The key capabilities required for managing tourism business networks

Abstract

This article applies the IMP (Industrial Marketing and Purchasing) Group approach to the analysis of the coordination of cooperative activities. It challenges the sustainability of the ‘manipulating’ demand approach in favor of the Value System Continuum in tourism business networks. It is hypothesized that local tourism businesses must develop new key capabilities in order to face future global competition. The study uses case methodology and in-depth interviews to examine organizational realities as a product of the subjective enactments or social constructions of individual actors through the perceptions of two coordinators. The case-analysis findings identify the coordination of cooperative activities in tourism business networks as a prerequisite for (1) enhancing the value-creation process, and (2) building the brand-identity process across the network. The empirical evidence in the article is limited to one country. Future work will broaden the study context by including the analysis of international networks.