Short answer
Designers and strategists should create systems that allow SMEs to innovate while ensuring their contributions align with the overall destination's narrative and visitor journey.
- Field
- Innovation & Design
- Source
- Tourism Management (2016)
- Method
- Case Study
- Evidence
- Moderate effect
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in emerging heritage tourism regions often act entrepreneurially to compensate for perceived inadequacies in the existing tourism supply chain, leading to a fragmentation of the overall tourism product. This innovation & design research insight is drawn from a 2016 study published in Tourism Management. Using Case study, researchers explored how this design variable affects real-world outcomes. The key design takeaway: Designers and strategists should create systems that allow SMEs to innovate while ensuring their contributions align with the overall destination's narrative and visitor journey.
SME entrepreneurial drive can fragment heritage tourism offerings
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in emerging heritage tourism regions often act entrepreneurially to compensate for perceived inadequacies in the existing tourism supply chain, leading to a fragmentation of the overall tourism product.
Tourism Management · 2016
Key Findings
- 01SMEs express dissatisfaction with existing heritage tourism supply chains and product delivery processes.
- 02SMEs engage in entrepreneurial behaviour to deliver specific products and services that meet tourist needs.
- 03This entrepreneurial activity can lead to a fragmentation of the overall tourism product.
Application
Design takeaway
Designers and strategists should create systems that allow SMEs to innovate while ensuring their contributions align with the overall destination's narrative and visitor journey.
How to apply
When designing tourism strategies or products for heritage sites, actively seek out and map the unique offerings and innovations of local SMEs, then explore mechanisms for their integration into official visitor pathways and marketing.
Project actions
- 01When researching a design problem, consider how smaller players or individual users might adapt or 'hack' existing systems.
- 02Look for evidence of informal or emergent solutions that could inform a more robust design.
Method & Evidence
Variables
Strengths & Limitations
Strengths
- +Provides a nuanced view of SME behaviour in a specific industry context.
- +Uses qualitative methods to capture in-depth insights into business operations.
Limitations
The findings are specific to the context of heritage tourism in Northern Ireland and may not apply directly to other industries or geographical locations.
Reliability & validity
The qualitative nature of the case study provides rich data but may have limited generalizability. Triangulation of data from business owners and community associations enhances validity.
Think critically
To what extent should a designed system accommodate or even encourage fragmentation if it arises from genuine user needs and entrepreneurial spirit?
Design Principles
"Integrate emergent bottom-up innovation within structured top-down strategies to foster a cohesive and dynamic product."
Understanding this dynamic is crucial for destination management and design. It highlights a tension between centralized tourism strategies and the agile, needs-driven innovations of individual businesses. Designers and strategists must consider how to harness this entrepreneurial energy without compromising the coherence and integrity of the heritage experience.
What This Means for Your Design
Small businesses in tourist areas sometimes go their own way to attract visitors because they feel the main tourism plans don't work for them, which can make the whole tourist experience a bit scattered.
How to use in your project
- 1.Use this research to justify investigating the role of smaller stakeholders or user-generated content in your design project.
- 2.Cite this paper when discussing how user or stakeholder behaviour can influence or even disrupt a designed system.
Add to My Project
Quick Cite
Paragraph starter
Research into heritage tourism supply chains has revealed that Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) often exhibit entrepreneurial behaviour to overcome perceived limitations in existing structures. This can lead to a fragmentation of the overall tourism product, as businesses independently develop offerings to meet tourist demands. Understanding and integrating this emergent innovation is crucial for cohesive destination management and product design.
Source
Tourism Management
Aggravated fragmentation: A case study of SME behaviour in two emerging heritage tourism regions
journal · 2016
View sourceQuestions About This Research
- What does the research say about sme entrepreneurial drive can fragment heritage tourism offerings?
- Designers and strategists should create systems that allow SMEs to innovate while ensuring their contributions align with the overall destination's narrative and visitor journey. Evidence: Tourism Management (2016).
- Why does "SME entrepreneurial drive can fragment heritage tourism offerings" matter for design?
- Understanding this dynamic is crucial for destination management and design. It highlights a tension between centralized tourism strategies and the agile, needs-driven innovations of individual businesses. Designers and strategists must consider how to harness this entrepreneurial energy without compromising the coherence and integrity of the heritage experience.
- How can designers apply this research?
- Designers and strategists should create systems that allow SMEs to innovate while ensuring their contributions align with the overall destination's narrative and visitor journey.
- What were the main findings?
- SMEs express dissatisfaction with existing heritage tourism supply chains and product delivery processes.. SMEs engage in entrepreneurial behaviour to deliver specific products and services that meet tourist needs.. This entrepreneurial activity can lead to a fragmentation of the overall tourism product.
- What research method was used?
- Case Study.
- How strong is the evidence?
- Evidence strength is rated Moderate effect, based on a 2016 journal from Tourism Management.
- What should I do differently in my next project?
- When designing tourism strategies or products for heritage sites, actively seek out and map the unique offerings and innovations of local SMEs, then explore mechanisms for their integration into official visitor pathways and marketing.
- What are the limitations?
- The study focuses on two specific emerging heritage regions in Northern Ireland, limiting generalizability to other contexts.