Chapter 1: New Product Destination Development: A Co-Creative Perspective

Transcription

1 Chapter 1: New Product Destination Development: A Co-Creative Perspective Bob van Limburg Department of marketing Management Fontys University of Applied Science Eindhoven bobvanlimburg@yahoo.com 1. Introduction 1.1 Problem Definition The actual world economic order is one of increased mobility of capital, increasing diffusion of international firms, increased concentration of industry, banking and tourism and increasing protest from anti globalists against this new order. The world has become a global place. Globalization is the linking together throughout the world by distance abolishing technologies of cultural, political and economic events (Gray, 1998). Especially from the advent of electronic communications, the world seems to have been shrinking. The new technologies are creating a world in which miles or kilometers have little to do with our ability to work or work together. However, being connected is a positive asset, but being disconnected and therefore not able to take part in the development will widen the gap between rich and poor. Therefore there are quite some opposing against globalization. In July 2005, the G8 came together in Scotland and took some rather favorable decisions on the distribution of income and suppressed some loans furnished by western banks to some poor countries, probably under the pressure of Bob Geldoffs Live8 in the beginning of that month, that also is a 1

2 remarkable example of the yields of modern technology and mass communication. Living in an era that is said to be that of the death of distance and global products in tourism are being produced. However, the production of those global products problems shows quite some problems. This article seeks to give a first insight into those problems and will describe an important condition for the making of a possible business model that can favor the reconciliation of heritage and tourism: coordination and cooperation in the field of knowledge management, in order to attain a marketable brad in a polycontextual environment. The Industry of Travel and Tourism has a large impact on local and global culture and economy. Tourists that arrive at a destination exchange cultural values with people at the site, as well as purchasing power. Therefore, tourism also affects the economy and nowadays it is the world s largest industry, or better, activity. This industry also is becoming more and more global. Globalization implies a tendency to standardization and so to a loss or at least lacking of identity. Without identity the customer has no real motivation to pass the destination, but just is going somewhere and the tourist is becoming a nowhere man, like the Beatles sang. Therefore ways of elaborating an image and/or an attractive product is needed. In this project ways are sought to construct new images and/or products. One important issue may be that the customer, especially the lead users (see von Hippel) will be added in the production process. In this project the lead users will initiate the production process. The problem definition of the project is: How can lead users in online CoP be involved actively in innovation processes in tourism? 2

3 Research questions are: - What are Communities of Practice (CoP)? - What is co-creation and what are crucial items? - Who are lead users and how to identity those lead users? - How can those lead uses be involved actively in innovation processes in tourism? - What means of modern communication may be used to connect and co-create with lead-users? - How should a CoP deal with sticky information? 1.2 Constructing brand identity and innovation. Tourism is about communication. A tourism destination is not about governments, but about stakeholders who should be involved in the process of branding. Branding is concerned with bundling of tangible and not tangible attributes that are symbolized by a trademark in order to define an organizations relationship with relevant stakeholders (Clifton & Maughan, 2000). According to Zukin (1995) there has been a shift in the centre of gravity on one hand from local to global images and on the other from public to private institutions. In order to set the right brand image, a connection is needed therefore between the local and the global communities. It is supposed only the local community understands its symbolism and knows how to set this in the proper context. This understanding is supported by an exchange of values between tourist and local community. 3

4 The process of tourism communication is concerned with connecting buyers and vendors, and subsequently hosts and guests. According to Go (2006) hyper-innovation is the strategy to connect both worlds. This keeping and eye for sustainability has 3 dimensions, Roots, Routines (networks) and Renewal (communities of creation). One important issue of course is how to connect and how to improve the links. The constructive image should be built on the strengths of the spot. This brand should be constructed in the proper way, keeping an eye for differences between images as perceived, constructed and identity (Govers). This brand should be balanced with local responsibility. This means that you need an identity, knowing that tourism is about temporary events and mind standards. Another important point is involving the relevant stakeholders: motivate them and make them know that it pays: one day they will not only be stakeholders but also shareholders. Many projects in the third world have shown this evolution. Tourism is a sharing mechanism and an important issue also is how to deal with the process of encounter. Before sharing a spots identity should be communicated. Hereby the media and not the promotion itself are most important. ICT of course plays an important role. Nodal firms are needed to do the traffic between stakeholders and communities. One problem is a person s decision-making process is not overt; people see-feel-act (see Go, 2006). But the identity in order to be seen, be challenging, the symbols should be co-constructed with the local community. Branding is applied to tourism destination marketing or city/nation marketing. The theoretical framework in this case 4

5 is that of the poly inclusive brand space, which links the physical context of site to the virtual context of e-business. It has four dimensions (Go & Fenema, 2003): Physical space Virtual space Social space Information space. 2 Innovation and Decision Making There is a need for convergence of stakeholders around a joint visual identity. This is the product of the process of bricolage. In this view, we can learn from the pragmatic approach of Claudio Ciborra, who introduced 'the theory of' improvisation, and particularly the dynamic character of improvisation. He describes improvisation as situated action, always catching the latest circumstances in emergent problem-solving. With improvisation, one takes time, instead of being taken by the time. An improvising manager is in the situation; s/he takes care. Regarding the process of digital convergence, the gaps should be noted between perceived and proposed image. A Stockholder s positions depend on their position in the network. His position determines their knowledge. The competencies needed to do the job, should be: Networking Coordination of local and global activities Learning and innovating. The latter three competencies should lead to creation of meaning. Places go about meaning, belonging and attaching to a certain lifestyle: people should go to a place and should feel like coming home, and places should be like that. In this perspective, a large multinationals slogan change can help us out. They went form lets make 5

6 things better to sense and sensibility. In many cases, images and identities are constructed in a less desirable way: No or by silencing cultural narrative Top down Non democratic Excluding some shareholders: social exclusion. Regarding the latter: when the Olympic Games come to certain places, the city is cleaned up and some slumps are removed. Yet in this case it is about finding the way in the brand space and finds roads to unique positioning. In order to improve to the path towards a solution, some thoughts on innovations need to be made. Innovations importance was long underestimated in service activities, according to Decelle (2004). Creativity and innovation are not similar, but are connected. Creativity is about tacit knowledge. In communities of practice the stakeholders involved in branding should interact. This interaction leads to new ideas and new visions on a region, cities or countries brand. Those communities are called community of creation, in which Hyperinnovation takes place. This projects aim is to analyze the (decision-making) process of image and product/brand creation in co- creation in modern networks of relevant stakeholders. In the following scheme, taken from Ashworth, the traditional production process is shown in a tourism heritage context. 6

7 Other Resources Heritage resources ASSEMBLY Heritage products A Interpretation Packaging B Heritage agencies Heritage industries Next figure shows the conceptual model of the research. This should be located in the block Interpretation Packaging.: S E T 1 COP L U KM Set2 ICT 7

8 Set1 stands for a set of identifying variables. Set2 stands for a diverse set of variables: - Size - Trust - Anciennity - Nationalities - ICT ID stands for a set of variables needed to identify the lead users fro the community members. 3 Required Competences The core competencies the successful tourism should lead to a competitive advantage situation. Those core competencies, according to Prahalad should be identified by three tests, 1. They should provide potential access to a wide range of markets. 2. They should make a significant contribution to the product as perceived by the customer. 3. They should be difficult to imitate by the competition. The focus of the theories tends to be based on what Pralahad and Hamel (1990) term as "Core Competencies." Competencies, in the firm context, are the abilities to apply technologies to the development of new products at lower costs and to so do more rapidly than the competition. These competencies are product oriented production abilities, which allow firms to control resource requirements (resource dependency) 8

9 and minimize the costs of production (transaction costs). They should not lead to core rigidities, which means they should be taken in flexibility. Competencies are hard to learn, but also to unlearn. Too narrow or wrong choices may lead to be locked out of certain possibilities. Those competencies should also be the result of bricolage. The sources of those competencies are the entire stakeholder network, but especially consumers and consumer communities. The new competitive advantage is created, according to Prahalad in the product, solutions and experience space. Next figure shows the conceptual model of the research. 4 Expected results The results expected for this project is an analysis on the decision-making process of innovation in networks, leading to an empirically validated model of co-construction of images and brands in tourism. The results will be obtained using the case study method. According to Eisenhardt (1989) that with fewer than 4 cases it is hard to obtain enough data to construct theory. The following case studies and experiments are planned: - Identifying Lead users from community members. - The role of ICT within a CoP - The role moderating variables play. - The way a CoP deals with KM, in particular sticky information. - How a CoP deals with KM in a tourism context. 9

10 Literature (Selection) Morgan, Prichard and Pride, Destination Branding: creating the unique destination proposition. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann. Cai, 2002, Cooperative branding for rural destinations. Annals of tourism research. Kanellou, 2000: From information to actionalbe knowledge: the power of intermediaries in travel and tourism diostribution channels. IPTS report. Clifton & Maughan, 2000, the future of brands. London: MacMillan. Zukin: the cultures of cities. Cambridge, Ma: Blackwell. Go, Tourism Destination Branding: Enhancing the competitiveness of developing countries. Paper presented at the workshop Connecting global and local tourism for value creation. Harris, Chris: Hyperinnovation, Palgrave, MacMillan 2002 Prahalad & Ramaswamy, The Future of Competition: Co-Creating Unique Value with Customers. HBS Press Book, Claudio Ciborra, the Labyrinths of Information: Challenging the Wisdom of Systems. Oxford University Press,