The Relationship Between Competitiveness and Business Performance

Over time, the process of formation and development of business performance measurement shows that domestic and foreign researchers have proposed different approaches leading to different measurement criteria. From the advantages and disadvantages of measurement in practice, the author proposes that measurement criteria be divided into two groups of criteria: financial criteria (sales, pre-tax profit, post-tax profit, ROI, ROE) and non-financial criteria (customer satisfaction with products and services, positive feedback from customers, increasing new customers, increasing market share, employee performance) to evaluate and measure the business results of tourism enterprises in accordance with the situation in Vietnam in general and Thua Thien Hue province in particular.

2.1.5 The relationship between competitiveness and business results

According to the resource-based capability theory, firms can leverage their resource capabilities to increase their competitiveness and improve their business performance (Bloodgood and Katz, 2004). Morgan et al. (2004) with the resource-based view, a firm's solid resources are considered as capital related to business performance, the research team also asserted that the competitiveness of the firm has a positive impact on business results. In addition, a firm with valuable, rare and inimitable resources, then increased business performance will occur (Barney, 1991). According to Teece et al. (1997), in most cases, if a business has a competitive advantage, it has superior performance compared to its competitors to enhance its competitive capacity, which determines its solid position in the market, and long-term business success can only occur if a business maintains customers deeply satisfied with its products and services. Therefore, customers must be the most important factor considered in businesses. The best way to reach new customers and retain existing customers is to continuously improve the quality of products and services as well as in service processes. In addition, managers consider the role of building corporate culture, social responsibility, brand image, etc. to contribute to enhancing competitiveness, thereby positively affecting business results.

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2.2 Hypotheses and proposed research model

2.2.1 Research hypotheses

The research hypotheses belong to the factors of competitiveness affecting the business results of tourism enterprises.

2.2.1.1 Brand image

According to Aaker and Equity (1991) , “Brand image is a distinctive name or symbol such as a logo, trademark or package design that identifies the goods or services of a seller or group of sellers”. The authors also believe that internal capacity, good brand image in the minds of customers will positively affect the competitiveness as well as the business results of the enterprise. Brand image is the trust of customers in a business (Dutton and Dukerich, 1991). According to Knapp (2000), brand image is the sum of all the impressions received from customers because the brand image is clearly distinguished in their minds based on the functional and emotional benefits that customers feel. For tourism businesses, the brand image of the business, the tourist area is defined as all the beliefs, ideas and impressions. According to Hosany et al. (2006), the brand image of tourism businesses and tourist areas includes two aspects such as awareness and emotion. Businesses need to develop their brand image into intangible assets, manage brand image to create impressions and thereby build reputation for the business.

Furthermore, Man et al. (2002) argued that intangible and tangible resources affect competitiveness. Tangible resources are physical assets that a business can observe and count, such as financial resources, organizational resources, physical resources, and technological resources. Intangible resources are assets that a business cannot count, such as human resources (knowledge, honesty, and management ability), innovation resources, and reputation resources (brand image strength, reputation with customers, reputation with suppliers). Prahalad and Hamel (1990) argued that core competencies of businesses include factors such as tangible resources, intangible resources, corporate strategy, corporate structure, operational capabilities, and creativity that affect the competitiveness of a business, thereby achieving the expected business results of that business. According to Prasad and Dev (2000), businesses operating in the tourism sector need to build brand image more than ever because brand image is the key to business success. Brand image

The brand of a business is based on customer perception and it is important for the success of the business, when tourism is a service product, the brand image helps consumers have choices and reduce risks in making decisions (Godfrey and Clarke, 2000). A strong brand can help differentiate its products and services from those of competitors (Lim and O'Cass, 2001). The process of building a brand for a tourism business, a tourist area is very important for the long-term competitiveness of the business (Boo et al., 2009). Business performance in the market through the brand image of the business (Brown and Ragsdale, 2002). Brand image is considered as equity and is one of the factors that create competitiveness, thereby promoting the success of the business (Prasad and Dev, 2000). Brand image is one of the factors that positively affects the business performance of luxury hotel enterprises and restaurant chains (Kim and Kim, 2005).

Also according to Keller (1993) brand value or brand image includes two aspects: brand awareness and brand image, brand awareness is related to the strength of the brand in memory, it is reflected by the ability to identify the brand image of customers in different conditions (Rossiter and Percy, 1987) it reflects the presence of a brand image in the customer's mind (Konecnik, 2006) brand image recognition includes brand recall and brand recognition (Keller, 1993). According to Knapp (2000) brand image is the synthesis of all impressions from customers by a clearly distinguished position in their minds based on the functional benefits and emotions felt. In tourism, the image of a tourism business is defined as a concept of all beliefs, ideas and impressions (Crompton, 1979). Businesses that project a clear image can effectively communicate with customers about their services, prices, and customer attitudes (Brown and Ragsdale, 2002; Prasad and Dev, 2000). Effective marketing programs based on building a brand image are important, including customer loyalty and customers' willingness to pay a premium price for the brand (Kim and Kim, 2005).

Many international hotel and travel company brands have penetrated the Vietnamese market and will continue to expand. International hotel and travel company brands have the advantage

in attracting target customers worldwide in their system, fairness in fees for franchise agreements and association with popular brands (Cai et al., 2000). Hotel chains have established well-known brands Cai (2004) shows that customers are willing to pay a premium for hotel travel company brands, especially brands from developed countries. Kim et al. (2003) argue that brand image has the most significant impact on a travel company's financial performance. Based on customers' perspective of limiting travel risks by choosing to cooperate with a travel company with a well-known brand rather than a less familiar one (Guillet and Tasci, 2012). Therefore, tourism businesses often promote their brands through marketing alliances and partnerships with similar tourism businesses to enhance their competitive advantage (Cai et al., 2000).

According to Tavitiyaman et al. (2012), having a strong brand allows tourism businesses to differentiate their services from competitors, create customer loyalty that affects business results, thereby having better control over brand promotion and distribution and offering higher prices than competitors, which is why businesses are more interested in building a brand image that satisfies customers, thereby positively affecting business performance for tourism businesses ( Tavitiyaman et al., 2012).

According to Vietnam Report Joint Stock Company, the Top 10 prestigious travel and tourism companies in 2018 were announced with Vietravel in the leading position, followed by Saigon Tourist in the second place, Fiditour in the third place, Ben Thanh Tourism Service in the fourth place, Hanoi Tourist in the fifth place... According to Vietravel's report in 2018, this company welcomed about 15.6 million international visitors, served over 80 million domestic visitors, and total revenue from tourism reached

620,000 billion VND as well as Saigontourist Travel Service Company with more than 1.2 million tourists, tourism revenue reached more than 4,575 billion VND and Fiditour Joint Stock Company with revenue of 162,214 billion VND, total profit of the Company in 2018 reached 9,430 billion. Thereby, it shows that the brand image of tourism enterprises has a positive (+) impact on their business performance. Therefore, the proposed research hypothesis is H 1 : There is a positive (+) relationship between brand image and business performance of tourism enterprises.

2.2.1.2 Marketing capacity

In the context of global integration, competition in the tourism industry becomes more fierce, more and more tourism business investors engage in marketing activities to attract customers as well as help customers differentiate themselves from competitors (Keh et al., 2006).

According to Tho and Trang (2008), the concept of marketing capacity includes 4 basic components: i) Meeting customer requirements: Showing the response of the business to changes in customer needs and desires (Homburg et al., 2007); ii) Reacting to competitors: Showing the business's monitoring of competitors' business activities (Homburg et al., 2007); iii) Adapting to the business environment: Showing the business's monitoring of changes in the business environment to capture business opportunities and barriers (Srivastava et al., 2001); iv) Quality of relationships with partners, showing the level of business quality in relationships with customers, suppliers, distributors and relevant government levels ( Krasnikov and Jayachandran, 2008) .

According to Pratten (1991), marketing capacity is one of the factors that positively affects the competitiveness of enterprises, which is consistent with the view of Chang et al. (2004) that the competitiveness of enterprises is affected by marketing capacity. According to Kadocsa (2006), studying the factors affecting the competitiveness of small and medium enterprises in Hungary, the results showed that marketing capacity positively affects the competitiveness of enterprises.

Marketing capability is an integrated process designed to apply the knowledge, skills and resources of a firm to meet the market needs of the firm, enabling the firm to increase the value of its products and services and meet the needs of competition (Vorhies and Harker, 2000). To do this, firms need to collect information from various sources about customers, competitors and the business environment in order to adapt. Marketing capability is demonstrated through the ability to monitor and respond to changes in the market, including customers, competitors, coordination between functional departments (Narver and Slater, 1990), adaptation to the business environment and relationship quality (Hou, 2008). Cizmar and Weber (2000) argue that the

Good marketing activities are positively related to business performance and they also argue that if a service business wants to perform well it must analyze the market, plan and implement marketing strategies properly. Mandelbaum and Nicholas (2006) emphasize the importance of the marketing department, especially marketing staff, making the growth of brand image and market segmentation stimulate the demand for hotels. Using the DEA model, Keh et al. (2007) emphasize the important role of marketing and promotion in improving business performance of businesses. According to Haluk and Özgül (2007), businesses need to focus on promoting marketing strategies to help businesses improve business performance even in economic crises. Empirical studies also completely confirm the positive relationship between marketing capabilities and business performance.

Ottenbacher (2007) argues that successful hotel organizations need to implement sophisticated marketing because of the constantly changing demands of the market. Marketing can build strong relationships between hotels and customers and can help hotels increase customer loyalty and ultimately competitiveness and organizational information flexibility (Sin et al., 2006). As the findings of Pearce II and Michael (2006) study suggest that businesses should maintain advertising because of the increasingly fierce competition, introducing new products and services to attract new customers. In addition, Lilien and Srinivasan (2010) study revealed that although the perception of managers is that increasing advertising expenditure increases profits and can be used as a substitute for price reduction.

According to Kotler and Amstrong (2012), “Marketing is a process by which businesses create value for customers and build strong customer relationships to capture value from customers for the business”. Thus, the marketing capability of a business is demonstrated through continuous monitoring and responding to changes in the market, including customers, competitors and adapting to the business environment. In the tourism sector, marketing capability plays an important role because it helps businesses meet the diverse needs of customers, respond to competitors, adapt to environmental changes as well as improve the quality of relationships between businesses and customers and partners.

According to Camisón and Forés (2015), marketing capacity has a positive impact on the business performance of tourism enterprises. Especially when the economy is in recession, if the enterprise builds an effective marketing strategy, it will have a great impact on the competitiveness of the hotel (Pappas, 2015). Because considering these findings, it has led to the development of hypothesis H 2 : There is a positive relationship (+) between marketing capacity and business performance of tourism enterprises.

2.2.1.3 Financial capacity

According to Lamarque (2005), the financial capacity of enterprises is reflected in the scale of capital, the ability to mobilize and use capital effectively, and the capacity of financial management in enterprises. Therefore, effective use of capital and fast capital turnover are very important in reducing capital costs, reducing product and service prices, affecting the competitiveness of enterprises as well as business results. In addition, financial capacity is also a premise for business processes of enterprises (Kouser et al., 2011). To improve financial capacity, enterprises must consolidate and develop capital sources, increase equity capital, expand loans in many other forms, and at the same time, it is important that enterprises need to effectively use capital sources and operate business effectively to create prestige with customers (Nguyen Minh Tuan, 2010). In line with the research of Kouser et al. (2011) on the relationship between financial capacity and business performance. Good financial capacity increases competitiveness and is a factor that positively affects the business performance of tourism enterprises (Camisón and Forés, 2015). Therefore, the proposed research hypothesis is H 3 : There is a positive relationship (+) between financial capacity and business performance of tourism enterprises.

2.2.1.4 Management capacity

According to Porter (1980), to achieve good business results, enterprises need to consider the importance of the enterprise's management capacity such as: i) The capacity of the management team through the qualifications of the management staff because it is not only the level of education but also the knowledge that is both broad and deep, understanding many fields of business, understanding the law on economics, politics and society...; ii) The capacity and level of organization, business management, arranging and allocating resources reasonably, building a scientific and effective management process.

high efficiency…thereby reducing costs, improving competitiveness as well as good business efficiency.

According to Porter (1996), businesses need to have a vision when the market is about to change, which is to have a human resource strategy in advance to ensure the competitiveness of the business in the short term as well as in the long term, even when the market changes. Businesses need to promote human resources to increase efficiency when supported by a clear and well-understood mission statement with the aim of maximizing long-term competitiveness (Wong and Kwan, 2001). On the other hand, good quality human resources increase the competitiveness and ultimately the efficiency of tourism businesses (Wang and Shyu, 2008).

The Malaysian Institute of Management and Enterprise Productivity (2010) states that “All capabilities are important. But without the ability to apply them to actually have the organization, people and processes in the organization deliver results to make all meet the purpose, vision, strategic objectives and short-term performance targets, these capabilities are of little value to the organization”. Management capabilities are reflected in the level of control and monitoring ability of the business leadership on the vision, objectives, motivation and level of commitment of the leadership and management team to maintain and improve the competitiveness of the business, the quantity, quality and effectiveness of the implementation of strategies, policies and business processes as well as risk management processes, internal control audits in the business. Thus, management ability is understood as the leader's ability through his/her organizational, administrative and operational activities in the enterprise to achieve the set goals (Australian Institute of Management - AIM, 2013).

The level and management capacity of enterprises are also reflected in the planning of business strategies, planning, as well as operational management...etc. According to author Ho (2005), management in enterprises is defined as the organization of the operating apparatus for enterprises (board of directors, board of directors and departments) and functions related to the role of the management process, implementing strategies, goals to ensure high performance. Management capacity refers to the overall management capacity of an organization that administrators can apply in organizing and operating the enterprise to achieve the desired results. It is reflected in the capacity to organize and operate the enterprise, it does not simply reflect the total capacity of the management team or the required ability but instead

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