What's in a Brand Name? Assessing the Impact of Rebranding in the Hospitality Industry" by Yi-Lin Tsai

Genre Analysis Final Draft

Introduction

“What's in a Brand Name? Assessing the Impact of Rebranding in the Hospitality Industry" by Yi-Lin Tsai, Dev Chekitan s, and Chintagunta Pradeep talks about a company’s need to rebrand, whether it is from making a change in its business activities, to wanting to remove negative connotations with the name. Analyzing the effects rebranding, and how its effects on the hotel, and its occupancy rate and performance (Tsai, 2015). The authors also consider the impact that rebranding has on its competitors, and their properties. The authors goals, and the goals of anyone who is in the hotel management field, is to find whether or not rebranding actually improves performance outcomes such as volume and profits and how a hotel chain/Franchisee can do so.

“Navigating Genres” by Kerry Dirk discusses the history and different meanings of genres in today’s world. Giving several different examples, Dirk shows how genre can pertain to anything from literary texts to music selections. Written as more of a textbook style essay, it teaches one how to figure out genres when texts though looking completely different can be categorized into the same field.  The goals of this text are to focus on a particular aspect of the field and make that aspect of the field more accessible to the particular audience. Both these articles reflect the writing styles within their fields, specifically features like, abstracts, tone, and references.

Identification

“What's in a Brand Name? Assessing the Impact of Rebranding in the Hospitality Industry", is written by professors Yi-Lin Tsai, Dev Chekitan s, and Chintagunta Pradeep. The citation style used is American Psychological Association or APA. This can be confirmed when the article begins with an abstract. An abstract is six sentences long, and begins without any introduction on the topic being discussed and summarizes its findings and results pertaining to the study. This example can be found on the first page of the article under the running head. It begins by stating, “In the context of the U.S. lodging industry (1994-2012), the authors empirically quantify the effects of the two main factors driving the rebranding effects identified by the theoretical branding literature” (Tsai, 2015, p. 865), this sentence shows the use of the words authors and quantify the effects shows what the article pertains to and its study, which is the theoretical branding literature. The article is heavily cited, with over 30 different works being cited on the references page (p.878). The article also cites works at end of page Footers/Notes pertaining to the different research being cited. An example of this can be found under the paragraph “Theoretical Underpinnings And Overall Results” (Tsai, 2015, p. 866) stating, “Previous research has examined other aspects of rebranding. For example, Hanson et al. (2009) show that hotels’ operating performance is not always positively correlated with rebranding. Horsky and Swyngedouw (1987) examine the stock market impact of rebranding. “, This example shows the authors and the scientific practices of research articles.

        “Navigating Genres” by Kerry Dirk is written in a MLA or Modern Language Association, a more college style of writing. Dirk’s first and second person point of view establishes a connection with the reader, and is more passive. Using nouns like “you” and “I” allows the reader to feel as if it were talking directly to them rather then with Tsai’s article, the constant third person point of view, which creates a more rigid feel to the article, causes one to feel as if it were speaking to a more general audience, causing disconnect from the reader and author. The presence of citations with just page numbers and the title such as “(“Generalizing” 576)” (Dirk, p. 252) shows us the style of citation used by many MLA styled essays. With a short Works Cited page (p. 261), the different styles of writing are evident, with the Tsai, et. Al’s article one seen a lengthy reference page that was constantly cited after almost every sentence, compared to Dirk’s citations occurring much less frequently and in a subtler manner.  

Analysis

The presence of numerous references in Tsai’s article can associate it with being un-original and therefore lacking any new information. It’s lengthy sections and descriptive stages make the article uninviting and hard to follow. Under the section “DATA” on paragraph 4, it begins with “We present some stylized facts from our data to illustrate how rebranding influences a hotel’s performance. We compute the difference in the average hotel performances between the two-year interval before rebranding and the two-year interval after rebranding (Table 2).” (Tsai, 2015, p. 867), listing the steps taken to obtain its information, it leads the reader to a table, causing one to flip back and forth in order to follow the authors train of thought.  The readers though may not mind having this type of set up were they would need to flip back and forth because it allowed for both tables to be visible on the same page, allowing for the reader to be able to evaluate both tables at once, and compare the results of the two without having to have the data on separate pages. In Dirk’s essay, one is easily able to follow the thoughts of the author, and given examples as to the subject at hand that are relatable and easy to understand. The presence of  “Archaeological Dig Uncovers Ancient Race of Skeleton People” (Dirk, p. 254), gives the reader a present-day example of what the subject at hand is and breaks down how these examples relate in a fun, fluid motion. This is shown when she continues to write, “Why? I think the success lies in the fact that the writers of these headlines are rhetorically aware of whom these head- lines are directed toward—college students like you…” (p. 255). The readers of Dirk’s essay may like this style of writing because of its fluid motion and ease, since most students find studying some what of a tedious task, the light writing can cause one to feel as if they were reading for pleasure, allowing the information to sink in without strenuous concentration, thus causing one to fully grasp the idea in an easier way.