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Framework for Enhancing Competitiveness in Culture and Heritage Organisations in the Irish Tourism Industry

Framework for Enhancing Competitiveness in Culture and Heritage Organisations in the Irish Tourism Industry

Gannon, Catherine and Lynch, Patrick and Harrington, Dr. Denis (2010) FRAMEWORK FOR ENHANCING COMPETITIVENESS IN CULTURE AND HERITAGE ORGANISATIONS IN THE IRISH TOURISM INDUSTRY. In: 6th Annual Tourism and Hospitality Research in Ireland Conference (THRIC) Proceedings, 15th - 16th June, 2010, Shannon College of Hotel Management, Shannon, Clare, Ireland.

The culture and heritage sector of the tourism industry has become a major economic sector of enterprise and of wealth creation (Failte Ireland, 2009a). However, as the National Development Plan (2007-2013) notes, the landscape is changing and the tourism industry is at a significant turning point in its evolution due to the economic downturn. Creating a stronger competitive capacity within Irish tourism companies is a challenging issue (National Development Plan, 2007-2013) and a core focus of this research. This research will particularly focus on cultural and heritage organisations where the industry is predominantly made up of micro and small to medium sized organisations. Given these organisation‟s are small they have limited resource pools. However, as outlined in the „New Horizons for Irish Tourism‟ report (Failte Ireland, 2009b), the cultural and heritage sector has „core assets‟ which if leveraged and deployed to maximum capacity, it could result in a competitive advantage. Strategic management theory has largely and traditionally focused on the external environment in which a firm can achieve competitive advantage (Bounfour, 2003). Increasingly literature has redirected its focus towards the more controllable internal resources within the firm (Barney, 1991). Indeed, an increasing amount of literature has recognised that if small cultural and tourism organisations can strategically utilise their limited resources to maximum capacity, competitiveness should increase (Sundbo et al. 2006). Drawing on the resource based (Barney, 1991) and dynamic capabilities views of the firm (Teece et al., 1997), this paper will make a unique contribution to a very significant gap in the capabilities and business strategy literature by analysing how tourism organisations are utilising and maximising their intangible resource stocks as a means of gaining competitive advantage. Due to the scarcity of research and interest in this area, it is perceived that our ongoing study will contribute substantially to academic knowledge and practice and should highlight key areas warranting investigation going forward.