ABSTRACT
Similarly, Shaw and Williams (2009, p. 329) point to three types of networks that they
consider particularly relevant in terms of tourism: foreign direct investment (including
interlocking directorships); cluster/learning regions; and communities of practice.
Although their perspective is directed at the inter-organizational level, two of their net-
works were considered interesting in terms of identifying vehicles for knowledge transfer
with relevance to the current study. This relates first and foremost to the “interlocking
directorships” which, according to Mizruchi (1996, p. 271), occur when “a person
affiliated with one organization sits on the board of directors of another organization”.
Interlocking directories are thus increasingly seen as an instrument of the transferral of
tacit knowledge and the idea that directors can provide collective tacit knowledge that
is critical to firm performance (Boyd, 1990). Mizruchi (1996, p. 284) and O’Hagan and
Green (2004, p. 129) argue that the value of interlocks has changed from being a mechan-
ism of control to becoming a mechanism of communication.
