Tourism is one of the most significant pillars of economic growth in numerous international economies. The industry accounts for 20.8% of the international revenue and 21.7% of the total employment before the COVID-19 pandemic (Aladag et al., 2020). However, the world bank’s recent report revealed an alarming situation caused by COVID-19 as the tourism revenues have declined over the past few months (Aladag et al., 2020). Strategic planning is essential to regulate the impacts of the pandemic on the business industry. Therefore, examining and identifying appropriate Mintzberg School of Thought will significantly impact the decision making during strategic planning (Peters and Kallmuenzer, 2018). This paper aims to analyze the industry and identify the most relevant modern-day strategic thinking which can be adopted in tactical planning within the current hospitality industry.
Limitations of Design School of Thought
The design school is a process of conception which recommends that a simple company model views a strategy as a design to realize a vital balance between external risk and opportunity and internal unique capability. However, various principles influence this paradigm and should be strictly followed to achieve the strategy’s success (Buhalis and Leung, 2018). First, the method should be one which is determinedly organized, particularly by the C.E.O (Konovalova et al., 2018). The thought excludes other members of the organization during strategy formation (Konovalova et al., 2018). It also prevents external factors from influencing the strategic planning process.
Second, the pattern should be kept informal and the approaches developed should be simple, distinctive, and explicit (Bryson et al., 2018). As such, the premise assumes that elaboration and formalization will impact the model’s importance; hence, the strategy should be simple for easy remembrance. Moreover, the process should be unique and developed to suit individual cases and innovative to construct on exceptional capability (Elbanna, 2016). The design system is considered comprehensive when the approaches seem to be entirely articulated. Finally, the approaches should appear to be fully implemented before the organization adopts them (Madera et al., 2017). The hospitality industry should adhere to the limitations of design school to appropriately execute the model.
Critique of the Design School of Thought
First, there have been criticisms of the ideal as researchers still wonder if it is logical for firms to identify their strengths and weaknesses before testing them (Elbanna et al., 2016). However, such concern has been handled through the current valuation of an organization’s position in the international market (Shamim et al., 2017). Numerous fears have also been raised on whether the design school of thought follows the strategy (Buhalis and Leung, 2018). However, the principle argues that the structure of an approach may be malleable but cannot be changed at will because a leader has considered a different approach.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Despite SWOT analysis being a key aspect in establishing a strategic plan, the design school argues that strengths are narrower than expected while the weaknesses are broader. Moreover, listing an industry’s strengths on a piece of paper is prone to over-confidence and bias (Lordkipanidze, 2018). It is different from actually testing the industry and learning its strengths at work. Finally, it states that SWOT information should not be used in strategy formulation.
Application of Design School
The design school model would be most appropriate for the current tourism industry since it is from changing circumstances into one of stability. Tourism commerce has faced significant challenges such as declined productivity, spillover, and increased operating costs since the global spread of COVID-19 (Aladag et al., 2020). Therefore, the school of design model’s adoption will help hospitality industry regain its previous position in the global market.
In conclusion, the design school of thought acts as a key strategic model and discussed how it is applicable in the current tourism industry by looking at the model’s various aspects. Also, strategic planning plays a significant role in the performance and success of any business industry. Therefore, strategic planning is a management issue which still needs to be examined to identify and understand the various schools of thought and how they can be applied in different circumstances.
References List
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