World of Sciences Journal

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Year: 2013 Volume: 1 Issue: 11 Pages: 1-11

Setting of Tourism Standardization for Development of

Entrepreneurship in Iranian Tourism Industry

Ayatollah Momayez1 , Shiva Sharifian2 , Seyedeh Atefeh Ghasemi3 and Mahmoud Ahmadpour
Daryani4
1
Assistant professor, University of Tehran, Email: amomayez@ut.ac.ir
2
MSc. University of Tehran Science and Technology Park, Email:utsimorgh@gmail.com
3
M.Sc. of Urbanism- Urban and Regional planning, Shahid Beheshti University
Email: atefeh.qasemi@gmail.com
4
Associate Professor, University of Tehran, Email: ahmadpor@ut.ac.ir

ABSTRACT

Despite the undisputed importance of tourism standardization and entrepreneurship
development, and despite decades of academic research on the subject, there is
surprisingly little agreement on what tourism standardization really is looking for and
how to enhance it. Furthermore, exploration of the differences between the theory and
practice of tourism standardization, as interpreted by managerial experience rather
than philosophical speculation, is undeveloped. This research aims to explore
perceptions of innovativeness within a sample of twenty tourism companies located in
Iran. It describes the views and opinions of tourism standardization as interpreted by
senior managers. A stratified purposeful sampling method will be employed, in which
in-depth interviews with top managers and owners will be carried out over a six-month
period. Meaning units (MUs) will be extracted, which are compared and discussed with
the interviewees until a basic agreement of terms can be made. The emerging findings
highlight how top managers and owners perceive a tourism standardization concept to
gain a competitive advantage, the role of local and national culture in developing that
advantage, as well as the implication that a strong relationship between all major
stakeholders in the tourism industry could hold the key to both local and destination
standardization.

KEYWORDS: standardization, tourism industry, entrepreneurship development

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 Setting of Tourism Standardization for Development of Entrepreneurship by Sharifian et. al. 2

Summary
Tourism is no o doubt one of the largest industries in the world. Behind fuels, chemicals and automotive parts, it is
fourth in the amount of export income it generates (UNWTO2008). International tourist arrivals continue to grow
year after year as more and more countri
countries,
es, especially developing countries, turn to tourism as a development tool
and as a source of employment. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, international tourist
arrivals grew from 25 million to 903 million between 1950 and 2007. In 2007 export income generated by these
arrivals was more than US$ 1 trillion or about US$ 3 billion a day (UNWTO 2008). Despite the recent slump in
tourism related activities due to the current economic recession, the overall trend for tourism is projected
project to continue
increasing with international arrivals being expected to reach 1.6 billion by 2020 (UNWTO 2008).
Despite having great and in some cases unique tourism attractions, unfortunately Iran is among the weak players in
the tourism industry. Even thoughough the country does not rank among top countries in the number of international
tourist arrivals Environmental, social, cultural and economic impacts are felt worldwide by the numerous entities
that make up the tourism industry including airlines, hotels
hotels,, tour operators and travel agents. With the continued
expansion of the industry comes the challenge of balancing the economic benefits of tourism development and
growth with the need to protect the very things that tourists go to see clean beaches, auth authentic communities,
landscapes, culture and nature. For tourism to be profitable and beneficial, it must also be sustainable by providing
benefits to the tourists and hosts, while at the same time protecting the resources on which it depends.
Despite the undisputed importance of tourism standardization, and despite decades of academic research on the
subject, there is surprisingly little agreement on what tourism standardization really is looking for and how to
enhance it. Furthermore, explorationtion of the differences between the theory and practice of tourism standardization,
as interpreted by managerial experience rather than philosophical speculation, is undeveloped.
Over the past few years, different scholars have tended to focus primarily on certain research streams concerning
this issue. In the manufacturing industry, Hult, Hurley and Knight (2004) have focused on large industrialindustrial-based
firms, while Tajeddini and Trueman (2008) have studied the Swiss industry. Subsequently, a number of eempirical
studies have examined the service industry. For example, selected scholars such as Hite, Williams, Hilton and
Baugh (2006) have attempted to investigate the perception of standardization among school administrators.
In this regard, academic research rch in the marketing and strategic management disciplines has focused on how
organizations should standard, but has largely neglected studies of how tourism standardization is actually carried
out.. The emphasis has been on the end result rather than on the th process. However, satisfying
atisfying increasing consumer
demands, and pressures for restructuring in todays service industry in general and tourism sector in particular, may
require more research on the initial phase of standardization that is, the ability to o see the need for change before
the actual process is initiated.
If we believe that perception is a conscious mental awareness derived from sensory processes, the interesting
question is how managers within the tourism sector may perceive standardization. Ingram and Fraenkel (2006)
argue that an individuals perception can be shaped by culture and values. Therefore, it is difficult to measure the
perception of a standard organization in practice, as a quantitative measure of all standards that occurs in an
organization is not readily available.
The tourism industry has been chosen in order to preserve a certain internal homogeneity since it has been shown
previously that the standard adoption process differs across industries ((Garau Garau Vadell and Orfila-Sintes,
Orfila 2008).
Research results are derived from in in-depth
depth field interviews with owners and senior managers of twenty companies
located in cities of Iran:Tehran, Isfahan and Mashhad. High ranked companies were selected based on senior
managements openness and d willingness to participate in, and potentially benefit from, this study. Following
Hellstrm, Hellstrm and Berglund (2002), it is important to note that this study is not designed to make
generalizations about behaviors and characteristics of all Iranian tourism companies, but rather to listen actively to
senior executives to learn more about their approach to tourism standardization and to record their processes. pr
Despite the shortcomings of a convenience sample, this approach was selected because of the availability of the
participants and their willingness to be a part of the study. The individuals selected were experienced managers who

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Email: utsimorgh@gmail.com
 Setting of Tourism Standardization for Development of Entrepreneurship by Sharifian et. al. 3

consider themselves
ves active participants in entrepreneurship and tourism activities.
In-depth interviews using a semi-structured
structured protocol were conducted by three interviewers. Each interviewer was
thoroughly briefed on the studys objectives and received training in field interviewing. Each of our interviewers
had prior experience in both h the study and practice of tourism standardization.. All interviews were recorded and
transcribed. The interviews ranged in length from one to two hours, and were conducted over a six six-month period.
All responses were confined to the respondents actual, practical experiences involving tourism within their
companies, and usually based on specific instances of implementation of tourism standardization
standardization.
As results of this study some topics are discussed such as:
-Openness to tourism innovation and standardization
-Standardization and culture
-Tourism standardization versus technological change
-Comfort with standards
In addition to an individual companies atmosphere, the culture of Iran may inhibit the implementation of tourism
standardization because of the heritage and tradition of the hospitality industry. It has always been done that way
may be seen not as a barrier to new ideas and services, but as a safeguard to the standards of excellence that have
been the model of the tourism industry. An important
important ingredient in this protective culture is the value of managerial
experience and authority in assessing staff suggestions for standardization.. [Guests and employees have a]
perception and maybe an expectation that management is a powerful autocrat,.
autocrat,. There is no substitute for the owner
or general manager who has not only realized a competitive advantage because of a timely innovation but who has
also experienced the embarrassing failure of trying to be too unique in a market which oftentimes values tradition
over trends.
The emerging findings highlight how top managers and owners perceive a tourism standardization concept to gain a
competitive advantage, the role of local and national culture in developing that advantage, as well as the implication
that a strong relationship between all major stakeholders in the tourism industry could hold the key to both local and
destination standardization.
Iran needs to maintain the perception of an incomparable tradition of hospitality. This tradition is a source so of
longstanding destination differentiation. At the same time, in order to keep pace with a rapidly changing
environment, Iran should welcome strong, sustainable tourism standardization,, exemplified with such brilliant
boldness in other Persian industries.
tries.
However, this may require an honest self self-evaluation
evaluation of the level of cooperation among destination stakeholders:
government and business leaders, as well as tourism company owners, management and staff. Examples abound in
the interviews of the interdependence
rdependence of tourism standardization relationships: a safety zone of trust that must first
be established before employees will bring forth new ideas of standards to management, the importance of owner
support for continuous improvement of the tourism concept concept and the financial potential it offers, availability of
investment capital to the tourism industry under sustainable conditions, the creation of destination marketing
organizations to coordinate tourism standardization efforts on a regional and nation national level. Conflict among
stakeholder members can have a stifling effect on standardization in the tourism company property. This is
analogous (Berthon, Hult et al., 2004) to the friction between those who see the customer as the source of all
wisdom customer orientation and those who see tourism standardization as the key component for success.
Reassessment and realignment of stakeholder cooperation would be a vanguard for true tourism standardization at
all levels. Such standards would be open to fresh fresh approaches as well as ensuring discussion and receptiveness to
new ideas, services and experiences. Tourism tradition and standardization working together: a distinguishing and
exciting new aspect of the culture of Iran tourism hospitality.

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Email: utsimorgh@gmail.com
 Setting of Tourism Standardization for Development of Entrepreneurship by Sharifian et. al. 4

1. INTRODUCTION
Increasing global competition, coupled with rapidly changing technology and the shortening of the product life
cycle, has made corporations more vulnerable to failure than at any time in the past (Wong and Pang, 2003).
Therefore, it has becomee of the utmost importance for organizations to be both adaptive and standard. More
specifically, Brnnback (1999) notes that if if companies are to achieve growth in the future, customer satisfaction is a
line of action. In this regard, some scholars of st strategic
rategic marketing and management contend that standardization
makes a significant contribution to business performance and is regarded as one of the avenues to gain a competitive
advantage (Deshpand, Farley and Webster, 1993; Deshpand and Farley, 1998; Hurley urley and Hult, 1998; Jenssen,
2003; Tajeddini, Trueman, and Larsen, 2006; Tajeddini and Trueman, 2008). Innovation in standardization has
subsequently become a major topic of interest for managers, academics and public policy makers in the tourism
industry.
Over the past few years, different scholars have tended to focus primarily on certain research streams concerning
this issue. In the manufacturing industry, Hult, Hurley and Knight (2004) have focused on large industrial industrial-based
firms, while Tajeddini and nd Trueman (2008) have studied the Swiss industry. Subsequently, a number of empirical
studies have examined the service industry. For example, selected scholars such as Hite, Williams, Hilton and
Baugh (2006) have attempted to investigate the perception of standardization among school administrators.
Nevertheless, despite the obvious importance of tourism standardization and the fact that the concept of
standardization is widely researched, there is surprisingly little agreement over what tourism standardization
standar really is
and how to enhance it. The he definition of tourism
standardization is rarely discussed; there are many
interpretations and approaches, leading to ambiguity and confusion in practice (Tajeddini et al., 2006; Tajeddini,
2007; Tajeddini and d Tajeddini, 2012). The concept of tourism standardization for top management in the service
industry (e.g., the tourism sector)) is different from that in the manufacturing industry (e.g., auto manufacturers),
simply because in the service industry, activities
activities or benefits offered for sale are essentially intangible and do not
result in the ownership of anything.
Conventional wisdom holds that caution must be used in transferring research on tourism standardization theory
from the manufacturing industry to the service sector (Tajeddini, 2010). The rationale is that the tourism industry is
a homogeneous industry (Borooah, 1999) and it is also generic in the sense that different levels of hotel quality have
little impact on hotel operations (Orfila-Sintes
(Orfila and Mattsson, 2009).
In this regard, academic research in the marketing and strategic management disciplines has focused on how
organizations should standard, but has largely neglected studies of how tourism standardization is actually carried
out. The emphasis has been on the end result rather than on the process. However, satisfying
satisfying increasing consumer
demands, and pressures for restructuring in todays service industry in general and tourism sector in particular, may
require more research on the initialial phase of standardization that is, the ability to see the need for change before
the actual process is initiated.
If we believe that perception is a conscious mental awareness derived from sensory processes, the interesting
question is how managers within thin the tourism sector may perceive standardization.. Ingram and Fraenkel (2006)
argue that an individuals perception can be shaped by culture and values. Therefore, it is difficult to measure the
perception of a standard organization in practice, as a quantitative measure of all standards that occurs in an
organization is not readily available.
Understanding innovative nations in this industry with vision about the future requires case study research, which is
primarily based on qualitative methods (Tajeddini
(Tajeddini and Mueller, in press). The rationale is that future conditions
cannot be assessed with certainty, and that pitfalls can be avoided through careful analysis and simulation
(Gummesson, 2006). Our data-gatheringgathering techniques regarding tourism standardization
ization have advanced from the
traditional hypothetico-deductive
deductive approach using mail questionnaires, surveys or brief interviews in general (Dana
and Dana, 2005). However, even though a quantitative approach is very good at providing data to establish
credibility
dibility in the field (Milliken, 2001), it is weak at revealing the story behind the numbers (Cooper and Evans,
2006). Since the application of non-quantitative
non quantitative research is a more useful strategy for case study (Dana and Dana,
2005), a grounded approach (Locke, 2001) has been selected, starting
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 Setting of Tourism Standardization for Development of Entrepreneurship by Sharifian et. al. 5

with information supplied by managers and employees in the Iranian tourism industry, which has a reputation for
excellence and providing high quality services (Tajeddini, 2010).
This research aims to identify key factors of tourism standardization,, filling a gap in the existing research and
providing insight for company management. The study contributes to the body of knowledge about the early stages
of innovativeness through both the perceptions and the actual practices
practices of tourism senior management.

2. BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW

Fierce competition in the global market has made standardization a necessity for every company (Tajeddini and
Trueman, 2008a). Standard
tandard remarks is considered a source of competitivee advantage and economic growth, and
worthy of study under the conditions of increased global competition, technological change, fast-changing
fast market
situations and continuous customer/client demand for quality services (Damanpour and Schneider, 2006). Despite De
the importance of tourism standardization
standardization,, Smith (2006) points out, there are not many texts on its innovation.
Marketing studies done at the organizational level of analysis are similar to the studies conducted by organizational
sociologists (Gopalakrishnan
Gopalakrishnan and Damanpour, 1997). From a marketing view, tourism standardization studies focus
on the adoption of requirements at the organizational level (Capon et al., 1992; Gopalakrishnan and Damanpour,
1997).
). The adoption of a new idea in an organ organization,
ization, regardless of the time of its adoption in the related
organizational population, is expected to result in an organizational change that might affect the performance of that
organization (Damanpour and Evan, 1984). Zaltman, Duncan and Holbek (1973)) believe the process of adopting
standards includes two major stages: initiation and implementation.
Hurley and Hult (1998) state standardization is the notion of openness to new ideas as an aspect of a firm's culture.
Following a distinction made by Zaltman
Zal et al. (1973), Hult et al. (2003) state standardization
standardization is the organizations
cultural orientation (values and beliefs. Emsley (2005) believes that when examining the concept of standardization,
it becomes problematic because of the range of innovations
innovations in industrial practice, each at a different point on a
continuum from initial idea to full implementation.

3. METHOD
The tourism industry has been chosen in order to preserve a certain internal homogeneity since it has been shown
previously that the standard adoption process differs across industries (Garau
(Garau Vadell and Orfila-Sintes,
Orfila 2008).
Research results are derived from in in-depth
depth field interviews with owners and senior managers of twenty companies
located in cities of Iran:Tehran, Isfahan and Mashhad.
Mashhad. High ranked companies were selected based on senior
managements openness and willingness to participate in, and potentially benefit from, this study. Following
Hellstrm, Hellstrm and Berglund (2002), it is important to note that this study is not designed to make
generalizations about behaviors and characteristics of all Iranian tourism companies, but rather to listen actively to
senior executives to learn more about their approach to tourism standardization and to record their processes.
Despite the shortcomings of a convenience sample, this approach was selected because of the availability of the
participants and their willingness to be a part of the study. The individuals selected were experienced managers who
consider themselves active participants
ipants in entrepreneurship and tourism activities (Razeghi et. al, 2013).
In-depth interviews using a semi-structured
structured protocol were conducted by three interviewers. Each interviewer was
thoroughly briefed on the studys objectives and received training in field interviewing. Each of our interviewers
had prior experience in both the study and practice of tourism standardization.. All interviews were recorded and
transcribed. The interviews ranged in length from one to two hours, and were conducted over a six six-month period.
All responses were confined to the respondents actual, practical experiences involving tourism within their
companies, and usually based on specific instances of implementation of tourism standardization.
standardization A summary of
respondents is shown in Table 1.

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 Setting of Tourism Standardization for Development of Entrepreneurship by Sharifian et. al. 6

Table 1. Survey Respondents

Experience
Row Position Numer of people Location
(Years)
1 Owner/ Manager 13 Tehran 15-22
2 Stakeholder/ Manager 4 Isfahan 11-17
3 Manager 3 Mashhad 12-16

4. Procedure
Instead of hypothesis testing, a grounded approach (Locke, 2001) was applied to collect the information supplied by
executives in the context of companies. This method was chosen because of the advantages that a less structured
approach offers, allowing the incorporation of expert knowledge and experienced judgment into the findings
(Eldabi, Irani, Paul, and Love, 2002).
The interview data was collected through in-depth in depth interviews, which took place in companies. Each interview
started with general questions about the professional background of the participant, the personality of the company
and a brief description of target customers. Then respondents were encouraged
encouraged to cite specific examples of tourism
standardization,, and these examples were discussed in detail.
As Hellstrm et al. (2002) suggested, during the interview, questions relating to the subject were brought up and
continuously revisited. A complete list list of questions was distributed to interviewees beforehand to allow time for
consideration and to establish an atmosphere of trust between interviewer and interviewee. A commitment to
confidentiality of the interview process and managers responses was assured
assured to the interviewees.
Among the questions asked were: Do you actively seek tourism standardization ideas? If so, would you please give
us examples? Does management support tourism standardization ideas? Do they encourage staff to share their new
ideas? If so, does management put these new ideas into practice? How does management encourage staff for their
new ideas? Do you have any specific experiences or cases? If a new idea is put into pract practice and it does not work
well, what will be managements reaction? Is there resentment or reproach? Do you have any experience showing
that some of these new ideas have changed your business performance? If so, in what respect? How do you see the
culture
re of Iran in regard to its tradition in the tourism industry?
A six-step
step process for structuring the interview was used in order to formalize the procedure (Lucas, 2005). In
addition to the audio recording, following Lofland and Lofland (1984), the interviews rviews were documented in detail
through note-taking,
taking, with particular attention to key quotations that illustrate different aspects of the subject. Using
Meaning Units (MUs), as Hellstrm et al. (2002) recommended, first the notes were transcribed for ease eas of
comparison, and the transcripts were then crosschecked for accuracy and reliability. The he text was broken down into
discrete parts, not according to syntactic rules (e.g., sentences) but with respect to change of meaning in the text (cf.
Hellstrm et al., 2002). In order to analyze the data, Miles and Huberman (1994) suggest that the researchers focus
on patterns of key words and phrases used repeatedly across all interviews. Following the suggestion of Kim and
Wilemon (2007), the major themes uncovered uncovered in the interviews were identified, and recorded the number of
occurrences for each theme and the percentage of the total for each theme.

5. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
Openness to tourism innovation and standardization
Real tourism standardization requires open-mindedness,
o willingness and being a team player,
player according to
Respondent 5. Respondent 3 asserted, tourism standardization thrives in an atmosphere of support.
Management support of the innovation process is both explicit and implicit. Respondent 4, for example, said: I
think our company progress is driven by gathering new ideas from the related offices, our staff and customers. I am
always trying to be the first to standard and improve my services. In his view, tourism standardization refers to
receptivity to new ideas (Hurley
Hurley and Hult,
Hult 1998) and being the best to WWW.ENGINEERSPRESS.C
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 Setting of Tourism Standardization for Development of Entrepreneurship by Sharifian et. al. 7

market with standard services (Capon, Farley, and Hulbert, 1988). Likewise, Respondent 11 comments:
Technically we always want to be on top. Tourism
T standardization should be a must;; we dont want to get behind.
Standardization and culture
Sudano (2003) states, Future success stories will involve those companies that transform company culture and
reward systems to foster creative change. This transformation will be driven through innovation along the entire
supply chain and even in the business model itself.
Consistent with this view, Respondent 11 stated how cultural changes can be a source of growth and standard. Our
company was ranked lesser when I bought it seven years ago. However, it is ranked better at present. I knew it
would take years before our dreams would come true and turn it to a top company. Because I believed a cultural
change could sweep our company.pany. Because I knew that my customer wants something different.
However, cultural change as a result of a standard management team requires an adjustment period for staff. It takes
time to settle in and establish patterns employees can identify with. Respondent 16: When new management
arrived six years ago, it took about three years for a safety zone to be created where employees felt they may step
forward with new standards and suggestions for improvement.
These quotes reinforce the view of Sudan Sudano o (2003): corporate leadership must commit itself to tourism
standardization as a long term success platform. A further implication might be that organizational standardization
is a key source of superior business performance (Hult et al. 2004). Respondent
Respondent 19, regarding change in Food and
Beverage service, said, Health today is a big consideration. Taking care of oneself [is] very culturally influenced.
In this regard, management is motivated by pre-emptive
pre emptive action to influence the environment or by a reaction to an
environmental impetus (Damanpour 1996). Respondent 20: Our attention is on cozy and individual. Small is the
new big.
Tourism standardization versus technological change
Interestingly, some owner-managers
managers of companies did not perceive tourism standardization this way. They define
standardization solely in terms of new methods/products in their business. It appears that they are unaware of the
full richness of the tourism standardization concept.
Ten respondents equated tourism standar
standardization specifically with technology adoption. The concept of tourism
standardization as focusing on the openness to satisfying customers and new ideas, processes and service was never
mentioned. Some respondents suggested that their business was relian reliantt on purchasing new facilities, services and
products and therefore they did not have to be concerned with receptivity to new standards. This does not
necessarily mean that they have neglected other aspects of tourism standardization,, but may indicate lack lac of
knowledge of the terminology. A noteworthy exception was Respondent 17, whose hotel has sponsored an
environment of very open communication among employees, including publishing responses from a questionnaire
and forming cross-functional
functional teams charge
charged with investigating and implementing new tourism standardization
standardization.
The interviews revealed a predisposition towards incremental standards to create a quick and visible impact on
customer satisfaction and loyalty. This management practice is favored because because customers quickly recognize the
efforts. Results are obvious and immediate. Speed of changing and standardization here is the key.
A differentiating strategy from competitors requires anticipation of customers needs and offering something new
for surprise.
rprise. It can be by delivering and maintaining excellent new standard services or products. When managers
were asked to rank the most significant sources of ideas which were actually implemented at their companies,
recommendations from customers was fir first,
st, followed by suggestions and advice from the staff. However, this
acceptance of recommendations was not necessarily an indication of managements openness to all tourism
standardization ideas. The ideas were carefully assessed and evaluated on the basis basis of feasibility, necessity and
budget.
Respondents further stated that they spent substantial time talking and listening to customers and staff or networking
to improve their business. Although they spend considerable time and resources collecting comments,comme ideas and
complaints, they never regarded this as standards. They agree that this engagement in a process of discovery and
data gathering provides a baseline of current customer satisfaction and valuable insight for improvement.
However, putting ideass into practice is a more complicated matter, and
respondents approaches varied significantly. While all showed eagerness WWW.ENGINEERSPRESS.C
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 Setting of Tourism Standardization for Development of Entrepreneurship by Sharifian et. al. 8

to listen carefully to the comments and implement some, some rely exclusively on their own traditional style, which
appears to be that
at the leadership decides the best practice for the companies.
Comfort with standards
One of the factors making a service sector like hotel comfortable is knowing what to expect. A grand tradition
over 150 years in n the hotel business
business Change can be an n antagonist to comfort and happiness as demonstrated by the
seasoned sofa, the well worn rug, the welcomed sameness that evokes safety and solid reassurance. Meaningless
tourism standardization,, introduction of new and unasked unasked-for
for services, can be disrup
disruptive to the home-like
atmosphere being engendered by a hotel.
The ideal guest for Respondent 15 would say, I am very happy here, like at home. Ideal tourism standardization
might be seen as a kind of lift your feet please as the vacuum cleaner is run underneath. Improving things, but not
disrupting. Management may consider disruptive innovation only justifiable as a remedy to dramatic
macroeconomic events such as a prolonged recession or an unforeseen change in the target customer. This is in
agreement
ment with Hagel and Singer, 1999 as well as Matsuo, 2006, that customer orientation (in this case comfort and
the desire of an expected status quo) and standardization have conflicting goals.
In addition to an individual companies atmosphere, the culture of Iran may inhibit the implementation of tourism
standardization because of the heritage and tradition of the hospitality industry. It has always been done that way
may be seen not as a barrier to new ideas and services, but as a safeguard to the standards of excellence that have
been the model of the tourism industry.
industry. An important ingredient in this protective culture is the value of managerial
experience and authority in assessing staff suggestions for standardization.. [Guests and employees have a]
perception and maybe an expectation that management is a powerful
powerful autocrat, according to Respondent 12. There
is no substitute for the owner or general manager who has not only realized a competitive advantage because of a
timely innovation but who has also experienced the embarrassing failure of trying to be too uni unique in a market
which oftentimes values tradition over trends.

6. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

The approach taken in this study was one of listening to a group of executives responsible for managing the
technical competencies of their tourism companies. This study assessed the tourism standardization of 20 tourism
companies located in 3 cities of Iran: Tehran, Isfahan and Mashhad that responded to adversity by introducing
various elements of tourism standardization.
standardization. These companies were explored based on senior managements
openness and willingness to participate in, and potentially benefit from, this study. Throughout the discussion, it was
attempted to show the complementarities between theory and practice in tourism standardization
standardization. In this regard, a
strategic
trategic view (Hurley and Hult, 1998; Hult et al., 2005; Tajeddini and Trueman, 2011, 2012; Tajeddini et al., 2011)
was followed to analyzing tourism standardization across different service dimensions. The findings are consistent
with prior research (e.g.,, Tajeddini, 2010; 2011), but provide a new insight by exploring tourism standardization in
tourism companies.
Iran needs to maintain the perception of an incomparable tradition of hospitality. This tradition is a source of
longstanding destination differentiation. At the same time, in order to keep pace with a rapidly changing
environment, Iran should welcome st strong, sustainable tourism standardization,, exemplified with such brilliant
boldness in other Persian industries.
However, this may require an honest self self-evaluation
evaluation of the level of cooperation among destination stakeholders:
government and business leaders, s, as well as tourism company owners, management and staff. Examples abound in
the interviews of the interdependence of tourism standardization relationships: a safety zone of trust that must first
be established before employees will bring forth new ideasideas of standards to management, the importance of owner
support for continuous improvement of the tourism concept and the financial potential it offers, availability of
investment capital to the tourism industry under sustainable conditions, the creation of destination marketing
organizations to coordinate tourism standardization efforts on a regional and national level. Conflict among
stakeholder members can have a stifling effect on standardization in the
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 Setting of Tourism Standardization for Development of Entrepreneurship by Sharifian et. al. 9

tourism company property. This is analogous (Berth

(Berthon,
on, Hult et al., 2004) to the friction between those who see the
customer as the source of all wisdom customer orientation and those who see tourism standardization as the key
component for success. Reassessment and realignment of stakeholder cooperation
cooperation would be a vanguard for true
tourism standardization at all levels. Such standards would be open to fresh approaches as well as ensuring
discussion and receptiveness to new ideas, services and experiences. Tourism tradition and standardization working
together: a distinguishing and exciting new aspect of the culture of Iran tourism hospitality.
In conclusion, the culture of Iran may be likened to the story of The Prodigal Son. The oldest son, here the tradition
of the Iran tourism industry, stays at home and honors the wishes of the father: the way things have always been
done. The younger son is extremely impulsive and desirous for change. He goes off to find his own way, getting
in trouble at first, but finding fresh meaning to values once overlooked.
overlooked. He returns home to a brother not so well
taken with him. The father prevails upon the eldest to reconcile. Only with the two sons at home can the father be
happy and prosperous.

7. Limitations and further research

There were no women managers or owners among the interviewees, thereby decidedly limiting the perception of
tourism standardization to a masculine point of view. Further research may want to compare and contrast the
perceptions of tourism standardization from this study with one that includes senior women managers in the Iran
tourism industry. Also their interpretation of the effect of Persian culture, perhaps a male
male-dominated culture, on
tourism standardization and the tourism industry in general would be
b very insightful.
Additionally, future studies could explore the relationship between stakeholder cooperation and tourism
standardization.. This would provide a multi-faceted
multi faceted model in which different components, including sustainability,
customer orientation
ation and employee involvement, could be considered in a larger, dynamically-evolving
dynamically ecosystem.

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