The book represents a state of the art review of key research on small firms in tourism in relation to European integration. It is, therefore, an essential resource for those engaged in research relating to tourism SMEs in transitional economies throughout the world. In addition, it is an essential purchase for the increasing number of students studying modules on small businesses as part of their final year undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes. One of the key features of this book is its clear focus on breaking new ground by reporting recent research and theorising on small firms in tourism. In many cases, the analysis provided by contributors will carefully relate small business behaviour to issues of wider concern to tourism academics and policy-makers. It is also distinctive for its overt emphasis on contrasting European experiences. These characteristics contrast with the existing literature on small firms in tourism and hospitality, particularly in Europe. Previous literature achieved their aims by providing valuable syntheses of existing literature. Now that such 'taking of stock' has been undertaken, there is a demand for more overtly research-based texts that are nevertheless accessible to a wide audience. This book does exactly that.
Small firms in the new Europe: an overview (M. Augustyn and R. Thomas); Competitive advantage in virtual teams of e-Entrepreneurs: evidence from the European tourism and hospitality industry (H. Matlay and P. Westhead); The economic performance of the Slovak tourism businesses (V. Bala?); Strategic imperatives for tourism SMEs in Europe (C. Dale and N. Robinson); The role of SMEs in tourism development: An industrial district approach applied to Killarney, Ireland (Z. Mottiar and T. Ryan); Social enterprise in the UK Tourism industry (J. Pheby); Scottish rural tourism enterprises and the sustainability of their communities: a local Agenda 21 approach (D. Leslie); Tourism SMEs in the context of sustainability: a case study of Pomerania Voivodship, Poland (B. Marciszewska and A. Staszewska); Developing rural tourism in Finland through entrepreneurship (R. Komppula); Linking rural heritage and traditions with tourism SMEs in Slovenia (S. Sibila Lebe); Strategies for small and medium sized hotels in the Slovak Republic (M. Gueik, V. Marakova, I. ?ipkova); The Effectiveness of Promoting Package Tours by Polish Travel Agents (J. Staszewska, J. Klisinski, I. Sowier-Kasprzyk); Encouraging enhanced customer relationship management in accommodation SMEs: the case of Seville, Spain (M. Castellanos-Verdugo, Ma de los Angeles Oviedo-Garcia and N. Veerapermal); Motivation and business performance: a case study of tourism SMEs in Norway (H. Holmengen); Tourism SMEs in an aspirant member state: Turkey (S. Mehter Aykin and V. Altintas); Small business in the tourism and hospitality industry of Russia (Vi. Saprunova); Small firms in the new Europe: key issues, conclusions and recommendations (M. Augustyn and R. Thomas).
