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1. Introduction
The restaurant business, one of the most important services of the tourism sector (WTO, 2008) generates substantial revenue for Mexico, therefore, the more policies are implemented that are in line with the needs of this economic activity, the more competitiveness and national development are encouraged. The state of Quintana Roo is characterized by its architectural, archaeological and cultural heritage and its varied culinary offer; thus, it is a very attractive tourist destination for domestic and foreign visitors. According to information from the Ministry of Tourism, the economic impact of the state from January to December 2014 was $8,258.90 million, without considering resources coming from companies that operate in the informal sector (SECTUR, 2014). For this reason, all the research and proposals aimed at increasing the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills, and this may result in an increase in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is an indicator of competitiveness in all companies in the sector.
Some of the problems faced by micro-enterprises in the informal restaurant sector are the following:
The minimization of the microenterprise scheme (González, 2005).
Predisposition of microentrepreneurs to consider their business as a simple survival mechanism (Márquez and Gómez, 2002, Genesca and Capelleras, 2004).
Limitations to obtain loans for companies that do not meet the necessary requirements (Picon and Baltodano, 2006, Ollivier, 2007).
Lacking access to information and communication technologies, mainly in marginalized areas (Márquez and Gómez, 2002).
The lack of awareness about the nature of the internal and external changes of organizations lies in learning (Senge, 2000).
A lack of professionalism at management levels due to insufficient training (Picon and Baltodano, 2006, Ollivier, 2007).
Insufficient knowledge of the market which limits the possibilities to grow (Picon and Baltodano, 2006).
The lack of vision and initiative to innovate as a result of imprecise planning (Ollivier, 2007).
Recurring actions underlying in the organizational management of enterprises are mentioned in the previous difficult situations. For this reason, the basic problem refers to the lack of knowledge of the organizational management functions and their relationship with business competitiveness. However, all organizations can generate new skills, which involves opening up the organization to change in order to stimulate organizational learning.
In the restaurant sector, the main causes of crisis are a limited care to diners due to the lack of training; the inadequate utilization of human resources and improper communication because of an inefficient implementation of the organization and control functions; and a lack of a customer-oriented vision as a result of inefficient planning (Durón, 2006). Therefore, this article analyzes the relationship between the organizational management functions and some specific strategies for the competitiveness of micro-restaurant in the Municipality of Othon P. Blanco in the State of Quintana Roo. In addition, the management functions that are strong, as well as the strategies that will be implemented in the micro-enterprises are identified in order to find opportunity areas for micro-enterprises working in this economic activity.
Therefore, the research question was: What is the relationship of the organizational management and business competitiveness of micro-enterprises in the restaurant sector in the municipality of Othon P. Blanco in the State of Quintana Roo?
As a result, the general objective was to: Analyze the relationship of organizational management and business competitiveness of micro-enterprises in the restaurant sector in the municipality of Othon P. Blanco, State of Quintana Roo.
2. Theoretical framework
The variables included in both the research question and in the general objective were based on the following theoretical framework and reference.
2.1. Organizational Management
The management of an organization is the practice and science of governing organizations, which deals with a set of procedures and performance standards with the aim of ensuring that the enterprises operation is of the utmost effectiveness (Roux, 2014, p. 5). The organizational management is also defined as a creative intellectual process that allows an individual to design and implement guidelines and strategic and tactical processes through knowing the essence of the task, and the coordination of economic human, technological, social, political and trading resources to achieve its purposes or objectives (Hernández, Rodríguez and Pulido, 2011, p. 2). Management is an applied art that involves the linking of data, information, knowledge, and social interaction among people for solving problems or looking for opportunities (Gaynor, 1999, pp. 5-6).
As the linking of data, information, knowledge and people is done in all functional areas of the company, organizational management is also linked to each stage of the administrative process in the organizational practice. Different types of configurations from the key elements that predominate in the organizations are generated through the interaction process with the general environment and task. The business organization revolves around the strategic apex (Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel et al. 2013), which corresponds to the characteristics of the micro-enterprises that carry out a dissemination of centralized power. In the case of micro-enterprises in the restaurant sector, the strategic apex corresponds to the owner or manager who basically plans, organizes, directs and controls all the actions of the business, usually without delegating authority to their employees, which correspond to the functions of the administrative process and to the categorization of the variable organizational management in this research.
2.2. Business Competitiveness
According to the categorization drawn up based on the systems theory of Klaus Esser (s/f, cited in Hernández, Rodríguez and Pulido, 2011, p.13), competitiveness is classified into four levels. Meta-competitiveness is a set of advantages of a company with respect to other company, the macro-competitiveness is a set of macroeconomic, structural and legal variables that promote competitiveness in all cities and states, while the meso-competitiveness is the local and regional structure that makes up the characteristics of a sector.
Finally, the micro-competitiveness or business competitiveness is the result of an efficiently management of resources to produce quality goods and services from factors such as business management, technology management, customer confidence and training. In particular, Singh defines competitiveness as the ability to compete and the willingness to participate in a world in constant evolution creating competitive advantages to increase income, production and welfare (WTO, 2011). Business competitiveness jointly with productivity leads to organizational efficiency (Rivas, 2016, p. 59). From the economic perspective, productivity is the result of dividing the number of products or services offered by the inputs used in the process (Klein and Grabinsky, 1982); therefore, referring to the productivity of a company subjects business competitiveness to the proper use of the resources of the organization, including the tacit and explicit knowledge of the company, which emphasizes the importance of organizational learning at increasing micro-competitiveness.
To define business competitiveness in this research, the categories of the National Model of Competitiveness of Micro and Small Enterprises of INADEM (2012), the IMEF model, the Amat model and the Picón and Baltodano model were reviewed. To set the operational definition, we have selected the three categories or most common factors to these models that are also strategies of competitiveness when the purpose of the organization is to strengthen certain skills and organizational resources. Table 1 shows the categories of competitiveness models consulted.
In the categorization of Table 1, we show three factors that are common to the reviewed models: technology, strategic alliances or partnerships and organizational culture. When the company’s objective is to strengthen a factor, the organization is oriented to actions that predispose to favor their implementation, so that a factor becomes a competitiveness strategy.
Table 1 Categories of competitiveness models
| Model | National Model for Competitiveness of Micro and Small Enterprises | Model adopted by IMEF | Amat Model | Picón and Baltodano Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Categories | Strategic Leadership Balanced Results Focus on the Client. Total Quality Responsibility for the people who work in the organization Boost to Innovation Building Partnerships Social Responsibility | Organizational Structure Control Systems Organizational Culture Human Resources | Profit Margin on Sale Creation of new jobs Labor Cost Technological Efficiency Management of Resources | Formalization Administrative Structure Technology Human Resources Production Management Infrastructure Marketing Commercialization Association |
Source: Adapted from the National Institute of the Entrepreneur, 2012. National Model for Competitiveness of Micro and Small Companies: An approach to the design of an innovative business model; IMEF Executives in Finance (2009). Key factors for achieving business competitiveness. In IMEF: Executives in Finance. Technical Bulletin no. 1; Amat, 2004, La continuidad de la empresa familiar [The continuity of the family business], España, Gestión 2000; Picón & Baltodano, 2006, Competitive capacity of lodging micro-businesses: The case of the communities near the Papagayo tourist project, in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Inter-venues: Revista de las Sedes Regionales, VI (10), 1-20
2.3. Competitive strategies and organizational knowledge
The strategy is defined as the organizational capacity to acquire, produce, accumulate and exploit knowledge (Ruggles and Holtshouse, 2000, p.72). Some of the strategies linked to the development of capacities are technology, alliances and the organizational culture, which correspond to factors of competitiveness of the models that were reviewed to define the variable in the research (Table 1).
The organizational culture is the set of concepts shared by all the company - Mission, vision, values, objectives, goals, rules, responsibilities, in order to make it more competitive (CANIRAC, 2015). Technology is the accumulated knowledge of the company, or know-how, reflected in the machines, equipment and facilities, and the techniques to transform the inputs (Mintzberg, Quinn and Voyer et al. 2013). Finally, a strategic alliance is the inter-business cooperation between competitors in the market in which they cooperate in certain activities, such as shopping, research, development and marketing (Domínguez, 2002, p. 36).
The previous strategies have the common feature that are a source of new knowledge for the organization. According to the creation of knowledge theory Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995), the conversion process of tacit and explicit knowledge is completed in a cycle of four phases: socialization, externalization, combination and internalization (1995, p. 62). Socialization is linked to the acquisition of technical skills - or know-how - with direct impact on the productive processes and administrative technological basis. Externalization refers to sharing knowledge through various means such as over the Internet or associations of entrepreneurs in the corresponding business or industry. Internalization is the stage in which the explicit knowledge included in manuals and books is transformed to tacit knowledge by the employees of the organization, as it is the case of the results achieved by implementing the elements of the organizational culture in the company. Finally, the combination of elements refers to the integration of new knowledge, explicit and documented, through training and vocational training.
3. Methodology
Research is analytical-deductive in a non-experimental, correlational approach. The scope of the research was quantitative, applying the documentary and field technique. The design was cross-sectional. Variable 1 was the organizational management and its dimensions were: planning, organization, management and control. Variable 2 was the business competitiveness and its dimensions were: orientation to technology, orientation to strategic alliances and orientation to organizational culture. The hypotheses this work is based on are the following:
Working Hypothesis (H): The organizational management of food and beverages preparation micro-businesses is related to their business competitiveness.
Null hypothesis (H 0 ): There is no relationship between the organizational management of food and beverages preparation micro-enterprises and its business competitiveness.
Alternative hypothesis (H 1 ): Some of the functions of the organizational management of food and beverages preparation micro-enterprises are related to their business competitiveness.
Derived from the operationalization of the variables, a Likert-type questionnaire was developed, it is a scale with 30 closed questions with multi-response options and nominal measurement values. The calculation of the sample size was determined with the statistical program Decision Analyst STATS 2.0, with which it was obtained a sample of 39 companies of a universe of 91 “a la carte” or full-course meal micro-restaurants with 0 to 5 employees (INEGI, 2016). A 10 questionnaire-pilot test was administered. Subsequently, the instrument was adapted to the final version of 20 closed questions. Both variables were measured with 10 items, distributed between the dimensions of each variable. The validity of the instrument was determined with the criteria of construct validity, and the view of the expert. After applying the final questionnaire in the following neighborhoods of the municipality: Jesús Martínez Ross, Centro, Shaop, Adolfo López Mateos, Plutarco Elías, Solidaridad, Payo Obispo and Mahahual, only 17 surveys were obtained because it was found in the field that some micro-enterprises in the INEGI database had closed their business. The questionnaires collected accounted for 18.68% of the population, which was considered appropriate and meaningful for the research.
The reliability was determined by means of the halves method to obtain the internal consistency of the entire instrument, to do that, the items of each questionnaire collected in odd and responses were divided. a score of 1 was assigned to each item with an answer. The Rulon formula was applied:
Rtt= 1 - VD/Vt, where rtt is reliability, Vd is the variance of the difference of odd and pair items, and Vt is the total variance.
rtt= 1 - Vd/Vt = 1 - 0.8897/2.1574 = 1 - 0.4123 = 0.59
The reliability of the instrument on the basis of the criterion of internal consistency was: 0.59. The results of each variable are presented in the next section.
4. Analysis
After collecting the information, two types of results were obtained: the general information and the results of the two variables of the research. As for the analysis of the general information, it was revealed that there is a higher incidence of women entrepreneurs in the informal restaurant sector (65%). The age range of the entrepreneurs was 28 to 68 years. 17.64% of the entrepreneurs fulfilled college or university studies, while 82.36% graduated from high school at the most, therefore it is inferred that there is a tendency to establish micro-enterprises as a means to make their living and only some are in order to grow and generate jobs.
The incidence of family members who participate in the activities of the restaurant is 76.48%, which reveals a tendency to start a restaurant as a family business, however, 29.41% of restaurants has generated at least some direct employment for people outside their family, which places family businesses at the level of products and markets within the growth stage of companies (Guarneros, 2013, p. 13).
In addition, 17.64% of the local restaurant entrepreneurs own the premises they use as tax domicile for their activities, while 82.36% must pay for using property tax and rent. It was also revealed that 100% of the employers pay gas and light, while 88.23% pay taxes, which represents a representative percentage, considering that some of the restaurants began their operations back in 2017, which condones the payment of taxes, in accordance with the guidelines of the Fiscal Incorporation Regime established by the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit in Mexico.
The organizational management variable was assessed with four dimensions: planning, organization, direction and control. The control dimension achieved the lowest incidence of missing values, with which a tendency to implement this feature in restaurants was inferred, in which the frequency of procedures in the governmental bodies was assessed, which corresponds to the administrative activities to allow for the operation of the business. The dimension organization revealed that there is a diffusion of centralized power and direct supervision by the employer (Mintzberg et al. 1997).
Based on the results, it was revealed that the planning and direction dimensions are implemented in an unobtrusive manner in restaurant micro-enterprises. The planning in the investigation refers to the predisposition to growth, characteristic of a profitable company that promotes personal, professional and economic development of all members of the company (Guarneros, 2013, p. 41.) The percentage of entrepreneurs who reported an increase of 25% sales was 47%. On the other hand, control was evaluated with the motivation category. Based on the results, the percentage of entrepreneurs that provide incentives to employees was 47%, while 41% has awarded salary increase to employees. The frequency distribution of this variable is shown in Table 2.
Table 2 Frequency distribution of organizational management
| Item | Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 | Option 4 | Missing values |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Expansion of facilities | Kitchen (9) | Warehouse (4) | Dining Room (5) | Restroom (5) | 7 |
| 2. Increased sales | 100% (0) | 75% (1) | 50% (2) | 25% (8) | 6 |
| 3. Administrative structure | D, G, Cr and C (2) | D, Cr and C (1) | D and C (3) | D (11) | 0 |
| 4. Operational Structure | JC, Co, M and A (1) | Co, M and A (4) | Co and M (2) | CoM (10) | 0 |
| 5. Authority Figure | Owner (17) | Accountant (0) | JC/Floor Head (1) | Cashier (1) | 0 |
| 6. Non-economic incentive | Recognition(3) | Promotion (1) | Education (5) | Food Pantries (2) | 8 |
| 7. Economic Incentive | Raise (7) | Bonuses (5) | Awards (0) | Benefits (5) | 2 |
| 8. Encouraged figure | Cooks (8) | Waiters (6) | Assistants (1) | Bosses (3) | 3 |
| 9. Procedure carried out | Contracts (3) | Licenses (15) | Check-ups (11) | Statement (13) | 0 |
| 10. Fulfillment of procedure with a government body | SAT (16) | SSA (16) | IMSS (9) | Municipality (14) | 0 |
Source: The Results of the field work.
Abbreviations D=owner, G=manager, C=accountant, CR=Cashier; JC=head kitchen, Co=cook, M=waiter, A=assistant.
According to the results obtained in the variable business competitiveness, it was inferred that restaurant micro-entrepreneurs implement the technology and organizational culture factors in their business. 71% of the entrepreneurs has acquired an electrical or electronic appliance for their restaurant, while 47% of the entrepreneurs has acquired a fixed or mobile phone for their restaurant, but only 29% has completed a training course to develop skills on the use of information and communication technologies. With regard to the organizational culture of restaurants, it was unveiled that 76% of entrepreneurs often reinforce the values of the restaurant, while 88% encourages the habits of personal, hygiene and food handling. The items that measured the strategic alliances dimension had the highest incidence of missing values. The frequency distribution of business competitiveness is shown in Table 3.
Table 3 Frequency distribution of business competitiveness
| Item | Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 | Option 4 | Missing values |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11. Operational Technology | Oven (11) | Refrigerator (12) | L/B (12) | Bulbs (8) | 0 |
| 12. Learning technological skills | Design (5) | Word, E,PP (3) | Computing (3) | Invoices (3) | 8 |
| 13. Information and Communication Technologies | Computer (6) | Telephone (8) | Multi-functional (1) | Software (1) | 8 |
| 14. Agreements with competitors | Wholesale MP (1) | Cooperation (0) | Transportation (0) | Swapping (0) | 16 |
| 15. Strategic actions to reduce expenses | Wholesale (9) | Credit (0) | Advertising (2) | Sector event (4) | 5 |
| Item 16. Participation in industry events | Fair sector (4) | Micro Events (2) | Group Course (7) | Inter Alliances (0) | 7 |
| Item 17. Values of managers and employees | Flexibility (9) | Order (10) | Discretion (5) | Hospitality (10) | 1 |
| Item 18. Reinforcement of individual customs | HP (15) | HM (15) | Working days (11) | Celebrations (3) | 0 |
| Item 19. Compulsory nature of individual habits | Wash hands (12) | Hair (10) | Friendly attitude (15) | Values (13) | 0 |
| Item 20. Topics in group meetings | Hygiene habits (12) | Welcome (10) | Team (12) | Behavior (7) | 0 |
Source: The Results of the field work.
Abbreviations L/B= blender or blender, MP=raw material, HP=personal hygiene, HM=hygiene at handling.
Finally, the correlation between the two variables; organizational management and business competitiveness by means of a spreadsheet was determined, resulting in a moderate positive correspondence of 0.40 points between both variables, which corresponds to a moderate correspondence between both variables (Castañeda, 2011, p. 178).
To verify the working and the null hypotheses, we used the contingency table analysis procedure for the two variables (Mason and Lind, 1992, p. 625). A significance level of 10% was considered (0.1). The degree of freedom (ν) was calculated with the formula: -= (Number of Rows - 1) (number of columns - 1). The lines display the functions of the independent variable and the columns show factors of the dependent variable, at the critical value for v=6 and with a level of significance= 0.1, is 10,645 (Mason and Lind, 1992, p. 862). The decision rule was the following: The null hypothesis is accepted if the calculated value of X 2 is less than or equal to 10,645, it is rejected if it is greater than 10,645.
We calculated the correlation of each dimension of organizational management in relation to each dimension of business competitiveness. Then Chi2 (X2) was calculated for each array with the formula: X2= (fo-fe)2 /fe. Subsequently, the coefficient of contingency with the formula: C=root [X2/(X2+N)].
The result was 3.55, which rejected the null hypothesis and the alternative hypothesis is accepted. The results of the correlation between variables are shown in Table 4.
Table 4 Correlation between the variables of the array
| Independent variable in the array | Dependent variable in the array | X 2 | C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Planning | Technology Focused | 0 | 0 |
| Oriented to strategic alliances | 7.063 | 0.5417 | |
| Oriented to organizational culture | 0 | 0 | |
| Organization | Technology Focused | 0 | 0 |
| Oriented to strategic alliances | 0.9411 | 0.2289 | |
| Oriented to organizational culture | 0 | 0 | |
| Management | Technology Focused | 0 | 0 |
| Oriented to strategic alliances | 6.6097 | 0.5291 | |
| Oriented to organizational culture | 0 | 0 | |
| Control | Technology Focused | 0 | 0 |
| Oriented to strategic alliances | 0.9411 | 0.2289 | |
| Oriented to organizational culture | 0 | 0 |
Source: Adapted from the calculations for the analysis.
According to the results of this table, it was determined that the only dimension of business competitiveness that correlates with organizational management is orientation to strategic alliances, which ruled out the research hypotheses and accepted the alternative hypothesis.
5. Discussion
The relevance of the research was reflected in its correspondence with one of the lines of the National Development Plan 2013-2018 that refers to the importance of sustained productivity growth in all sectors. The usefulness of social relevance was noticed as a precedent for making decisions and policies pronounced by governmental instances to encourage competitiveness. The practical implication lies in the fact that it can increase the number of restaurant micro-enterprises accredited in organizational management processes. The theoretical value of the research lies in the fact that it relates each phase of the administrative process in the restaurant micro-enterprises practice with competitiveness strategies from the organizational learning generated upon implementing them.
During the research, a data collection instrument using a precise methodology to evaluate both variables was developed. The analysis of results from the correlation calculated between the organizational management and business competitiveness dimensions revealed that the opportunity strategy to increase competitiveness is to lead the sector towards strategic alliances. The opportunity strategy is defined in this research as the actions that are implemented to generate competitiveness as a result of market opportunities. In addition to the results of the calculations, it was found in a field that restaurant micro-enterprises in the region tend to be isolated. In addition, the missing values predominated in the questions that assessed the guidance to strategic alliances dimension.
Discussing that the association processes generate competitiveness in sectors of society (Benito and Platero, 2012a; Benito and Platero, 2012b, Santiago, Cross, Acevedo, Ruiz and Maldonado, 2015; Cano, Orué, Martínez, Mayett and Lopez, 2015), implementing the strategic alliances would increase the competitiveness of the restaurant activity, however, the postulate of the thesis refers to the fact that the efficiency of the sector must be based on the execution of the three research strategies, because they generate organizational learning and business competitiveness. Figure 1 shows the learning generated by the three strategies assumed as the orientation of the company to three of the competitiveness, technology, strategic alliances and organizational culture factors, which constitute a basic competitiveness model of the sector.
The three strategies of the model were to analyze some competitiveness models: the National Model for the Competitiveness of Micro and Small Enterprises, the Picón and Baltodano model and the Amat model. The first two models highlight the importance of strategic alliances as a means to achieve competitiveness, while the Amat and Picón y Baltodano models emphasize technology. The National Model for Competitiveness of Micro and Small Enterprises refers to desirable values in companies, such as social responsibility and liability for people working in the organization, which must be part of the organizational culture of the company, which is a key factor for competitiveness in the IMEF model. If the restaurant is oriented towards the three-business competitiveness, innovation strategies, innovation, government financing and a culture of ethical and social responsibility with the environment are made easier.
On the other hand, the administration functions that must be implemented in the sector are planning and management. The planning in the research evaluated the orientation of the restaurant to the growth showed by both the increase in sales and the expansion of the facilities. The address was evaluated through the motivation category, which allows the integration of employees to the organization by means of tangible and intangible benefits granted with incentives. In this context, strategic alliances are the means for implementing planning and strategic management and generation of competitiveness practices in the restaurant sector because they allow the sharing of experience and knowledge from other companies in the sector. At the same time, the partnerships are an opportunity to acquire new skills that increase the productive capacity of the human capital of the company.
Together, the training programs currently being offered for the restaurant sector are oriented towards the restaurants that can solve the recovery quotas of the courses. Furthermore, the purpose of the training programs is to increase the competences of the business people in the sector, but they do not include actions that create links among companies. The association capacity of restaurants is limited to the courses offered over the Web, whether through private initiative or education extension events published on the Website. As a result, the objective of the training programs shall focus on companies of the sector which have less resources or that are starting their businesses, which it is suggested to consider in further research.
6. Conclusions
The objective of this research is to analyze the organizational management and business competitiveness of restaurant micro-enterprises in the Municipality of Othon P. Blanco, in the State of Quintana Roo, according to the general question of the research. It was concluded that the organizational management functions are related only to strategic alliances. In view of the foregoing, both the research general hypothesis, and the null hypothesis were ruled out, while the alternative hypothesis was accepted.
The organizational management of restaurant micro-enterprises functions were also identified, concluding that organization and control are implemented, while planning and management are implemented in such a discreet manner without projection to the future. The organizational structure that predominates in the preparation of food and beverages micro-enterprises is the enterprise configuration, in which the strategic apex is the key element in the organization. The strategies that are implemented are technology and organizational culture, so the opportunity strategy for the development of the sector are mainly strategic alliances for restaurants that begin their operations. Finally, to provide training in strategic planning (Lago, 2013), and in strategic management (Rivas, 2016) is recommended in order to promote an organizational management with theoretical basis that enables organizations to accelerate organizational learning (Senge, 2000).
