The effects of formal networks on territorial tourism offers current usage of network contracts in Italy

This study aims to understand the benefits contractual inter-firm networks offer to existing territorial tourism systems in Italy. Preference has been given to a qualitative approach. Data collection was based on document analysis (i


Introduction and background of the study
The Italian tourism industry 1 is made up of various actors (i.e.hotels, restaurants, service providers, private and public promotion agencies, tour operators, attractions like amusement parks, etc.), which usually design their own offers independently.Moreover, Italy is characterized by many small and mediumsized businesses (SMEs) which do not cooperate nor coordinate their actions with other actors (OECD, 2011).As a result, territorial systems are fragmented.When businesses cooperate they do so only occasionally for specific activities or projects.Their cooperation is usually built on social, trust-based relationships, as they are reluctant to lose their decision-making autonomy by being formally inserted into precise organisational schemes (Travaglini, 2005).
However, researchers as well as the Italian Government advocate for the emergence of integrated territorial systems capable of enabling and enhancing tourism throughout Italy (Rispoli and Tamma, 1995;Pencarelli and Forlani, 2002;Sciarelli, 2007).Currently, several travel destinations 2 in Italy lack competitiveness, making this call for cooperation even more important.Italian destinations are not able to attract large volumes of new tourists coming from China or India (Banca d'Italia, 2013) because they lack resources and implement uncoordinated marketing and tourism promotions that prevent them from reaching foreign markets.
To overcome this issue, several forms of cooperation have already been tested and then critically analysed by academic researchers.This literature focuses on territorial local systems (Rispoli and Tamma, 1995;Bonetti et al., 2006;Sciarelli, 2007) and destination management issues (Pechlaner and Weiermair, 2000;Franch, 2002;Martini, 2005;Angeloni, 2013), emphasising benefits of alliance creation between public and private entities devoted to promote places like regions, provinces, cities, towns and mountain areas as well as destination brands (Pencarelli and Gregori, 2009).As experienced in other countries (Prideaux and Cooper, 2003) and highlighted by international researchers (Erkus-Öztürk and Eraydin, 2010), the economic, social and environmental benefits of alliance creation are great, especially when there is a cooperative marketing effort within and among destinations (Wang and Fesenmaier, 2007;Wang, 2008;Mariani et al., 2014).
On the contrary, scarce attention is devoted to studying formal business networks (contractually formalised networks which stem from the mere entrepreneurial initiative of private businesses) in their attempts to create or develop a territorial tourism offer autonomously.
Theoretically, a network of private businesses can actively contribute to developing the tourism offer of a territory.Moreover it can play an important role in promoting the geographical area in which it is located (Dalli, 2013).For example, network activities can contribute to the identification and sponsorship of a territory left unmanaged by local public agencies suffering from scarcity of funds.A formal network can also sustain an existing territorial brand (usually called a place brand) by adopting or integrating it into the network brand, thus leveraging and reinforcing the positive image of the specific place at the same time.
In view of these considerations, this paper aims to answer to the following research question: which benefits do formal business networks created by SMEs offer to existing territorial tourism systems?To answer this question, the authors analysed networks of enterprises recently created by some Italian tourism SMEs using a new legislative instrument called the 'network contract'.They examined various networks' goals and activities (planned and achieved) which may impact on the tourism offer and analyse those network design factors (governance mechanisms, internal resources and network entry modes) that reveal the network's ability to support goal achievement.Brand usage is also analysed, as it might be used as proxy for members' awareness of the importance of collective action and it shows the network's relations with the territory.Participants' awareness of the strategic collective represents a key element that allows the network to operate as a single entity and is a prerequisite for competitive success (Rispoli and Tamma, 1995;Pencarelli and Forlani, 2002;Lazzaretti and Petrillo, 2006;Sciarelli, 2007).
A clear understanding of the phenomenon is achieved through the analysis of written contracts, the administration of semi-structured interviews and the consultation of documents and information published on corporate websites.
The main theoretical contribution of this paper is to explore the role of business networks, especially those created by small and mediumsized tourism enterprises, in supporting territorial tourism systems, while mainstream research on networks has mainly investigated the economic motives that drive partnering (i.e.developing bundles of services, obtaining more market power and cost reduction), based on resource dependence theory, game theory, transaction cost economics, network approach, etc. (Beritelli, 2011;Maggioni et al., 2012).Moreover, it employs brand usage analysis and the concept of brand architecture to evaluate the presence of both internal (network level) and external consonance, which help organisations survive in the long term.This approach differentiates this study from previous streams of research that focused on other factors associated with successful and longlasting relationships (Hill and Shaw, 1995;Medina-Munoz and Garcia-Falcon, 2000;Pansiri, 2008;Lemmetyinen and Go, 2009).
This study proceeds as follows: section 2 provides a literature review to draw the interpretative framework (focused on networking, tourism systems and brand); section 3 outlines the research methodology, whereas the findings of the analysis are presented in section 4. Finally, discussions and conclusions follow in sections 5 and 6 respectively.

Forms of networking and the network contract
Inter-firm cooperation is not a new phenomenon to the tourism and travel sectors.Literature indicates that players like hotels, travel agents, tour operators, etc. are aware of the importance of staying connected to provide attractive and high quality services to increasingly sophisticated customers (Bullock, 1998;Pansiri, 2008), as tourism supply fragmentation deals more and more with the desire for the "all-in-one experience" expressed by customers (Maggioni, et al., 2012, p. 2).Need for cooperation is especially important for SMEs, which represent the backbone of the tourism industry (Wanhill, 2000).Thanks to stable relationships with other industry players, SMEs can develop new commercial opportunities, achieve growth and improve competitiveness (Pansiri, 2008).Moreover, they can reach international players creating global networks which are crucial for attracting tourists (Erkus Öztürk, 2009).Already in the 1990s Buhalis (1996) and Buhalis and Cooper (1998) suggested that SMEs should coordinate their offering by exploiting technological opportunities in order to enhance their own competitiveness and profitability as well as those of the destination.Moreover, when SMEs work cooperatively and are able to design long-term strategies they might positively affect their community, as in the case of the small accommodation operators interviewed by Alonso (2010) who view business relationships as a tool for enhancing a destination's image with further implications for the area's promotion and marketability.
Business networks can assume different forms and be analysed from different perspectives (Jarrat, 1998;Street and Cameron, 2007).One classification distinguishes formal networks (formalised through a contract) from noncontractual or informal networks (Ricciardi, 2003;Vasilska et al., 2014).The main difference refers to the governance mechanisms that coordinate network exchanges and internal relationships (Amit and Zott, 2001;Hoang and Antoncic, 2003).In the first case, relationships are based on legal enforcement and there is a clear method of cooperation management and control, while in the second case relationships are supported by social mechanisms.Because the last are a sort of implicit and open-ended contracts (Hoang and Antoncic, 2003), they are less suitable to aggregate firms aiming to create a territorial tourism offer which integrates the different commercial proposals -considering the high amount of resources and cooperation intensity this requires.Commercially oriented interorganisational connections need the formation of a strategic alliance (a stable partnership based on long-term and balanced relations, designed to sustain business growth), regulated by a written agreement that can better ensure the achievement of common goals.
In the tourism industry both informal and formal networks have been analysed.Informal relationships characterize cooperation in regions and communities (Chathoth and Olsen, 2003) which usually involve institutions and administrative bodies as in the case of clusters (Novelli et al., 2006) and wine routes created by a network of public and private agents (Bràs et al., 2010).Also single individual/stakeholders might be engaged in networking activities, as in the case of communities of individuals (Beritelli, 2011).
Formal agreements mainly involve private organisations, and their contents range from the creation of a new legal entity (joint venture contracts) to the cooperation in a specific area or production phase (contracts for brand sharing or joint purchasing, creation of cooperatives for marketing or distribution purposes, consortia to access foreign markets, subcontracting for transport services, use of licensing and franchising, etc.) (Chathoth and Olsen, 2003).
Cooperation instruments are not equal.Each legal instrument is designed for a specific purpose and has a precise configuration that can affect the functioning of inter-firm networks in terms of allocation of power (for example, while franchising and subcontracting imply asymmetric relations, cooperatives and consortia assume equal decision power for every participant).
This study investigates business networks created through the 'network contract' -a new legal instrument of inter-firm collaboration introduced by the Italian Government in 2009.This contract binds two or more private entities (companies as well as sole proprietorships, profit and non-profit organisations but not public bodies) to the achievement of a common goal.It represents a form of strategic alliance that can formally link a plurality of organisations in the long term.Unlike existing practices of creating networks of interconnected contracts (quite a complex and costly strategy), the network contract represents a flexible instrument particularly suited to SMEs for the following reasons (Cafaggi, 2009) (Unioncamere, 2013) have been created.Initially adopted in the manufacturing industry (Aureli et al., 2011;Rapporto Unicredit, 2011), this legislative instrument reports a steady increase in usage in all sectors, including tourism.Moreover, it is largely adopted by SMEs willing to increase their national and international competitiveness (Aureli and Del Baldo, 2012).Nevertheless, studies on network contract practicality in the tourism industry are lacking.

Tourism, territory and brand management
According to the Italian literature (Pencarelli and Forlani, 2002;Forlani, 2005), because of the specific features of the tourism product, an enterprise operating in the tourism industry is a system which always works within two types of larger systems: the supply system of tourism services (Rispoli and Tamma, 1995;Della Corte, 2000;Martini, 2005;Bonetti et al., 2006) whose actors jointly co-produce travel and leisure experiences (the tourism product); the system of the geographical area in which it is located, also called the territorial system, which can be a city, district, province, region, country, etc. (Caroli, 1999;Valdani and Ancarani, 2000;Golinelli, 2002;Bonetti and Simoni, 2011).In other words, organisations working in tourism should never be considered in isolation, but rather within the existing complex tourism system made up of the two aforementioned components.
The supply system of tourism services is a network of operators linked together by relationships created to achieve shared objectives and a common purposeto create and sell positive tourist experiences (the product).This system may be recognised or unrecognised, intentional or non-intentional, formal or informal.When the system is associated with a brand that identifies it, its constituents (subsystems and operators) become aware of the existence of the network and its aims and strategic intents.The presence of a brand can be indicative of the intentional nature of the system (Betti et al., 2009).
The brand usually represents the catalysing element of all actors involved in the supply system."The concept of branding in the tourism business network could be seen as a symbolic-level mechanism (Gnoth, 2002) for facilitating the coordination of cooperative activities among network members" (Lemmetyinen and Go, 2008, p. 33).However, brands have to be consciously managed in order to achieve and maintain this aggregating role.For this purpose, brands referring to tourism systems should have some specific featureslike any viable system (Golinelli, 2010)which help them stimulate and maintain the aggregation.These features are (Betti et al., 2009): a cultural value system and a combination of graphics which identify the brand; a mechanism for the selection of structural elements (the operators), such as a quality charter or membership requirements and a control mechanism (like certifications or monitoring activities) which allows for the adjustment of the system; a system of outputs (external communications, sale of products) to which the brand is applied and by means of which it acquires substance and becomes tangible.
The application of the supply system brand to its members is important during supply system formation.In this case, the brand acts as an umbrella brand for all sub-system components (Upshaw and Taylor, 2001;Betti et al., 2009).
Brands can also refer to a geographical area, as widely investigated in studies on tourism destinations.Destination brands have been defined as "a name, symbol, logo, word mark or other graphic that both identifies and differentiates the destination.They convey the promise of a memorable travel experience, that is uniquely associated with the destination and serve to consolidate and reinforce the recollection of pleasurable memories of the destination experience" (Ritchie and Ritchie, 1998, p. 103).Since the object of brand management relates to a specific territory with a political and legislative framework for tourism marketing and planning it is assumed that the connected management activities cannot be left to just anyone.Public bodies usually create (or co-create with private entities) an organisation called a DMO to manage the destination and related brands (Buhalis, 2000).
More recently, Kavaratzis ( 2004), Dooley and Bowie (2005), Kerr (2006), Balakrishnan (2009) and Hanna and Rowley (2008;2011) have emphasised the need to move from destination branding to place branding.A place brand is a promise to the potential users of the area, an expectation of performance and a sign of integrity and reputation.It should provide a unified representation of the components of a geographical area's supply package (Balakrishnan, 2009;Hanna and Rowley, 2011).An interesting aspect discussed in place brand management models (Hanna and Rowley, 2011) is the importance of brand architecture.Brands of different objects as well as brands of different places can be intentionally managed to link individual brands together and generate strong associations capable of influencing consumer purchase intentions (Dooley and Bowie, 2005;Kavaratzis, 2004 and2012;Dinnier et al. 2009;Hanna and Rowley, 2011).
However, there are several critical factors that have to be considered in order to apply brand and brand management concepts to a geographical area, at least when academics refer to territorial systems (Balakrishnan, 2009;Krajnović et al., 2013).These factors are: the difficulty of establishing precise boundaries for the area to which the brand refers, the coexistence of different levels of government in the area (i.e.provincial, city, district level) each with different goals and philosophies of branding, the different degrees of importance of the various features of the area in defining the place brand, the pre-existence of geographical and historical brands 3 and the need for coexistence between public and private brands (Betti et al., 2009;Forlani, 2009).
In conclusion, a review of the literature suggests that any organisation operating in the tourism industry must be able to create and manage its own brand coherently with the brand of the system/network to which it adheres (or where customers insert it) and with that of the territory in which the organisation is established (Fig. 1).Brand consonance (in terms of reciprocal brand recall or usage of the same wording), indicates the presence of visible interrelationships among businesses and denote network members' awareness of being part of a common group.Moreover, it enhances the efficacy of individual communications through mutual support and avoids confusion about the positioning of the territory and its offer (Ivanov et al., 2010).

Methodology
This empirical research follows a qualitative approach and is mainly explorative in nature.Qualitative research seems particularly suited to this end because it tries to understand a phenomenon rather than uncover causal

Brand of Tourism System
or Network

Figure 1. The importance of brand consonance
relationships and offers a voice to the subjects researched (Slevitch, 2011).Moreover, the authors took this approach because the recent creation of network contracts does not allow the collection of quantitative data (number of new services developed, increase of tourism flows, etc.) on the impact of alliances.Finally, it responds to academics' call for greater use of the qualitative approach in tourism studies (Riley and Love, 2000;Priporas et al., 2012).
The authors looked for multiple case studies, which were investigated with two different qualitative research methods: document analysis and direct interviews with key informants.Case study analysis was preferred because it favours the comprehension of the many dynamics that characterize specific contexts (Eisenhardt, 1989;Yin, 2003).
To meet the aforementioned research objectives, the authors first searched the database of Italian Chambers of Commerce for all network contracts signed in Italy to find those involving tourism enterprises.According to the dataset, at the beginning of September 2013, there were 1.058 network contracts in Italy.These contracts involve 5.209 enterprises and cover all Italian regions.By filtering the dataset according to the official sector code (ATECO's 2007 classification), UnionCamere (2013) estimated only 47 enterprises working in tourism services, specifically in hospitality and catering.
However, this approach seemed to be inadequate in representing the extent of the phenomenon.On the one hand, it may underestimate the phenomenon because it considers only traditional operators (i.e. businesses offering accommodation facilities) while excluding other actors which attract travellers and facilitate their arrival in a country like amusement and natural parks, museums, tour operators, transport companies, exhibition companies, marinas, etc.On the other hand, the phenomenon might be overestimated, since a company's main activity and the sector associated with it could be irrelevant with respect to the type of joint activities undertaken by the network.For example, a hotel which participates in a network contract to test new green energy technologies in order to increase the energy efficiency of its properties.
Consequently, in this study authors have preferred to perform a word search on the dataset using the following key words: tourism; touristic; destination; brand; hotel; accommodation; park; territory; territorial; restaurant (and their variations).The word search explored different fields: the name of the network, the name of each enterprise and the object of the formal alliance.This information is publicly displayed.
A total of 34 network contracts dealing with tourism were identified (Table 1).These involve a total of 339 enterprises, while each contract counts an average of 11 network members.Members are mostly very small enterprises located in the same city or province.Networks have mainly been created in the last two years.While no contract in tourism was registered in 2009 and 2010, Table 1 indicates that there is a steady increase in its usage in this sector.
The above mentioned network contracts can be classified into four different categories according to the type of participants and their business objective (as reported by the Italian systems of Chambers of Commerce).
-The first group refers to network contracts created by similar businesses working in the same market segment which compete and collaborate at the same time.-A third group is made up of farmers, breeders and rural accommodations which seek to expand their traditional areas of operation to enter the rural tourism sector i.e. by setting up educational farms and accommodation offers.These businesses cooperate to increase each participant's revenues by sharing costs of some production processes and/or increasing For the purpose of this study, networks belonging to the third and fourth group were disregarded and only networks declaring leverage of local territories were contacted (the authors opted for a purposeful sampling).Among the remaining network contracts, specific cases were chosen by their diversity (i.e. a horizontal network but also an integrated one, a network with a large number of subjects as well as a very small network).Diversity is important as it helps explore multiple patterns and understand the diversity of practice (Yin, 2003).Moreover, it can help test the conditions under which the same findings might be replicated.At the end of this process, only 6 of the above mentioned network contracts were identified as relevant case studies.
Information on selected case studies was obtained from written contracts, direct interviews and by analysing text and images published on network and participant websites.Usage of multiple information sources was not aimed at verifying interpretations stemming from the analysis of one single source.
Information was compared to understand the phenomenon better from different viewpoints, possibly to check the consistency of findings and to make them more robust (Richards, 2009).Moreover, some sources provided richer insights than others on specific aspects.For example, written contracts offered more detail on network objectives and governance mechanisms, while interviews with network Presidents made available several details on the activities accomplished and network entry mode.
The network's President was selected for interview as he/she represents a key informant with a global and comprehensive view of the network, its functioning, strategy and members.
His/her role is to achieve the networks' strategic objectives and implement planned common activities.Moreover, he/she is usually the subject in charge of representing the network and all its members to external entities.Interviews followed a list of openended questions and lasted from 40 minutes to one hour and a half.Respondents were first informed about the topic of the interview by email and the authors reminded interviewees of it before starting the interview.Both authors participated in the interviews in order to capture all relevant information and avoid excessive subjectivity in analysing responses.The two researchers have different backgrounds and different perspectives, which helped maintain objectivity.This strategy, together with the use of different sources of data aimed preserving objectivity (Richards, 2009).
All collected data was transcribed and then coded to facilitate further analysis.Codes are labels that represent topics/categories that researchers consider relevant for answering the research question, helping interpret the phenomenon and eventually defining possible typologies of tourism networks.
First, the material was organised into a subjectbased structure as displayed and summarized in the Tables of section 4.Then, the researchers tried to categorize network behaviours that have an impact on the territorial tourism system.Lastly, the researchers looked at network working conditions which might hinder or favour their impact on the tourism system.

Results from case study analysis
Information about each network contract analysed is provided in the following tables.Alliance objectives identified at the time of network creation are illustrated in Table 2, while motives that prompted network members to use the network contract are described in Table 3. Table 4

Discussions
From the analysis of the six case studies, the researchers have identified and categorised the different networks' behaviours according to the manners in which they have an impact on territorial tourism systems.These are as follows: -Common management of selected activities (in all cases except for D) ; -Joint promotion of the different offers of individual network members (in all 6 case studies); -Creation and marketing of network tourism packages (i.e. a bundle of existing tourism services), which can be defined as super-systemic in comparison to individual businesses' offers (this occurs only in networks C and F); -Promotion of the destination or the local geographical area (in all cases except for D) -Creation of an entity to manage the tourism destination as well as creation and management of the related place brand (only in case C).
With reference to the initial research question, the identified patterns suggest that the network contract might impact the territory both directly and indirectly.The network directly impacts the territory when it promotes the place where it is located and when it tries to manage the destination.On the contrary, there is an indirect impact when the network contract improves the tourism offer of its participants.When single nodes collectively buy goods or implement a common customer shuttle service, they all  In addition, the researchers found that networks emphasise the benefits of reaching greater commercial efficacy through a more engaging and pro-active marketing approach lead by the network itself.Thus, networking helps overcome the reactive management approach usually adopted by small-sized tourism businesses (which merely wait for customer arrivals).Another interesting result is that only two networks clearly planned and are trying to pursue a strategy of internationalisation. Cases B and C seem to be the only ones aware of the necessity to go abroad to attract tourists and to be able to dialogue with foreign actors in different languages.
Important insights also emerge from the comparison of actual results with planned objectives.In several cases researchers found a great consistency in network patterns which confirm the viability, actual implementation and persistence of the intentions formally declared in contracts at the time of their formation.Moreover, in several networks there is a significant coherence between objectives and network design.When common objectives are numerous and challenging, as in case C, the network's design reflects the necessity of an adequate internal structure able to support shared strategic intents.In particular, in this case the formation of a group fund and member financial contributions are regulated from the very beginning.Members are compelled to invest a high amount of minimum resources.Decision-making power is regulated and attributed to different organs and committees which augment network professionalism and flexibility and there are control mechanisms for preserving the quality of network members and their offer.
Nevertheless, the experiences investigated have highlighted that network members' awareness of being part of a common group do not clearly emerge from their websites.Internal links seem missing from the external perspective of someone surfing the Internet.While the official website of the network lists the names of its participants, the latter seldom recall the name or the brand of the network to which they belong.In other words, interrelationships among businesses seem missing.Some gaps in brand design also emerged from case study analysis.Researchers found a lack of brand consonance in network links to the territory.Sometimes there is a reference to an excessive number of territorial brands competing with each other.This lack of uniqueness of place brand identifies networks made by businesses located in different previously unrelated territories, thus involving more difficulties in creating a single distinctive image.However, all networks have established and try to exploit a connection with the territory where they are located.The only one exception is case D whose firms aim to provide consulting services to other organisations throughout Italy.
Lastly, these case studies suggest that the desire (when present) of achieving unified management of the territory and its place brand cannot be considered accomplished.This is especially true for the case of Illasi (C), which has the challenging objective of creating and managing a tourism destination autonomously, although this issue usually involves the active presence of public entities.

Conclusions
There is an increasing usage of the network contract in the tourism sector in Italy.Although in a few cases the signed contracts represent the development of previous inter-firm collaboration (i.e. an association which enlarges its members through a network contract), in most cases network contracts have launched new collaborations from scratch.This leads to the supposition that this legal instrument favours alliance creation and can contribute to the reduction of actors' fragmentation and encourage the formation of local tourism systems.
Thanks to case study analysis it was possible to identify the ways in which network contracts can contribute to the competitiveness of territorial tourism systems, leading to a positive answer to our initial research question.Their objectives are actually aimed at achieving: a) the rationalization of production processes (which leads to economies of scale and efficiency increase), b) the development of businesses' bargaining power with local stakeholders (public agencies, service providers, etc.), c) the promotion and marketing of the network's tourism services, and d) the improvement of the attractiveness of the territories in which network members operate.
In synthesis, the networks' characteristics identified through the case studies demonstrate that participants feel the need for better management of territorial tourism systems with reference to both the services strictly building the tourism offer (especially in terms of promotion and marketing activities) and the marketing of the local territory (an activity usually attributed to DMOs).
Another interesting result emerging from current network experiences is the high adaptability of this cooperative legal instrument, which is used to reach different types of objectives and appears suitable for both networks with few goals and networks engaged in several different projects.
However, these data show a trend and not incontrovertible results.The objectives of rationalization and consonance with the territory and the achievement of a unified management of the place brand cannot be considered accomplished.There is still an ongoing process of aggregation and rationalization which is likely to affect positively the creation and development of territorial tourism systems in the medium term.
Network performance cannot be fully evaluated (especially in terms of quantitative impacts on the territory) because these networks are still too young.Moreover, these initial conclusions are based on information disclosed in public documents and by network Presidents.Other viewpoints on this topic should be considered, such as DMOs' or other public entities' perspectives, the views of each network member and those of other local stakeholders.Lastly, a further limitation of this study is the small number of case studies analysed, which does not allow for generalization.
The study does have several managerial and theoretical implications.First, it confirms the efficacy of this legal instrument as an aggregator of small-sized tourism businesses.Small businesses can benefit from its flexibility, which represents the main reason for choosing this instrument among other possible forms of cooperation.SMEs can benefit from its projectbased structure wherein the contract identifies a programme of possible activities with different levels of company engagement, creating collaborative groups and increasing their competitiveness.In particular, its step-by-step nature makes this instrument a suitable possibility for the development of marketing policies that may range from simple joint promotion to the definition of network tourism packages and their commercialisation at the national and international level.
Secondly, the present study highlights that the aggregating function of this instrument has positive effects in terms of territorial governance because the reduction of fragmentation favours a better integration between the resources of the territory and promotes dialogue with public bodies and external stakeholders.Even when networks do not have the declared goal of obtaining more bargaining power with local institutions, their formation encourages dialogue with public bodies, which can more easily identify possible interlocutors to work with.Thus, government and other public entities should actively promote this instrument.Lastly, compared to previous forms of collaboration, the network contract can also be used to aggregate associations, consortia and other existing formal alliances to build larger networks at the meso level.This emerges from case study A. In other words, its scope can be much larger, thus promoting the overall degree of cooperation in tourism.
From a theoretical point of view, the study confirms that brand management is a tricky issue for tourism businesses.They should plan for and maintain ongoing efforts to reach adequate coherence between the network brand, the brands of single members and that of the territory.Thus, the study highlights the need to further deepen the theme of place brand architecture from a network perspective.Previous studies have emphasised the central role of place brand because a unique place brand works as a catalyst to forming relationships, both internal and external to the territory as well as promotional and commercial relationships.Networks aiming to go abroad should pay special attention to brand coherence and place brand.However, our case studies suggest that the importance given to place brand (and to the network brand) lessen when businesses intend primarily to increase their bargaining power with other local actors or focus on objectives of cost reduction.

End Notes:
[1] In this study authors have decided to name the tourism sector as an industry, however they are aware that for some researchers tourism is not an industry in traditional terms as the different types of companies operating in this sector do not produce the same commodity but different ones (i.e.transport, accommodation, leisure services) nor do they use the same technology (Smith, 2007).
[2] "Destinations are amalgams of individually produced tourism amenities and services (accommodation, transportation, catering, entertainment, etc.) and a wide range of public goods (such as landscape, scenery, sea, lakes, socio-cultural surroundings, atmosphere, etc.).All these elements are branded together under the name of the destination".(Buhalis, 2000, p. 109).
[3] All territories have "historical landmarks" more or less established, due to the sedimentation of the events and the experience of the territories themselves.For example Rome or Florence are famous throughout the world for both structural attractions (monuments, museums and art works) and their story.In this regard the books of history and geography are the first popularisers of local brands.

Table 1 .
Network contracts operating in the tourism sector in Italy

Table 2 .
and Table 5 respectively show the network's design and the activities accomplished.Finally, Table 6 describes brand usage.Network objectives

Table 3 .
Motives for using the network contract

Table 4 .
Activities and results achieved

Table 5 .
Key information about network design

Table 6 .
Network brand and links with existing territorial brands