A Proposal for a Standard With Innovation Management System

Yvonne Lagrosen and Stefan Lagrosen
Table 1: The spa-hotels that participated in the study
Spa-hotel Comments Person interviewed Date
Sankt Jörgen Park Spa-hotel in Gothenburg with Resort Manager 23 Feb. 2012
Resort many day guests an integrated
golf course
Stenungsbaden Spa-hotel with a relaxed Hotel Manager 9 Mar. 2012
Yacht Club American east coast image
YstadsSaltsjöbad A seaside spa-hotel on the
south coast
Spa-manager 12 Mar. 2012
VarbergsKurort A seaside spa-hotel with a
focus on traditional Swedish
treatments
Spa-manager 13 Mar. 2012
Hotel Tylösand A seaside spa-hotel with focus
on art and music
Hotel manager 13 Mar. 2012
Hotel Skansen A spa-hotel by the main court in
the tennis town Båstad
Hotel manager 20 Mar. 2012
BokenäsHav Spa A spa-hotel in a serene rural Hotel manager 23 Mar. 2012
Möten
coastal setting
The interviews were analysed by methods inspired by the constant comparative method from the
grounded theory approach(Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Glaser, 1992). It should, however, be noted that
this study is not in its entirety a grounded theory study since it is built on a theoretical framework.
Nevertheless, the use of the constant comparative method for analysing empirical data has proved to
be useful also in this context.
6. Findings
When the data from the in-depth interviews were analysed, the following four categories emerged.
6.1 Trends for innovation
In the wellness industry trends are highly important. The products are very abstract. The customers
can easily feel the immediate pleasure of treatments. On the other hand, their long term health effects
are usually difficult to gauge. Therefore, customers tend to be rather trend-sensitive. In addition,
trends often develop internationally. Regarding trends there seems to be three viable strategies. The
first is to completely ignore trends and focus on one’s own core products. A second option is to be a
fast follower, spotting international trends early and following them quickly. This requires an effective
market information system. The third strategy entails trying to create trends oneself. This requires not
only excellent innovation skills but also a capacity for spreading the word and persuading markets of
the usefulness of the new offers.
The managers usually found the changing nature of the business fascinating. They were curious and
interested rather than fearful of international trends. They are also open for collaboration with each
other although they are competitors and they are all active members in the organisation Swedish
SPA-Hotels.
6.2 The brand
Since products are abstract, the brands of the different companies become especially important. One
question in this regard is how far to take positioning. Currently, the profiles of the studied companies
are not particularly different. There are differences as outlined in the table above. Nevertheless, when
it comes to the core services, the companies are more similar than different.
One aspect along which the companies try to position themselves is the health dimension. Some
companies are more oriented towards creating better health for their customers. Others focus less on
health and more on the immediate pleasure of the treatments as well as the entire stay. In addition,
those companies that focus more on health may chose different directions. One of the companies has
chosen to collaborate with traditional health care in rehabilitating patients with recognised health
problems while another offers more treatments from the field of alternative medicine. Some of the
companies also have thoughts of engaging in medispa activities which may involve beauty operations
and other treatments of that kind. A related aspect concerns how much they should invest in their gym
and other training facilities.
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