طراحی الگوی چابکی بازاریابی در صنعت گردشگری با تمرکز بر قابلیت های دیجیتال

Article History

Received: 20 January 2022

Revised: 30 April 2022

Accepted: 6 July 2022





Keywords

Marketing agility,

Digital capabilities, Tourism industry, Competitive advantage, Dynamic capabilities heory, Service innovation.

Corresponding Author Email: hoseiniphd1@gmail.com

In the digital age and environmental turbulence, marketing agility plays a vital role in the success of tourism destinations. Therefore, the purpose of the research is to design a marketing agility model in the tourism industry with a focus on digital capabilities. Also, in terms of purpose, it is applied and in terms of nature and method, it is classified as qualitative research with a thematic analysis design. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with 13 experts, including university professors and senior managers of tourism organizations in Yazd, and continued until theoretical saturation. The model extracted using MaxQDA software includes 5 main themes and 15 themes, digital capabilities (digital sensing, digital ownership, digital literacy and skills), service innovation (personalization and adaptation of services, innovation in customer experience, innovation in processes and touchpoints), competitive advantage (resilience to crises, brand differentiation, operational and cost efficiency), organizational agility (flexible structure and culture, rapid and decentralized decision-making, reconfiguration of resources and processes), and value creation (experiential, economic, and socio-cultural value). Based on the theory of dynamic capabilities, this model provides an operational framework for the transition from relative stagnation to resilience, instantaneous response to demand fluctuations, and enhancing the international status of Yazd as a destination.



How to cite this article:

Allaf jafari, E., Rezaeian, A., Hoseini-Amiri, M. (2026). Evaluating the Status of Success and Desirability of Digital Strategies in Iran's Banking Industry. Journal of Business Administration Researches, 56(14), 383-404. (In Persian with English abstract). https://doi.org/10.22034/SMSJ.2023.166852

©2023 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s)and the source.



EXTENDED ABSTRACT

Introduction

In today’s turbulent business environment, marketing agility has become a critical determinant of survival and competitive advantage, particularly in service industries characterized by intangibility, inseparability, and perishability. The tourism and hospitality industry, due to its inherent dependence on real-time customer experiences and perishable capacity, requires rapid adaptation to market changes, geopolitical shocks, and technological disruptions. Yazd, a UNESCO World Heritage city in Iran, possesses significant tourism potential; however, despite over 900,000 domestic tourists in the first half of 2025, only about 7,000 international tourists visited the province. This gap stems from structural and environmental challenges, including international sanctions, economic crises, the Iran war, digital infrastructure disruptions, internal issues such as unauthorized tours, and lack of integration among tourism businesses. The absence of a coherent model that leverages digital capabilities to enhance marketing agility has hindered Yazd from realizing its competitive position as an international destination. This study aims to design a marketing agility model for the tourism industry focusing on digital capabilities, grounded in dynamic capabilities theory.



Methodology

This applied research adopts a qualitative-inductive approach using thematic analysis. Data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews with 13 experts, including university professors specialized in tourism and senior managers of tourism organizations and businesses in Yazd, each with at least seven years of executive, policymaking, or research experience. Purposeful judgmental sampling was used, and interviews continued until theoretical saturation (after the 13th interview). Data analysis followed Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six-step framework: familiarization, open coding, generating initial themes, reviewing and refining, defining and naming final themes, and producing the analytical report. Validity was ensured through participant review, independent assessment by two qualitative methodology experts, and triangulation of sources (interviews, policy documents, and theoretical literature). Reliability was confirmed by randomly recoding two interviews after one month, with an intra-coder agreement index of 87% (above the 60% threshold).



Discussion and Results

The analysis yielded five main themes and 15 sub-themes: (1) Digital Capabilities (digital sensing, digital seizing, digital literacy and skills); (2) Service Innovation (service personalization and adaptation, innovation in customer experience, innovation in processes and touchpoints); (3) Competitive Advantage (crisis resilience, brand differentiation, operational and cost efficiency); (4) Organizational Agility (flexible structure and culture, fast and decentralized decision-making, reconfiguration of resources and processes); and (5) Value Creation (experiential value for tourists, economic value for businesses, socio-cultural value for the destination). The findings align with prior studies (Agag et al., 2025; Figueiredo et al., 2026; Zhou et al., 2019) but reveal indigenous components unique to Yazd’s context: early detection of sanctions, rapid coordination under currency shocks, alternative payment systems resistant to sanctions, and leveraging UNESCO registration as a digital asset. From a dynamic capabilities perspective (Teece, 2007), digital sensing and seizing correspond to two core components, while digital literacy plays the role of reconfiguration—enabling resource reallocation during crises.



Conclusion

This research provides a practical framework for transitioning from relative stagnation to resilience, real-time demand responsiveness, and enhanced international positioning of Yazd as a tourism destination. Key practical recommendations include establishing a Digital Intelligence and Monitoring Unit, developing an integrated digital reservation and coordination system, implementing digital literacy training programs, designing personalized tourism packages using augmented reality, adopting a dual resilience strategy (domestic vs. international focus), reducing bureaucracy and decentralizing decision-making, forming a Yazd Tourism Digital Alliance, and designing flexible performance indicators with shifting priorities based on environmental conditions. The model contributes to dynamic capabilities theory by contextualizing it within a sanctioned, developing economy setting.



Keywords: Marketing agility, Digital capabilities, Tourism industry, Competitive advantage, Dynamic capabilities theory, Service innovation.