placing of the book. As I
mentioned earlier, this book deserves to be read by academics and students in
mainstream human resource departments, but I doubt this will happen if it is sold
as a hospitality, leisure and tourism book. Isnt it time that the best hospitality
academics stepped out from the cosy world of specialist hospitality publications and
communicated their ideas to a bigger world?
References
Gabriel, Y., 1988. Working Lives in Catering. Routledge, London.
Heskett, S.H., Sasser, W.E., Hart, C.W., 1990. Service Break-throughs: Changing the Rules of the Game.
Free Press, New York.
Hochschild, A.R., 1983. The Managed Heart: Commercialisation of Human Feeling. University of
California Press, Berkley.
Hoque, K., 1999. Human resource management and performance in the UK hotel industry. British
Journal of Industrial Relations, September, 419443.
Leidner, R., 1993. Fast Food, Fast Talk: Service Work and the Routinization of everyday life. University
of California Press, Berkley.
Purcell, J., 1999. Best practice or best t: chimera or cul-de-sac? Human Resource Management Journal 9
(3), 2641.
Schmenner, R.W., 1995. Service Operations Management. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Liz Doherty
The School of Hotel and Restaurant Management,
Oxford Brookes University Gypsy Lane, Headington,
Oxford OX3 0BP, UK
E-mail address: ejdoherty@brookes.ac.uk
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Strategic questions in food and beverage management
Roy Wood (Ed.); Butterworth Heinmann, Oxford, 2000, x+250pp., price d19.99,
ISBN 0-7506-4480
Never judge a book by its cover, certainly not Strategic Questions in Food and
Beverage Management. The reader who expects the word strategic to be applied in
Book reviews / Hospitality Management 21 (2002) 463471 465
the traditional business management context will be hugely disappointed. As the
editor discusses, in adopting a looser denition of strategy it is possible to focus
upon certain pragmatic concerns that from time-to-time preoccupy food & beverage
management/operators but which are not ordinary encompassed within the
disciplinary bounds of strategic management (p. 5).
The book edited by Roy Wood comprises 16 chapters, which as discussed in its
introduction can be dipped into in any order (p. 8), and have been contributed by
a number of different authors. The text gives a theoretical and operational discussion
into the contemporary issues and trends facing the food and beverage manager. The
book does not cover how to do food and beverage management, but rather to be
challenging and provocative in a broad range of enduring and topical issues in
the eld, it achieves this admirably. Not since Food and Beverage Management, a
selection of readings (Davis and Lockwood, 1994) has there been a book published
which articulates the contemporary issues facing our industry. The book is clearly
aimed at nal year and postgraduate students, although certain chapters would also
be suitable supplementary reading for year one and two students. Hospitality
practitioners may scoff at its lack of practical application, but give it a chance, once
opened they will nd it a stimulating and worthwhile read.
If a criticism were to be made, it would have been to develop sections for groups of
chapters to enable a more structured presentation of the contents page, as it is
difcult at a rst glance to understand the links between each chapter. Upon reading
the book it becomes apparent that common threads do exist. Chapters 13, explore
issues of understanding food and beverage management, the customer and the meal
experience. Chapters 4 and 5, identify and debate mass retailing perspectives.
Chapters 6 and 7, identify and discuss the inuence of the mass media and restaurant
critics upon the operation. Chapters 8 and 9, debate issues of protability and
productivity. Chapters 1012 (my favourite), debate the role of the celebrity chef,
question whether food is an art form and challenge drink choice and the
sophisticated food and beverage consumer. Chapter 13, stands out as an
international chapter in that it identies culture and the inuence that it has had
on cuisine in the changing global market place. Chapters 14 and 15, cover the age-
old issue of dress code and smoking in restaurants; my initial thoughts was that this
chapter seemed to be covering old ground and debates. How wrong I was, it covered
the material from a neutral academic perspective, allowing the reader to be able to
draw conclusions from the evidence and discussion presented. Chapter 16, discusses
the past, present and future, size and scope of the industry and is a chapter that can
often feature as the opening chapter in most generic hospitality textbooks. It features
the usual tables and charts, and discusses the inuences on current trends.
Consequently, this chapter will make excellent reading for level 1 students who
need to understand the food and beverage operations industry.
Each chapter starts with a succinct introduction and uses clear sub-headings
throughout. The chapters are clearly concluded and leave the reader pondering the
key points, not giving an answer, but pointing out a direction which allows the
reader to question the thoughts of each of the contributors. The whole text is
underpinned with excellent academic theory, and references and I loved every minute
Book reviews / Hospitality Management 21 (2002) 463471 466
of reading it, the only food and beverage management book I have ever read on
holiday.
Is food and beverage management in a rut? asks Chapter 1, reading this book the
answer is an unequivocal no, its still full of excitement and debate, with new
challenges always around the corner. Lets hope that this book stimulates
undergraduates to think more widely about food and beverage and assists in
developing dissertation topics grounded in this area, rather than the same old
management subjects. An excellent and worthy book to be added to any hospitality
operations service management collection.
D. Graham
School of Tourism and Hospitality Management,
Leeds Metropolitan University, Calverley Street,
Leeds LS1 3HE, UK
E-mail address: d.graham@lmu.ac.uk
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Cultural attractions and European tourism
Greg Richards (Ed.); CABI Publishing, Oxon, 2001, 272pp., price d40.00 ISBN 0-85-
199-440-7
I started to write this review on the slow train to Hull (from Hull, Hell and
Halifax may the good Lord deliver us) and sitting in front of me was a family of
Californian tourists. Dad had his camcorder pressed up against the window pointed
at a hazy image of Drax Power Station, near Selby; the scene was an austere blend of
an English agricultural and industrial landscape. I wondered what aspect of
European culture was being consumed and how Greg Richards text would provide
insights into the consumption of culture. Within this important text, Richards has
shown a penchant for posing incisive questions on discourses of high and low
culture (and non-culture), successfully exploring why culture has become a
commodiable element of European attractions. Structured into two main parts
and 13 chapters, Part 1: Development of Cultural Tourism and Cultural
Attractions contains 4 chapters in which Richards succeeds in melding cultural
theory with conceptual aspects of cultural attractions. Central themes of the
culturalisation, the festivalisation and the touristication of contemporary
society were reviewed to explain the underlying elements which have helped to create
a demand for an Experience Industry, which serves as both a source of
entertainment and learning. Additionally, Richards highlights how European
destinations are accumulating and commodifying arts and heritage-based attractions
as cultural capital, which are marketed in competition with other European
destinations for cultural kudos.
Book reviews / Hospitality Management 21 (2002) 463471 467