Synopses & Reviews
Dr Rhodri Thomas has edited and co-authored five books and written extensively for various refereed journals. His work won Best Article awards in 1995 and 2001 in IJCHM and QAE respectively. In addition, he has contributed various chapters to other edited collections and made various national and international conference presentations. He is a member of the following Editorial Boards: International Journal of Entrepreneurship; Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, and Local Economy. He is Convenor of the ATLAS Tourism SMEs Research Network (ATLAS currently has members in more than seventy countries).
Dr Marcjanna Augustyn's research interests include strategic management and quality management within tourism SMEs as well as European tourism policy. She has published 26 pieces of work and presented 24 conference papers. Her research work received a grade 4 in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise within Unit of Assessment 43: Business and Management Studies: Tourism. Marcjanna also acts as the Book Reviews Editor for "Tourism Analysis. An Interdisciplinary Journal" and is a member of the Tourism Society (UK) and AIEST: International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism (Switzerland).
Synopsis
The book represents a state of the art review of key research on small firms in tourism in relation to European integration. It is, therefore, an essential resource for those engaged in research relating to tourism SMEs in transitional economies throughout the world. In addition, it is an essential purchase for the increasing number of students studying modules on small businesses as part of their final year undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes. One of the key features of this book is its clear focus on breaking new ground by reporting recent research and theorising on small firms in tourism. In many cases, the analysis provided by contributors will carefully relate small business behaviour to issues of wider concern to tourism academics and policy-makers. It is also distinctive for its overt emphasis on contrasting European experiences. These characteristics contrast with the existing literature on small firms in tourism and hospitality, particularly in Europe. Previous literature achieved their aims by providing valuable syntheses of existing literature. Now that such 'taking of stock' has been undertaken, there is a demand for more overtly research-based texts that are nevertheless accessible to a wide audience. This book does exactly that.
Table of Contents
(Tentative) Introduction: Tourism SMEs in the new Europe -- Supporting small business development -- a critical review / European Union initiatives for small business development in tourism -- Tourism and small business development in Poland -- An evaluation of EU programmes to support tourism SME growth in Ireland -- a comparative study of Italy and France / Training and development support -- a case study of Greece / Promoting small-scale social ownership for sustainable development -- Economic development -- The economic performance of small Slovak tourism businesses -- The informal economy and Denmarks SME restaurant sector -- the case of Slovenia / The development of rural areas through tourism entrepreneurship -- a review of job creation / Tourism SMEs inTurkey -- implications for rural economies and the environment / Farm tourism in the Finland -- Perspectives on business practices -- European considerations / Entrepreneurial learning in small firms -- survey evidence from Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom / The characteristics of family firms -- a review of European evidence / The utilisation of graduates in small and medium sized enterprises -- Marketing practice in small Croatian hotels -- a case study of Hungary / The role of networks and networking among small firms in tourism.