Thorkild Nielsen

Innovation Processes in Large-Scale Public Foodservice—Case Findings from the Implementation of Organic Foods in a Danish County

Abstract Following the declaration adopted at the 1992 World Summit held inRio de Janeiro, many governments have committed themselves to a common political goal of sustainable development. The declaration points out that both production and consumption patterns have to change in order to reach this goal. Since, in social and environmental terms, one of the most important areas is the production and consumption of food, some European governments have drawn up action plans setting out concrete goals for the conversion of arable land from conventional to organic production. One of the notable emerging areas is the idea that large-scale foodservice such as hospital foodservice should adopt a ‘buy organic’ policy owing to their large consumption volume. Whereas the implementation of organic foods has developed quite smoothly in smallerinstitutions such as kindergartens and nurseries, the introduction of organic foods into large-scale foodservice such as that found in hospitals and larger residential homes for the elderly, has proven to be quite difficult. One of the reasons for this is the highly complex planning, procurement and processing procedures pursued by such facilities. Against this background, an evaluation was carried out of the change process related to the implementation of organic foods in largescale foodservice facilities in the county of Greater Copenhagen in order to study the effects of such a change. Based on the findings, a set of guidelines was developed for the successful implementation of organic foods into the large-scale foodservice. However, the findings and guidelines are applicable to other types of innovation processes in foodservice.

Entrepreneurial capabilities: Is entrepreneurship action research in disguise?

The aim of this article is to analyse entrepreneurship from an action research perspective. What is entrepreneurship about? Which are the fundamental capabilities and processes of entrepreneurship? To answer these questions the article includes a case study of a Danish entrepreneur and his networks. Finally, the article discusses how more long term action research methods could be integrated into the entrepreneurial processes and the possible impacts of such an implementation.