Veronique Favre-Bonté Lecturer

Elodie Gardet Lecturer

Catherine Thevenard-Puthod Lecturer
email: catherine.puthod@univ-savoie.fr

Inter-organisational network configurations for ski areas innovations

Keywords:

Unlike industrial innovations, service innovations cannot be protected by patents or designs.

Thus, the implementation of innovation networks is often seen as a key to generate a sustainable competitive advantage. In this paper, we are interested in the main forms of interorganizational networks that led to service innovations. More precisely, this article aims to examine the relationship between the characteristics of inter-organizational networks and the type of service innovation. A typology of service innovations and a network analysis framework allowed us to study the innovations implemented by two major French winter sports resorts: the Portes du Soleil and Paradiski. In total, we studied the structure of 12 innovation networks. Our results show that, depending on the type of innovation implemented, networks are different in terms of partners involved, regulation mode and geographic scope.

However, regardless of the innovation developed, it seems necessary to have a central actor to orchestrate the various partners.

INTRODUCTION

Innovation is a powerful strategic tool for firms with high technological content, but also for service businesses (Gallouj 2002 Ordanini andParasuraman, 2010;[START_REF] Mothe | Non-technological and technological innovations: Do services differ from manufacturing? An empirical analysis of Luxembourg firms[END_REF]. Through innovation, service companies try to differentiate themselves from their competitors and are entitled to conquer new markets. However, service innovations are hardly patentable (Gallouj, 2002). Firms must find other ways to protect their innovations. One answer is the deployment of inter-organizational networks. Indeed, it is recognized that interfirm cooperation enables business to benefit from the complementarities of their partners, to achieve economies of scale [START_REF] Calia | Innovation networks: From technological development to business model reconfiguration[END_REF], to share the costs and risks associated with the development of an innovation and ultimately make it easier to gain a competitive advantage [START_REF] Dyer | The relational view: Cooperative strategies and sources of interorganizational competitive advantage[END_REF]. Cooperation can also represent a barrier to entry and make it difficult to imitate innovation. A competitor may have difficulties to reproduce the network of inter-organizational relationships designed to innovate [START_REF] Borgatti | The network paradigm in organizational research : A review and typology[END_REF].

However, despite the issues related to cooperation for services innovation development, research in innovation management focus more on technological innovation networks [START_REF] Ethiraj | Where do capabilities come from and how do they matter? A study in the software services industry[END_REF][START_REF] Gilsing | Exploration and exploitation in innovation systems: The case of pharmaceutical biotechnology[END_REF] and have little interest in constellations of actors for innovation in services. This research therefore attempts to fill this gap especially by studying the link between the characteristics of inter-organizational network and the type of innovation developed. Our research question is: Does the implementation of services innovations require certain types of networks? For this purpose, we chose to study the innovations implemented in two French ski areas: Paradiski and Portes du Soleil. The mountain tourism industry is particularly relevant to our research question because it has undergone many changes over the last fifteen years, which led ski resorts to innovate and collaborate with multiple partners.

The article is divided into three parts. The first one presents a review of the literature on innovation forms in services. A summary of the main characteristics of the interorganizational relationships is also performed and used to introduce our analysis framework.

The second part explains the importance of studying winter sports tourism as well as the methodology used. Finally, the characteristics of innovation networks are presented and discussed.

Inter-organizational network as a vector for innovation in services industries

After presenting the specificities of innovation in services, we propose to characterize the inter-organizational networks with four dimensions: the nature of the relationship, the control mode, the architecture and the geographical scope.

Characteristics and types of service innovations

One difficulty in identifying innovation in services comes from his character sometimes less tangible than in industry, including the presence of many incremental or architectural innovations [START_REF] Vries | Innovation in services in networks of organizations and in the distribution of services[END_REF]. Social or managerial innovations [START_REF] Hamel | The Why, What , and How of Management Innovation?[END_REF] are not always visible outside the organization. To improve the identification of innovations in services, literature has produced many classifications. Most of them rely on a single dimension:

 The element affected by the innovation (product, process, or organization; [START_REF] Belleflamme | Innovation and Research and Development Process Analysis in Service Activities[END_REF][START_REF] Hamdouch | Innovations Dynamics in Mobile Phone Services in France[END_REF][START_REF] Damanpour | Combinative effects of innovation types and organizational performance: A longitudinal study of service organizations[END_REF][START_REF] Favre-Bonté | Parler d'innovation bancaire a-t-il un sens ?[END_REF]. [START_REF] Garcia | A critical look at technological innovation typology and innovativeness terminology: A literature review[END_REF] call this dimension the « new what ».

 The innovativeness [START_REF] Garcia | A critical look at technological innovation typology and innovativeness terminology: A literature review[END_REF][START_REF] Birkinshaw | Management innovation[END_REF][START_REF] Favre-Bonté | Parler d'innovation bancaire a-t-il un sens ?[END_REF]: measure of the degree of « newness » of an innovation (highly innovative, low innovative ; new to the world, new to the adopting unit, new to the industry, ….) which can be combined with its risk level.

 The way innovation is produced (with or without customer participation; [START_REF] Sundbo | Innovation in services in seven european countries, Rapport pour la Commission Européenne[END_REF].

In winter sports tourism services, it is often difficult to identify the resorts that are the source of innovations because there is no intellectual property right and many firms tend to claim the origin of new concepts or services. It is thus often difficult to assess the actual degree of novelty of an innovation. Therefore, in this research, we focus on the element affected by innovation, that is to say the " new what ". We make this choice because this dimension seems more objective. By focusing on the element affected by innovation, we have chosen to use the model of service delivery system [START_REF] Langeard | Services Marketing: New Insights from Consumers and Managers[END_REF]. Unlike the blueprint approach [START_REF] Bitner | Service Blueprinting: A Practical Technique for Service Innovation[END_REF], which includes the time and the various operations, this model focuses on the role of the client and its interaction with the service company. In addition, it allows us to go beyond the usual product / process distinction used in the industry, as it separates process elements that are visible by clients and those which are not [START_REF] Favre-Bonté | Parler d'innovation bancaire a-t-il un sens ?[END_REF]. This model includes three main components. (1) Back-office (i.e internal organization, or backstage) includes all traditional functions of a company that are invisible to the customer (marketing services, human resources, purchasing...) and their operations (working methods, equipment, information systems...). ( 2) The front office consists of all the elements that are visible by clients and that make the service more tangible. We can find (2.1) the staff (employees with whom clients are in touch), (2.2) the physical evidence (equipment used by the staff or customers in service delivery, such as machines, robots, furniture, signage, and more generally the premises on which the service is delivered), and (2.3) the customer itself, who is more or less involved in service production (he can define the problem and/or be engaged in operational tasks) and can interact with other clients. (3) Finally, the system delivers an output: the service itself offered to the customer.

In this research, we focus on the main element concerned by innovation. We are aware that the deployment of an innovation can affect different parts of the service, more or less simultaneously, with cascading effects identified in the literature [START_REF] Damanpour | Organizational innovation and performance: the problem of organisational lag[END_REF][START_REF] Barras | Interactive innovation in financial and business services: The vanguard of the service revolution[END_REF][START_REF] Fritsch | Product innovation, process innovation, and size[END_REF]). However we only retain in our classification the component which is the most important part of the innovation or the one that was the source of the innovation process (the component that the firm wanted to improve).

Heterogeneity of inter-organisational network forms

Inter-organizational networks represent a way for firms to achieve economies of scale [START_REF] Powell | Hybrid organizational arrangements: New form or transitional development?[END_REF] and access to new resources and skills [START_REF] Stieglitz | Innovations and the role of complementarities in a strategic theory of the firm[END_REF]. Interorganizational networks are here understood as a set of at least three organizations linked by exchange relations in the long term and by the sense of belonging to a collective entity [START_REF] Grandori | Inter-firm networks: Antecedents, mechanisms and forms[END_REF]. There are multiple forms of inter-organizational networks that can be characterized through four dimensions: the nature of the relationship between the members (1), the mode of regulation (2) the architecture (3) and the geographical scope (4).

1. Relationship between partners can take many forms [START_REF] Inkpen | Social capital, networks and knowledge transfer[END_REF]:

 The horizontal type: Members build relationships with competitors to share the same resources.

 The vertical type: The aim is to achieve a transfer of additional resources, between client and supplier.

 The "cross-industry" relation (Heitz, 2000) is established between potentially complementary organizations that are not competitors, or connected by customersupplier relationships. This type of network is willing to share skills or promote a single resource (eg, the network between the leader of the smart card, Gemplus, banks and mobile operators).

These three "pure" forms of inter-organizational networks can be combined to create new forms [START_REF] Gomes-Casseres | Competitive advantage in alliance constellation[END_REF]. For example, networks in travel services bring together airlines (horizontal relations) as well as tour operators, car rental agencies, hotel chains (vertical relations), even banking and financial institutions (transversal relations) to provide customers with a "global" offer.

The type of relationship appears as a central dimension in innovation management research conducted in industry [START_REF] Gemünden | Network configuration and innovation success: An empirical analysis in German high-tech industries[END_REF][START_REF] Nietoa | The importance of diverse collaborative networks for the novelty of product innovation[END_REF]. [START_REF] Gemünden | Network configuration and innovation success: An empirical analysis in German high-tech industries[END_REF] study the link between the type of relationship (partners, competitors, suppliers, laboratories...) and the type of innovation developed. For process innovations, they show the importance of integrating all partners, particularly those connected by customer / supplier relationships. In contrast, product innovations specifically require the intervention of technical partners. However, the results of this research, conducted in the industrial sector, may not be transferable to services where the technical dimension is not always central.

2-Regulation mode refers to the coordination mechanisms implemented.

Economic regulation includes formal mechanisms such as contracts, procedures and specifications. These formal, explicit and written mechanisms come in many forms such as standard operating procedures, technical reports, cost accounting systems, budget & planning, contracts and confidentiality agreements [START_REF] Das | Between trust and control: Developing confidence in partner cooperation in alliances[END_REF]Gulati, 1998 ). Contracts can play a key role in inter-organizational relationships when it comes to sharing specific assets.

In contrast, sociological regulation is based on adjustment mechanisms, trust and clan logic.

Regulatory mechanisms are then rather implicit and verbal and include the establishment of joint teams, seminars, meetings, personnel transfer and mechanisms for shared decisionmaking [START_REF] Grandori | Inter-firm networks: Antecedents, mechanisms and forms[END_REF]. These informal methods have advantages such as lower transaction costs, increased strategic flexibility and reduced risk of conflict [START_REF] Nooteboom | Effects of trust and governance on relational risk[END_REF].

Formal mechanisms are often considered problematic for the deployment of certain type of innovations, like exploratory innovations [START_REF] Nooteboom | Interfirm Collaboration, Learning and Networks, an Integrated Approach[END_REF]. Indeed, an exploratory innovation is inherently uncertain and it is difficult to write contract on an output which is not known. In the context of service innovation, we may wonder if the control mode is always the same or if it depends on the type of innovation, as it is the case in the industry.

3. An inter-organizational network can also be characterized by its structure or architecture (Assens, 2003). Two types of networks exist, according to the degree of power sharing:

• Star networks: these architectures are very centralized; all sources of information are centralized by a company, often a large one. There is a formal organization (called focal firm, hub firm, strategic agency or core) who regulates transactions within the structure [START_REF] Miles | Organizations: New concepts for new forms[END_REF][START_REF] Jarillo | Strategic Networks -Creating Borderless Organization[END_REF][START_REF] Lorenzoni | Creating a strategic center to manage a web of partners[END_REF][START_REF] Dhanaraj | Orchestrating innovation networks[END_REF]. This hub firm has three functions: 1) the design of the value chain, choosing the members of the network and setting the strategic direction; 2) the coordination of the value chain, optimizing operational links between members of the network, limiting administrative costs inherent in the hierarchy, maintaining coordination modes by the market, and 3) control of the value chain, deterring opportunistic behavior that could disrupt network efficiency.

• The community-based networks (Assens, 2003) where the architecture is more distributed. In these networks, power is decentralized and more or less shared.

In the industrial sector, the presence of a hub firm seems essential [START_REF] Dhanaraj | Orchestrating innovation networks[END_REF]. It helps to orient and make strategic choices. In the absence of authority and a central player, decision making is slower and it is more difficult to define strategic choices, due to potential differences between partners. In service innovations, we may wonder whether, the presence of a hub firm is also essential to ensure the sustainability of the project, regardless of the type of innovation deployed.

4. Finally, the fourth dimension to describe a network is its geographical scope, that is to say the geographical proximity of partners. Network may be local, national or international. We retain this last feature because many research (Autant - Bernard, 2001;[START_REF] Fritsch | Who cooperates on R&D?[END_REF]Suire, 2004) emphasize the importance of the geographical proximity between members of a network for its proper functioning. Many works on the issue of territory in the formation and operation of networks exist in many industries (Bélis-Bergouignan 1997;

Autant -Bernard, 2001;[START_REF] Dunning | Multinational Firms, global-Local Dilemma[END_REF]Mucchielli, 2002 Fritsch and[START_REF] Fritsch | Who cooperates on R&D?[END_REF]. They conclude that value creation increases when the network fits territorially. Proximity promotes flexibility, frequency of interaction between members and the genesis of confidence [START_REF] Bernard | La diversité spatiale des modes de coopération[END_REF]. Some innovation projects require face-to-face relationships between partners, because knowledge is more easily transmitted in a small restricted region [START_REF] Hippel | Sticky Information and the Locus of Problem Solving: Implications for Innovation[END_REF]. In addition, given the differences between countries in terms of culture, customs and laws, learning can be more difficult and delay the process of innovation. Other research, however, stipulate that the transfer of knowledge does not necessarily require geographical proximity [START_REF] Feldman | The Geography of Innovation[END_REF]. Thus, with the development of information and communication technologies, international networks work alongside clusters or districts.

In summary, our analysis framework offers to study the element concerned by innovation (the "new what") and the characteristics of the networks developed to achieve this innovation (see

The study of innovation networks implemented by two winter sport resorts

After presenting the reasons that led us to retain the winter sports tourism sector in this study and the specificities of this service activity, we will present our methodology for collecting and processing data.

The choice of the winter sports tourism activity

Services are very heterogeneous and parallel study of several sectors does not make meaningful comparisons [START_REF] Djellal | A model for analysing the innovation dynamic in services: the case of architectural-type services[END_REF]. Thus, we have chosen to focus our study on a single service activity, tourism, which, apart from its economic weight 1 , seems to be a fertile ground for the analysis of innovation networks [START_REF] Tremblay | The Economic Organization of Tourism[END_REF].

The mountain touristic trip is heterogeneous by nature and involves in its production-distribution process the coordination of numerous people (Scaraffiotti, 1997;Caccomo et Salonandrasana, 2006). A winter sports resort is in fact a complex and original system bringing together private (ski-lift operators, accommodation providers, transport, ski rental shops…) and public partners (Gerbaux and George-Marcelpoil, 2004), who own complementary resources and competences [START_REF] Svensson | A governance perspective on destination development. Exploring partnerships, cluster an sinnovation systems[END_REF]. Promoting a destination also depends largely on the ability to integrate a fragmented supply in a single coherent product [START_REF] Pavlovich | The Evolution and Transformation of a Tourism Destination Network: The Waitomo Caves, New Zealand[END_REF][START_REF] Saxena | Relationships, Networks and the Learning Regions: Case Evidence from the Peak District National Park[END_REF][START_REF] Gibson | The Local Destination Tourism Network: Development Issues[END_REF]Morrison 2005, Scott et al, 2008). The nature of the tourism product therefore affirms the central role of coordinating activities [START_REF] Lynch | The role of networks[END_REF]. This intrinsic characteristic of the tourism product is now reinforced by the need to innovate in response to increased competition, which leads to more coordination between organizations. Ski resorts have to offer new sports practices 2 (snowpark creation, diversification outside ski activities:

snowshoeing, ice diving ...), more comfort (improved quality lifts and accommodation) and animation (discovery of local heritage, cultural activities, events ...). Those innovations, today essential, were also enhanced by a vast movement of concentration and the arrival in the resort of new profiles of actors (non-family, larger sizes businesses). Finally, technological improvements, among them the Internet, have also contributed to the development of innovations in the tourism sector. The internet has changed the nature of relationship between organizations and the distribution of power between clients and suppliers (Favre -Bonté and Tran, 2012). For example, if the Internet allowed many ski resorts to sell their packages directly online, the web has also led to greater transparency and increased the rivalry between the ski resorts.

However, despite the challenge and the reality of innovations in winter sports resorts, service innovation researchers [START_REF] Gallouj | Innovation in services[END_REF][START_REF] Djellal | Mapping innovation dynamics in hospitals[END_REF] or innovation networks researchers [START_REF] Ethiraj | Where do capabilities come from and how do they matter? A study in the software services industry[END_REF][START_REF] Gilsing | Exploration and exploitation in innovation systems: The case of pharmaceutical biotechnology[END_REF] are still uninterested in innovation networks in this sector [START_REF] Hjalager | A review of innovation research in tourism[END_REF]).

1 In France, the total turnover of the winter sports economy (including ski lessons, shopping, accommodation, restaurants and ski lifts) is estimated at 6 billion euros, divided up to 5 billion euros for French clients and 1 billion euros for foreign clients. This represents 6% of revenue in the tourism sector (Rolland, 2006). The activity generates 130,000 direct jobs, including more than 18,000 ski areas. With 8000 km of slopes and 4000 ski lifts, France has the largest ski area in the world (Atout France, 2010).

2 Today, one third of the tourists who stay in a winter sports resort do not ski.

Data collection and analysis

As the aim is to explore the potential link between the networks characteristics and the purpose of innovations, we opted for a qualitative study based on the analysis of 12 innovation networks. A multi-cases study can handle a limited number of cases, but has the advantage of breaking down each of the networks and provide a detailed analysis. This method also provides a detailed description of the events along with a systematic analysis of the relationships between partners.

Multi-cases studies involve the establishment of a theoretical sample with common characteristics: networks are composed of at least three independent organizations (public or private ones) and innovations concerned the ski area. Seven cases are localized on the Portes du Soleil ski area and the other five are localized in the Paradiski ski area. These two areas have in common to be located in the northern French Alps and predominantly have a European clientele. If the sample must be homogeneous, it must also have some variety to better understand the impact of network characteristics on the innovations implemented.

Those ski areas have different modes of governance (one is centralized around a mid-sized company, Compagnie des Alpes, the other is more collegial and associative), are located in two separate territories (one is Franco-Swiss, the other 100% French) and does not have the same number of ski resorts. We have taken care to select networks of different sizes and age, and which involve different ski resorts (see Table 2).

The initial data collection aimed to identify what were the innovation networks developed in these two ski areas. To reduce the analysis complexity, we focused primarily on innovation networks developed around sporting or leisure activities in connection with the ski areas. We do not, for example, studied the innovations developed by hotels or residences. In a second step, we focused on the innovations that have been driven by an inter-organizational network.

Among these, we quickly identified key players who can be assimilated to the hub firms in several innovation projects. We identified the tourist office of Avoriaz (major international ski resort connected to the Portes du Soleil area), the Association of the Portes du Soleil and the tourist office of Les Arcs (ski resort attached to the large international ski area, Paradiski) as potential hub organizations. To ensure data triangulation, we used three different data sources: interviews, direct observation and secondary data. Ten semi-structured interviews, lasting an average of 3 hours, were conducted during the years 2011 and 2012 with key network actors (pivots and actors behind innovation), heads of Tourist Office, ski areas or ski lifts. We also interviewed actors who have helped us to understand the territory, while facilitating access to key people (Savoie Mont Blanc Tourism Director, Member of the Executive Committee of SMB destination, or the Tourism Plan coordinator of the Savoie Travel Agency). These interviews helped us to realize networks mappings. These mappings represent, for each innovation project, the relationships between members (an example is given in Appendix 1). They facilitate the identification of roles, resources and expertise provided by each partner. They also facilitate the interpretation and the restitution of data. Direct observation was made by positioning us as customers of these ski areas and using innovative services studied. This passive observation was not only intended to test these innovations but also to capture the feelings of customers, who are full members of the service process. In addition, external secondary data (websites, press clippings ...) allowed us to have a better understanding of innovations implemented.

Finally, to analyze data, we used the analytical framework developed at the end of the theoretical part (Table 1). We will now characterize the observed networks and classify the identified innovations.

Networks analysis in terms of innovation type: results and discussion

We present the main characteristics of the 12 networks used to develop new offers, front office or back office innovations. Then, we discuss the results.

Characteristics of networks by innovation type

The twelve innovations brought by networks that were identified in the two ski areas are presented in Table 3. In terms of types of innovation, this table shows that new offers are the most numerous (7 of 12), far ahead of front office innovation (3 innovations only) and back office innovations (2 innovations). This is not surprising because the competition between ski resorts is now particularly harsh. Therefore, a ski resort has to multiply visible innovations, to retain increasingly demanding and eager for novelty customers and to attract new customers not necessarily in search of athletic performance but eager to increase experience within a territory [START_REF] Clydesdale | Ski development and strategy, Tourism and hospitality planning and development[END_REF]. Architecture :

 Centralised  Decentralised 7 0 3 0 2 0 12 0 Geographical Scope :  Local  National  International 1 3 3 0 1 2 2 0 0 3 4 5 Total 7 3 2 12

New offer

For the majority of innovations that focus on new offers, we observe that networks have a centralized architecture (with the existence of a pivot). They gather few competitors (to benefit from scale effects generated by alliances), but more and more partners who can provide additional resources (customers, suppliers or companies from other industries).

Regulation is of an economic nature since it involves actors outside the station, otherwise it is sociological. However, the sociological mode can bring about malfunctions. Thus, as stated by one interviewed actor "it is sometimes hard to know exactly who should do what and how.

It would be more effective and would be better for our brand if we wrote more elaborate procedures". Finally, the networks have a geographic scope increasingly wide (national or international), as partners from other industries are rarely located within the resort.

Front office innovations

Regarding innovations that are intended for improving the front office, vertical relationship is often preferred. Those networks have a pivot which is (two out of three times) located in the resort. We found mainly economic regulation as members are supervised by strict safety standards (when transporting skiers) or specifications for the preservation of their brand (company internationally renowned as Burton). As these suppliers, distributors or providers of complementary resources are not located in the ski resort, network coverage is national or international.

Back office innovations

Inter-organizational networks supporting back office innovations seem gather inter-industry members but rather localized within the resort. If the Tourist Office is often the pivot, geographical proximity of members introduced a sociological regulation mode, although it is not always a priority.

Discussion: types of innovations introduced by the deployment of certain types of networks

Different types of networks emerged according to the type of innovation, on three of the four dimensions (nature of relationships, geographical scope and regulation mode).

Regarding the nature of the relationships, it first appears that front office innovation networks are more vertical because they aim at making more tangible the service qualities (improving physical evidence) or at better convincing customers (via the action of staff, here tour operators agents). They involve upstream members (a supplier who brings technology)

and / or downstream members (a distributor with whom the firm will build co-innovation).

However, for the other types of innovation (new offers or back office innovations), networks are mostly cross industrial. This is not surprising since, by definition, a holiday stay bring together different types of services (accommodation, restaurant, ski lift, equipment rental, tourist office...). However, outside those traditionally providers, it is clear that for differentiation purpose, ski resorts are now increasingly using actors that are not part of the mountain tourism industry (eg musical production companies, waterparks companies...). The new offers also require more horizontal coordination between resorts belonging to the same ski area. Those resorts must manage the cooperation / competition duality, also called coopetition [START_REF] Brandenburger | The Right Game: Use Game Theory to Shape Strategy[END_REF]. To create value and innovation, ski resorts can no longer act in isolation and must recognize their interdependence [START_REF] Lado | Competition, Cooperation, and the Search for Economic Rents: A Syncretic Model[END_REF].

If the link between the nature of relationships and the type of innovation developed has already been identified in the industry [START_REF] Gemünden | Network configuration and innovation success: An empirical analysis in German high-tech industries[END_REF], we noted specificities of service innovations. Partners who are solicited by innovations are from a different type than in industry.

In studies on cooperation evolution, the selection process takes place mainly at the start of the cooperation process [START_REF] Rueur | Post-formation dynamics in strategic alliances[END_REF]. Conversely, in the networks studied, the selection of members is done throughout the project, according to the new needs. During the selection phase, the main criteria are the resources and skills possessed by partners. This result refers to the resource-based view. It is a proactive approach where a company is aware of its lack of resources and skills to deploy innovations and decides to call partners. In our research, this approach is often initiated by a public actor: the tourist office. Besides this main criterion, the hub organization also chooses its partners according to their reputation and the extent of their own network. Proximity does not appear as an important selection criterion.

If to stand out from competitors, ski resorts expand their networks to members who are distant in terms of activities, this is also reflected in the geographical scope of the network.

Mountains resorts used to have a very geographical operation and were sometimes treated as localized productive systems, very embedded in their territory. It appears that nowadays, members of an innovation networks are mostly located outside the resort, in France or abroad.

Thus, although the proximity traditionally reduces coordination costs [START_REF] Dyer | The relational view: Cooperative strategies and sources of interorganizational competitive advantage[END_REF] and facilitates informal exchange and knowledge transfer [START_REF] Hippel | Sticky Information and the Locus of Problem Solving: Implications for Innovation[END_REF][START_REF] Bernard | La diversité spatiale des modes de coopération[END_REF], it seems that for innovations developed around ski areas, local partners are no more sufficient. Resorts must find creative partners who can provide resources and skills that cannot be found within the resort. Alliance with foreign partners is also a way to internationalize the resort and thus find growth overseas. One type of innovation is an exception to this rule: back office innovations that are supported by local networks. These back office innovations, not visible to the client (and therefore not necessarily differentiating for him when choosing his stay), are designed to integrate and facilitate coordination between stakeholders in the on-site touristic stay. It is quite logical that the need to improve back office systems relate mainly local organizations, which should be particularly efficient in terms of information systems.

Concerning architecture, the presence within networks of a hub firm prevails, regardless of the type of innovation. We here find similarities with the industrial sector [START_REF] Dhanaraj | Orchestrating innovation networks[END_REF]. In the theory of transaction costs [START_REF] Williamson | The Economic Institutions of Capitalism[END_REF], members of a network agreed to delegate some of their authority to a central actor, if the degree of uncertainty is high. In this uncertain environment, transaction cost theory shows the importance of having a hierarchical network, with a pivot that dominates exchanges and coordinates members. In contrast, hierarchical forms lose their meaning when the level of uncertainty is low. In this research, the systematic presence of a pivot is partly because the ski areas studied are already centralized around at least one key organization (a ski lift company or an accommodation provider), but this is also due to the very recent questioning of mountain territories.

Traditionally composed of heterogeneous actors enjoying a growing market, actors have tended to operate in isolation. Today, given the competitive intensity and winter sports market trends, the presence of a pivot seems necessary to drive the innovation dynamics and taking all stakeholders to more collaboration [START_REF] Dhanaraj | Orchestrating innovation networks[END_REF]. This hub organization changes, depending on the nature of the innovation project. It can be an institution (an association like The Portes du Soleil or a Tourist Office) or a large company that owns most of the value chain activities or a key element of the latter (Compagnie des Alpes, Pierre & Vacances). Despite the presence of some large companies, they are often local organizations or public operators who are the driving stakeholder in tourism innovations (Hjakager, 2010).

However, we have not observed SME who drive networks. This can be explained by the fact that they are often in a situation of high dependence. Indeed, it is difficult for this kind of firm

(1) to control their environment by making acquisitions (due to lack of resources and expertise) and (2) to create a more favourable environment through political activities such as lobbying [START_REF] Pfeffer | The external control of organizations[END_REF].

Finally, concerning the regulation mode, it appears that the economic mode is more favored over the sociological mode that requires the establishment of trust between members (Assens, 2003). Sociological mode is only preserved to coordinate well-known local actors. Casanueva and Galan Gonzalez ( 2004) have already shown, in the shoe industry, that the firms of a network exchange tacit information only with those firms with which they maintain stronger social and business links. However the use of economic regulation reflects a change in the mode of operation of ski resorts. Originally, ski resorts were rather characterized by informal networks based on geographical and cultural proximities of members. These networks could be assimilated to clans (Ouchi, 1990). However, with the retirement of the first generation of business owners, the arrival of foreign companies based more on economic and financial considerations who take control of ski lifts or accommodation (Cattelin and Thevenard-Puthod, 2006), the increasing competition and the imperative to innovate, the control mode changes to the economic mode. This choice is also supported by the fact that networks are composed of members geographically distant and selected according to complementary resources and skills criteria. RBV can also be used to explain this evolution as the sustainability of a ski resort depends on its ability to acquire and maintain the necessary resources. Moreover, one can also think that the difficulty for a winter sports resort to protect its innovations reinforces rational and economic relations between members of an innovation network. Back office innovations seem to escape this rule since they obviously tend to favour the sociological mode, for the reasons mentioned above (coordinating only local actors). This difference of regulation mode according to the type of innovation has been revealed in the industry. But unlike the work of [START_REF] Nooteboom | Interfirm Collaboration, Learning and Networks, an Integrated Approach[END_REF], which focused on the relationship between the degree of innovation the preferred mode of regulation in the industry, our results highlight a possible link between the element that carries the innovation and the control mode used.

Table 5 summarizes those results and therefore characterizes the networks formed by the winter sports resorts according to the type of innovation developed.

CONCLUSION

The study of 12 innovations implemented within two ski areas highlights a link between the type of innovation deployed and the type of network formed. It seems that new offers, front office or back office innovations network differ in terms of partners involved (competitors, suppliers, distributors, actors outside the industry), regulation mode (economic or sociological) and geographical scope (local, national or international). However, it seems that there is always a central player in charge of orchestrating the exchanges between partners, regardless of the type of innovation. It is also clear that cooperation only underpinned by tacit or informal modes of exchange (Gulati, 1998) less observed. Indeed, in touristic innovations networks, conflicts of interest or power games between actors are almost inevitable [START_REF] Miles | Organizations: New concepts for new forms[END_REF]. Thus the presence of a hub firm or pivot is important to manage disagreements and differences, and facilitate the development of innovative projects.

This pivotal role is often provided by a public organization (tourist or local institution), with some local legitimacy [START_REF] Kumar | Inter-partner legitimacy in the alliance development process[END_REF]. Winter sports resorts who want to innovate must be aware of the important role of this central actor that drives the innovation dynamics, selects the members able to contribute to effective innovation implementation and coordinate their actions.

At the managerial level, considering the four dimensions when building an innovation network is a significant contribution, as these dimensions appear to be different depending on the type of innovation. Ski resorts who want to innovate must also be open to external partners (companies which are not belonging to the tourism industry and / or are not geographically localized in the resort). The openness of the network to "original" partners facilitates the design and implementation of more radical innovations.

However, beyond the traditional limitations due to the use of a qualitative methodology, a limit related to our questioning appears. Thus, if this contribution addresses the link between innovation type and characteristics of inter-organizational network, it does not address the possible reciprocal link. In some situations, it may be possible that networks determine the innovations implemented. Future research should therefore consider this "reciprocity" and look deeper into the relationship between inter-organizational network and innovation as well as the direction of this relationship. It would also be interesting to expand the research field to other mountain areas in order to face, via the multiplication of the number of cases studied, other innovations which can be deployed in other types of networks. Network structures identified in this paper could also be validated on a larger sample size.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Assens C. (2003), Le réseau d'entreprises : vers une synthèse des connaissances, Management International, 24(1), 120-136. Autant-Bernard C. (2001), Science and knowledge flows: Evidence from the French case, Research Policy, 30(7), 1069-1078.

Table 1

 1 below). We want to identify if the implementation of certain types of innovation (new offers, front office or back office innovations) requires the creation of inter-organizational networks with specific characteristics.

Table 1 : Analysis framework of the link between networks characteristics and innovations types

 1

			Networks characteristics
		Relation type	Regulation	Architecture	Geographical
		(horizontal / vertical / inter-industry)	mode (economic / sociological)	(Centralized / decentralized)	scope (local / national /
					international)
	what	New offer Front office
	New	innovation Back office
		innovation

Table 2 : Innovation networks characteristics

 2

	Innovations*	Ski area		New what	Year of implemen tation**	Nb of different type of actor ***	Nb of ski resorts involved
	Aquariaz			New offer	2012	3	1
	Stash You can ski	Soleil		Font office Innovation New offer	2008 2009	3 6	1 12
	Multipass Training Kit for TO Cabaret Week Distribution system of ski pass earnings Rock the pistes	Les Portes du	areas Innovations	New offer Font office Innovation New offer Back office Innovation New offer	2009 2008 2005 2009 2010	8 3 3 2 9	12 1 1 12 12
	Mountain Pod		Ski	New offer	2010	3	3
	Vanoise Express Nirvanalps	Paradiski		Font office Innovation Back office Innovation	2003 2010	3 5	3 3
	Premium Offer			New offer	2013	7	3

* : In order to facilitate understanding, we have given the innovation name to the innovation network ** : commercial launch *** : main types of actors involved (not all individual organizations of the network as they can be too numerous)

Table 3 : The 12 innovations networks studied

 3

	Networks characteristics

Table 4

 4 is designed to summarize data used to draw conclusions regarding the relationship between the characteristics of innovation networks and the innovation type.

Table 4 : Networks characteristics and innovation type

 4

		New offer	Front office	Back office	Total
			innovation	innovation
	Relationships :
	 Horizontal	4	1	1	6
	 Vertical	3	2	0	5
	 Inter-industry	5	1	2	8
	Regulation :
	 Economic	5	2	2	9
	 Sociological	4	1	1	6

Table 5 : Networks characteristics according to the nature of innovations Networks characteristics

 5

	Relation type	Regulation	Architecture	Geographical
	(horizontal /	mode	(Centralized /	scope
	vertical / inter-	(economic /	decentralized)	(local /
	industry)	sociological)		national /
				international)

Type of innovations New what New offers

			Sociological
		Inters-industry and horizontal	with local members Economic with	Centralized	National or international
			other members
	Front Office Innovations	Vertical	Economic	Centralized	National or international
	Back office Innovations	Inter-industry	Priority to sociological	Centralized	Local

In the Multipass and Rock the Pistes cases, we considered that members were local and national even if the Portes du Soleil area is by definition international (it is localized half on France, half on Switzerland). It is the geographical proximity which prevails.

Appendix

Example of mapping done for Paradiski Premium offer 4

This visual approach quickly highlights the network structure and the nature of existing links between each partner. It facilitates the identification of the structural characteristics of the network (nature of the relationship, architecture) and the roles of different partners. The intention is to facilitate the interpretation and restitution of results.

PARADISKI PREMIUM OFFER

Legend :

4 In order not to overload the paper, we have not inserted all network mappings. Naturally, the authors could provide the other mappings upon request.

Hub firm

Les