Networks, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer in Tourism Industry: An Empirical Study of SMEs in Portugal

João M. Lopes, Márcio Oliveira, Jorge Lopes and Umer Zaman
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João M. Lopes: NECE—Research Unit in Business Sciences & Miguel Torga Institute of Higher Education, Largo Cruz de Celas nº1, 3000-132 Coimbra, Portugal
Márcio Oliveira: NECE—Research Unit in Business Sciences & Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, Rua General Norton de Matos, Apartado 4133, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal
Jorge Lopes: NIDISAG—Research Unit of ISAG & ISAG—European Business School, Campus de Salazares/Ramalde, R. de Salazares 842, 4100-442 Porto, Portugal
Umer Zaman: Endicott College of International Studies (ECIS), Woosong University, Daejeon 34606, Korea

Social Sciences, 2021, vol. 10, issue 5, 1-17

Abstract: The present study aims to investigate how commercialisation and knowledge transfer between the SMEs of the tourism sector and the higher education institutions (HEIs) are made, as well as to find out whether the SMEs of the tourism sector are part of tourism networks, and what their motivations are. We used a qualitative methodology, applying the triangulation method to eight SMEs and one HEI. The results indicate that the commercialisation and knowledge transfer between the SMEs and the HEIs are not effective. SMEs are part of regional networks of business innovation; however, they do not participate in R&D activities with HEIs. Some suggestions were made to SMEs, HEIs, and regional governments to speed up commercialisation and knowledge transfer in the tourism sector. We adapted the Triple Helix Model to the tourism sector, thus creating the “Triple Helix in the Tourism Context”. Only a few studies have researched knowledge commercialisation in the tourism sector, a gap that this article aims to compensate.

Keywords: tourism; commercialisation and knowledge transfer; Triple Helix; tourism SMEs; regional development networks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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