Blockchain is often presented in the tourism industry as being a technology in a global approach that will enable the sector to make its digital transformation and bring a whole series of advantages, both financial and logistical. The reality is different, however. Indeed, research on Blockchain tends to focus on essentially technical aspects and takes little account of the customer experience in the sector in which it will be integrated. The aim of this exploratory research, based on 18 semi-directive interviews, is to understand the sociological obstacles to the adoption of Blockchain by tourism professionals in Switzerland. Our generalized findings are presented in the form of four research proposals that argue that, without the intervention of the State, it is hard to see how such disruptive innovation can radically change the highly fragmented tourism sector. JEL Codes: O33, O35

ERP systems are more and more adopted in large companies. It appears that this trend is also being followed by small- and medium-sized companies. We have conducted a questionnaire-based survey to identify how Swiss SMEs perceive this phenomenon. The sample size is 687 of which 125 have actually implemented an ERP. Our main findings are twofold. First, SMEs that have not implemented an ERP invoke concerns (e.g., costs), which are typically not perceived as major problems by SMEs that actually went through an ERP implementation. Indeed the latter companies generally acknowledge that, ultimately, benefits significantly exceed the costs and difficulties of implementation. Second, this survey brings out new empirical knowledge of the satisfaction and benefits derived from the implementation and utilization of ERP systems in Swiss SMEs.

Purpose: – This paper aims to investigate management auditing, a thorough examination of an organization and the management in place, through an empirical research to gather data about how management audits are perceived and implemented among Geneva’s (Switzerland) business community. The board of directors is in charge of a corporation’s overall supervision. The internal auditing function works under the aegis of the board to ensure that the directors will properly execute their responsibilities as defined by corporate governance rules. Management auditing could thus be used to improve corporation performance. However, management audits are not commonly used or referred to as a tool to address corporate governance. Findings enable the authors to both explain why management audits are not commonly used or referred to as a tool to address corporate governance and generate related research hypotheses. Design/methodology/approach: – In this paper, the authors rely on an ethnographic study aimed at exploring perceptions of management audits in service companies from the Geneva region. This study is based on transcripts from 85 semi-directed interviews, conducted over a three-year period, of professionals with managerial and auditing backgrounds. The economic context during these three years was consistently characterized by the Swiss and international financial crises, ensuring that the findings remain comparable over this time period. Findings: – This paper identified three main factors that influence the integration of management audits into corporate practices: the degree of acceptance of the tools and requirements of management audits, the national culture and values embodied in the practice and the degree of corporate governance maturity. This paper presents the findings in the form of hypotheses that can be tested on any adoption of good corporate governance practices – not on management audits alone. Research limitations/implications: – Notwithstanding the limitations due to its nature and extent, this study’s main limitation is its lack of validation of the hypotheses. In further research, the authors intend to use a quantitative survey to validate the research hypotheses and make statistical inferences. Originality/value: – This paper contributes to the literature because it is, to the authors’ knowledge, the first study to empirically examine the significant link between management audits and corporate governance. The findings could be interesting for an international audience because they indicate possible action points that boards of directors can leverage to carry out management audits. The findings also bridge a gap between the literature on management audits and the expanding role of the internal audit function. This study also examines the way companies – in the Swiss context – understand, perceive and may be ready to apply management audits as a good corporate governance practice.