In Search of Entrepreneurial Innovation in the Australian Outdoor Hospitality Parks Sector

Abstract

Innovation has been lauded as a key ingredient in business success, and while several studies have examined the role of innovation in manufacturing and technology, fewer studies have explored its role in tourism., and even less in the caravan park industry. The notion of innovation has undergone a semantic stretch, to the point where it is tossed into many contexts as a strategic action step. The term is derived from Latin meaning "to introduce something new to the existing realm and order of things", and can be applied to products, services, processes, organization, and marketing. Much of the literature refers to innovation as being either incremental or radical, with the latter particularly referenced with technology. Ultimately, most innovations are improvements to what is already in place, designed to act as a point of differentiation, targeting primarily existing markets, and to a lesser extent, new markets.