1、外文翻译之一 Convention industry and destination clusters: Evidence from Italy Author: Cristina Bernini Nationality: Italy Adapt from: Tourism management,2009,30(6) Abstract: The study investigates aspects of the convention industry not well explored in the literature. Using a framework of cluster theory,
2、 a quantitative method is used to assess the Italian convention industry and its relationships with local infrastructure and tourism product supply. The development of the different phases of the life cycle of convention destinations in Italy is outlined and locational factors which influence them a
3、re investigated. Managerial and political strategies which would enhance the competitiveness of the Italian convention industry in the global market are proposed. Furthermore, the study evaluates the use of the cluster theory in investigating the hospitality industry, contributing to the debate on l
4、ocal tourism development. Keywords: Convention Industry, Cluster Theory, Local Development, Clustern Analysis, Quantile Regression. Interest in geographical networks and their role in economic development has grown over the last few years because economies tend to develop through the emergence of te
5、rritorial agglomeration and company networks (Enright, 2001). An emerging industry centres on some natural resource, market need or local skill. As the industry develops, new firms, inputs and service enterprises are created. New economic sectors emerge through spill-overs and transferred knowledge
6、and global competitiveness increases. Territorial development and competitiveness are also very important for the tourism industry. Tourism is mainly constituted by SMEs, so functioning within a network may contribute to overcoming production, managerial and commercial difficulties. In order to incr
7、ease competition and strategic positioning in the worldwide market, tourism destinations should encourage the emergence of tourism networks and the analysis of their structure. Over the past decade, several attempts have been made using the industrial district and cluster theories to investigate tou
8、rism networks and their role in local development. Industrial districts (Marshall,1966) are agglomerations of SMEs specialising in different parts of a given production activity. Although industrial district theory analyses conditions for the development of a local vertically-integrated network of f
9、irms operating in manufacturing markets, some authors have tried to adapt industrial district theory to the tourism industry (Gets, 1993； Hjalager, 2000； Pearce, 2001； Lazzeretti, 2003). Despite the use of industrial district theory to investigate tourism networks, some doubts are cast on its applic
10、ability. Tourism is a sector with a fragmented structure typically based on SMEs but it is particularly characterised by the presence of a large number of participants in the network who are not necessarily involved in the same economic sectors. For this reason Cluster theory is possibly a better an
11、alytic model for the investigation of the tourism industry. Cluster theory has its origins in the studies of Porter (1998), who defines cluster as geographic concentrations of interconnected companies, specialised suppliers, service providers and firms in related industries and associated institutio
12、ns in particular fields that compete but also cooperate. Although Porters work is manly focused on the manufacturing industry, it has also been extended and applied to service industries, such as tourism. Some differences emerge between the two theories. Industrial districts are usually local cluste
13、rs of single-product industries. In contrast, cluster theory refers to concentrations of interrelated but different industries displaying a shared understanding of the competitive business ethic emanating from competitive theory (Jackson & Murphy, 2002). The theory of industrial districts generally
14、refers to an homogeneous product but this is not the case when dealing with tourism destinations. Porters cluster theory is better designed to accommodate a heterogeneous product in which the majority of cluster participants serve different industry segments. These points of difference make the anal
15、ytical framework of industrial districts less applicable to tourism destinations than the cluster approach. In the last ten years several studies have used cluster theory to investigate the role of tourism in influencing local growth. In this field of research the attention is mainly focused on the
16、generalisation of the industrial model as an analytical framework for measuring the success of tourism destinations and on the role of tourism enterprise clusters for their innovation and contribution to community development (Go & Williams, 1993； Michael, 2003； Van Den Berg, Braum, & Van Widen, 200
17、1； Tinsley & Lynch, 2001； Jackson & Murphy, 2002, 2006； Nordin, 2003； Hall, 2004, 2005a, 2005b； Canina, Enz, & Harrison, 2005； Saxena, 2005； Jackson, 2006； Novelli, Smithz, & Spencer, 2006). Otherwise, as stressed by Michael (2003), the cluster theory is valid in macro-regional analysis but presents
18、 some drawbacks when applied to small regional environments. The author suggests expanding the concept of cluster to micro-cluster, the so-called diagonal cluster (diagonal integration in Poon, 1994),labelled in this way to refer to the concentration of complementary (or symbiotic) firms, which each
19、 add value to the activities of other firms, even though their products may be quite distinct. In this sense, diagonal clustering brings together firms that supply separate products and services, effectively creating a bundle that will be consumed as though it was one item. For tourism and other ser
20、vice industries, this is often routine-for example, a tourism destination requires firms to supply the activity, provide transport, hospitality, accommodation, etc. The co-location of many complementary providers adds value to the tourism experience, and the converse may also be true, in that the ab
21、sence of key services restricts the development of other firms (Michael, 2003). In essence, a firm producing a complementary product or service is not a competitor, because its activities add more value to the product than the product alone. Thus, cooperation creates alliances and networks, makes be
22、tter use of skills and resources and encourages innovative business activities which improve local development. The diagonal cluster theoretical framework can also be useful as an interpretive model for the local development of convention destinations. It is a particularly interesting model to apply in the case of Italy because it supports the main guidelines defined by national tourism legislation. The national legislation reform on tourism defines the Tourism Local System (TLS) as homogeneous or integrated destinations,
