Investigating Bankruptcies in the Belgian Hospitality Industry
esearchers Strohmaier and Darouei investigate bankruptcies in the Belgian Hospitality Industry The two newly recruited doctoral researchers at the Department of Business Studies, Maral Darouei MSc and Niek Strohmaier MSc, have recently finalized an externally funded project for the research center of Tourism and Hospitalty of Belgium. As such, they conducted a brief literature review to identify possible causes of bankruptcies of hospitality businesses in Belgium. These companies are believed to have a relatively higher risk of failure with respect to businesses in other industries in Belgium. The research project was supervised by Dr. Jean-Pierre van der Rest and Prof. Jan Adriaanse.
Success and Failure of SMEs
Darouei and Strohmaier have prepared a literature synthesis which looks at various factors that may influence the success and / or failure of small businesses. In addition, they focused on differences in factors based on the life cycle stage and age of the company. Finally, the researchers looked into early warning signals and financial predictors of bankruptcies.
Prolonging the Lifespan
The aim of the study was to achieve greater insights, that can possibly aid in strengthening hospitality business in Belgium and prolong their lifespan. Accordingly, this study fits well within the scope of TRI Leiden (Turnaround Rescue & Insolvency Leiden Research Tea), a multidisciplinary research team that conducts research into turnaround management, business rescue and insolvency law.