Re-organisation of Hilton Hotels International, 1958-59: a reactive crisis approach

This chapter aims to extend the study of crisis management in the tourism industry by analysing the issues faced by a multinational hotel firm, Hilton Hotels International (HHI), during the foray into the international hotel industry in the 1950s. Archival documents and secondary data were collected to conduct a case study. This findings show that the historical analysis of a hotel company at a micro level extended the already less explored hospitality crisis management to include history which placed present managers’ practices into context. Moreover, management and their accumulated experience are shown to underpin a firm’s capability to exploit internal resources and explore external opportunities to enable a firm to grow and survive. In addition, by integrating the co-evolutionary and dynamic capabilities concepts with the historical analysis of a case study, this chapter contributes to the research agenda of engaging history, management and organisation studies.