Within the last six years the conference ENTER (International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism) united various experts - practitioners as well as researchers - to exchange their experiences, ideas and visions in the sector of tourism and information technology (IT). The proceedings of the conference provide an international platform to discuss the topical situation and future trends, and the possibilities to shape the own strategies. The following topics are treated in this year's volume: - knowledge management in tourism - changing consumer behaviour through information technology - using IT to support consumer choice and skills - engineering tourism applications - the empowerment of small and medium-sized enterprises through IT - using IT for hospitality management - using IT to redesign travel distributions and destination marketing systems and IT developments The emphasis of this year's contributions lies on the strategic components more than on the technical issues.

Due to the great success of the First International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism which took place in January 1994 there was common agreement among the participants as well as among the Programme Commit tee to organize the second Conference, contrary to the original intention, as soon as 1995 instead of 1996. A two year break in an area of rapid technological development might otherwise result in a completely different landscape of telecommunication with hardly any connection to the first Conference. The recent development as well as the publicity with regard to the so-called informa tion highway has justified this decision far beyond our expectations. The Programme Committee has decided to choose "Electronic Marketing" as the central topic of this Conference. The international network is opening up entirely new information and booking chan nels. Printed information is not disappearing from the scene, but is acquiring competi tion in the form of electronic media. That means new dimensions in the presentation of the selection, new ideas as to informative contents, new, direct paths from suppliers to potential clients - making their choice at home in front of their screen and able to book immediately - and, finally, a new form of democracy. The small economic units which shape tourism thus acquire more interesting opportunities. Information that can be published fast and easily updated, effective alliance and networking make it possible for the small to participate with the great and to safeguard their own interests."

The conference ENTER * International Conference on However, the tourist market has several specific characteristics Information and Communications Technologies in Tourism with regard to the use of technological infrastructure: represents a fll'St attempt * On the demand side computerized reservation and general * to provide an international forum for the discussion of the distribution systems (eRS and GDS), managed by big role of telecommunication and information systems in airlines, are well organized and technological pioneers. In tourism, the past they typically focused on the business traveller, * to inform potential users and people concerned with the nowadays they also try to cover the vacation sector. These importance of such technologies and to explain their systems work on a world-wide level and are highly functioning sophisticated. However, it should be added that the * to give an opportunity to the research community, nowadays information provided is rather poor and also selective, scattered into different areas of research, to discuss their which may restrict its usefulness for the promotion of an results on a common platform, and, fmally, entire tourist region. * to intensify the contact and the communication between * Similar to CRSlGDS several tour operators have begun to develop their own systems, although with varying success. researchers, system developers and users.

Welche Marktbearbeitungsstrategien sind in Zukunft besonders erfolgversprechend? Fur diese zentrale Fragestellung des Strategischen Managements leitet Walter Schertler auf Basis aktueller Forschungsergebnisse eine effektive Segmentierungslogik fur Markte ab. Im Mittelpunkt des Affinity-Group-Managements steht ein neues Zielgruppenverstandnis, das die Marktsegmentierung an der Gruppensoziologie von Szenen orientiert und deren Affinitaten mit den virtuellen Moglichkeiten von Internet und Social Media kombiniert.

Die zweite Auflage beinhaltet die Uberarbeitung und Aktualisierung des Affinity-Group-Ansatzes und seines Bezugsrahmens. Ausserdem wurde das Lehrbuch um die aktuellen Themenkomplexe Service-Design und Service-Engineering im Rahmen des Strategischen Dienstleistungsmanagements erweitert. Diese werden daruber hinaus in den grundlegend neu konzipierten Ansatz fur serviceorientierte Affinity-Group-Geschaftsmodelle von Communities integriert.

In einer empirischen Studie untersucht Karsten Klopfer begrenzte Nettosynergien und uberhohte Ubernahmepramien als wertvernichtende Faktoren fur Akquisitionssubjekte bei der Ubernahme von Unternehmen."

Gertrud Walgenbach analysiert die Ubertragbarkeit des so genannten First-Mover-Advantage auf elektronische Markte. Anhand der Analyse empirischer Studien untersucht sie, welche strategischen Ansatze fur den Innovator erfolgsrelevant sind, identifiziert daraus die nachfragestrategischen Ziele und leitet erfolgsgenerierende Massnahmen fur die Operationalisierung ab."

Aus dem Inhalt: Organisation als Instrument der Unternehmensfuhrung. Strategische Unternehmensfuhrung. Strategische Unternehmensorganisation als Instrument der Unternehmensfuhrung. Anwendungs- und Gestaltungsbereiche. Die Gestaltung einer strategieadaquaten Organisation."