Innovate or die.

Explore the central role played by innovation in achieving

sustainability and competitiveness of Zimbabwes hospitality and Tourism sector.

Introduction
Innovation is making changes to something established by introducing something new that
adds value to customers (Sullivan, 2008). However, Kanagal (2015) states that innovation is
the creation and exploitation of value providing or value built in newness or differences in
products, processes, technologies, methods and business models. Innovation is usually in two
types which are Product and Process Innovation which is further derived into service
innovation and will be further looked at, clearly highlighting its role in the tourism and
Hospitality sector in-order to achieve sustainability and competitiveness.
As such, innovation means something new or something different that is not seen or
experienced or understood earlier by the customer/consumer; this could possibly need new
knowledge or discovery and possibly need an invention which is technological and
engineering aspects of innovations. To create something new or something different is by
itself not sufficient and it is necessary that the innovation solve a customer problem or fulfil
an unmet need of the market or provide a new benefit (innovation that has to work for the
customer or has to be exploited) this needs marketing skills.

Product Innovation
A product is a combination of one or more of ingredients, attributes, benefits, advantages,
features, functionality, performance, business model, usage experience and consumption
experience (Kanagal, 2015). He further states that, innovations that manifest in products as
defined are called product innovations. Mohr (2008) says, Product innovations are required
by firms to cope with competitive pressures, changing tastes and preferences, short product
life cycles, technological advancements (or contrarily technological obsolescence), varying
demand patterns, and specialised requirements of customers.
Product innovation is a cross functional activity and for innovations to succeed, marketing
has to be integrated with research and development, manufacturing and finance (Mohr, 2008).
Innovations have to be assessed on multiple dimensions to obtain its added value to the firm
and the customer/market place. First dimension is the return on marketing investment in
innovation. Innovations have to be assessed by the equity (brand, firm, social) revenue,
profits that accrue to the firm and the increase in the market capitalization that the innovation
could bring about relative to the spending for innovation

Process Innovation
Process innovation can be viewed as the introduction of a new or significantly improved
method for the production or delivery of output that adds value to the organisation (Kanagal,
2015). Process refers to an interrelated set of activities designed to transform inputs into a
specified output for the customer. It implies a strong emphasis on how work is done within an
organisation rather than what an organisation does (Davenport, 1992). Process relates to all
operational activities by which value is offered to the end customer, such as the acquisition of
raw materials, manufacturing, logistics, and after sales services.
In the 1970s and 1980s process innovation gave Japanese industry a competitive advantage
that allowed them to dominate some global markets with cars and electronic goods. Similar
process innovation has allowed organisations such as Dell and Zara to gain competitive
advantage by providing higher quality products, delivered faster and more efficiently to the
market than by the competition.
By concentrating on the means by which they transform inputs such as raw materials into
outputs such as products, organisations have gained efficiencies and have added value to their
outputs. Process innovation allows some organisations to compete by having a more efficient
value chain than their competitors have (Sullivan, 2008).

Service Innovation
This is about making changes to products that cannot be touched or seen as in the case with
Tourism and Hospitality sector, due to its intangibility characteristics. Services can clearly
involve products that form an extended part of the product life cycle, from initial sales to end
of life recycling and disposal (Sullivan, 2008). Organisations in this sector need to innovate
continuously so they can increase levels of service to their customers. Customer service
improvement really plays a critical role towards operational sustainability and
competitiveness thus the great need for continuous innovation.
A key attribute of service is a very high level of interaction with the end consumer or
customer. The customer is often unable to separate the service from the person delivering the
service due to inhomogeneity characteristic and so will make quality assumptions based on

impressions of the service, the people delivering the service, and any product delivered as
part of the service.
As a result of the perishability nature of service organisations, products or output must be
consumed as soon as possible after purchase, therefore the timing of the delivery and
customer perception of quality are crucial to success.
Service quality is of particular relevance due to its unique characteristics such as intangibility,
customer contact, inhomogeneity and perishable production as highlighted above offers
significant scope for innovation. Major driver of service innovation comes from the
possibilities afforded by new information technology platforms particularly the internet as it
is a valuable resource on which new service relationships between organisations and their
customer are being developed everyday for example hotels utilising website and social media
platforms

Role and Relevancy of innovation

Innovation is as relevant for a hospital or local government as it is for a business in the
tourism and hospitality sector. In the organisational context innovation can occur to products,
processes, or services. It can be incremental or radical and it can occur at various levels in an
organisation form management groups and department to project teams and even individuals.
Hence lack of proper, effective corporate governance policies and frameworks in the
economy and let alone the tourism and hospitality sector, there is lack of qualified board
members being appointed to run the organisations e.g. Travel Agents and Tour operating
companies Sullivan (2008) reiterates that this lack of innovation managers and directors
further affects the recruitment procedure of the appropriate staff for the job as they tend to
employ friends and relatives unskilled and unqualified for the job hence leading to lack of
innovation in the sector at junior level staff and management level as they are all unskilled
and unqualified. This also comprises of activities such as managing ideas, defining goals,
prioritizing projects, improving communications and motivating teams. All these would also
be successful through staff training and empowering them in order to be sustainable and
competitive in the market.
Andrea (2013) states that, Hotels that are part of a chain innovate more easily than the ones
that are operating individually because they can benefit from managements know-how;

Human capital skills and the ability of their update is materialised in trainings and reflected in
human resources investments, both important for innovation success thus the most innovative
hotels have a higher classification (3 or 4-5 stars). Good examples of these hotel chains which
have successfully established, significantly benefit, sustained and competitively innovate are
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), Hilton Hotels Group and Marriot International.
When staff are empowered and trained they are in a better position to make positive decisions
for the organisations success even in the absence of the managers hence by so doing they can
also mentor new staff or trainees thus sustainability is achieved through the development of
human resources establishing a culture of innovation in the organisation.
Innovations success in the hospitality industry is determined by; market selection, strategic
human resources management (SHRM), training of employees, market responsiveness,
empowerment, behaviour-based evaluation, marketing synergy, employee commitment and
tangible quality (Andrea, 2013). Having established innovation management to promote
innovation in the organisation for sustainability purposes the organisation will be more
likely to be competitive in the market as it can add value to customers.
According to (Ottenbacher, 2007), innovations success can be measured using three
performance dimensions which are market performance (market responsiveness, effective
marketing communication, raising awareness, tangible quality), financial performance
(market attractiveness, Strategic Human Resources Management SHRM, employee
involvement in New Service Dimensions NSD, NSD prelaunch activities) and employee
and customer relationship enhancement (employee commitment, behaviour-based evaluation,
training empowerment). This shows the significant role that guest feedback in hotels and
other industry establishments plays towards successful innovation management in the
industry.
The most innovative hotels use professional management tools (Sundbo, 2007). This is
further supported by (Sullivan, 2008) by highlighting some of the management tools in
relation to process innovation to which service innovation is derived from since it has
emerged through the work of operations and quality management movements over the past
20 years some of the tools include; Just-in-time, Total quality management, Lean
manufacturing, Supply chain management and Enterprise resource planning. Although these
may not be applicable to all organisations, they stimulate the innovation process. Andrea
(2013) claims that innovative hotels have a positive attitude regarding ICT instruments

utilization to which some of the management tools are dependent on for efficiency purposes
hence giving them a competitive advantage and promoting sustainability through enhancing it
as an organisational culture amongst management and employees to have a positive attitude
towards ICT instruments and embrace the merits that come with it.
Amongst tourism firms, hotels, restaurants and transport companies have proved to be the
most innovative ones especially the bigger firms (Andrea, 2013). The bigger the firms, the
more innovative they are as behaviour of tourism firms is related to their size. This has left
small to medium hospitality and tourism firms at risk of intense competition in the market
and affecting their sustainability because bigger hotel chains and transport companies like
Emirates Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines and other star alliance airlines have the financial ability
to invest in advanced modern technologies or aircraft fleets allowing them to be more
efficient in terms of service delivery, timelines, lower costs due to economies of scale which
can be passed on to the passengers or customers bypassing the abilities of the small to
medium firms to follow suit as it will be suicidal for them.
This aligns with what Sullivan (2008) says; Process innovation has resulted in organisational
improvements such as lower stock levels, faster, more agile manufacturing processes, and
more responsive logistics. This significantly leads to improved efficiencies and value of
organisational processes with a vast array of different enablers and potential for enhanced
process performance. Application of technology such as robotics, enterprise-resource
planning systems and sensor technologies can change the process by; reducing the cost,
variation of its output, improving safety and reducing the throughput time of the process. This
is evident with the closure of many firms in past years as a result of lack of innovation it
affected their cost management, output variations, and through-put time of the process as well
as operations of companies like Air Zimbabwe resulting in limited flight routes, cancelled
flights, low market share, staff retrenchments, and continuous losses. This led to indirect
impacts on travel agent companies in Zimbabwe especially those that also slacked to be
innovative.
Hence the need for developing successful hospitality and tourism innovation as advised by
(Ottenbacher M. G., 2005). There is great need for Travel Agents and Tour Operators to be
innovate and collaborate with software engineers to develop websites, software applications,
android systems, etc. that add value for the convenience of business travellers and other
tourists to utilize advantages of technology e.g. cost reductions for labour, rentals, and many

others since labour costs have proved to be one of the major costs for tourism and hospitality
industry firms due to the fact that it is labour intensive hence need to cut down on labour
and embrace advantages of technology instead of employing 10 employees you can have only
3 computer literate staff carrying out the basic tasks of the day to day business tasks.

In conclusion
Innovation plays a very significant role towards sustainability and competitiveness of
Tourism and Hospitality sector organisations for example Hotel Chains like IHG, Hilton
Hotels Group and Marriot International. Failure to innovate as an organisation might result in
the death or extinction of the organisation completely as was the case of several Travel and
Tour operating companies in recent years.

REFERENCES
Andrea, N. (2013). A Review of Tourism and Hospitality Innovation Research. In N. Andrea,
A Review of Tourism and Hospitality Innovation Research (pp. 364-370). West
University of Timisoara.
Davenport. (1992, July). Organisational Size and Innovation. Organisational Studies, 13, 1720.
Kanagal, N. B. (2015, February). Innovation and Product Innovation. Journal of
Management and Marketing Research, 18, 4.
Mohr, J. J. (2008). 'Drucker's insights on marketing orientation and innovation; implications
for emerging areas in high technology marketing'. Journal of the Academy of
Marketing Science, 37.
Ottenbacher, M. (2007). Innovation Management in Hospitality Industry: Different Strategies
for Achieving Success. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, 31, 431-454.
Ottenbacher, M. G. (2005). How to develop sucessful hospitality innovation. Cornell Hotel
and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 46, 205-222.
Sullivan. (2008). Innovation. India.
Sundbo, J. e. (2007). The Innovative Behaviour of Tourism Firms - Comparative Studies of
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