“Identifying key relations for destination competitiveness and for creating cultural tourism products: a value system approach to tourist destinations”

Purpose of the Paper – A natural link exists between organizations and institutions involved in developing destination competitiveness and creating cultural tourism products, yet little research has examined their relation. This conceptual paper is designed to address this gap and to link local tourism promotion agencies, tourism organizations, and cultural heritage institutions. Approach – A value system model is used, in order to understand the relations between the organizations analysed. Findings – The use of the value system model in the tourism sector enables the identifying of a system of value creation and competitiveness development, customized on the basis of key stakeholders involved. Practical Implications –The use of the value system model enables the designing of a comprehensive framework which allows the planning of the creation of competitive destinations and tourism products. Originality/value – The study represents a first attempt to analyse relations between local tourism promotion agencies, tourism organizations, and cultural heritage institutions according to the value system model. Type of paper – Conceptual paper

Exploring the link between managing cultural heritage and tourism industry competitiveness: a two country comparison

Purpose of the Paper – Built cultural heritage, such as museums, are deeply linked to their locations and have a crucial role to play in tourism developments. Yet, the literature on museum management is focused upon museums without considering the competitiveness of the tourism industry where they are located. This paper will seek to address this lacuna, and attempt to connect or link museums management and competitiveness in the tourism industry. Design – Two samples (most visited U.K. and Italian museums) will be analysed together with the competitiveness of their (local) tourism industry. Findings – Research findings will allow classifying most visited U.K. and Italian museums in clusters. The comparison will reveal country-specific differences and tourism industry competitiveness of regions of most visited Italian and U.K. museums. Practical Implications – The differences in tourism industry competitiveness and the museums appeal will enable elaboration of specific strategies for museums and the tourism industry for each identifiable cluster. Originality/value – The link between museum marketing strategies and destination competitiveness has been quite neglected by researchers to date. This paper is a first attempt to address this gap, with regard to U.K. and Italian context

“Exploring the link between managing cultural heritage and tourism industry competitiveness: a two country comparison”

Purpose of the Paper – Built cultural heritage, such as museums, are deeply linked totheir locations and have a crucial role to play in tourism developments. Yet, theliterature on museum management is focused upon museums without considering thecompetitiveness of the tourism industry where they are located. This paper will seek toaddress this lacuna, and attempt to connect or link museums management andcompetitiveness in the tourism industry.Design – Two samples (most visited U.K. and Italian museums) will be analysed togetherwith the competitiveness of their (local) tourism industry.Findings – Research findings will allow classifying most visited U.K. and Italian museums in clusters. The comparison will reveal country-specific differences andtourism industry competitiveness of regions of most visited Italian and U.K. museums.Practical Implications – The differences in tourism industry competitiveness and themuseums appeal will enable elaboration of specific strategies for museums and thetourism industry for each identifiable cluster. Originality/value – The link between museum marketing strategies and destinationcompetitiveness has been quite neglected by researchers to date. This paper is a firstattempt to address this gap, with regard to U.K. and Italian context.KEY WORDS museums | tourism destination competitiveness | museum marketingstrategies | tourism industry strategie

A VSA Communication Model for Service Systems Governance.

This paper proposes a conceptual framework for governance and management of the decision making process for corporate communication. The aim is to address a gap in the literature in that to date, by adopting some basic assumptions from Viable Systems Approach, integrated with Service Science perspective, in order to identify communication resources, the nature (static and dynamic) of the corporate communication activities, and “engineering” communication process. Parsons’ sociological approach, with reference to the classification of organisational decisions (policy, allocation and coordination) results fundamental to contextualise this approach to the decision-making within corporate communication function/departmen

A comparative analysis between US and Italian food companies on stakeholder relationships via websites

This study aims to offer a contribution on stakeholder relationships managed by US and Italian food companies via their corporate websites. Specifically, the paper intends to provide a comparative analysis of two clusters of companies from these countries, based on the website areas and content they dedicate to their stakeholder groups. Previous studies were developed with a new research framework which enables measuring through a quantitative analysis website areas and content that food companies dedicate to their stakeholder groups. The survey aims to identify the strengths and the weaknesses of the online communication managed by US and Italian food companies. Research findings show that the main weakness of the selected Italian food companies’ websites is represented by their short-sightedness in considering stakeholder groups, while US companies chosen are clearly superior in terms of sections dedicated to their stakeholder groups