Romancing the rural: Reconceptualizing rural entrepreneurship as engagement with context(s)

Gaddefors, Johan; Anderson, Alistair R.

doi:10.1177/1465750318785545

Cited by 81 publications

(125 citation statements)

References 90 publications

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“…The local rural context was seen as a good place to operate, but largely for social reasons which is in line with findings of the advantages of operating in a rural setting (Gaddefors and Anderson 2017). However, as previously described by Gaddefors and Anderson (2019) it also caused problems in that a limited pool of labour was available for growth along with a sense of local responsibility. These data helped us to better understand 'growth' in our case.…”

Section: Contextualising the Narrativessupporting

confidence: 74%

Growing a small firm; experiences and managing difficult processes

Tunberg

Anderson

2020

Int Entrep Manag J

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Contrary to a simple model of small firm growth where increased inputs produce greater outputs, we consider growth is a complex and difficult process. Accordingly, the paper is concerned with how small firms grow, especially how they make sense of the growth process. We collected narratives of the experiences of small firm growth in an extended case study to draw out how growth is understood and managed. We saw how owners became entangled in the process of growing, especially where a change in one aspect led to problems in other dimensions of growth. Their narratives were about trying to make sense, and give some sense to the complexity of growth and some direction to what they should manage. We identified a repertoire of narrative forms: Growth is understood through output indicators, growth is treated as the internal development of the firm and finally, growth is taken to be inevitable-a necessity to which the firm has to conform. These illustrate how growth can be understood as processes of growing, bound up in the context, created in space and time, and contingent on how growth is understood and experienced. Far from a smooth trajectory, enacting growth reflects the experience of the moment, it is shaped by reactions rather than strategy and it is messy rather than ordered. This study contributes to the literature by complementing the functionalist and output oriented view by understanding firm growth as a social phenomenon constructed and reconstructed in the interactions between people and experiences of context.

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Section: Contextualising the Narrativessupporting

confidence: 74%

Growing a small firm; experiences and managing difficult processes

Tunberg

Anderson

2020

Int Entrep Manag J

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“…Rural entrepreneurship studies are conducted within most social science disciplines. Rural entrepreneurship is explained in various ways (see for example [48][49][50], for example through the role of rural development policies, of institutional frames and the development of various governance models [46,[51][52][53]. Korsgaard et al [54] argue that to understand rural entrepreneurship we also need to understand the meaning of place and space.…”

Section: Entrepreneurship-a Conceptual Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Summer Farmers, Diversification and Rural Tourism—Challenges and Opportunities in the Wake of the Entrepreneurial Turn in Swedish Policies (1991–2019)

Rytkönen

Tunón

2020

Sustainability

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Since the 1990s Swedish authorities have increasingly treated summer farms as businesses, expecting them to generate profits like any other firm. However, in addition to being financially independent, summer farms are expected to provide a number of services, to help maintain biological heritage, provide beautiful landscapes for tourists, and much more. Summer farmers are also forced to co-exist with other local stakeholders that base their activities on the same resources, e.g., adventure and nature-based tourism, agriculture, and other businesses. All of this creates a number of entrepreneurial challenges but can also open new windows of opportunity. The response of summer farmers has been to diversify activities to cope with shrinking income and the seasonal character of their trade. Most new business strategies include tourism or increasing the number of cattle rationalizing animal husbandry. The strategies have partly been influenced by policies and partly by new market opportunities. Departing from a business, spatial and institutional contextual analysis we identified five main entrepreneurial strategies, three of which are related to rural tourism, one is related to increasing the animal herd and the fifth is a no-strategy, maintaining status quo. This article analyses the reality of summer farms from a business perspective. The main questions to be answered are: How have summer farmers responded to the entrepreneurial turn in regional development policies? Which are their main business challenges and opportunities?

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“…The 'rural' appears to be not just a residual factor but a core issue that shapes the role and form of rural social enterprises. This resonates with the increasing importance attributed to context in the (rural) entrepreneurship field (Gaddefors and Anderson, 2019;Korsgaard et al, 2015;Steyaert and Katz, 2004). Rural social enterprises can evolve to meet the needs of vulnerable groups living within rural areas.…”

Section: Observations and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Rural social enterprises in Europe: A systematic literature review

Twuijver

Olmedo²,

O’Shaughnessy³

2020

Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit

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There is a growing perception that social enterprises represent a significant solution to the range of contemporary challenges facing rural areas across Europe. However, while much of the existing studies of European rural social enterprises provide a rich insight into specific case studies, as of yet, there is no comprehensive review of the breadth of research currently published on rural social enterprises in Europe. We respond to this gap by providing a systematic literature review incorporating 66 studies of rural social enterprise in Europe. We highlight the range of research in this field and demonstrate how the organisations act as key actors in fulfilling needs of rural areas that are not met otherwise. This systematic literature review confirms that rural social enterprises are characterised by strong local involvement with an ability to combine different goals and resources. Based on this review, we suggest that the rural and local contexts, often combined with tailored external support, are important factors in enabling rural social enterprises. This review also indicates that the academic field is relatively young and rapidly growing, leaving room for new lines of potential research to improve our understanding of these enterprises and their contribution to the development of rural places.

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Romancing the rural: Reconceptualizing rural entrepreneurship as engagement with context(s)

Cited by 81 publications

References 90 publications

Growing a small firm; experiences and managing difficult processes

Growing a small firm; experiences and managing difficult processes

Summer Farmers, Diversification and Rural Tourism—Challenges and Opportunities in the Wake of the Entrepreneurial Turn in Swedish Policies (1991–2019)

Rural social enterprises in Europe: A systematic literature review

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