Christos Kalantaridis

In-migrant entrepreneurship in rural England: beyond local embeddedness

It is now broadly accepted in the literature that in-migrants make a disproportionately positive contribution in the creation of new ventures in rural England. However, to date, there have been precious few advances in our understanding of either the characteristics or, more importantly, the degree of embeddedness of in-migrant entrepreneurs. This paper aspires to address this gap in the literature, drawing upon the findings of an extensive fieldwork investigation in rural Cumbria.1 It is argued that the attributes of entrepreneurial individuals who are not born locally enable them to follow distinct routes to starting and/or running a business, working in contexts that allow them to break away from the confines of rurality. They appear to rely less upon the local setting for the supply of materials and capital, as well as a market for their products/services and to have closer relationships with national and international sources of information than their locally-born counterparts. Thus, in-migrant entrepreneurs emerge as a key instrument in enhancing the integration of rural economies in the national and global markets as well as diminishing the strength of local ties. Weak local ties also mean that growing in-migrant entrepreneurship may be linked with the demise of rural localities as integrated entities.

Local Embeddedness and Rural Entrepreneurship: Case-Study Evidence from Cumbria, England

There is a growing realisation among scholars and policymakers of the role of local contextual factors and circumstances in influencing the behaviour of key economic agents, including the entrepreneur. This approach has stretched the boundaries of academic inquiry well beyond mainstream conceptualisations of economic agency as isolated from its setting. An assumption that underpinned research and policymaking in the new learning is that economic activity is typically socially embedded, which is generally taken to imply local embeddedness. In our paper, drawing upon the findings of extensive research in rural Cumbria, we question this assumption. We argue that in the context of rural Cumbria, the conceptualisation of locality may go beyond territorial notions. This argument does not support a return to the notion of the isolated economic agent, but advocates a move forward to the detailed exploration of the interface between agency and context.

Processes of innovation among manufacturing SMEs: the experience of Bedfordshire

This paper contributes to the study of innovative SMEs in two ways. First, the entirety of recent work focuses upon success cases of local innovation systems at the expense of less successful areas, which are thus in greater need of policy intervention. This paper aspires to address this gap in the literature by focusing on the experience of an area (Bedfordshire) characterized by low levels of innovative activity. Second, the search for the factors that accommodate or hinder innovation concentrated heavily at the macro-level. Consequently, any policy recommendations failed to distinguish between SMEs according to the extent and nature of their previous involvement in innovation. In response the authors develop a typology of SMEs based upon the extent and timing of innovation; the underlined aim is to undertake a comparative analysis of the causes, processes and obstacles to innovative activity. It is argued that: (1) there appears to be some relationship between the size of an enterprise and the extent o...

Adapting to peripherality: a study of small rural manufacturing firms in northern England

Using empirical data drawn from two studies of manufacturing SMEs in ‘remote’ rural areas in northern England, the paper examines some of the ways in which firms have adapted to the characteristics of their local external environment over a 16-year period. The evidence presented suggests that in both the 1980s and 1990s successful adaptation to local conditions in peripheral rural regions included: proactive product and market development to overcome the limited size and scope of local markets; a labour-intensive development path to exploit the potential advantages of remote rural labour markets; and a relatively low level of subcontracting-out of production activities. The study also shows that whilst the recession of the early 1990s had an impact on the annual profitability and sales growth performance of rural manufacturing SMEs, its impact on their survivability was less than might be expected.

Entrepreneurship and institutional change: A research agenda

This paper introduces a Special Issue on the theme of Entrepreneurship and Institutional Change. Drawing upon the accumulated literature and three original contributions it aims to explore the conditions and the processes through which entrepreneurship may influence institutional change. The paper argues that entrepreneurs are not only influenced by the prevailing institution(s) but they can also influence (both intentionally and unintentionally) institutional change. This challenges prevailing views about the ability and effectiveness of the state to drive change. The paper also outlines an agenda for future research into how entrepreneurship shapes emerging institutional arrangements.

Globalization Processes in the Clothing Industry of Transcarpathia, Western Ukraine

K ALANTARIDIS C., S LAVA S. and S OCHKA K. (2003) Globalization processes in the clothing industry of Transcarpathia, Western Ukraine, Reg. Studies 37 , 173-186. This paper sets out to examine the integration of a region undergoing a process of post-socialist transformation in the global marketplace. In doing so it draws upon the experience of the clothing industry in Transcarpathia, Western Ukraine. The findings of extensive fieldwork investigation suggest that, during the mid 1990s, sub-contracting linkages were established through intermediaries located in economies, which achieved significant advances in the process of transformation (such as Hungary and Slovakia), between local manufacturers and parent enterprises abroad. The role of the mediators was subsequently diminished, partly due to the adoption of greater commitment strategies by some parent enterprises and the emergence of local mediators and a handful of entrepreneurial manufacturers. This led to the formation of complex networks of production and role differentiation among local and global economic agents. The resulting recovery in the employment provided by the industry to some 60% of the pre-1991 levels constitutes a rare success story in the regional context. However, there are serious concerns about the long-term viability of this pattern of growth.

Entrepreneurial Origin and the Configuration of Innovation in Rural Areas: The Case of Cumbria, North West England

This paper examines the incidence of innovation and the configuration of innovation systems in rural areas, which are viewed as possessing weak knowledge-generating subsystems. Drawing on the results of a microlevel study in rural Cumbria, North West England, the paper shows that entrepreneurs were able to access nonlocal knowledge infrastructure. Thus, the emergent actor-constructed regional innovation system stretched well beyond the confines of Cumbria. This configuration can be explained, in large part, by considering entrepreneurial origin. New arrivals (especially immigrants) demonstrated the greatest propensity to innovate, using innovation systems which cut across the regional and national boundaries. Locally born and returnee entrepreneurs demonstrated a low incidence of innovation. The paper concludes that a distinction between regional innovation systems (as macrolevel analytical units with a normative dimension) and actor-constructed regional innovation systems (as microlevel descriptive units) offers scope for the advancement of research in this field of study.

Globalization and Entrepreneurial Response in Post-Socialist Transformation: A Case Study from Transcarpathia, Ukraine

This paper sets out to examine the extent and characteristics of the globalization process in a region undergoing a process of socio-economic transformation. In doing so it draws upon the experience of an entrepreneurial, globally orientated, garment-making enterprise in Transcarpathia, the western most region of the Ukraine. The bulk of earlier scholarly research focused upon the consequences of the strategies implemented by multinational corporations. We argue, that this study points towards an alternative mode of integration in the global economy-one which received little attention in the Central and Eastern European context. This takes the form of a set of sub-contracting relationships between parent enterprises in Western Europe, intermediaries located in economies which achieved significant advances in the process of transformation (such as Hungary and Slovakia), and manufacturers in the locality.

The delocalization of production in labour intensive industries: instances of triangular manufacturing between Germany, Greece and FYROM

The clothing industry, by virtue of its labour intensity and low barriers to entry and exit, is at the forefront of the processes of integration in a global network of production and distribution. During the 1970s and 1980s ‘intermediate’ regimes (such as Greece) benefited from the diffusion in clothing production from advanced industrialized countries (such as Germany); however, this trend was reversed during the 1990s. This is because of the intensification of competition from both developed countries (for high quality products) and less developed countries (for price competitive items), as well as the new threat posed by competitors from post‐socialist economies that are trying to find a role in the ‘Newer’ International Division of Labour. Within this context, this article sets out to analyse to what extent collaborative forms of diffuse manufacture, and particularly triangular manufacturing, may be used in the context of south‐eastern Europe. This article argues that ‘triangular manufacturing’ between the industrialized core of the European Union (EU) (and especially Germany), Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) was the outcome of spontaneous entrepreneurial decision‐making. In the main, it was parent enterprises in Germany and to some extent Greek intermediaries who were the main beneficiaries of the emerging triangular relationships. Enterprises and workers in FYROM remained vulnerable and dependent. However, there were also a handful of instances of ‘good practice’, where relationships were beneficial to all the participating parties. We argue that these examples provide lessons for policy intervention both nationally and locally (in both Greece and FYROM).

Institutional change in the Schumpeterian–Baumolian construct: power, contestability and evolving entrepreneurial interests

Baumols hypothesis, i.e. that the allocation of entrepreneurial talent in productive, unproductive and destructive activities is determined by the rules of the game, is supported by a growing body of empirical research and underpins new avenues of research in entrepreneurial studies. However, Baumols paper offers precious few insights, beyond policy action, regarding how change to the rules of the game can be effected, because it views institutions as endogenous. This paper sets out to address this gap through an extension of Schumpeterian–Baumolian construct. The paper argues that changing institutions is a contestable process: its outcome determined by the complex nexus of interests and power endowments of actors. Changing the outcome of this contestation is dependent on the emergence of new entrepreneurial groupings and/or the evolution of the power endowments or interests of existing ones. Two historical illustrations are used to support the hypothesis and of this study.