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Thursday 3 November 2016

The practice of entrepreneurship in the non-wood forest products sector: Support for innovation on private forest land

Author

  • Ludvig, Alice
  • Tahvanainen, Veera
  • Dickson, Antonia
  • Evard, Camille
  • Kurttila, Mikko
  • Cosovic, Marija
  • Chapman, Emma
  • Wilding, Maria
  • Weiss, Gerhard

  • Abstract

    The paper sets out to examine the characteristics of support for innovation processes in Non-Wood Forest Products (NWFP). The typical enterprises and start-ups which emerge in this sector tend to be small-scale and family owned. We claim that there is a large unused potential for NWFP to support rural development and increase incomes of land owners and rural enterprises. In this article, we study what makes selected and so far successful product innovations in NWFPs special and subsequently what were the factors that supported their development and marketing? These questions we study at hand of four empirical innovative case studies in four European rural areas. We come to the conclusion that the entrepreneurs show some common features in the ways they started their business. However, they have applied individual strategies for the realisation of their own ideas. In line with recommendations from recent literature on creating innovations, all of them have used some “external” support, but at very different levels: They range from monetary support and consultation of effective support organisations to personal non-monetary exchange-relationships in social networks within a communal area. Our results contribute to an understanding of entrepreneurial behaviour as a very individual and context-specific undertaking on the one hand and as a “universal” activity with common features and attributes on the other.

    References

    1.  Rametsteiner, Ewald & Weiss, Gerhard, 2006. "Innovation and innovation policy in forestry: Linking innovation process with systems models," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(7), pages 691-703, October.
    2.  Ewald Rametsteiner & Gerhard Weiss, 2005. "The Role of Innovation Systems in Non-Timber Forest Products and Services Development in Central Europe,"Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 1, pages 23-36.
    3.  Kubeczko, Klaus & Rametsteiner, Ewald & Weiss, Gerhard, 2006. "The role of sectoral and regional innovation systems in supporting innovations in forestry," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(7), pages 704-715, October.
    4.  Buttoud, Gerard & Kouplevatskaya-Buttoud, Irina & Slee, Bill & Weiss, Gerhard, 2011. "Barriers to institutional learning and innovations in the forest sector in Europe: Markets, policies and stakeholders," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 124-131.
    5.  te Velde, Dirk Willem & Rushton, Jonathan & Schreckenberg, Kathrin & Marshall, Elaine & Edouard, Fabrice & Newton, Adrian & Arancibia, Erik, 2006. "Entrepreneurship in value chains of non-timber forest products," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(7), pages 725-741, October.
    6.  Lucio Carlos Freire-Gibb & Kristian Nielsen, 2014. "Entrepreneurship Within Urban and Rural Areas: Creative People and Social Networks," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(1), pages 139-153, January.

    For further details log on website :
    https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/forpol/v66y2016icp31-37.html

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