Barriers to the implementation of Virtual Networks in SMEs: the case of Tourism Networks

The new competitive landscape and the new information communication technologies (ICT) thrust for new business configurations for small and medium enterprises (SME) development and local competitiveness, based on the value creating potential of networks. In literature it has been extensively argued that ICT-driven networks could help firms to be more flexible and able to fast react to the changing business conditions. This paper focuses on the service sector, and in particular on the tourism industry, to explore the influence of industry specific factors on the implementation of virtual networks in SMEs. In particular starting from previous research, and through an in-depth field case study of tourism destination’s web initiatives, the aim of this paper is to investigate the reasons why emerging virtual networks in tourism have underdeveloped interactive, collaborative, and personalization features. The results highlight that industry specific factors such as the marketing orientation, the nature of the product, and fragmentation could hamper effective implementation of virtual networks in SMEs.