Hospitality sales and marketing Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Hospitality sales and marketing - Case Study Example Since it is a vital component of marketing, product development determines whether or not a business succeeds in its industry. In this context, the term product development incorporates services, hence its application to service-based industries. Since the beginning of the 20th century, firms have become increasingly reliant on the superiority of their products to gain and maintain competitive advantage. Lee (2013) argues that the importance of the product is evident in theoretical and practical knowledge, typified by the notion that the product precedes all other requirements for starting a business. The product is also considered by many scholars to be the most important of all Ps (Cunill, 2012). It, therefore, follows that product development is a fundamental aspect of business growth. This leads to one of the most common business practices and a major source of competitive advantage: integration. When companies integrate, they do so to encourage expansion and domination in a specific industry. There are two types of integration that can be used by any company to give a company greater more presence in any market: horizontal and vertical integration (Evans, Campbell & Stonehouse, 2012). This literature review will lean towards the latter as it is relevant to the subject. According to Fazlollahi, Franke & Ullberg (2012), historically, firms used vertical integration to influence access to limited resources. In the contemporary business setting, companies are disintegrated both internally and externally, and they engage in numerous joint ventures and strategic alliances as part of their growth strategies (Lahiri & Narayanan, 2013). It has even become common for corporations to outsource even those processes that are usually viewed as key. Some of the best examples of vertical integration can be found in the oil sector. In the 70s and 80s, numerous firms were involved in the pro specting and