Coopetition and sustainable competitive advantage. The case of tourist destinations

This research paper focuses on coopetition among small and medium tourism enterprises (SMEs), and has two objectives. First it makes a theoretical contribution by establishing a model of variables that induce coopetition, the degrees to which coopetition exists and the relationship between those variables and firm performance. Second, it tests the modeling in the context of the tourism industry in Naples and Sorrento, Italy. The former comprises a sample of 149 accommodation providers and the latter 169. Building on survey data and local linkages between accommodation providers and SMEs in tourism it is found that coopetition improves performance but a key determinant is not only numbers of links but also acquired trust between partners.