Abstract
Many ski-lift operators are trying to diversify their business by opening summer parks and in so doing, to reposition their resorts as year-round destinations. Almost half of ski-lift operators in Tyrol introduced such parks in the period from 2000 to 2018. The purpose of this study is to assess competitive determinants of following suit by copying these summer park introduced by competitors. Estimates using a Cox survival model show that the likelihood to adopt these summer parks is mainly determined by cooperation with competitors (coopetition) through year-round resident pass alliances and by the size of the operator. However, the park theme is, in turn, determined by location and terrain characteristics.
Highlights
A central concept of strategy research is that firms need to adjust their products over time relative to competitors in the marketplace (e.g. Porter, 1980)
Ski-lift operators who collaborate with others in accepting resident passes are much more likely to open a park if one considers the status of the previous year
We calculated the mean differences between ski-lift operators with and without summer park (Appendix A, Table A2)
Summary
A central concept of strategy research is that firms need to adjust their products over time relative to competitors in the marketplace (e.g. Porter, 1980). Late adopters follow once first movers have successfully created a market; meaning that there are customers willing to pay and familiar with the product (Hoppe, 2000). This is an incentive for “me-too” innovation, that is, the adoption of the same innovation mainly because competitors have already successfully done so (Lukas & Ferrell, 2000; Swanson & Ramiller, 2004). When too many firms take on the same new position and copy an innovation, the desired distinction and gain in competitiveness erodes This increase in homogeneity is referred to as isomorphism (Tolbert & Zucker, 1983). It is necessary to study the copying of structures, processes or strategies; in our case, we consider an innovation to diversify ski resorts with a summer product and to reposition them as year-round destinations
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