Research on the Relationship between Novelty-Centered Business Model Innovation and Competitive Advantages of Sports Tourism—Based on the Empirical Analysis of Guizhou Province, China ()
1. Introduction
At present, the national and local governments attach great importance to the development of China’s sports tourism industry. Many provinces and cities in China regard it as a local key industry or even a pillar industry. According to statistics from CNKI, more than 7000 research articles on sports tourism have been published. The current keywords for sports tourism research focus on the discussion of industrial integration, development paths, models and strategies. Although the number of existing research literatures is very large and presents a high-growth trend, as far as the current research status is concerned, there are still the following deficiencies: The first is the discussion on the concept and model of sports tourism research and insufficient attention in other directions based on business model innovation, competitive advantage, and lack of empirical analysis and verification based on sample data. Second, as a relatively innovative sports tourism industry, the construction of its competitive advantage is often closely related to factors such as strategic flexibility and dynamic capabilities in the organization, only a small amount of literature has simply explored the simple linear relationship between model innovation and competitive advantage, which needs to be further explored in the depth of research. So, based on the investigation and research of the sports tourism industry practice in Guizhou Province, with marketing dynamic capabilities as the research entry point, the role of novelty-centered business model innovation and competitive advantage is discussed in depth. That is, whether a new type of novelty-centered business model innovation in a sports tourism enterprise can have an inverted U-shaped impact on the competitive advantage of the company, and whether the strength of the company’s marketing dynamic ability is positively regulating the U-shaped relationship between the two. Introducing business models and marketing dynamic capabilities into sports tourism industry research can not only enrich and improve the basic research on sports tourism, but also provide thinking space and theoretical guidance for the development of sports tourism industry in Guizhou Province and other regions.
2. Literature Review and Research Hypothesis
2.1. Novelty-Centered Business Model Innovation and Competitive Advantage
With the increasingly fierce market competition, the original business model cannot keep the company’s sustainable competitive advantage and economic growth, and the company often solves the dilemma through innovative business models. For example, the launch of iTunes by Apple, which has revolutionized the operating model of the music industry, has contributed to Apple’s continued competitive advantage and performance. So, scholars in academic circles look at the relationship between business model innovation and competitive advantage. What kind of changes will happen to business performance through business model innovation, scholars have different views on the relationship between the two. For example, Halecker, Bickmann, & Katharina, (2014) points out that the business model innovation has a negative correlation with the competitive advantage of the company, and believes that the former has a negative impact on improving the latter. But more scholars hold another point of view, they all confirmed the positive effect of business model innovation on maintaining the competitive advantage of enterprises through their own research. For example, scholars Teece (2007) and other scholars consider business model innovation as the most important way to create competitive advantages. Chinese scholar Sun & Shen (2015) and other researchers also found that novelty-centered business model innovation has a very positive effect on the establishment and maintenance of corporate competitive advantage. Li Wei (2017) affirmed that the novelty-centered business model innovation has a positive impact on the acquisition of competitive advantages of enterprises, and through research on manufacturing SMEs in China, he pointed out that there is a “new boundary” in innovation of new business models. On the basis of the above scholars, this paper believes that the novelty-centered business model innovation by enterprises in the tourism industry ecosystem is beneficial to the acquisition of competitive advantages. But there is not a simple linear relationship. On the one hand, there is a “leading advantage” in business model innovation. At first, companies can increase market share and consolidate market position through business model innovation, thereby gaining a period of competitive advantage in the industry. However, as competition continues to advance, Compared with other companies in the market, the “leading advantage” of business model innovation will be reduced, and this relative competitive advantage will gradually disappear. On the other hand, new-type effects do not always exist, but there are “new boundaries”. New-type business models will gradually reduce their attractiveness to stakeholders over time, and the continuous decline of model novelty will lead to Competitive advantage is declining. The research object of this article is the sports tourism industry in Guizhou Province. Sports tourism is an emerging industry in China. At present, sports tourism in Guizhou is booming. Under this background, Guizhou Province wants to occupy a certain position in the domestic and even international markets and obtain sustained competition advantage, must continue to innovate business models. Based on this, this article attempts to explore the relationship between novelty-centered business model innovation and competitive advantage of sports tourism enterprises in Guizhou Province. And put forward the following research hypotheses:
H1: Inverted U-shaped relationship between novelty-centered business model innovation and competitive advantage of sports tourism enterprises in Guizhou Province.
2.2. Moderating Effects of Marketing Dynamic Capabilities
The concept of marketing dynamic capabilities was proposed by scholars such as Foley, Vorhies, & Bush (2005). They see marketing dynamics as a process and convention that can adjust the business to adapt to changes in customer preferences, economics, and other external conditions. But they have not done in-depth research on marketing dynamic capabilities. Subsequently, in 2009, D.S. Bruni et al. pointed out that marketing dynamic capability is the ability of an enterprise to adapt to market and technological changes by creating and using integrated market knowledge and marketing resources. In the same year, scholars such as Fang and Zou proposed that marketing dynamic capabilities are a series of cross-process adaptability and efficiency for effectively creating customer value. Although scholars have proposed concepts on marketing dynamics that are not completely consistent, some common points can be seen from their definitions. The first, they all incorporate the dynamic capability theory and marketing capability elements into it; Second, they both emphasize the dynamic nature of marketing dynamic capabilities and try to overcome the “static” shortcomings of traditional theories; Third, they both focus on companies’ response to environmental changes . Based on the above points of view, the authors continue to inherit their research and believe that marketing dynamic capabilities are “the responsiveness and efficiency of cross-sectoral business processes for companies to create and deliver customer value when responding to market changes.”
From the literature on marketing dynamic capabilities, many scholars have linked it to corporate performance and competitive advantage. Scholars have explored the relationship between the two through different methods. Zahra and Winter pointed out that when companies do not need to use this capability, it will increase the cost of the company and harm the performance of the company. However, more scholars affirm the positive impact of marketing dynamics on corporate competitive advantage, and believe that companies with marketing dynamics have a competitive advantage over companies lacking marketing dynamics. Given that with Xu, Li, & Liang, (2011) point that marketing dynamic capabilities are capabilities that can help an enterprise develop, it urges companies to actively identify the market environment and actively explore market opportunities in order to discover new changes in market demand and tap potential market demand. The author believes that marketing dynamic capabilities are companies that recognize the market and understand changes in the market environment and market demand, so as to appropriately adjust and integrate their own resources to adapt to changes in the market and technology, maintain market share, and obtain sustainable a capability to develop motivation. In addition, in terms of novelty-centered business model innovation, marketing dynamic capabilities are conducive to promoting the innovation activities of enterprises, establishing and allocating market resources to identify, create, and deliver customer value to gain a competitive advantage. Based on this, this article proposes the following research hypotheses on the relationship between marketing dynamic capabilities, novelty-centered business model innovation, and competitive advantage:
H2: The dynamic marketing ability has a positive regulating effect on the inverted U-shaped relationship between the novelty-centered business model innovation and competitive advantage of sports tourism enterprises in Guizhou Province.
Based on the above research assumptions, this paper introduces marketing
dynamic capabilities as moderating variables in the relationship between novelty-centered business model innovation and competitive advantage, and constructs a conceptual model of the three (Figure 1).
3. Research Design
3.1. Samples and Data Sources
At present, the national and local governments attach great importance to the development of China’s sports tourism industry. As an ideal place for outdoor sports, Guizhou Province has prioritized its development as a key local industry or even a pillar industry. Taking into account the critical period of booming sports tourism industry in Guizhou Province, the implementation of business model innovation is the path to sustainable competitive advantage, this article selects the sports tourism companies in Guizhou Province that have completed business model innovation (the number of companies is less than 1000) as the analysis object, and selects senior management personnel who have a certain understanding of marketing dynamic capabilities and business model innovation as the research objects. Study the relationship between marketing dynamics, novelty-centered business model innovation, and corporate competitive advantage. This survey uses a structured questionnaire. All variables in the questionnaire are scored using a Likert five-point scale. Issue survey questionnaires to companies operating sports tourism projects in Guizhou, and immediately return the questionnaires after completing the instructions. During the formal survey, 300 questionnaires were distributed and 294 were recovered. After filling out the random and invalid questionnaires, 224 questionnaires were finally valid, which met the needs of empirical analysis. There were 149 males, accounting for 66.5%, and 75 females, accounting for 33.5%. Most of them are in the 30 - 40 age range, accounting for 83%. In addition, the working years of respondents in this industry are mostly concentrated in the 5 - 10 year range, accounting for 88%.
3.2. Variable Measure
Explanatory variables: novelty-centered business model innovation (NVS). The measurement of novelty-centered business model innovation in this paper uses the scale of Christoph Zott and Raphael Amit. On the basis of the business model innovation measurement index system, the corresponding scale is designed in combination with the specific practical research of this paper. And select the following 6 items to measure the innovation of novelty-centered business model, such as “the business model on the unit provides new products, services and information combinations”, “the unit is good at adopting novel and innovative ways to closely connect various partners”, “this unit actively learns from other industries’ innovative and innovative trading models in this industry” (Varadarajan & Jayachandran, 1999) (Table 1).
Explained variable: competitive advantage (CA). The design of this article on competitive advantage draws on the research results of Vorries and Sigalas and other scholars. Combined with the specific practical research of this paper, the corresponding scale is designed. And choose the following 6 items to measure the competitive advantage, such as “Compared with competitors, the unit’s product or service quality is better”, “Compared with competitors, the unit’s product market share has grown rapidly”, “and Compared with competitors, the unit’s products are in an advantageous position in the market” (Vorhies, Morgan, & Autry, 2009; Sigalas, Economou, & Georgopoulos, 2013) (Table 2).
Moderator: Marketing dynamic capability (MDC). Regarding the measurement of manipulated variables in this paper, a scale developed by Li Wei (2015) is used. Select the following 11 items to measure marketing dynamic capabilities, such as “Enterprises can detect important changes in market demand in a timely manner”, “Enterprises’ important marketing decisions can be adjusted in a timely manner according to environmental changes in execution”, “Enterprises are good at comprehensive use of multiple Marketing to target customers” (Table 3).
Control variables: In order to study the effect of independent variables on dependent variables as accurately as possible, this paper controls other variables that affect the competitive advantage of enterprises. In this study, the size of the company (number of employees) and the age of the company (time of establishment) were used as control variables.
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Table 1. Measurement items of Novelty-centered business model.
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Table 2. Measurement items of competitive advantage.
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Table 3. Measurement items of marketing dynamic capabilities.
4. Empirical Test
4.1. Reliability and Validity Test
In this study, Cronbach’s α (commonly considered to be better than α > 0.7) and combined reliability CR (commonly considered to be better than CR > 0.6) were used as the evaluation indexes for variable reliability test. Perform a confirmatory factor analysis on the hypothetical model, examine the factor load factor (generally consider the load factor > 0.5 is better) and the average variance extraction value AVE (generally consider AVE > 0.5 as the best) for validity testing.
After calculation, the Cronbach’s α values of the innovative business model innovation, competitive advantage, and marketing dynamic ability are 0.949, 0.928, and 0.933, respectively; the CR values are 0.963, 0.931, and 0.959, indicating that the reliability of the latent variable in this study performs well. The degree test passed; both the variable factor loading coefficient and AVE are above the standard value, indicating that the measurement model has a good aggregation validity (Table 4).
In addition, the discriminant validity test shows that the three-factor model has a better fit than the two-factor and single-factor models (Table 5).
4.2. Descriptive Statistical Test
SPSS 21.0 was used to perform descriptive statistics and correlation analysis on the sample data. The analysis results show that the scale of the control variable is positively correlated with the age of the company, which is in line with people’s basic cognition of enterprise development. As the age of the company increases, the size of the company (the number of companies) will gradually expand.
There is a significant positive correlation between novelty-centered business model innovation and competitive advantage (r = 0.322, P < 0.01), which is consistent with existing research results, and marketing dynamics and competitive advantage have a significant positive effect (r = 0.246, P < 0.01), the positive effect on innovation with novelty-centered business model innovation is not significant. Descriptive statistical tests provided preliminary support to verify the hypothesis of this study (Table 6).
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Table 4. Test results of main indicators of reliability and validity.
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Table 5. Confirmatory factor analysis.
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Table 6. Correlation analysis results of variables.
Note: * means P < 0.05, ** means P < 0.01.
4.3. Hypothetical Test
4.3.1. Test of Inverted U-Shape Relationship between Novelty-Centered Business Model Innovation and Competitive Advantage
In this study, based on the test method proposed by Baron and Kenny (1986), a causal stepwise regression method is used to test the inverted U-shaped relationship between novelty-centered business model innovation and competitive advantage. To make the test results more accurate, the data is decentralized before testing. First, model 1 (M1) incorporates control variable and independent variable novelty-centered business model innovation into the regression of competitive advantage of the dependent variable. Secondly, Model 2 (M2) incorporates the squared term of the dependent variable novelty-centered business model innovation into regression based on M1.
According to the data in Table 4, the novelty-centered business model innovation and competitive advantage have a significant positive effect (r = 0.271, P < 0.001). After the independent variable novelty-centered business model innovation is included in the regression, there is still a significant positive impact on competitive advantage (r = 0.332, P < 0.001), while the square term of novelty-centered business model innovation has a significant negative impact on competitive advantage (r = −0.244, P < 0.001). Therefore, there is a significant inverted U-shaped relationship between novelty-centered business model innovation and competitive advantage. Hypothesis 1 is verified (Table 7).
4.3.2. Test on the Moderating Role of Marketing Dynamic Capabilities
In order to verify the regulating effect of marketing dynamic capability, First, find the interaction term between the novelty-centered business model innovation and marketing dynamic capabilities, and include the interaction term in the regression model M2 to obtain model M3; Subsequently, the interaction term between the innovative square term of novelty-centered business model and the marketing dynamic ability is obtained, and the interaction term is incorporated into the regression model M3, thereby obtaining the model M4.
From Table 4, we can see that there is a significant positive relationship between the interaction terms of the novelty-centered business model innovation and marketing dynamic capabilities and competitive advantage (β = 0.173, P < 0.001). There is a significant positive relationship between the square term of novelty-centered business model innovation and the interactive term of marketing dynamic capability and competitive advantage (β = 0.196, P < 0.001), so Hypothesis 2 is verified, that is, Marketing dynamics play a moderating role in the inverted U-shaped relationship between novelty-centered business model innovation and competitive advantage (Figure 2). Higher marketing dynamics enhance the positive effect of low-novel business model innovation on competitive advantage, reduced the negative effect of highly innovative business model innovation on competitive advantage.
Through the above analysis, the results of this study can be obtained (Table 8).
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Figure 2. Effect of marketing dynamic capability adjustment.
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Table 7. Hierarchical regression results.
Note: * means P < 0.05, ** means P < 0.01, *** means P < 0.001.
5. Research Conclusions and Management Implications
5.1. Analysis Conclusion
From the perspective of marketing dynamic capabilities, this paper explores the inherent relationship between the business model innovation of Guizhou sports tourism marketing and market efficiency and draws the following conclusions:
First, the innovative business model of sports tourism in Guizhou Province has an inverted U-shaped relationship with the competitive advantage, that is, the innovation of a certain aspect of the business model by the enterprise. This innovation may come from a change in the way of transactions or a revolution in the objects of transactions. Remodeling, etc., will allow companies to obtain continuous growth of competitive advantages in a short period of time. Of course, competitive advantages are different from corporate performance or performance. Competitive advantages are a reflection of corporate capabilities, and corporate performance reflects a business operation. As a result, we can call this novel business model innovation driving the growth of competitive advantage as the “novel effect”. When this kind of innovation becomes the object of competition imitating in the industry, or tourists can feel this kind of innovation through their own hands, and cannot continue to pay attention to it in the later period, then the competitive advantage of the company will show a downward trend, that is, the “new boundary” will appear. For enterprises, they can choose to continuously improve the original innovation or carry out new innovations to maintain their competitive advantage.
Second, the marketing dynamics of sports tourism has played a positive role in regulating the innovation of new business models and competitive advantages. For those sports tourism companies that are innovating new business models, having higher marketing dynamics can enable them to establish or gain more competitive advantages. In contrast, the inverse U-shaped relationship between the innovation of new business models and their competitive advantages will also weaken the companies with lower marketing dynamics. Therefore, the level of marketing dynamics also has considerable value and role in the development of sports tourism-related enterprises in Guizhou Province.
In short, this study starts from the actual situation of sports tourism development in Guizhou Province, focuses on how sports tourism enterprises can better obtain and maintain competitive advantages, focuses on two aspects of innovative business model innovation and marketing dynamic capabilities, through data collection and testing. It fully verified the inverse U-shaped relationship between novel business model innovation and competitive advantage, and verified that the marketing dynamic capabilities of enterprises effectively regulate this inverse U-shaped relationship. The results of this study can provide some space for thinking about the development of sports tourism in Guizhou Province, and provide a useful reference for the operation and management of enterprises involved in sports tourism.
5.2. Management Inspiration
At present, Guizhou Province is making every effort to build a national-level sports tourism demonstration zone, and continue to promote the integration and development of sports and tourism. While focusing on creating top international sports events, it is also digging into national sports tourism activities with local characteristics and forming a sports tourism industry Good development. Under such a favorable situation, the degree of market competition for sports tourism in Guizhou will also gradually increase. In order to establish its own competitive advantage in this fierce and complex environment, the sports tourism industry in Guizhou Province must develop a road of sustainable development with increasing influence. Combining with the research content of this topic, the following two countermeasures are proposed:
First, on the basis of systematic planning, dig deep into sports tourism resources, innovate development models, and accelerate product upgrades. The innovative development of the sports tourism industry based on products cannot be separated from the systematic planning and deep mining of sports tourism resources. Guizhou has a vast world for the development of sports tourism. In terms of breadth, first of all, it is necessary to avoid establishing a development idea of “flowering everywhere”. Although this development idea can promote the development of the sports tourism industry in a short period of time, in the long run, it will bring irreversible negative effects to the development of the industry. Second, raise barriers to entry for sports tourism, effectively control technology, capital, scale, etc., use effective resources on the blade, increase the degree of resource utilization, and avoid waste of resources caused by disorderly use. Finally, the local tourism industry has prospered in the category of sports tourism products. The project site must be fully demonstrated, and the project construction must be strictly controlled. Based on the overall planning of the development of the sports tourism industry in Guizhou Province, the development should be tailored to local conditions, including sports tourism parks, sports tourism towns, well-known domestic and foreign sports events, and ethnic sports. From the perspective of depth, the sports industry and the tourism industry should be pinpointed for a deep integration breakthrough. While developing sports tourism products, we will also carry out in-depth construction and development of the construction of service facilities and abundant peripheral products.
Second, good products require precise marketing. The development of sports tourism in Guizhou needs to continue to be promoted in terms of marketing. From the perspective of marketing subjects, first, strengthen the role of government propaganda and leadership. Governments at all levels in Guizhou Province must carry out centralized and unified publicity on the basis of pinpointing the development of sports tourism. Responsible entities such as cities, counties, towns, and towns should take the initiative to take action, and various ministries such as the Propaganda Committee, the Sports Bureau, and the Tourism Bureau should implement their publicity responsibilities. Second, guide social propaganda. Actively guide enterprises, groups and community residents to carry out publicity of sports tourism project activities, guide enterprises to actively promote visitors, and get rid of the policy-dependent comfort zone. In terms of marketing methods, various channels such as online marketing, emotional marketing, and event marketing are used. The first is to use virtual technology to open up innovative experiences in tourist destinations. The second is the cooperation of the entire industry chain, seeking a joint marketing model of destinations. The third is precision marketing to improve the marketing effect and conversion rate of sports tourism destinations.
Supported
This study was supported by grants from the Sports Industry and Sports Tourism Research project of Guizhou Province, 2018 (to Chunyu Yang) (No. GZTY2018106).