El analfabetismo, uno de las causas más importantes de la pobreza

The previous chapters have given a theoretical background and framework for this research. Innovation theory has been seen in light of the service industries and the context of the small tourism business. The change processes in services are described as being more characterized by continuous incremental innovations, often taking place as ad hoc solutions to customer feedback. In addition it is more difficult to distinguish between different types of innovation in the services, as the borders between product and process are blurry and the different types of innovations are interdependent. The division between product, process, marketing and organizational innovations are still maintained for the purpose of this study, as it is expected that small tourism businesses’ approach to these types will reflect the resource situation of the business. A broad approach to innovation is chosen, and during the case study interviews the term significant changes is used, following OECD (2005). In the context of small and micro sized adventure tourism businesses radical innovations are not expected, but rather significant changes that are new to the business in question.

This research will explore how innovation in small tourism businesses is affected by the knowledge resources available to the business. The micro and small tourism businesses is characterized by having few year round employees, with the majority of staff employed only for the main season and quite high rate of staff-turnover. This pattern challenges knowledge development, as building efficient organizational routines is hampered by volatile work capacity, there is limited administrative capacity and few people in specialized positions. While the pattern has been found in studies of small tourism businesses in general, this research looks into the knowledge resource situation specifically in the context of adventure tourism businesses. With quite specialized knowledge needs and close linkages to outdoor recreation activities knowledge dynamics may be a bit different.

To get a comprehensive overview of these dynamics the relations between knowledge resources and innovation is explored through three different perspectives. The perspectives represent “lenses” through which dynamics of change can be explored.

The first perspective looks at knowledge at the level of the specific adventure tourism activity, and how knowledge processes are dependent on the maturity of the activity in question. Following Aldrich (1999) evolutionary perspective on entrepreneurship, challenges related to organizational knowledge will vary according to the maturity of industry in question; a “new” industry will have different challenges than an industry based on a well- established product. The concept of populations will be used to denote “groups of organizations with similar products and/ or processes” (Aldrich and Fiol, 1994:646), which in an analysis of adventure tourism will be delimited to a specific adventure tourism activity. The concept of community is used to conceptualize “a group of coevolving populations linked by ties of commensalism and symbiosis” (Aldrich, 1999: 298), which in this study will refer to the overall adventure tourism industry. Aldrich and Fiol (2004) and Aldrich (1999) argue that the central challenges for a new population are to establish efficient organizational knowledge and external legitimacy. These concepts will be central in chapter 9 when knowledge development and innovation in the adventure tourism businesses will be seen in relation to the maturity of the specific activities in question.

The second perspective concerns the internal knowledge resources of the adventure tourism businesses and how this in turn shapes capacity for innovation. In the context of small tourism businesses it is argued that quite basic indicators of knowledge resources such as recruitment patterns, numbers of full time employees, staff training and entrepreneurial competencies is useful to learn more about the interdependencies of resources and innovation. In addition it is argued that the close relation between commercial adventure tourism and certain outdoor recreation milieus (as illustrated in figure 1, chapter 3) can create knowledge benefits for adventure tourism businesses. The concept of serious leisure (Stebbins, 1982) is used to illustrate how peoples’ involvement in a specific leisure activity may influence where they choose to live, and the lifestyle and job they choose. How knowledge related to a certain leisure activity may affect knowledge development in adventure tourism businesses is explored in chapter 10.

The final perspective is concerned with how knowledge resources and innovation is affected by location. Theories of economic agglomerations anticipates that being several providers of a specific economic activity within limited geographical area create knowledge benefits. While transferring theories of industrial clusters (Porter, 1998) to the context of small and micro sized adventure tourism businesses is controversial, certain aspects of such theorizing may still be valuable. Hall (2005) e.g. emphasizes the accumulation of knowledge and formation of formal and informal networks in what he calls micro-clusters. The increased competition found between close competitors is regarded as an important driver of incremental innovations (Weiermair, 2004). In addition agglomerations of adventure tourism businesses may lead to increased legitimacy; micro sized adventure tourism businesses located on their own may struggle to achieve legitimacy both in the market (s) and in the overall tourism industry (see e.g. Aldrich, 1999). The concept

of serious leisure may again be relevant in this perspective. More businesses mean more opportunities for employees to interact and learn from each other. Boschma’s (2005) concept of social and cognitive proximities is relevant here. He argues that efficient transfer of knowledge, specifically knowledge which to a large degree is tacit in nature, require more than geographical proximity. Knowledge transfer is facilitated by cognitive and social proximity: when people share not only a common knowledge base and expertise, but are also embedded in trust-based relationships. How being located close to several other adventure tourism providers affects knowledge development and innovation is explored in chapter 11.

The model below illustrates how the three theoretical perspectives from different angels shed light on relations between knowledge development and innovation in adventure tourism businesses. Each perspective has its own loose analytical framework as described above.

Figure 2 Knowledge development and innovation in the adventure tourism

businesses is seen in relation to the maturity of the specific activity, business size and location.

The remaining chapters of this thesis revolve around the empirical material. Chapter 7 briefly examines the national contexts of the case studies. While the case studies are carried out at the level of the individual adventure tourism business, the social and economic environment surrounding the businesses clearly shapes industry development. While a comprehensive comparison between tourism in NZ and Norway is beyond the scope of this thesis, the chapter will provide an overview of the tourism industry and the role of adventure tourism in the two countries.

Maturity of activity Location Size of business

Chapter 8 gives a short presentation of the eight businesses of this study. For clarity the presentation revolves around the businesses’ start-up stories, main products, business size and structure, main season and markets.

The main analytical chapters are built up around the three research perspectives described above. Chapter 9, 10 and 11 concerns the evolutionary, the resource and the location perspective respectively. While the chapters all describe issues related to knowledge development and innovation, the chapters do not build on each other progressively but rather complement one another. The aim is that the three perspectives seen together will contribute to an increased understanding of dynamics of change in adventure tourism businesses.

Chapter 9 looks at knowledge and innovation from an evolutionary perspective (see e.g. Aldrich, 1999). The empirical analysis suggests that the maturity of the adventure tourism activity in question influence knowledge resources in the adventure tourism businesses. The findings follow Aldrich (1999) in that “young” activities have different challenges related to organizational knowledge and legitimacy than the more established activities. The analysis extended previous research (Aldrich and Fiol, 1994; Aldrich, 1999) by dividing the development into three overlapping phases. Organizational knowledge and legitimacy is gradually being developed through phases named the experimental phase, the defining phase and the mature phase. The flexibility of the pattern is highlighted; the skills of the entrepreneurs and how well the product is received by the market are e.g. shaping these processes.

Chapter 10 is divided into two main parts. The first part of the chapters explores the knowledge situation of the adventure tourism businesses in terms of recruitment and retention challenges, staff training and entrepreneurial competencies. Findings are discussed in relation to the concept of serious leisure, as factors tied to leisure and lifestyle is found to affect knowledge resources in this part of the tourism industry.

The second part of the chapter present and discuss the innovative activity identified in the businesses. The material is divided into product, process, marketing and organizational innovation as the findings indicate that type of innovation frequently can be tied to the resource situation of the business. The second part of the chapter in that respect builds on the first as innovation is seen in relation to the available resources of the businesses.

Chapter 11 explores how the role of location affects knowledge development and innovation. The first part of the chapter describes characteristics of what here will be termed “adventure tourism communities”: The (mainly rural) communities which can offer a variety of commercial adventure tourism products and which make a coordinated effort of branding themselves as excellent sites to partake in nature based activities. Four of the cases are located in such communities.

The chapter then moves on to explore how location affects recruitment and retention through the identification of certain social place qualities identified. The pattern of competition and collaboration is then discussed, revealing complexity and a diverse adventure tourism industry. It is also discussed how location may affect knowledge development and innovation more subtly through cognitive and social proximities (Boschma, 2005). The businesses are not only located close but staff were found to share similarities in leisure interests and lifestyle motives leading to social and cognitive proximities. Finally the effects of co-location should not be overstated. Findings indicate that adventure tourism businesses may well manage on their own as long as the product is robust, and a single bigger business may experience many of the same knowledge benefits as a group of smaller providers.

Chapter 12 summarizes the findings and tries to draw some connections between the different perspectives. Findings that are recurring in the three analytical chapters are the heterogeneity of the adventure tourism industry, the role of certain milieu factors as indicated by the concept of serious leisure as well as certain variations due to differences in national contexts. These issues are briefly discussed, as well as how this study may contribute to research on adventure tourism and tourism innovation.

ADVENTURE TOURISM IN NORWAY