Conclusions
The analysis of the operating leverage appears to be a relevant topic, as it represents the sensitivity of profits to changes in sales. In this respect, the assessment of the market value has allowed us to detect variations in the operating leverage derived from strategic decisions; in particular, this procedure has been tested in the hotel industry, in which the decision of opening a new lodging establishment is especially relevant.
The main implication of this method is that the decision- makers can analyse the effect on the firm’s operating leverage of any news items related to new investments. This can be done by observing the volatility of returns reached in the following days after the announcement (also in the previous days to control for possible leakages). An analysis carried out, decision by decision, would allow the analyst to obtain information on each of them.
Along this line, this analysis allows the decision- maker to observe how shareholders value risk diversi- fication in the sense that new properties represent possible diminution of over-exposure to a specific marketcategoryorgeographicalregion.Onthis account, a new hotel establishment could be perceived as leading to an increase or decrease in the risk of the chain; therefore, as a future-oriented measure of the risk of the cash flow, the analysis of the volatility of returns can be useful, complementing others, for hoteliers to assess the future stability of their hotel chain.
A limitation of the illustrative application presented here is that the effect is averaged for all of the openings analysed. In fact, lack of information prevent us to identify the entry mode of each new hotel: it is obvious that the level of resources commitments is not the same for a wholly owned subsidiary as for a management contract; and, therefore, the impact of a new lodging establishment on the operating leverage would be different depending on the entry mode.
Further research should focus on segmenting the sample according to the entry mode in order to subsequently observe the distinct effect on the condi- tionalvariance;thatis,thechangesinthechain’srisk derived from these new investments.