Adi Weidenfeld

Exploring the relationship between visitor attractions and events: definitions and management factors

The growing definitional debate on the terms ‘visitor attractions’ and ‘events’ highlights the need to compare their key determinants and management factors. The article elaborates on this definitional debate, by exploring existing definitions and developing an illustration of a continuum between visitor attractions and events. This is followed by a comparison of the management factors and key criteria in the effective management of visitor attractions and events. The findings indicate that while there are many similarities between the sectors, aspects such as spatio-temporality and levels of integration with the visitor attraction nucleus are identified as factors that differentiate them. In conclusion, the article determines that events should be examined separately from the visitor attraction sector due to their differing perspectives, measures, and management needs.

Spatial competition and agglomeration in the visitor attraction sector

This paper provides a theoretical and empirical contribution to understanding spatial competition by examining visitor attractions in two contrasting clusters of lower and higher levels of agglomeration of businesses in Cornwall, UK. The study found that competition is mainly for customers and labour and is related differently to the levels of agglomeration, spatial proximity and thematic product similarity between visitor attractions at the local compared with the regional scale. Location can be used differently for employing ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ competitive strategies. The study contributes to the knowledge on the spatiality of competition and the locational strategies of service businesses.

Cognitive and cultural proximity between service managers and customers in cross-border regions: knowledge transfer implications

ABSTRACT Knowledge transfer between customers and managers is an important source of new ideas for innovation in the service industries. In cross-border regions, inter-cultural interactions engender but also constrain knowledge transfers between actors even when actors share similar economic and technological knowledge bases. This theme is explored through an analysis of cognitive and cultural proximity between service managers and customers from “the other side” in a European cross-border region where the constituent regions have broadly similar national cultures: Tornio-Haparanda on the border between Finland and Sweden. Semi-structured in-depth interviews with 19 Swedish and Finnish managers of small and micro businesses serving customers from both sides were undertaken to gauge their perceptions of the impact of cultural and cognitive proximity to customers on learning interactions. The study adds to the emerging literature in this field by identifying seven elements of cognitive and cultural proximity including mentality, ways of solving problems, conservatism, shared language, focus on contextualised details, mentality, and use of similar technologies. It is also original for suggesting some the implications for the possible impacts of perceived cultural and cognitive proximity on cross-border knowledge transfer between customers and managers.

Knowledge-based urban development of cross-border twin cities

Knowledge-based urban development (KBUD) has recently emerged as a central topic of discussion among scholars and practitioners interested in urban development tools and policies. However, what has rarely been discussed before is whether KBUD can be achieved in a cross-border context. This paper sets out to propose an analytical framework for empirical studies on the shared KBUD processes of cross-border twin cities, based on indicators adapted from the literature on cross-border regional innovation systems. The proposed framework was tested with two cases: Helsinki-Tallinn and Copenhagen-Malmo. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the framework, guide potential further studies on KBUD and twin cities and raise relevant suggestions for urban policy-makers in border regions.

Identifying Cultural and Cognitive Proximity Between Managers and Customers in Tornio and Haparanda Cross-Border Region

Daily intercultural interactions in cross-border regions such as those between customers and managers can be a source of knowledge and ideas. However, such interactions can pose distinctive constraints and opportunities for learning and exchange of ideas. This study adopts a relatively fine–grained quantitative approach to study elements of cognitive and cultural proximity which have a major impact on these interactions. It is based on a survey of 91 managers of small service firms and 312 customers in the twin city of Tornio and Haparanda on the border between Finland and Sweden. Seven elements of proximity were identified and measured. Six elements of perceived cognitive and cultural proximity including values, conservative values towards new ideas, knowledge and use of technology, use of a foreign language, sufficiently focusing or providing specific details and ways of solving problems were found significant in terms of shaping perceptions of Swedish and Finnish managers and customers, which shape these interactions. The results enhance our understanding of how daily cross-border intercultural can be examined in the context of cross-border regional knowledge transfer.

Science and technology cooperation in cross-border regions: a proximity approach with evidence for Northern Europe

ABSTRACT Given the sheer number of cross-border regions (CBRs) within the EU, their socio-economic importance has been recognized both by policy-makers and academics. Recently, the novel concept of cross-border regional innovation system has been introduced to guide the assessment of integration processes in CBRs. A central focus of this concept is set on analyzing the impact of varying types of proximity (cognitive, technological, etc.) on cross-border cooperation. Previous empirical applications of the concept have, however, relied on individual case studies and varying methodologies, thus complicating and constraining comparisons between different CBRs. Here a broader view is provided by comparing 28 Northern European CBRs. The empirical analysis utilizes economic, science and technology (S&T) statistics to construct proximity indicators and measures S&T integration in the context of cross-border cooperation. The findings from descriptive statistics and exploratory count data regressions show that technological and cognitive proximity measures are significantly related to S&T cooperation activities (cross-border co-publications and co-patents). Taken together, our empirical approach underlines the feasibility of utilizing the proximity approach for comparative analyses in CBR settings.

Cooperation and competition during the resort lifecycle.

Abstract The Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC) model has been used on numerous occasions and situations to describe the destination development process but has rarely been used to explore more sophisticated and causal relationships between the development stages and other aspects of working relationships including cooperation and competition between tourism businesses in destinations. These relationships are influenced by the spatial proximity between individual firms at the local scale and agglomeration of tourism firms at the regional scale. Drawing on the knowledge of working relationships between tourism firms, this paper suggests an underlying conceptual framework for the study of the dynamic nature of the cooperation, competition, and spatial proximity between tourism firms and the interrelationships between these aspects throughout the TALC.