The internal competitive advantage of adventure tourism operators: An exploratory approach

Abstract

This article, in the field of the strategic management, addresses specifically with the competitiveness of tourism firms. It aimed to analyze the perception of companies operating in adventure tourism in Portugal, focusing on the factors that provide them a competitive advantage, through the lens of a Resource-Based View (RBV) approach. Semiestructured interviews were conducted with 38 Adventure Tourism Operators (ATO). These ATOs were able to identify a wide range of factors that, in their perception, can provide internal competitive advantage, Human Resources being the most mentioned factor. It was noticed that the focus of competitive advantage relies mainly on Resources and Operational Capabilities. Dynamic Capabilities are not frequently referred by firms. Due to the characteristics of this sector in Portugal, we concluded that achieving competitive advantage in Adventure Tourism must be difficult and that these ATOs are in competitive parity. This article focuses on competitiveness in Adventure Tourism Operators (ATO) in Portugal, a subject that we considered under studied, more specifically, in the internal perspective of competitive advantage. The results highlight that ATOs effectively recognize some competitive advantage factors, but these are mainly based on resources and operational capabilities that are not rare or inimitable. Considering that Adventure Tourism is a predominantly service sector, competitive advantage might rely on the improvement of dynamic capabilities in order to make firms able to better explore their resources and develop dynamic competences, like innovation, partnership development and strategic thinking.