Sustainable Competitive Advantage In Service Operations: An Empirical Examination

Abstract

This paper empirically examines the impact of environment friendly practices on restaurants in attracting customers. The restaurant industry is witnessing the green movement. Restaurant owners adopt green practices to their properties with the purpose of creating a distinctive image that can differentiate them from their competitors. Therefore, restaurateurs strive to get this competitive advantage by introducing green practices into their restaurants. However, little research has been done in the service sector to prove whether or not organic and sustainable service businesses such as restaurants can have a competitive advantage based on the organic and sustainability factors alone. The purpose of this research is to unfold these relationships through empirical analysis. The results of this research show that the dimension Sustainability is easily identified by the customers and does bring customers back to the restaurants. The results also indicate that restaurant industry need to do better job in creating awareness among their customers about the environment friendly practices used in their businesses.