Bringing innovation back in–strategies and driving forces behind entrepreneurial responses in small-scale rural industries in Sweden

PurposeThe paper contributes to the debate about local food and conceptualization of rural entrepreneurship by analysing the performance of small-scale dairies departing from their relation to innovations, innovative activities and risk.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use phenomenography to identify representative categories, and to draw conclusions about how these are consistent or different from dominant definitions of rural entrepreneurship and self-employment. The authors conducted semi-structured interviews, participatory workshops and compiled a database of all small-scale dairies established between 1968 and 2020.FindingsA focus on innovations contributes to differentiate between rural entrepreneurship and self-employment and how these interact in the process of economic growth. Innovations are seldom disruptive. Instead, innovative behaviour is strongly related to business models and to imitation. Social capital and collective action play a key role for the innovative capacity of small businesses, especially to realize disruptive innovations, such as the establishment of a new market.Research limitations/implicationsThe innovative capacity of rural businesses can be understood through their ability to break patterns, alter institutions and turn embededdness into assets. Rural entrepreneurship and self-employment are intertwined in the economic growth process.Practical implicationsInnovative behaviour is a significant aspect for firm survival over time, and it is also strongly related to new business models. Most rural firms can be characterized as self-employment, the latter are essential because they provide rural livelihoods and help bring maturity to newly established markets.Social implicationsThe right type of support, e.g. adopting enabling industrial regulations and granting access to constructive experiences of others, contributes to the innovative behaviour of small-scale rural firms.Originality/valueThis study differentiates rural entrepreneurship from rural self-employment by analysing the role of innovation. The authors show how innovations and innovative behaviour work their way through the process of economic growth and how innovation can break patterns by turning rural embeddedness into assets; and how innovative behaviour related to self-employments contributes to the creation of value and interacts with entrepreneurship in the process of economic growth.

Rural entrepreneurship and the context: navigating contextual barriers through women's groups

PurposeThis study aims to examine how women's groups help women to navigate context-related barriers to their engagement in rural entrepreneurship. The paper combines the contextualisation of entrepreneurship framework and the feminist separatist theory to describe how women's groups in patriarchal rural communities enable women to circumvent context-related barriers and actively engage in rural entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approachBased on a case study of 12 women's groups engaged in paddy farming, rice processing and marketing in rural Tanzania, this study draws on semi-structured interviews with 46 women, four focus group discussions, four in-depth key informant interviews and non-participant observation.FindingsRural women face unique context-related challenges that hinder them from effectively participating in rural entrepreneurship. Specifically, limited access to farmlands and profitable markets, lack of business networks, limited time, poverty and insufficient financial resources constrain women's engagement in entrepreneurship. To overcome these contextual barriers, rural women have organised themselves into groups to gain access to business services, business-related training, grants and business networks.Research limitations/implicationsThis study contributes to the existing literature on contextualising entrepreneurship by focussing on how rural contexts may constrain women's entrepreneurial engagement while showing how women respond to contextual barriers that enable them to participate in rural entrepreneurship.Practical implicationsThis study shows that women with low education can pursue rural entrepreneurship if they are supported through training and access to networks. This will support the performance of these groups of women.Originality/valueThis study offers new insights into the role of women's groups in navigating gender-related constraints that hinder women from participating in rural entrepreneurship within the patriarchal context of low-income countries. Thus, new perceptions for the gender and rural entrepreneurship theory and the policy implications thereof are proffered.

Digitalization and rural entrepreneurial attitude in Indonesia: a capability approach

Purpose This paper aims to identify how digitalization affects entrepreneurial attitudes in rural areas in Indonesia, a country in the Global South. The development of digital technology can help entrepreneurs, in that faster and easier information acquisition helps rural communities to identify new opportunities and innovate. Yet, digital development generates higher disparity, and thus, not all people can benefit from digitalization. Although digital technology can facilitate the development of entrepreneurship, its benefits depend on individual preferences. In this regard, the capability approach is used so as to reflect how different valuations of digital technology in rural entrepreneurs influence their attitude with regard to recognizing business opportunities and taking risks. Design/methodology/approach A double case study approach is used in which this study examines two cases of rural entrepreneurs in Indonesia that represent different uses of digital technologies and socio-economic rural contexts: coffee entrepreneurs in Kintamani and craft producers in Kamasan village. In so doing, semi-structured interviews were conducted with local entrepreneurs and communities according to purposive and snowball sampling techniques. The qualitative data were then analysed using a constant comparative technique which allows us to develop a conceptual argument by observing patterns within and between the cases. Findings The findings show that digitalization shapes the attitude of rural entrepreneurs differently, although the same opportunity from using digital technology is present in the village. Social and environmental factors facilitate the rural entrepreneurs to consider using digital technology to develop their businesses. However, as each individual entrepreneur has a different valuation of digital technology, the benefits it offers – such as broader market opportunities and new business ideas – vary. Entrepreneurs who consider digital technology to be a valuable resource for developing their businesses are more curious to explore its benefits. Originality/value The capability approach provides a new perspective in understanding rural entrepreneurship. First, the authors demonstrate that the success of rural entrepreneurship is influenced not only by concrete things (e.g. resources) but also the individual perspective on these resources which may vary across entrepreneurs. Second, the authors show not only the potential differences in socio-cultural contexts in which the capability approach is applied but also how socio-cultural values and collectivism influence the individual valuation of resources that could benefit entrepreneurs.

A Study of Rural Entrepreneurship and their Problems in Marathwada

This study was focus on the problems of rural entrepreneurs for increasing their business in Marathwada. The researcher has collected online data through Google from 150 respondents from Marathwada for the study during 2020-21. There are many reasons for decreasing entrepreneurship, but researchers think the main reason is that the youth should be aware of business education. The competition to do something new and better promotes entrepreneurship and there are many other reasons why Entrepreneurship is promoted. Rural entrepreneurs face many problems such as lack of skilled and managerial workforce, lack of infrastructural facilities for agri-business, marketing problems, lack of awareness regarding a career in agro-entrepreneurship, etc.

Social Capital, Financial Literacy, and Rural Household Entrepreneurship: A Mediating Effect Analysis

In rural areas, entrepreneurship helps lift households out of poverty by alleviating unemployment and increasing income, and financial literacy plays an important role in promoting entrepreneurship. Social capital is a resource embedded in social relationships, the boundaries of which have been expanded by the development of information communications technologies (ICTs). This article aims to link social capital, financial literacy, and rural entrepreneurship through a partial mediating effect analysis. Using data from the 2015 China Household Finance Survey (CHFS), we analyze how social capital affects rural entrepreneurship and the role of local ICTs development in this effect while also accounting for reverse causality. We construct a social capital indicator, mainly referring to bridging social capital, and two financial literacy indicators to make the conclusions robust. The empirical results show that social capital promotes rural entrepreneurship by sharing financial literacy. Furthermore, the spread of ICTs enhances this mediating effect. Our study provides empirical evidence for encouraging entrepreneurship and promoting knowledge sharing and implies the importance of ICTs in promoting entrepreneurship in rural areas.

Entrepreneurial Intention among Rural Youth in Moroccan Agricultural Cooperatives: The Future of Rural Entrepreneurship

Rural entrepreneurship in the developing world has long been hailed as a powerful tool for promoting the socioeconomic integration of young people and the key to avoiding rural depopulation as well as ensuring these areas remain attractive places for rural youth. However, there have been no efforts to investigate the role of collective entrepreneurship in the creation and management of new businesses in Morocco. Furthermore, we build on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to investigate and explain entrepreneurial intention among the rural youth members of agricultural cooperatives, and identify the vulnerabilities and factors that influence the choice or decision-making between permanent membership at the cooperative and an entrepreneurial career. In this case, we apply the cognitive approach to survey rural youth in the Drâa-Tafilalet region of Morocco in 2020. The binary logistic regression analysis technique has been used and applied to build the best model to explain why some rural youth members of the cooperative, but not others, choose to become entrepreneurs. We model how agricultural cooperatives may favor or inhibit the translation of entrepreneurial intention into new venture creation. A random sample size of 130 young people has been selected, from which 54 are intending to start a business and 76 have a negative intention of self-employment. The results of the analysis showed that socio-demographic variables, individual perceptions, previous experience, and the activities of the cooperative were statistically significant and reliable in building the binary logistic regression model. Findings also suggest that the risks of agribusiness and financing constraints have a negative influence on entrepreneurial intentions of the youth and women in agricultural cooperatives.

Integration into agricultural producer groups as a manifestation of rural entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is an integral part of rural development contributing to activation, competitiveness and innovation. One manifestation of rural entrepreneurship is farmers associating into producer groups. The article aims to analyse the determinants of rural entrepreneurship and the functioning of integration processes in agriculture based on Poland’s example of agricultural producer groups. The paper presents the theoretical basis for developing collective entrepreneurship in rural areas and agricultural producer groups’ current state. The goals and motives for the operation of such producer groups and their benefits are presented. Their formation is the result of integration processes taking place in agriculture, both horizontal and vertical. This study is theoretical, based on the literature and the analysis of legal structures and desk research with secondary sources of information from the Agency for the Restructuring andModernization of Agriculture. The issues discussed constitute a starting point for further research.