Abstract
Tourism, with its related subsectors, is a highly fragmented sector with most tourism organizations being SMEs. Small Tourism Businesses are the backbone of the economy of many countries around the world, and Italy is certainly not an exception. Considering their varied activities, specialized services, and integration in the society, SMEs are certainly the economic lifeblood of the tourism sector, especially in developing countries, rural and remote/unprivileged areas. The aforementioned considerations contribute to explain why SMEs literature have been attracting huge attention from academics working in several disciplines such as business and management, marketing, sociology, anthropology and politics. Despite this, the engagement by academicians in research relating to SMEs in tourism can be still considered to be limited. Many research areas still need to be further investigated and deepened. This special issue was launched to call for research papers aiming to deepen our understanding about the emerging challengesin Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises.
References
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Ateljevic, I., & Doorne, S. (2000). Staying within the fence: Lifestyle entrepreneurship in tourism. Journal of sustainable tourism, 8(5), 378-392.
Aureli, S., Forlani, F., & Pencarelli, T. (2015). Network brand management. Issues and opportunities for small-sized hotels. International Journal of Management Cases, 17(4), 19-34.
Avcikurt, C., Altay, H., & Ilban, M. (2011). Critical success factors for small hotel businesses in turkey: An exploratory study. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 52(2), 153–164.
Baggio, R., & Chiappa, G. D. (2013). Tourism Destinations as Digital Business Ecosystems. In L. Cantoni & Z. (Phil) Xiang (Eds.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2013 (pp. 183–194). Berlin Heidelberg: Springer.
Baggio, R., & Del Chiappa, G. (2014). Real and virtual relationships in tourism digital ecosystems. Information Technology & Tourism, 14(1), 3-19.
Baggio, R., & Del Chiappa, G. (2016). Complex Tourism Systems: quantitative approach. In Uysal, M., Schwartz, Z., Sirakaya-Turk, E. (Eds). Management Science in Hospitality and Tourism: Theory, Practice, and Applications. NJ, USA: Apple Accademic Press.
Bocconcelli, R., Cioppi, M., Fortezza, F., Francioni, B., Pagano, A., Savelli, E., & Splendiani, S. (2018). SMEs and marketing: a systematic literature review. International Journal of Management Reviews, 20(2), 227-254
Boes, K., Buhalis, D., & Inversini, A. (2016) Smart tourism destinations: ecosystems for tourism destination competitiveness. International Journal of Tourism Cities, (2)2,108-124,
Braun, P. (2002). Networking tourism SMEs: e-commerce and e-marketing issues in regional Australia. Information Technology & Tourism, 5(1), 13-23.
Bregoli, I., & Del Chiappa, G. (2013). Coordinating relationships among destination stakeholders: evidence from Edinburgh (UK). Tourism Analysis, 18(2), 145-155.
Bregoli, I., Hingley, M., Del Chiappa, G., & Sodano, V. (2016). Challenges in Italian wine routes: managing stakeholder networks. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 19(2), 204-224.
Brouthers, K. D., Nakos, G., & Dimitratos, P. (2015). SME entrepreneurial orientation, international performance, and the moderating role of strategic alliances. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 39(5), 1161-1187.
Brown, B. (1987), Recent tourism research in South East Dorset, in tourism and development: overviews and case studies of the UK and the South West Region, in Shaw, G. and Williams, A. (Eds), Working Paper 4, Department of Geography: University of Exeter.
Buffa, F., Franch, M., & Rizio, D. (2018). Environmental management practices for sustainable business models in small and medium sized hotel enterprises. Journal of Cleaner Production, 194, 656-664.
Coles, T., Dinan, C., & Warren, N. (2016). Energy practices among small-
and medium-sized tourism enterprises: a case of misdirected effort? Journal of Cleaner Production, 111, 399-408.
Del Chiappa, G., & Baggio, R. (2015). Knowledge transfer in smart tourism destinations: Analyzing the effects of a network structure. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 4(3), 145-150.
Del Chiappa, G., & Presenza, A. (2013). The use of network analysis to assess relationships among stakeholders within a tourism destination: An empirical investigation on Costa Smeralda-Gallura, Italy. Tourism Analysis, 18(1), 1-13.
Dredge, D. (2006). Networks, conflict and collaborative communities. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 14(6), 562-581.
El-Gohary, H. (2012). Factors affecting E-Marketing adoption and implementation in tourism firms: An empirical investigation of Egyptian small tourism organisations. Tourism management, 33(5), 1256-1269.
Font, X., Garay, L., & Jones, S. (2016). Sustainability motivations and practices in small tourism enterprises in European protected areas. Journal of Cleaner production, 137, 1439-1448.
Fortezza, F., & Pencarelli, T. (2018). A Comprehensive picture of the social media challenge for DMOs. Anatolia, 1-12, https://doi.org/10.1080/13032917.2018.1439759.
Fotiadis, A., Yeh, S.-S., & Huan, T.-C. T. C. (2016). Applying configural analysis to explaining rural-tourism success recipes. Journal of Business Research, 69(4), 1479–1483.
Franco, M., de Fátima Santos, M., Ramalho, I., & Nunes, C. (2014). An exploratory study of entrepreneurial marketing in SMEs: The role of the founder-entrepreneur. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 21(2), 265–283.
Getz, D., & Carlsen J. (2000). Characteristics and goals of family and owner-operated businesses in the rural tourism and hospitality sectors. Tourism Management, 21, 547–560
Goffi, G., Masiero, L., & Pencarelli, T. (2018). Rethinking sustainability in the tour-operating industry: Worldwide survey of current attitudes and behaviors. Journal of Cleaner Production, 183, 172-182.
Gretzel, U., Sigala, M., Xiang, Z., & Koo, C. (2015). Smart tourism: foundations and developments. Electronic Markets, (25)3, pp.179-188,
Guercini, S. (2012), New approaches to heuristic processes and entrepreneurial cognition of the market. Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, 14(2), 199 – 213.
Guercini, S., & Ranfagni, S. (2016). Conviviality behavior in entrepreneurial communities and business networks. Journal of Business Research, 69(2), 770-776.
Haber, S., & Reichel, A. (2005). Identifying performance measures of small ventures—the case of the tourism industry. Journal of Small Business Management, 43(3), 257–286.
Hall, C. M. (2009). The public policy context of tourism entrepreneurship. In I. Ateljevic and S. J. Page (eds). Tourism and entrepreneurship (pp. 243-263). Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Hallak, R., Assaker, G., & O'Connor, P. (2013). Profiling tourism SMEs according to owners' support for community: a cluster analysis approach. Tourism Analysis, 18(6), 691-705.
Hallak, R., Brown, G., & Lindsay, N. J. (2013). Examining tourism SME owners’ place attachment, support for community and business performance: the role of the enlightened self-interest model. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 21(5), 658-678.
Hwang, L. J., & Lockwood, A. (2006). Understanding the challenges of implementing best practices in hospitality and tourism SMEs. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 13(3), 337-354.
Jacobsen, D. (2017). Tourism enterprises beyond the margins: the relational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander SMEs in remote Australia. Tourism Planning & Development, 14(1), 31-49.
Jocumsen, G. (2004). How do small business managers make strategic marketing decisions? European Journal of Marketing, 38(5/6), 659–674.
Karanasios, S., & Burgess, S. (2008). Tourism and Internet adoption: a developing world perspective. International Journal of Tourism Research, 10(2), 169-182.
Kyriakidou, O., & Gore, J. (2005). Learning by example: Benchmarking organizational culture in hospitality, tourism and leisure SMEs. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 12(3), 192-206.
Lashley, C., & Rowson, B. (2010). Lifestyle businesses: Insights into Blackpool's hotel sector. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 29(3), 511-519.
Lawson, R., Alcock, C., Cooper, J., & Burgess, L. (2003). Factors affecting adoption of electronic commerce technologies by SMEs: an Australian study. Journal of small business and enterprise development, 10(3), 265-276.
Magliulo, A. (2016). Cyber security and tourism competitiveness. European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation, 7(2), 128–134.
Martini, U., & Buffa, F. (2017). The links between territorial marketing, regional sustainability policies and the brand positioning of a small firm: An analysis of best practice in the dairy sector. Mercati e Competitività, 2, 149-172.
McKercher, B., & Robbins, B. (1998), “Business development issues affecting nature-based tourism operators in Australia. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 6(2), 173-88.
McLarty, R. (1998). Case study: evidence of a strategic marketing paradigm in a growing SME. Journal of Marketing Practice: Applied Marketing Science, 4(4), 105-117.
Moira, P., Mylonopoulos, D., & Vasilopoulou, P. (2013). The different types of delinquent behavior in the hospitality industry. International Journal of Management and Sustainability, 2(11), 172¬185
Morrison, A. J., Carlsen, J., & Weber, P. (2010). Small tourism business research change and evolution. International Journal of Tourism Research, 12(6), 739–749.
Novelli, M., Schmitz, B., & Spencer, T. (2006). Networks, clusters and innovation in tourism: A UK experience. Tourism management, 27(6), 1141-1152.
Özgener, Ş., & İraz, R. (2006). Customer relationship management in small–medium enterprises: The case of Turkish tourism industry. Tourism Management, 27(6), 1356-1363.
Pencarelli, T. & Forlani, F. (2016). Marketing of touristic districts-viable systems in the experience economy. Sinergie, 101, 199-238.
Peters, M., & Buhalis, D. (2013). SMEs in Tourism Destinations. In C. Costa, E. Panyik, & D. Buhalis (Eds.), Trends in European Tourism Planning and Organisation. Bristol: Channel View Publications.
Shaw, G., & Williams, A. (2009). Knowledge transfer and management in tourism organisations: An emerging research agenda. Tourism Management, 30(3), 325-335.
Sigala, M. (2018). New technologies in tourism: From multi-disciplinary to anti-disciplinary advances and trajectories. Tourism management perspectives, 25, 151-155.
Thomas, R., Shaw, G., & Page, S. J. (2011). Understanding small firms in tourism: A perspective on research trends and challenges. Tourism Management, 32(5), 963-976.
Von Friedrichs, Y. (2010). Collective Entrepreneurship. Networking as a strategy for business development. Mercati e Competitività, 1, 2-10.
Wanhill, S. (2000). Small and medium tourism enterprises. Annals of Tourism Research, 27(1), 132-147.
Williams, A. M., & Shaw, G. (2011). Internationalization and innovation in tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 38(1), 27-51.
Yeh, S., & Fotiadis, A. (2014). Social Interactions in Rural Tourism: A Host
Perspective Case Study. Revista de Cercetare si Interventie Sociala, 46, 131-143.
Yolal, M., Emeksiz, M., & Cetinel, F. (2009). Marketing of SMHEs in Turkey: A comparative analysis. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 18(4), 372-385.
Zehrer, A. (2009). Service experience and service design: concepts and application in tourism SMEs. Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, 19(3), 332-349
Ateljevic, I., & Doorne, S. (2000). Staying within the fence: Lifestyle entrepreneurship in tourism. Journal of sustainable tourism, 8(5), 378-392.
Aureli, S., Forlani, F., & Pencarelli, T. (2015). Network brand management. Issues and opportunities for small-sized hotels. International Journal of Management Cases, 17(4), 19-34.
Avcikurt, C., Altay, H., & Ilban, M. (2011). Critical success factors for small hotel businesses in turkey: An exploratory study. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 52(2), 153–164.
Baggio, R., & Chiappa, G. D. (2013). Tourism Destinations as Digital Business Ecosystems. In L. Cantoni & Z. (Phil) Xiang (Eds.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2013 (pp. 183–194). Berlin Heidelberg: Springer.
Baggio, R., & Del Chiappa, G. (2014). Real and virtual relationships in tourism digital ecosystems. Information Technology & Tourism, 14(1), 3-19.
Baggio, R., & Del Chiappa, G. (2016). Complex Tourism Systems: quantitative approach. In Uysal, M., Schwartz, Z., Sirakaya-Turk, E. (Eds). Management Science in Hospitality and Tourism: Theory, Practice, and Applications. NJ, USA: Apple Accademic Press.
Bocconcelli, R., Cioppi, M., Fortezza, F., Francioni, B., Pagano, A., Savelli, E., & Splendiani, S. (2018). SMEs and marketing: a systematic literature review. International Journal of Management Reviews, 20(2), 227-254
Boes, K., Buhalis, D., & Inversini, A. (2016) Smart tourism destinations: ecosystems for tourism destination competitiveness. International Journal of Tourism Cities, (2)2,108-124,
Braun, P. (2002). Networking tourism SMEs: e-commerce and e-marketing issues in regional Australia. Information Technology & Tourism, 5(1), 13-23.
Bregoli, I., & Del Chiappa, G. (2013). Coordinating relationships among destination stakeholders: evidence from Edinburgh (UK). Tourism Analysis, 18(2), 145-155.
Bregoli, I., Hingley, M., Del Chiappa, G., & Sodano, V. (2016). Challenges in Italian wine routes: managing stakeholder networks. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 19(2), 204-224.
Brouthers, K. D., Nakos, G., & Dimitratos, P. (2015). SME entrepreneurial orientation, international performance, and the moderating role of strategic alliances. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 39(5), 1161-1187.
Brown, B. (1987), Recent tourism research in South East Dorset, in tourism and development: overviews and case studies of the UK and the South West Region, in Shaw, G. and Williams, A. (Eds), Working Paper 4, Department of Geography: University of Exeter.
Buffa, F., Franch, M., & Rizio, D. (2018). Environmental management practices for sustainable business models in small and medium sized hotel enterprises. Journal of Cleaner Production, 194, 656-664.
Coles, T., Dinan, C., & Warren, N. (2016). Energy practices among small-
and medium-sized tourism enterprises: a case of misdirected effort? Journal of Cleaner Production, 111, 399-408.
Del Chiappa, G., & Baggio, R. (2015). Knowledge transfer in smart tourism destinations: Analyzing the effects of a network structure. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 4(3), 145-150.
Del Chiappa, G., & Presenza, A. (2013). The use of network analysis to assess relationships among stakeholders within a tourism destination: An empirical investigation on Costa Smeralda-Gallura, Italy. Tourism Analysis, 18(1), 1-13.
Dredge, D. (2006). Networks, conflict and collaborative communities. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 14(6), 562-581.
El-Gohary, H. (2012). Factors affecting E-Marketing adoption and implementation in tourism firms: An empirical investigation of Egyptian small tourism organisations. Tourism management, 33(5), 1256-1269.
Font, X., Garay, L., & Jones, S. (2016). Sustainability motivations and practices in small tourism enterprises in European protected areas. Journal of Cleaner production, 137, 1439-1448.
Fortezza, F., & Pencarelli, T. (2018). A Comprehensive picture of the social media challenge for DMOs. Anatolia, 1-12, https://doi.org/10.1080/13032917.2018.1439759.
Fotiadis, A., Yeh, S.-S., & Huan, T.-C. T. C. (2016). Applying configural analysis to explaining rural-tourism success recipes. Journal of Business Research, 69(4), 1479–1483.
Franco, M., de Fátima Santos, M., Ramalho, I., & Nunes, C. (2014). An exploratory study of entrepreneurial marketing in SMEs: The role of the founder-entrepreneur. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 21(2), 265–283.
Getz, D., & Carlsen J. (2000). Characteristics and goals of family and owner-operated businesses in the rural tourism and hospitality sectors. Tourism Management, 21, 547–560
Goffi, G., Masiero, L., & Pencarelli, T. (2018). Rethinking sustainability in the tour-operating industry: Worldwide survey of current attitudes and behaviors. Journal of Cleaner Production, 183, 172-182.
Gretzel, U., Sigala, M., Xiang, Z., & Koo, C. (2015). Smart tourism: foundations and developments. Electronic Markets, (25)3, pp.179-188,
Guercini, S. (2012), New approaches to heuristic processes and entrepreneurial cognition of the market. Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, 14(2), 199 – 213.
Guercini, S., & Ranfagni, S. (2016). Conviviality behavior in entrepreneurial communities and business networks. Journal of Business Research, 69(2), 770-776.
Haber, S., & Reichel, A. (2005). Identifying performance measures of small ventures—the case of the tourism industry. Journal of Small Business Management, 43(3), 257–286.
Hall, C. M. (2009). The public policy context of tourism entrepreneurship. In I. Ateljevic and S. J. Page (eds). Tourism and entrepreneurship (pp. 243-263). Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Hallak, R., Assaker, G., & O'Connor, P. (2013). Profiling tourism SMEs according to owners' support for community: a cluster analysis approach. Tourism Analysis, 18(6), 691-705.
Hallak, R., Brown, G., & Lindsay, N. J. (2013). Examining tourism SME owners’ place attachment, support for community and business performance: the role of the enlightened self-interest model. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 21(5), 658-678.
Hwang, L. J., & Lockwood, A. (2006). Understanding the challenges of implementing best practices in hospitality and tourism SMEs. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 13(3), 337-354.
Jacobsen, D. (2017). Tourism enterprises beyond the margins: the relational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander SMEs in remote Australia. Tourism Planning & Development, 14(1), 31-49.
Jocumsen, G. (2004). How do small business managers make strategic marketing decisions? European Journal of Marketing, 38(5/6), 659–674.
Karanasios, S., & Burgess, S. (2008). Tourism and Internet adoption: a developing world perspective. International Journal of Tourism Research, 10(2), 169-182.
Kyriakidou, O., & Gore, J. (2005). Learning by example: Benchmarking organizational culture in hospitality, tourism and leisure SMEs. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 12(3), 192-206.
Lashley, C., & Rowson, B. (2010). Lifestyle businesses: Insights into Blackpool's hotel sector. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 29(3), 511-519.
Lawson, R., Alcock, C., Cooper, J., & Burgess, L. (2003). Factors affecting adoption of electronic commerce technologies by SMEs: an Australian study. Journal of small business and enterprise development, 10(3), 265-276.
Magliulo, A. (2016). Cyber security and tourism competitiveness. European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation, 7(2), 128–134.
Martini, U., & Buffa, F. (2017). The links between territorial marketing, regional sustainability policies and the brand positioning of a small firm: An analysis of best practice in the dairy sector. Mercati e Competitività, 2, 149-172.
McKercher, B., & Robbins, B. (1998), “Business development issues affecting nature-based tourism operators in Australia. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 6(2), 173-88.
McLarty, R. (1998). Case study: evidence of a strategic marketing paradigm in a growing SME. Journal of Marketing Practice: Applied Marketing Science, 4(4), 105-117.
Moira, P., Mylonopoulos, D., & Vasilopoulou, P. (2013). The different types of delinquent behavior in the hospitality industry. International Journal of Management and Sustainability, 2(11), 172¬185
Morrison, A. J., Carlsen, J., & Weber, P. (2010). Small tourism business research change and evolution. International Journal of Tourism Research, 12(6), 739–749.
Novelli, M., Schmitz, B., & Spencer, T. (2006). Networks, clusters and innovation in tourism: A UK experience. Tourism management, 27(6), 1141-1152.
Özgener, Ş., & İraz, R. (2006). Customer relationship management in small–medium enterprises: The case of Turkish tourism industry. Tourism Management, 27(6), 1356-1363.
Pencarelli, T. & Forlani, F. (2016). Marketing of touristic districts-viable systems in the experience economy. Sinergie, 101, 199-238.
Peters, M., & Buhalis, D. (2013). SMEs in Tourism Destinations. In C. Costa, E. Panyik, & D. Buhalis (Eds.), Trends in European Tourism Planning and Organisation. Bristol: Channel View Publications.
Shaw, G., & Williams, A. (2009). Knowledge transfer and management in tourism organisations: An emerging research agenda. Tourism Management, 30(3), 325-335.
Sigala, M. (2018). New technologies in tourism: From multi-disciplinary to anti-disciplinary advances and trajectories. Tourism management perspectives, 25, 151-155.
Thomas, R., Shaw, G., & Page, S. J. (2011). Understanding small firms in tourism: A perspective on research trends and challenges. Tourism Management, 32(5), 963-976.
Von Friedrichs, Y. (2010). Collective Entrepreneurship. Networking as a strategy for business development. Mercati e Competitività, 1, 2-10.
Wanhill, S. (2000). Small and medium tourism enterprises. Annals of Tourism Research, 27(1), 132-147.
Williams, A. M., & Shaw, G. (2011). Internationalization and innovation in tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 38(1), 27-51.
Yeh, S., & Fotiadis, A. (2014). Social Interactions in Rural Tourism: A Host
Perspective Case Study. Revista de Cercetare si Interventie Sociala, 46, 131-143.
Yolal, M., Emeksiz, M., & Cetinel, F. (2009). Marketing of SMHEs in Turkey: A comparative analysis. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 18(4), 372-385.
Zehrer, A. (2009). Service experience and service design: concepts and application in tourism SMEs. Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, 19(3), 332-349
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