Tourism innovation and sustainability : implications for skills development in South Africa

This chapter interrogates human resource competencies vis-à-vis innovation in tourism which is an under-researched topic in the tourism literature. Innovation is pertinent not only for competitiveness for tourism firms and destinations, but also for enhancing environmental protection and social benefits in view of sustainable tourism. Innovation is a knowledge-intensive activity which depends on the capabilities of entrepreneurs and employees to learn and implement knowledge to create new and improved ways of doing things. In order to innovate, a specific set of skills is needed which include management competencies with a particular emphasis on leadership, strategic orientation, professionalism and finance management. Data from a national study in South Africa which investigated human resource and skills development in tourism are analysed. The findings reveal critical skills gaps in relation to financial, management and soft skills required for innovation across tourism and hospitality occupational levels and sub-sectors. From a human resource development perspective, issues concerning upskilling and upward career mobility in tourism are also interrogated. This chapter argues for targeted human resource development to foster tourism innovation and support tourism SMEs by enhancing management competencies and offering mentorships. In particular, it is proposed that tourism policy has a role in drawing attention to the importance of improved soft skills development in tourism among tourism and hospitality stakeholders. The chapter contributes to literature and policy debates by offering an enhanced understanding of competencies and skills, as well as policy interventions, needed for tourism and service innovation more broadly in the light of sustainable human resource management

Entrepreneurial Competences: Comparing and Contrasting Models and Taxonomies

The emphasis on competencies as capturing key aspects of entrepreneurship is relatively recent and quite distinct from research on entrepreneurial traits or cognitive styles in that competencies represent observable and measurable knowledge, behaviour, attitudes and skills. Many competency taxonomies and models have been proposed by scholars, as frameworks organized into tiers of competencies including descriptions of the activities and behaviours associated with that competency (Chouhan & Srivastava, 2014). However, no comprehensive set of entrepreneurial competencies has emerged from these distinctions and no or little empirical evidence has been provided to validate these categorizations (Morris et al., 2013). This study compares and contrasts three traditional models (Morris et al., 2013, Bartram\u2019s 2005, with the EU Entrepreneurship Competence Framework; EntreComp, Bacigalupo et al., 2016) previously empirically validated by the author

Tourism innovation in the Western Cape, South Africa : evidence from wine tourism

Few wine tourism studies focus on innovation in this tourism niche market. However, implicit references to newness in wine tourism and the need for innovation in the light of competition to sustain the viability of firms and regions can be discerned in the literature. In addition, sustainability in relation to wine tourism is increasingly receiving research attention. This research aligns with the literature on sustainability in the wine industry and also wine tourism. It is not only the economic sustainability of firms which is of concern but also environmentally and socially responsible practices which for wineries include innovative ways to enhance biodiversity protection and social inclusion. This chapter outlines the innovations introduced by a sub-sample of firms involved in wine tourism which was part of a broader study of tourism innovation in the Western Cape, South Africa. This research identifies a suite of wine tourism innovations, and although these are largely incremental in character, they are significant for firm, and collectively, for destination competitiveness and importantly for enhancing sustainability in the sector

TQM practices and knowledge sharing: An empirical study of Malaysia’s manufacturing organizations

The purpose of this paper is to examine the multidimensionality of TQM practices and its relationship with knowledge sharing as perceived by middle management employees in Malaysia's ISO 9001:2000 certified firms of manufacturing sectors. The data which were collected from a survey of 129 middle management employees in Malaysia were used to test the proposed research framework. Furthermore, confirmatory factor analysis was performed to evaluate the reliability and validity of the measurement model, and the structural analysis was used to examine the research framework. The analytical results revealed that training and development, customer focus, and teamwork showed a positive association with middle management employees' knowledge sharing. This analysis is vital for senior managers of TQM companies that want to establish a knowledge sharing capability. Senior managers could focus their efforts on implementing TQM practices for building competitive knowledge sharing competencies