Organisational ecology in tourism: A regional labour market perspective

Tourism is often claimed to be a major employment creator and a viable path to development in rural areas. Covering the period 1980-1994, Danish data of the overall growth in the number of enterprises and jobs support the optimism forwarded, except for the most densely populated areas. The paper goes into greater depth of the dynamics of regional tourism development by investigating organisational birth, survival and mortality among restaurants and accommodation facilities. The study of the organisational ecology unveils a considerable turbulence, e.g. high numbers of entries as well as exits. Stability tends to correlate positively with agglomeration. In some - but not all - respects, a higher stability among the enterprises in urban areas results in qualitatively different and more permanent types of employment.

ICT for sustainable tourism: a challenging relationship?

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Personalemobilitet og økonomisk performance i små og mellemstore virksomheder

Det er en kendt sag, at små virksomheder har en højere personaleomsætning end større virksomheder. Det er der intet unaturligt i. Hvis medarbejdeme ønsker nye udfordringer eller avancementer, så er et jobskifte til en ny virksomhed ofte den eneste mulighed. Man hævder ofte også, at en vis personaleomsætning er sundt for virksomhedeme. Nye medarbejdere medbringer viden, erfaring og inspiration, som kan være nyttig rent økonomisk. Men kan denne nytte også sandsynliggøres gennem mere konkrete målinger? Denne artikel giver nogle indikationer. Det kan påvises, at medarbejderflowet er størst i virksomheder med særlig lav og særlig høj arbejdsproduktivitet, men at udsvingene dog er relativt små. Der er ikke virkelig markante sammenhænge mellem langsigtede økonomiske resultater og personalemobilitet. En konklusion er derimod, at der er klare positive relationer mellem lønniveauer og virksomheders økonomiske performance, men at spredningen især er stor i de små virksomheder. God løn er også en platform til fremtidige lønstigninger, og ansættelse i en virksomhed med en over-gennemsnitlig performance har betydning for at opnå lønstigninger i efterfølgende jobs. Begrebeme human kapital og social kapital diskuteres afslutningsvist i lyset af disse resultater

Innovation in tourism: Re-conceptualising and measuring the absorptive capacity of the hotel sector

Recent reviews of research on innovation in tourism have highlighted a number of weaknesses in the literature. Among these is the limited theorising and empirical investigation of innovative practices by tourism organisations. This paper responds to these concerns by examining one important dimension of innovation within commercial tourism organisations, namely their ability to acquire, assimilate and utilise external knowledge (absorptive capacity) for competitive advantage. The topic is pertinent because there is evidence to suggest that tourism organisations are particularly dependent on external sources of knowledge when compared with businesses in other sectors. Following a discussion of the conceptual antecedents of absorptive capacity and its dimensions, a validated instrument for its measurement is developed and used to measure the absorptive capacity of the British hotel sector. The results suggest that current conceptions of absorptive capacity have limitations when applied to tourism enterprises. Absorptive capacity is re-conceptualised to overcome these deficiencies. The research and policy implications of the findings are discussed. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd

policy and practice viewed from the perspective of managers

This report contains the major results from a study of management development in Danish organizations. The study is part of a European research project with participation of Denmark, the U.K, France, Norway, Rumania, Spain, and Germany. The project is part of the so-called Leonardo program the purpose of which is to further cross-country competence development and collaboration within the European educational sector. The first phase of the project is a quantitative interview study of one hundred organizations in each of the participating countries. The second phase consists in qualitative case studies in selected organizations in each of the countries. In Denmark one hundred and one organizations have participated in the study. Identical questionnaires and interviews are conducted in all of the mentioned countries and the huge amount of data is analyzed in each country and across countries. The findings will be published in books, journals and newspaper articles. Hopefully the findings of the large European project will thus affect the way in which educational institutions and organizations manage the "Europeanization" of management development. The present report solely describes significant findings from the questionnaire study conducted in Denmark. Two hundred and two managers have participated, that is two from each organization. We thank the contributing organizations without which it would not have been possible to generate this picture of management development in Danish organizations. The Department of Organization and Industrial Sociology at the Copenhagen Business School is the Danish partner in the project. The project has been conducted by Camilla Leth in collaboration with Ilse Kristensen, Mette Gundersen and Lea Green under the supervision of Henrik Holt Larsen. Anne-Mette Hjalager has contributed to the preparation of the report

Hvor stabile er danske arbejdspladser?

Denne artikel belyser levedygtigheden for arbejdssteder (virksomheder) og mobiliteten af medarbejdere i fire typer af serviceerhverv: hospitaler, banker, vognmænd og restauranter. Hvis man tager udgangspunkt i debatten i begyndelsen af 1990'erne, skulle man tro, at arbejdsstederne gennem 1980'erne var blevet markant mere sårbare, og at medarbejdere sad en hel del løsere i sadlen. Data fra 1980 til 1994 kan dog ikke bekræfte dette