Chai Aun Ooi - School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, ۱۱۸۰۰, USM, Penang, Malaysia
Chee Wooi Hooy - School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, ۱۱۸۰۰, USM, Penang, Malaysia
Ahmad Puad Mat Som - Faculty of Applied Social Sciences, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, ۲۱۳۰۰ Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia

This study suggests two new diversification strategies, i.e. tourism-related and tourism-unrelated diversifications which are specifically applicable to the hotel firms. This study aims to investigate which diversification strategy has better benefits towards firm performance. This study includes a complete set of public listed firms of the hotel industry from four Asian countries, namely Hong Kong, Singapore, China and Malaysia, covering from years 2001-2012. Revealing the advantage and disadvantage of both diversification strategies, the empirical evidences on its influences on hotel firm performance are investigated in this study. This study even finds a nonlinear relationship between degreeof diversification and firm performance. Confronting with the volatile earnings when crises strike tourism sector, this study further shows how the crises affect the relationship between tourism related/unrelated diversification strategy and hotel firm performance.

Industrial Diversification, Performance, Tourism, Hotel, Crisis