Background: As mentioned by the hoteliers in our study, the Saudi Arabian markets are not in a full usage or application of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). There have been several reviews formed by the United Nation Development Program show the efforts done by the different sectors of the country to reach the 2030 Agenda which aim for a sustainable development. Sustainability became a requirement for any business to start in the region. CS has changed the way Saudi hotels market are conducting their business a few years ago. Besides that, doing business online has also been an important factor of this change. In many cases, being sustainable might be very costly to apply to many kinds of businesses, and for that reason companies must plan well. So, the companies should take into consideration several factors that might affect their relation with their B2B customers. Problem Discussion: There has been a huge pressure from customers and the public on companies to perform their business in an environmentally sustainable way. The increased number of hotels which led to higher competition in the region causing the companies in the hotels industry to carefully manage their B2B relationship. Second is the obligatory laws for companies to apply CS actions. Sustainable behaviors have today grown to become a compulsion to practice; however, these actions are not limited to the B2C sector of a business, CS has become a vital part of marketing strategies for business within B2B markets. In spite CS has proven to be advantageous to be practiced with B2B customers, the research on the subject has been very limited. The research and studies towards CS and CSR have been limited to B2C markets Due to the lack of enough research on the subject of being sustainability and its relationship to B2B customers, this paper will dig deep to fill this gap. Purpose: The aim of this research paper is to uncover the hotels CS and CSR strategies that hoteliers’ practice with their B2B customers. While also considering the aspect of CS in markets where these hotels are gradually indulging into it, such as the Saudi Arabian Market. This research paper’s goal is to analyze and study different approaches for hoteliers that could be beneficial for them focused towards their business customer and guide them to gain competitive advantage and turn it into a profitable business decision through building and strengthening their relationships with their B2B customers. Research Question: <ol type="1"> What are the current CS strategies practiced by international five-star hotel chains situated in Saudi Arabia? 2. How can these hotel’s CS strategies be developed and adopted to positively influence and strengthen its relationship with their B2B customers internationally? Methodology: The authors of this study have been using qualitative method as their research approach which gave them the way in order to deeply understand the application of CS actions and its relation with the pricing strategies chosen by the companies in the hotel industry. The theory was collected from different database, and the empirical data was collected from 9 interviews within 3 hotels. The data collected was from high ranked journals. As for the type of interviews, it was semi-structured interviews. The authors used open questions to give a space to the interviewees to discuss in depth the topic of the question. Conclusion: This study shows that within the hotel industry social sustainability dimension of CS and instrumental theories of CSR, these hotels could develop and strengthen their relationships with their B2B customers as well as suppliers. Within the academic literature CS has been categorized into three sections; environment, that actions to sustain the planet, social, that is working for the welfare of the people and lastly economical that is the financial benefits gained from CS activities. In this study, the authors concluded that the international five-star hotel chains residing within Saudi Arabia have not been actively working toward their CS and CSR behaviors.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-90126 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Alzahar, Abeer, Tariq, Sarah |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för marknadsföring (MF), Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för marknadsföring (MF) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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