157-171

• Yilmaz, Burcu Selin

In order to survive in today's chaotic business environment, small companies must find and use creative techniques as a source of competitive advantage, since the rules of competitive game of business have changed significantly. Therefore, changing the ways of doing things could be considered as the only choice to become successful for entrepreneurs. From a strategic perspective, the key to business success is to develop a unique competitive advantage that creates value for customers and is difficult for competitors to duplicate. As one of the largest and fastest growing sectors of the global economy, tourism consists of many small and medium size enterprises which try to be successful in an extremely competitive and rapidly changing business environment. To create competitive advantage in this environment, a small tourism enterprise has to choose a powerful strategy. The number of strategies from which the small tourism business owner can choose is infinite. Tourism businesses, like the ones in other sectors, have been exposed the forces of rapidly changing competitive environment; they have to find the ways to survive and grow under the rapid changes and uncertainty brought by globalization. In this study, after evaluating former studies on strategies of gaining competitive advantage and its applications in small and medium size enterprises in tourism, the obstacles affecting small businesses in tourism and their competitive advantage strategies are examined by conducting an empirical study. In addition, based on a hypothetical example from the tourist sector (a small enterprise newly established by an entrepreneur who seeks to find a good position in the marketplace) some strategies which can be chosen by the small business owner in order to create competitive advantage are suggested.

• Economics and Business

• Τουρισμός
• Business management

competitive advantage, strategic management, entrepreneurship, tourism, competitive strategies

Περιέχει πίνακες και βιβλιογραφία