Firm Size and Factors of Competitiveness in Micro Tourism Clusters: Ürgüp Case

Year 2023, Volume: 9 Issue: 1, 62 - 75, 21.11.2023

Nuray Topuz Cerrah , Bilge Armatlı Köroğlu

https://doi.org/10.26650/jot.2023.9.1.1330899

Abstract

The aim of this article is to reveal the relationship between firm size and the factors affecting tourism firm competitiveness in micro tourism clusters. Firm level competitiveness is discussed in relation to industry level, and the factors affecting firm competitiveness are defined in parallel to tourism cluster competitiveness. Structural characteristics of the tourism industry and cluster scale are also discussed in theoretical discussions. The results reveal that micro and small firms have lower partnership rate, difficulty in global marketing, lower foreign tourist rate, lower membership rate in collective bodies, lower education level of entrepreneurs, put less emphasis on certification, participate less in tourism decision-making processes, and take fewer measures to protect the environment. Therefore, micro and small firms have weaker network connections and associating sustainability automatically with small scale is wrong. It is also revealed that economies of scope and diagonal clustering work negatively in relation to firm size. Thus, it seems contradictory to associate economies of scope and diagonal clustering at the same time in micro tourism clusters. Medium and large firms are more advantageous in terms of factors of competitiveness; however, micro and small firms contribute to complementarity and regional competitiveness more.

Keywords

Firm size, firm competitiveness, tourism clusters, micro tourism clusters, Ürgüp/ Cappadocia

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