APPROACHES FOR BUILDING UP OF INTANGIBLE ASSETS IN BULGARIAN TOURISM INDUSTRY

APPROACHES FOR BUILDING UP OF INTANGIBLE ASSETS IN BULGARIAN TOURISM INDUSTRY

PRESLAV DIMITROV

Abstract

Tourism companies in Bulgaria often stand in front of a need to improve their performances in comparison to their competitors. And the most widely used approach in this regard is the claim on uniqueness and unrepeatability. However, any country in the world, any tourism destination can claim upon the uniqueness of its natural and anthropogenic resources in one way or another. Therefore, just sticking to “unique resources” cannot guarantee, always and in sufficient scale, the true uniqueness and competitiveness needed by the hotel companies. Here, one possible solution comes in the face of the intangible assets management and the resulting control over the information flows in, within and out of the hotel businesses. The realtourism uniqueness and competitiveness do come as a result of the proper investments in the intangible assets, regarded as: (i) specific skills, knowledge and experience of each of the hotel’s employees (the human capital); (ii) written and incorporated knowledge in the working process and systems of the hotel (the structural capital); (iii) the abilities and skills of the hotel employees to cooperate and work together based on mutual trust (the social capital). And the process of the “organizational learning” can bring the level ofthe intangible assets (often also regarded as the company’s intellectual capital) to a stage, which can easily facilitate the reaching of the hotel companies’ strategic goals.

Key words

intangible assets building-up; uniqueness,tourism

References

Berger, F. Ferguson, D. H., INNovation: Creativity Techniques for Hospitality Managers, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1990;

Bosworth, D., Jobome, G., The Measurement and Management of Risk in R&D and Innovation, International journal of Technology Management, Vol. 18, Nos. 5/6/7/8, pp. 476-499, 1999;

Bosworth, D., L., Stoneman P., A., Feasibility study for the development of an innovation
scoreboard, Final Report to the DTI, London, Stoy Hayward, 1994;

Dimitrov, P., Innovation Risk Management in Tourism, Heron Press, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2003;

Hussi, T., Ahonen, G., Managing intangible Assets, A Question of Integration and Delicate Balance, Journal of Intellectual Capital, Vol. 3, No.3, 2002, pp. 277-286;

Klaila, D., Hall, L., Using Intellectual Assets as a Success Strategy, Journal of Intellectual Capital, Vol. 1, No.1, 2000, pp. 47-53;

Knowledge Management, edited by Morey D., Maybury M., Thuraisingham B., The MIT Press, Massachusetts, USA, 2000;

Madgerova, R., Entrepreneurship and Small Business in Tourism – Particularities, Problems, Solutions, Intellect A, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2004;

Marr, B., Adams, C., The Balanced Scorecard and Intangible Assets: Similar Ideas, Unaligned Concepts, Measuring Business Excellence, Vol. 8, No.3, 2004, pp. 18-17;

Nanoka I., Teece D.J., Managing Industrial Knowledge, Creation Transfer and Utilization, SAGE Publications, London, UK, 2003.

Stankova, M., Possibilities for improvement of the tour operator product, XVII National Scientific Conference with International Participation “Quality – For Better Life’ 2006”, November 9-10, 2006, Sofia, Bulgaria;

Stoilova, D., Financing Rural Areas Development in Bulgaria, International Scientific Symposium “Rural Areas in the Modern Development Conditions”,Vol.2, PMF, p.509-527, Institute of Geography, Ohrid, Macedonia, 2006.

Full Text: PDF (English)