Microsoft Word 2007 ichrie conference Proceedings Final-Final 06-06-07. doc

 
2007 Annual International CHRIE Conference & Exposition 
419
NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES IN TOURISM CLUSTERS: A KNOWLEDGE 
MANAGEMENT APPROACH 
Marianna Sigala 
University of the Aegean 
Department of Business Administration 
Chios, Greece 
ABSTRACT 
Intense global competition and sophisticated tourism markets force tourism firms to increase their new 
product development processes in order to survive. Tourism firm’s competitiveness also depends on destinations’ 
ability to continually update their product, since destinations represent the major factor attracting tourism demand. 
Although knowledge is a competitive resource for developing new products, little is known on how knowledge 
management can contribute to New Product Development (NPD) processes in general and at the level of tourism 
destinations. This paper discusses the links between NPD and knowledge management, and then proposes a 
framework for evaluating the effectiveness of knowledge-based NPD activities of destination tourism clusters.