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Travelers have embraced user-generated media to collect travel-related information. However, recent figures show that users are discontinuing their usage of TripAdvisor.com, the leading UGC platform in the travel & tourism industry. Although the relevancy of this topic, there is a lack of research on the factors affecting travelers’ continuance intention of UGC platforms like Tripadvisor.

The competitiveness of territories requires creative abilities to support innovation, performance as well as the capacity of catching and anticipating emerging needs in the society. The creative process through which the territorial resources, knowledge and culture are used, exploited and configured to match needs as well as to achieve congruence with the changing business environment is the crucial process for competitiveness. This is much more relevant for economies of developing countries which are continuously struggling to reap the benefits of globalization as well as to grasp the new opportunities for competitiveness. This chapter aims to provide a snapshot of the creative economy of Balkan countries, by using a set of indicators to capture the different dimensions related with the core elements of creative economy. Considering a large set of indicators and statistical data analyses the measurement framework proposed in this chapter is composed of 32 measures classified in 7 dimensions.

The paper aims to contribute at the emerging debate on smart tourism by presenting a methodological framework to support destinations in creating their own identity. The methodology is the result of a literature review aimed to deepen the meaning of tourism as regional integrated system of actors and knowledge-intensive industry largely interested by the diffusion of digital and social technologies that enable processes of users’ co-creation as well as of the preliminary evidences of two case studies built around two ongoing experimentations of digital tourism, #Appiedi and #SalentoUpNDown. Carried out in Apulia, both the two initiatives are aimed to promote and testing a model of smart tourism, labelled with the #ApuliaSmarTourism, inspired to the principles of service co-creation, digitalization and user centrality.

More and more firms today face situations where “knowledge is generated through the repeated combination and re-configuration of diverse disciplines and expertise in flexible forms of organization” [Lam, (2000)]. As a consequence firms can no longer afford to rely on value created singularly or autonomously [Prahalad and Venkatraman, (2008); Prahalad and Krishnan, (2008)] or on just their internal knowledge and skills. The firm’s ability to exploit external knowledge has become a critical component of its innovative capabilities [Cohen and Levinthal, (1990)]. In an open innovation context, firms jointly create value through a number of non arm-length transactions in so-called value networks. Thus, collaboration and the establishment of ties and relationships with different enterprises as well as with customers, competitors, public and private institutions as potential sources of external knowledge, is imperative for firm innovation. Networking allows firms to acquire additional knowledge and skills for innovation processes as an important way for firms to augment their innovation capability [Gatignon, Tushman, Sith, and Anderson, (2002); Hauser, Tellis, and Griffin, (2006)]. While collaboration and interaction between different business actors has always been important, the widespread deployment of the Internet has greatly enhanced the ability of firms to engage in collaborative innovation in several ways. It is the aim of this article to present the features and characteristics of a tourism innovative ecosystem for competitiveness that comprise a multiplicity of autonomous, interdependent, and self-organizing actors, without physical borders of separation from the environment, that rely on the Internet infrastructure to integrate and exchange value.

Il patrimonio culturale rappresenta un fattore di indiscussa rilevanza per l’attrattiva di un sistema turistico. Tale rilevanza dipende, tuttavia, dalla capacità che l’insieme degli attori del territorio dimostrano nella sua valorizzazione al fine di attrarre flussi turistici e soddisfare esigenze di profitto ed occupazione. Diviene prioritario, pertanto, comprendere quale sia il livello di conoscenza, di collaborazione, di cooperazione che caratterizza gli attori del territorio, ed in particolar modo gli operatori del settore culturale, in un contesto di ecosistema territoriale innovativo e collaborativo. Obiettivo del lavoro è stato quello di comprendere in che modo i beni culturali contribuiscono a qualificare l’offerta culturale, quali modelli di business e strategie di sviluppo vengono attuate dagli operatori per la promozione e valorizzazione dei beni culturali, quali sono le nuove idee di sviluppo che percepiscono come potenziali strategie. Le informazioni sono state raccolte realizzando un focus group con operatori che, a Lecce, operano in ambito culturale. La metodologia di indagine utilizzata parte dal presupposto per cui l’identità, la cultura, la professionalità ed i propositi degli operatori si evincono dal linguaggio utilizzato durante la discussione. Gli elementi chiave individuati per lo sviluppo di un sistema turistico innovativo sono: coinvolgimento dal basso dei residenti; professionalità, abnegazione e senso di responsabilità degli operatori; attivazione di progettualità finalizzate alla valorizzazione del patrimonio.

The paper presents the conceptual model of an entrepreneurial learning centre as initiative to fertilize the emerging of the knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship and the larger diffusion of an entrepreneurial culture in the regions. Framed in the scientific and institutional debate on the intelligent growth of the territories in the knowledge economy, the study debates the meaning of the entrepreneurship as knowledge-intensive process resulting from the application of the key enabling technologies to answer at the current societal challenges. Due at the knowledge intensive nature of those technologies as well as at complex dynamics emerging in the market, the entrepreneurship results more and more a learning processes; this is the reason why a learning strategy is required. Inspired by this debate and also by the emerging issue of the entrepreneurial universities, the entrepreneurial learning centre is conceived as a dynamic environment focused on the knowledge triangle, characterized by a learning strategy based on anticipatory and action learning approaches and the presence of a wide large community of regional stakeholders. Finally these characteristics contribute to the achievement of the regional smart specialization strategy.

The paper aims to present a collaborative and distributed model of a decision support system (DSS) as tool for the governance of an urban context according to the principles of an Intelligent City. The proposed model is centered and inspired to the open innovation (Chesbrough, 2006), user-driven innovation (Prahalad et al., 2008; Prandelli et al., 2008), and collective intelligence (Kim, et al., 2011; Atlee et al., 2006). In this perspective, the proposed model highlights the crucial role played by Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) as emerging structures for the smart configuration of a city (Komninos, 2011, 2008). By concentrating the analysis and the discussion on the collaborative and distributed governance of intelligent cities, the proposed study offers: - an integrative perspective of intelligent city based on a review of the main issues related to, with a specific attention to the governance processes; - a holistic view and a collaborative and distributed decision making model for city governance, which gives much more relevance to knowledge assets of the community of stakeholders rather than to the physical infrastructures.

In the networked world supply chain integration and networking is being echoed in various industries as a strategic imperative for firms. Firms are recognizing the power of the Internet as a platform for creating different forms of relationships and collaborations aimed to enhance value and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Digital Marketplaces represent one of the most powerful solutions adopted by firms to manage their supply chains and to support the networking practices among firms, especially among SMEs. They enable firms to more efficiently buy, sell, and manage their supply chain processes on a global scale. However, SMEs Supply chains may differ in the modalities of coordination and collaboration, the intensity of relations between actor and more specifically the technological infrastructure and competencies available. These factors may affect the success of digital marketplaces and their potentialities for firms networking. We suggest that digital marketplaces could provide a viable model for SME networking, however successful path toward networking requires a harmonization of digital marketplace business model with supply chain characteristics.

We examine the importance and the role that digital marketplaces play for SMEs in developing countries By building on the literature of digital marketplace and business models we argue that the features of the context shape the type of the business models applicable for digital marketplaces. We suggest that before designing a digital marketplace initiative it is necessary to undertake a context assessment that ensures a better understanding of the firms’ preparedness to the usage of this kind of platforms in terms of technological infrastructure, human resources’ capabilities and skills, integration and innovation level among firms. It is essential to start with feasible initiatives and build up steadily the qualifications necessary for facing hindrances. However, starting at the right point and in the right way doesn’t automatically guarantee success and competitive advantage of SMEs, but can represent a way to start admitting the fundamental role of the innovation in a high complex environment.

Recent development in strategy research has demonstrated the important role of network participation in firm value creation. However understanding the key role of networks in value creation is only the first step. It is substantial to understand, also, the underlying mechanisms that impact firms capability in appropriating and creating value through its participation in networks. Therefore, based on an empirical research study among tourism small and medium enterprises, this paper aims to demonstrate that the extent to which firms can create and appropriate value, would highly influence their absorptive capabilities., Strateji araştırmalarında son dönemdeki gelişmeler, firma değeri yaratmada ağlara katılımın önemini ortaya koymuştur. Bunun yanında, değer yaratma üzerinde ağların anahtar rolünü kavrayabilmek yalnızca ilk adımdır. Firmanın değer yaratma ve uygun hale getirme kabiliyetinin altında yatan temel işleyişin, onun ağlara katılımından geçtiğinin anlaşılması son derece önemlidir. Bu nedenle, küçük ve orta büyüklükteki turizm işletmeleri arasında deneysel bir araştırmaya dayanan bu çalışma, firmaların değer yaratma ve uygun hale getirmelerinin, işletmelerin özümseme kabiliyetinden ne ölçüde etkilendiğini ortaya koymayı amaçlamaktadır.

In a scenario characterized by the globalization of the markets, the competitiveness of firms across the industries and mainly in the agri-food sector is linked to their capability to make distinguishable their products and communicate their uniqueness. Branding can concretely answer to these needs allowing firms to compete by communicating the quality and all that set of factors that differentiate their own offer by the competitors. Anyway, brand management in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is a field of study in its infancy, and one in which real interest was shown only during the final decade of the previous century. Although considerable literature has been published about brand management in general, all theory and case studies are focused only on multinationals and big companies operating in the food sectors, such as Coca Cola, Unilever, Procter & Gamble. This is however ignoring the fact that more than 95% of businesses in the European Union are small and medium enterprises (Eurostat 2004) and that this composition, confirmed in the agrifood sectors, contribute to make the European market extremely interesting and profitable. The objective of this paper aims to contribute to already existing research in the field and shows the role and importance of brand management in food SMEs and all the key factors that supports it. Our analysis will highlight as the term brand in agri-food SMEs is initiated and supported by an active role of the entrepreneur who is a fundamental actor in the achievement of brand recognition. Thus, directors and managers of small food companies should place brand management in a top position in their daily mind set, since achieving brand recognition starts inside the organization itself. Beside, the paper describes the real opportunity offered by new technologies (web, internet, B2B…) that allows small food companies to build their brand in a more effective way and reach a larger market in a low cost. To meet these objectives a qualitative research methodology was carried based on case studies, since this latter allows to understand more in detail firm’s behaviours and strategies. The food small and medium enterprises that were selected are located in the South of Italy and all of them have a web-site. These case studies were built based on structured questionnaires that have been firstly sent by mail, and was followed by face to face interviews with entrepreneurs and director of sales and marketing department. The results obtained are extremely interesting and representative of the importance of brand management both for food SMEs, as key element to innovate, grow and to be distinguished as well as for the entrepreneur in building, through the use of new technologies, a successful brand management strategy of his own company.

The new competitive landscape and the new information communication technologies (ICT) thrust for new business configurations for small and medium enterprises (SME) development and local competitiveness, based on the value creating potential of networks. In literature it has been extensively argued that ICT-driven networks could help firms to be more flexible and able to fast react to the changing business conditions. This paper focuses on the service sector, and in particular on the tourism industry, to explore the influence of industry specific factors on the implementation of virtual networks in SMEs. In particular starting from previous research, and through an in-depth field case study of tourism destination’s web initiatives, the aim of this paper is to investigate the reasons why emerging virtual networks in tourism have underdeveloped interactive, collaborative, and personalization features. The results highlight that industry specific factors such as the marketing orientation, the nature of the product, and fragmentation could hamper effective implementation of virtual networks in SMEs.

Networks are assumed to enhance tourism small firms’ performance and competitiveness. Research indicates that there are different sources of values that could derive from these networks such as cost and time efficiency, quality improvement, flexibility and innovation. However, in most cases, these values are associated to a general framework of what Information Communication Technologies (ICT) and a network model are supposed to offer for small and medium enterprises (SME) and to its participating actors. Little, isolated empirical research has been conducted regarding the real value participating firms could appropriate and create. This paper reports on findings of an empirical research aimed to measure and investigate the value that single tourism enterprises could create and/or appropriate by participating in network tourism systems. The perceptions of small medium tourism enterprises (SMTE) regarding the value sources that could derive from their participation in network systems are also reported.

Purpose This paper aims to highlight how big social data (BSD) and analytics exploitation may help destination management organisations (DMOs) to understand tourist behaviours and destination experiences and images. Gathering data from two different sources, Flickr and Twitter, textual and visual contents are used to perform different analytics tasks to generate insights on tourist behaviour and the affective aspects of the destination image. Design/methodology/approach This work adopts a method based on a multimodal approach on BSD and analytics, considering multiple BSD sources, different analytics techniques on heterogeneous data types, to obtain complementary results on the Salento region (Italy) case study. Findings Results show that the generated insights allow DMOs to acquire new knowledge about discovery of unknown clusters of points of interest, identify trends and seasonal patterns of tourist demand, monitor topic and sentiment and identify attractive places. DMOs can exploit insights to address its needs in terms of decision support for the management and development of the destination, the enhancement of destination attractiveness, the shaping of new marketing and communication strategies and the planning of tourist demand within the destination. Originality/value The originality of this work is in the use of BSD and analytics techniques for giving DMOs specific insights on a destination in a deep and wide fashion. Collected data are used with a multimodal analytic approach to build tourist characteristics, images, attitudes and preferred destination attributes, which represent for DMOs a unique mean for problem-solving, decision-making, innovation and prediction.

Highlights • COVID-19 emergency forced the Italian Universities to reorganize teaching in entrepreneurship education. • Digital technologies can support the development of entrepreneurial mindset. • Building an entrepreneurship education curriculum through distance learning technologies is critical. • Digital technologies can enhance successfully education ‘about’ entrepreneurship. • Digital technologies present some critical issue when used in educating students ‘for’ entrepreneurship. • CLab@Salento offered a favourable environment to experiment the use of digital tools for the creation of entrepreneurial mindset using a blended learning approach., The COVID-19 crisis has forced universities worldwide to seek urgent solutions to reconfigure traditional education programs for distance learning. The transformation process faces a number of complexities deriving from both institutional and contextual factors. It may generate threats and as well as opportunities to enhance the education system and prepare for potential future emergencies. In this article, we adopted a combined research approach to describe the experience of the Contamination Lab of the University of Salento (CLab@Salento), an entrepreneurship education program focused on innovative and technology-based entrepreneurship for university students. Moving from the analysis of the main challenges the pandemic generated for the institution, students and faculty, we illustrate the process of redesigning the entrepreneurial learning program by leveraging digital technologies. We show a new approach to entrepreneurial storytelling, pitching and business planning and development through digital technologies. We also report the outcomes of a student survey to highlight the strengths of the redesigned program and some weaknesses, especially associated with digital technologies’ limitations in education, which represent areas for future improvement. The study contributes at theory level with a new discussion on digital-supported entrepreneurship education. At practitioner level, it offers insights on redesigning traditional university programs to effectively address emergencies.

Recent advances in technology and its applications have impacted fundamentally the tourism industry. Technological progress and innovations have for many years worked in facilitating the development of tourism [23, 31]. More recently, the emergence of new advanced technologies such as multimedia technologies, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have become key tools for tourism promotion and development. The use of these tools enhance travelers’ richness and interaction and provide them a simulated real visit and virtual experience before visiting the destination or the attraction [20]. Especially, VR technologies offer to travelers the possibility to get immersed in the digital world, and to navigate the real situations through a virtual environment [20]. As such these technologies have also created new opportunities for promotion and marketing of different tourism products such as destination cultural heritage, museums, parks etc [5, 11, 21, 28]. Following these developments in this paper we aim to present a technological solution that could be an innovative and valuable tool for tourism promotion of the area. In particular, the technological tool consists in the development of an app that uses Erasmus students as ambassadors for the promotion of the destination by providing tourists with a real immersive virtual reality experience.

Understanding the impact that circular economy can have on the development of innovative entrepreneurship is an interesting but under-researched topic. Despite the growing interest of scholars in business management for trends and scenarios of application of circular economy at level of firms’ business models and dynamics of value creation and capture, exploring its implications and meaning for the conception and execution of innovative entrepreneurship calls for a deeper understanding. Framed in the above assumptions, the chapter aims to contribute to the advancement of the debate on the meaning and implications of circular economy for innovative entrepreneurship. It presents the results of a structured literature review and provides a theoretical conceptual framework for understanding the relevance of innovative entrepreneurship issues in the light of the circular economy transition.

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a framework that could be of valid support to firms to align big data analysis with their innovation objectives. A vast amount of data, information, and knowledge spread all over the web has emerged today, denoting the age of the Big Data Revolution. While there are different researches that evidence the role and the outcomes that big data could bring to firms in terms of innovation, efficiency, productivity, quality, and customer satisfaction, most of the big data analytics are unfocused and inefficient as they lack alignment with business innovation strategy. A literature review of the main issues characterizing the Big Data Revolution is conducted. Then, based on main emerging challenges and drawbacks an operational framework has been constructed as a response to close off some of the inefficiencies encountered. Finally, the framework has been applied and validated in the context of tourism destinations being that tourism is a sector where knowledge is considered essential for competitiveness and innovation. The findings demonstrate the validity of the framework as well as a series of relevant pieces of knowledge that derive from big data analysis; useful and valid for innovating customers’ experience.

PurposeThe creative process through which the territorial resources, knowledge and culture are used, exploited and configured to match needs and to achieve congruence with the changing business environment has become a crucial process for competitiveness. This is even more relevant for economies of developing countries which are continuously struggling to reap the benefits of globalisation, as well as to grasp the new opportunities for competitiveness. As such, this paper aims to try to concentrate on the dynamic perspectives of the creative economy of countries by distinguishing between the potentialities and performance. The paper tackles the influence that creativity capacities might have on performance of countries.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology consists in identifying creative economy indicators from a diverse data set of the World Economic Forum and distinguish them between potential and performance indicators.FindingsData reveal as good progress and emphasis is being devoted to increasing the level of creativity; however, the Balkan countries still holdup in their capacity to boost innovation.Practical implicationsThe paper provide a new focus of research on creativity measurement that is significant for understanding what creative capacities territories possess and the ability to make proficient use for growth and innovation.Originality/valueThis paper proposes a new operational framework for measuring and interpreting the creative economy indicators by identifying not only indicators that gauge the potentialities of a country, but also indicators that are linked with the performance dimension, as well as the relationship amongst them.