Brand Building in a VUCA Environment: A Study based on Star Hotels in Sri Lanka

The business world is becoming more unstable than ever before where organizations all over the world are influenced by the VUCA environment. Accordingly, the business organizations are required to devise and implement strategies to deal with the disruptions generated by the VUCA environment. Particularly, the tourism and hospitality industry are more sensitive towards the instable environment and the organizations in this industry need to be more responsive for sustaining their growth and survival. Hence, the purpose of this study is to explore the influence of VUCA environment on brand building and responses taken by the high-end star class hotels in Sri Lanka. Researchers have used a qualitative research method and particularly the multiple case study approach in conducting this study. Accordingly, the data was collected using in-depth semi-structured interviews, images, and company documents and the data was analyzed using the generic qualitative data analysis method consists of coding, sorting, synthesizing and theorizing. The findings of the study highlighted the challenges encountered by the hotels in sustaining their brand during a VUCA environment, including threat for customer relations, challenges for internal operational activities and insufficiency in employee talent. The study also identified the strategies used by these hotels to sustain their brand, including innovations for sustaining the brand, novelty in marketing for enhancing customer experience and enhancement of stakeholder wellbeing.The findings imply that hotels are required to focus on innovations while addressing the needs of stakeholders by being more resilient towards the influences from VUCA environment.