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This study aims to conduct a pertinent assessment of the concept of business competitiveness and how Portugal can progress in that field, for the sake of becoming a more sustainable and wealth-creator economy.

The research was elaborated with 65 in-depth interviews with expert persons from the Portuguese business ecosystem, who were asked to reflect on the state of the economy and competitiveness of the country.

There is much room for improvement in almost all areas of activity, in particular by promoting an innovative, value-adding and exporting private sector and a lighter and more efficient public sector. The conclusions point to modernisation of the Portuguese economy as a way of making it more competitive in a highly competitive and demanding global scenario.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first time that a reflection with experts of the local Portuguese economy has been carried out, especially after a difficult period of COVID.

Meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) tourism has established as a tourism segment that is growing in popularity. It is less seasonality dependent, promotes the offer of services and contributes to the development of the sector. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the competitiveness factors for the improvement of MICE tourism in the city of Mazatlan.

It was developed with a mixed approach, using quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques, such as interviews with experts, surveys of stakeholders in the tourism sector and documentary analysis. Based on the theoretical review, the following four competitiveness factors were defined for MICE tourism: 1) resource factors, 2) destination management factors, 3) conditioning factors of the environment and 4) conditioning factors of the demand, applying and importance-performance analysis.

The results indicate that the factors of competitiveness in the case of the study that had greater importance and better performance are the conditioning factors of the demand and resource factors. However, the development and implementation of comprehensive destination management strategies are required to improve this segment, as well as giving due importance to taking into account the important conditioning factors of the environment.

This study makes a theoretical contribution to the literature on the competitiveness of tourist destinations in the MICE segment by identifying the factors for its development, as well as the practical implications for the specific case study. In addition to this, it was identified that there are few empirical studies that analyze the factors that contribute to improving the competitiveness of this segment.

The current study is designed to investigate the factors that foster the framing of destination competitiveness and establish the factors that drive the contribution of tourism innovations to economic growth in smart tourism destinations.

A four-year panel data were extracted from the World Economic Forum's travel and tourism competitiveness index and data were analysed using Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood regression model.

The findings demonstrate that both the enabling environment and airport infrastructure significantly affect tourism's impact on the economy of the selected smart European tourism destinations. Conversely, human resources and general infrastructure display a negative correlation with tourism's contribution to the economy. However, no data in the sample support the idea that tourism policies, government prioritization or readiness of tourism information and communication technologies impact tourism's contribution to the economy. Additionally, the marginal effects indicate that improving the enabling environment and airport infrastructure can generate additional benefits for the economy through tourism.

The uniqueness of this study is the integration of smart tourism destinations with the measure of destination competitiveness to provide an empirical bridge that links tourism competitiveness to economic growth.

By conducting a longitudinal study, this study aims to investigate how the role of hotel attributes in destination competitiveness changed through the stages of pre-, amid and recovery from the crisis.

First, the latent Dirichlet allocation method was used to identify hotel attributes from 15,137 online reviews, and then a sentiment analysis was performed to determine tourist satisfaction with the subject attributes. Second, separate asymmetric impact competitor analyses were conducted for the three stages of the crisis, and their results were compared with understand how the role of the hotel attributes changed throughout the crisis.

The results revealed that the impacts of hotel attributes on tourist satisfaction and destination competitiveness differed significantly at each stage of the crisis.

This research expands the existing literature by offering valuable insights by elucidating the changing characteristics of hotel attributes at each crisis stage. The results extend the body of knowledge in destination management by providing evidence on the validity of asymmetric impact competitor analysis.

To fully understand the impact of a crisis (e.g. COVID-19) on destination competitiveness with a focus on the hotel sector, this research conducted a longitudinal study that covers three stages of the crisis (i.e. pre-, amid and post-crisis). Moreover, unlike previous studies, this research considers the asymmetric relationships between service attributes and overall tourist satisfaction, as well as competitors’ information.

This study aims to (1) develop a structural equation model in understanding the relationships between corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and contractor competitiveness and (2) test the moderating effect of firm sizes on this relationship.

A literature review showed an urgent need to investigate the relationship between CSR implementation and contractor competitiveness holistically. CSR and contractor competitiveness variables were identified through the literature review and discussions with experienced professionals. Using a survey questionnaire, a total of 252 completed questionnaires were received. A structural equation modeling technique was then applied to analyze the data collected. Multigroup analysis was employed to test the moderating effect of firm sizes on the relationship between CSR implementation and contractor competitiveness.

The results indicated a strong relationship between CSR implementation and contractor competitiveness. This relationship is not moderated by firm size.

This research is one of the first studies to holistically explore the linkages between CSR implementation and contractor competitiveness. The findings can be served as a solid foundation to promote CSR performance in construction firms. Contractors of different sizes are suggested to implement CSR activities to foster competitiveness.

The purpose of this study is to recognize the empirical inhibitors of knowledge management (KM)in value co-creation in the dairy production context.

This study undertook a qualitative multiple-case study strategy. The datas collected comes from five players in the dairy sector that jointly co-create value. In addition to in-depth interviews with the actors, this study considers complementary documents, with reports, management flowcharts. Content analysis was conducted based on Bardin (2011).

This study identified three empirical barriers for KM in managing value co-creation in dairy production. The inhibitors observed were related to ineffective communication among stakeholders, organizational culture and high competitiveness. This study identified that sharing and KM among actors is a way to stimulate innovative solutions via value co-creation in dairy production.

This study explores the context in the Center-South of Brazil; therefore, it is not generalizable.

The findings help the managers to deal with the KM inhibitors in the value co-creation context and define actions based on the strategies listed to overcome the barriers identified in dairy production. This study can also help managers to change the mindset of organizations by adding KM to the organizational culture, as it identifies existing barriers in the sector and contributes by suggesting attitudes and tools capable of overcoming such difficulties.

Professionals in the dairy sector, especially the small rural producer, can have access to knowledge and professional training through the value co-creation among actors in the dairy sector. In this sense, the milk quality, for example, the nutritional characteristics and traceability of the milk, can be improved for the final consumer.

This study reveals the empirical inhibitors of KM presents in the value co-creation in the dairy production context. Additionally, insights to deal with the lack of sharing information and knowledge among multiple actors.

This study aims to measure the competitiveness of top apparel exporting nations competing with China in different apparel product categories across the global environment.

Compound annual growth rate, trade competitiveness, market share percentages, revealed comparative advantage and its variant normalized revealed comparative advantage using two-, four- and six-digit harmonized system codes for the period of 2016–2021 were used to understand the comparative advantage of competing apparel exporting nations.

The findings revealed that China still holds a more decisive comparative advantage than its competitors over the majority of the product categories within the knitted or not knitted apparel and clothing accessories. The other competing nations hold better export competitiveness over China in specific categories. However, that is not sufficient to be the “Next China.”

The study has important implications for different stakeholders of the global apparel industry, such as governments, industry officials, policymakers, investors, researchers and students. The study’s limitations arise from using product categories as competitiveness indicators, notably relying on a macro level approach for measurement while the micro level perspective is not analyzed, which constitutes a significant limitation of the study.

This research thoroughly analyzes the competitive position of the top ten apparel-exporting countries in the global market.

There is a strong consensus among scholars that the international competitiveness of companies strongly depends on the support of institutions, which reduces uncertainty in transactions by giving form to economic interactions, while less attention was paid to the role of international standards within this context. This study intends to propose its contribution by deepening the role of process certifications in the competitiveness and internationalization strategies of companies, with specific reference to the wood-furniture sector.

Data were collected using a questionnaire survey distributed via computer-assisted web interviewing (CAWI) methodology and sent to a sample of 2,845 Italian companies which operate in the wood-furniture industry, using simple random sampling. Thanks to the survey administration, 228 companies participated to the survey.

The study shows that it is companies operating in international markets that define this tool as relevant; this underlines how certification is seen as a kind of business card for entering international markets. In this context, the role of business leadership emerges as fundamental in the practical definition of the objectives to be set by adopting a quality management systems and in the subsequent commitment to obtain them.

Up to now, the literature has taken these elements into analysis mainly considering the consumers' perspective. In sectors with a higher content of innovation, technology and design, such as the wood-furniture sector, the literature appears to be poor in terms of contributions.

Inland shipping has been extensively recognised as a sustainable, efficient and good alternative to rail and road modes of transportation. In recent years, various authorities and academic researchers have advocated shifting from road to other sustainable modes like inland waterway transport (IWT) or rail transport. Academic work on modernisation and technological innovations to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of waterborne transportation is becoming apparent as a growing body of literature caused by the need to achieve a sustainable transport system. Thus, it became apparent to explore the research trends on IWT.

A systematic and structured literature review study was employed in this paper to identify the challenges and concepts in modernising inland waterways for freight transportation. The review analysed 94 articles published in 54 journals from six well-known databases between 2010 and 2022.

The key findings of this review are that despite various challenges confronting the sector, there have been successful cases of technological advancement in the industry. The main interest among scholars is improving technical and economic performance, digitalisation, and safety and environmental issues. The review revealed that most of the literature is fragmented despite growing interest from practitioners and academic scholars. Academic research to address the strategic objectives, including strengthening competitiveness (shipbuilding, hydrodynamics, incorporating artificial intelligence into the decision-making process, adopting blockchain technology to ensure transparency and security in the transactions, new technologies for fleets adaptation to climate change, more effective handling, maintenance and rehabilitation technologies), matching growth and changing trade patterns (intermodal solutions and new logistics approaches) are major causes of concerns.

By employing the approach of reviewing previously available literature on IWT review papers, this review complements the existing body of literature in the field of IWT by providing in a single paper a consolidation of recent state-of-the-art research on technological developments and challenges for inland waterways freight transport in the intermodal supply chain that can act as a single resource to keep researchers up to date with the most recent advancements in research in the domain of inland waterway freight transport. Additionally, this review identified gaps in the literature that may inspire new research themes in the field of IWT.

The purpose of this review paper is to address the need for mapping the thematic structure of fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) in the context of tourism and hospitality research, in response to the growing interest in this methodology.

This study conducts a comprehensive systematic review using the SPAR-4-SLR procedure to produce a scientific map of top-tier research using the fsQCA technique in tourism and hospitality studies.

A major finding of this review investigation is the identification of six knowledge clusters: business competitiveness in the hospitality sector; psychoanalysis of tourist behaviour and satisfaction; entrepreneurship in the tourism and hospitality sector; tourism business ecosystem; sustainable tourism; and service quality in the tourism and hospitality sectors.

Although this review assessment relied heavily on articles published in prestigious journals, it does not rule out the idea that other sources, such as conference proceedings, can provide valuable insight.

Novel insights into the intellectual structure of tourism and hospitality research using the fsQCA technique, as well as ideas for future exploration in this domain, are presented in this review.