Knowledge sharing in tourism and hospitality

[Extract] What does it mean for an industry to adopt a ‘knowledge-based’ platform? While the concept appears logical, the actual path to better creation and utilization of knowledge is less clear. Prior authors have discussed developing a knowledge approach as a necessity for tourism organizations to be competitive (Cooper, 2005; Jafari, 1990). This is because the context for individual companies and the industry includes operating in conditions of increasing uncertainty, shorter product life cycles, rapidly developing technologies and more intrusive regulatory constraints. Knowledge management (KM) is seen to be an important response. “To adapt to continuously changing business conditions and to generate innovations, companies need to acquire new market knowledge, administer and exploit their knowledge stock and share knowledge across organisational entities. . . In short, companies need to engage in knowledge management” (Schlegelmilch & Penz, 2002). Knowledge is considered a company’s most valuable resource (Buckley & Carter, 2002; Zack, 1999b) and also an individual’s source of employment opportunities (Kodama, 2005). Tourism destinations have been enjoined to develop knowledge infrastructure (Cooper, 2002). The seminal economist Alfred Marshall characterised knowledge as the most powerful engine of production (Marshall, 1890)