Institutional Aspects of Risk Strategic Management in Azerbaijan Hospitality Sector

Nowadays, in the 21st century that is distinguished by the high penetration of information and communication technologies, interconnectedness and globalization, the effectiveness of institutions is increasingly manifesting the pressing need to clearly define and assess the prospects and directions of business development, taking into account the likelihood and the occurrence of the objective and subjective risks. This is happening mostly due to the growing volatility of the macroeconomic environment, increased competition, and the rapid globalization of various business processes and solutions. Taking this into account, one can see that the risk of the management process of the hospitality industry represents a complex multi-level procedure. The starting point of the whole risk management system is their forecasting which becomes the most effective way to prepare management decisions in hotel enterprises for the future. This paper focuses on the institutional aspects of risk strategic management in Azerbaijan hospitality sector related to legal, organizational, and cultural characteristics of development. The aim of this study is to identify the major institutional aspects of risk factors of the external environment as well as to realistically assess the changes in the impact of these factors on the activities of hotel enterprises and the hospitality sector of Azerbaijan for the nearest future based on the expert risk forecasting method. Moreover, the paper aims at updating the strategy of hotel development taking into account the changes in the external environment and to link these risks to the business processes taking place in hotel enterprises and in the hospitality sector. We analyze and describe the most important factors and sources of threats to hotel enterprises of Azerbaijan, such as the probability of new competitors, increasing competitive pressure, imperfect business environment in the country, increase in airline tariffs, changing customer needs and tastes, and maintaining a visa regime with many countries. Our results propose some organizational and economic mechanisms for risk management in the hospitality sector.