Cluster and firm-specific antecedents of organizational innovation

Based on the idea of the tourist destination as a cluster, this paper proposes a model to explain the relationships between exploration and exploitation capabilities – whether originating in the cluster or firm-specific – and a firm’s organizational innovation. This study turns to the resource-based view to provide a theory-based concept of shared capabilities accumulated in a tourist destination or cluster, together with valid measurement instruments to capture them. Our conceptual model highlights the theoretical and practical benefits for firms of being embedded in a cluster to develop both exploration and exploitation capabilities. The study also analyses the interaction between cluster-shared capabilities and firm-specific capabilities in exploration and exploitation to obtain two types of firm organizational innovation: radical and incremental. Some implications for managers and policy-makers are presented, highlighting the importance of tight integration in managing firm and cluster resources and capabilities.