Annelie Sjölander-Lindqvist, Wilhelm Skoglund and Daniel Laven
This paper aims to propose the concept of social terroir to help navigate phenomenological and epistemological conditions of small-scale food entrepreneurship.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose the concept of social terroir to help navigate phenomenological and epistemological conditions of small-scale food entrepreneurship.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a qualitative research approach and was implemented in the peripheral region of Jämtland in northern Sweden. The study interrogated the ambitions of craft brewers when starting up, their long-term goals and visions, including questions about the reason for starting up a brewery, how the different brewers cooperate and how and why the products are designed and labelled the way they are.
Findings
This study shows that the production of craft beer is an inherently social practice that is part of a particular sociocultural milieu. This milieu informs production in distinct and interrelated ways: through connecting to place and locality in the different aspects of production and marketing, through cooperation to develop production and overcome barriers, and through embedding their work in sustainability discourses.
Originality/value
The study addresses how, in the context of craft beer, terroir or taste of place, is a matter of social ties to place and community–social terroir. What is novel is the way in which social terroir becomes a critical ingredient in the production of craft beer. This illustrates how small-scale food production and gastronomic efforts can link people, places and businesses.
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Paulina Ines Rytkönen, Wilhelm Skoglund, Pejvak Oghazi and Daniel Laven
The purpose of this study is shed light on the underlying forces behind entrepreneurship within a regional innovation system (RIS) in a remote rural region. The authors examine…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is shed light on the underlying forces behind entrepreneurship within a regional innovation system (RIS) in a remote rural region. The authors examine the following questions: Which are the main underlying forces behind the entrepreneurial process in a rural RIS characterized by traditionally low-tech, small-scale businesses? How can the development of a low-tech regional innovation system be conceptualized?
Design/methodology/approach
The design of the study is based on entrepreneurship theory. Data analysis followed practices used in phenomenography, a research approach used to analyse and identify commonalities and variations in populations' perceptions of a certain phenomenon. Data are composed using semi-structured interviews and a database composed of company information of all firms in the population.
Findings
A proactive mobilization of regional stakeholders and resources can be an important driving force behind the entrepreneurial process and generation of a rural RIS. Innovation can be generated within low-tech industries turning the rural context into an asset. An RIS in a remote rural context can be initiated and orchestrated by regional authorities, but knowledge brokering and orchestration can also be managed by networks of small-scale businesses brought together by mutual benefit and common interests.
Research limitations/implications
Regional innovation systems theory is most often used to study high-tech industries. But by combining regional innovation systems with rural entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship context theory is a fruitful avenue to understand the role of rural entrepreneurship in regional development, even in remote and peripheral regions. Innovation does not need to entail high-tech international environments; it can appear as the result of efforts in low-tech industries in rural and remote environments. The authors’ findings need to be scrutinized; therefore, the authors call for more research on regional innovation systems in rural environments.
Practical implications
It is possible for regional authorities to orchestrate a development process through the actions of a strong regional agent but also by supporting the creation of networks of small businesses that are built on trust and common interests.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature with a new perspective to the study of entrepreneurship and of regional innovation systems. Entrepreneurship research with focus on rural contexts most often highlight limits to entrepreneurship and see entrepreneurship as “just running a business”. A perspective that starts from innovation and innovative behaviour, despite the rural context and embedded resources, helps to generate new knowledge that can enrich the understanding of entrepreneurship and also be the foundation for more precise business development policies in rural settings.
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James Cunningham and Simon S. Fraser
In this chapter, the authors explore the entrepreneurial nature of craft brewing. The authors find growth in the microbrewery sector has been supported through a cooperative…
Abstract
In this chapter, the authors explore the entrepreneurial nature of craft brewing. The authors find growth in the microbrewery sector has been supported through a cooperative approach between competing artisanal small firms. This has helped build competitive advantage in resistance to the dominant market forces of large brewers. Data were gathered using semi-structured interviews with 12 craft brewers in the North East of Scotland. Analysed findings are used in the design of a conceptual model on the nature of collaboration in the craft beer sector. An artisanal scene is presented, where community benefit and continued development of the craft beer movement is prioritised, over commercial and strategic growth. The typically small firms in this area share resources and support each other in a drive to wean customers away from the large mainstream producers. The authors argue that the nature of the craft beer sector seeks to actively resist market dominance, not only through product quality and marketing, but also in the entrepreneurial behaviours enacted to sustain the movement. The findings suggest a co-existence of both collaboration and competition in the strategic decisions of craft brewers. The focus is on the locally embedded connections these firms develop in the maintenance of their craft roots, with a range of complex interconnected factors linking brewer, community, and the broader industry.
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In a recent poll commissioned by Rockwell, sponsors of opinion polls on the US civilian space programme for the last 16 years, an increasing percentage of Americans was shown to…
Abstract
In a recent poll commissioned by Rockwell, sponsors of opinion polls on the US civilian space programme for the last 16 years, an increasing percentage of Americans was shown to support the US space station.
Patrik Ström and Brita Hermelin
The circular economy (CE) has been endorsed as representing a model that is able to achieve environmental protection through decreased use of raw materials, together with changing…
Abstract
Purpose
The circular economy (CE) has been endorsed as representing a model that is able to achieve environmental protection through decreased use of raw materials, together with changing economic values and social inclusion thanks to its demand for a wide variety of skill profiles. This has motivated many policy initiatives to support the implementation of the CE. The purpose of this study is to follow such policy initiatives in three geographically anchored industry-specific networks.
Design/methodology/approach
The study contributes to the research debate on the CE through a spatial approach with a focus on how the implementation of the CE is conditioned by spatial and regional contexts. The authors investigate three different networks in Sweden for CE with different locations and industrial profiles.
Findings
The findings reveal the difficulty that exist in relation to the implementation of the CE. The network and support functions in combination with private industry are vital. The risk of sustaining an uneven regional economic development is evident.
Originality/value
Although research on the development of the CE has proliferated, geographical approaches to this development are comparably rare to date. The authors seek to contextualise the strategy development and policy implementation of a CE policy.
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Ping Gui, Zufeng Yang and Jun Che
In the face of major disasters, the Chinese people's willingness to donate has increased and the result is that the donation paths have increased. However, there are certain…
Abstract
Purpose
In the face of major disasters, the Chinese people's willingness to donate has increased and the result is that the donation paths have increased. However, there are certain differences in the choice of donation paths for different types of individuals. It is crucial to pay more attention to the attitude and donation path selection of donors and propose strategies to promote individual donation behavior. The purpose of this study is to propose a conceptualized moderated mediation model for testing the linkage between individual attitude and donation path selection through the mediating effect of donors' behavioral intention and the moderating effect of behavioral difficulty perception or social pressure between donors' attitude and their donation path selection.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a questionnaire survey of 628 community workers during COVID-19 in China. Self-reported measures were used to obtain data on IA, BI, SP, BDP and DPS. Survey data were used to test the proposed model using hierarchical regression analysis. Mediation analyses with bootstrap via PROCESS were used to ascertain the proposed relationship.
Findings
The results showed that individual attitude are positively related to donation path selection. Moreover, this study finds that behavioral intention serves as a mediator in the relationships between individual attitude and donation path selection. The social pressure and behavioral difficulty perception negatively moderate the relationship between individual attitude and behavioral intention.
Research limitations/implications
There are still some shortcomings in this study: First, although the data collected at multiple points in this study are all individual data. Future research can add evaluations of relatives, friends or colleagues to individual scheduling of survey subjects to reduce homology errors. Second, although this study has verified the mediating role of the opposite sex, some of the mediating results show that there may be other variables that play a role in the relationship between individual attitudes and donation path selection. In the research on path selection, the integrated theoretical perspective has rich connotations but has not attracted enough attention from the academic community. This research is only based on this single theoretical perspective to construct, verify and explain the model, and there should be other integrated theories. The fit point can be used to analyze the influence mechanism of individual attitudes on the choice of donation path.
Practical implications
First of all, we must deepen our understanding of the connotation and role of individuals' attitudes. In the event of a major epidemic, the following two types of measures will be taken to improve individuals' attitudes toward specific donation paths: First, the sponsors of each donation should do their best to donors and provide more information about donations, because the more information resources they have, the stronger the experience of the corresponding donation path, and the more they will choose the path. The sponsor of the second donation must show concern for major epidemics that are prone to occur and a desire to help people affected by disasters, so as to enhance the emotional identity of the donor, thereby increasing the probability of the donor choosing a specific donation path. Secondly, donation sponsors should be wary of the negative influence of social pressure on the donation path selection of individual donors. Donation sponsors can train individuals who are willing to donate, guide them in social relations, online public opinion and other pressure methods and improve the possibility of individuals choosing specific donation routes.
Social implications
Deepen the understanding of the content and effectiveness of the behavioral difficulty perception that has a profound impact on the donor. The greater the tendency to make a path choice is often affected by the individual's perception of the difficulty of behavior. The perception of difficulty of a certain donation path will cause the individual to retreat and inhibit the possibility of the individual choosing the path. Therefore, donation sponsors should take all measures to make their own donation channels simpler and more efficient, thereby reducing the individual's perception of the difficulty of donation behavior.
Originality/value
Drawing on TPB theory, a theoretical framework is constructed that specifies the process through which individual attitude affects donation path selection to expand collective understandings of individual attitude in the donation context. Furthermore, the boundary conditions of the underlying process are investigated, which further enhances the contribution of this paper to the extant literature on individual attitude.