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How to Identify Regional Specialization Measurement of Clusters in Tourism Industry?

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Soft Computing in Management and Business Economics

Part of the book series: Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing ((STUDFUZZ,volume 287))

Abstract

Clusters theory and their application have been subject to several theoretical and practical approaches within the framework of regional economic development throughout the last decade and worldwide. Many studies have gone about identifying clusters in diverse contexts, nevertheless fundamentally based upon qualitative or quantitative (rarely both) approaches tending to overlook fundamental methodological aspects inherent to the operational functioning of clusters. Furthermore, very few have focused on the tourism sector with recourse to regional specialisation measurements. This research aims to contribute towards narrowing the empirical research methodological shortcomings through the proposal and application of a quantitative methodology capable of robustly identifying and locating tourism industry clusters in Portugal. As results we have identified a specific number of clusters distributed across ten activity tourism sectors related to accommodation, restaurants, entertainment and events with recourse to regional specialisation measurements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Management of Idanha-a-Nova, Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, Largo do Município, 6060-163, Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal

    Cristina Estevão

  2. NECE – Research Unit of Business Science, UBI, Largo do Município, 6060-163, Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal

    Cristina Estevão

  3. Management and Economics Department, University of Beira Interior (UBI), Pólo IV – Edifício Ernesto Cruz, 6200-209, Covilhã, Portugal

    João J. M. Ferreira

  4. NECE – Research of Business Science, UBI, Pólo IV – Edifício Ernesto Cruz, 6200-209, Covilhã, Portugal

    João J. M. Ferreira

Authors
  1. Cristina Estevão
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  2. João J. M. Ferreira
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business Administration, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 690, Barcelona, 08034, Spain

    Anna M. Gil-Lafuente

  2. Department of Business Administration, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 690, Barcelona, 08034, Spain

    Jaime Gil-Lafuente

  3. Department of Business Administration, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 690, Barcelona, 08034, Spain

    José M. Merigó-Lindahl

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Estevão, C., Ferreira, J.J.M. (2012). How to Identify Regional Specialization Measurement of Clusters in Tourism Industry?. In: Gil-Lafuente, A., Gil-Lafuente, J., Merigó-Lindahl, J. (eds) Soft Computing in Management and Business Economics. Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing, vol 287. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-30451-4_24

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-30451-4_24

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