A Methodological Approach for a Hospitality Industry-University Business Model Innovation Collaboration

Abstract

Progressive hospitality organisations are constantly tested to grow market share through value propositions that appeal to multifaceted tourist behaviours, cognisant of organisational limitations, established operational practices and the organisational culture of employees. This search for sustainable competitive advantage has been challenged by increased global competition, intensification in technological progress, changes in consumer behaviours and exacerbated by recent crises such as COVID 19. In response, hospitality management scholars increasingly call upon Business Model Innovation (BMI) insights to assist detailed exploration of market realities and question established beliefs and practices. Specifically, the BMI concept requires organisations to engage cognitive processes to ensure strategic and entrepreneurial reasoning can be applied to create, capture and disseminate value following an input-output logic of its activities. This research explores the creation and development of a university-industry BMI hospitality focused lab in Türkiye. Specifically, it explores how emerging scholarly BMI research can be applied to ensure hospitality professionals effect value creation, value capture and delivery for their organisations based on the creation and application of a methodological approach to BMI canvas design. This research considers how such a methodology incorporates a multidisciplinary perspective to a specific industry and geographical context to foster the knowledge, skills and competencies of industry practitioners. As BMI is an emerging research theme in hospitality scholarship, this research explores how universities can become trusted partners and engage industry with practical, credible and systematic BMI approaches to value creation. Specifically, it introduces the methodology employed in the development of a hospitality focused BMI Lab in Bursa Uludağ University Türkiye, as part of a Horizon Europe project with partners in Atlantic Technological University Ireland and Universidad de Leon Spain.