Linkages among business strategy, uncertainty and performance in the hospitality industry: Evidence from an emerging economy

•We examine the link between business strategy, environmental uncertainty, and organizational performance.•Prospectors, analyzers, and defenders outperform reactors among Turkish hotels.•Turkish hotels attempting to combine cost leadership and differentiation strategies tend to be “stuck in the middle.”

This study investigates linkages among business strategy, environmental uncertainty, and performance in an emerging economy. The hotel sector in Turkey's hospitality industry is investigated. Generic strategies were self-reported with regard to typologies develop by Porter, and Miles and Snow. Partial support was found for direct linkages between environmental uncertainty and both financial and non-financial performance. Defenders exhibited the highest value in competitive uncertainty, but the difference was not significant. Prospectors, analyzers, and defenders outperformed reactors in terms of both financial and non-financial performance. Overall, defender/cost leadership and prospector/focus strategies appear to be the best options for Turkish hotels. Following Porter's admonition, hotels in Turkey seeking to combine low cost and differentiation approaches are likely to end up “stuck in the middle.” Implications for managers and future research are discussed.