Abstract

This empirically grounded thesis deals with radical entrepreneurship in a small business context in Sweden. The companies studied all have links to agriculture or other rural land use. Those interviewed are entrepreneurs who, despite strong restrictions, create something new by themselves. The objective is to identify, describe and thereby to better understand how the radical entrepreneurial process is developed and run. The analysis and the empirical findings were presented in three sequences. In the first the empirically grounded concepts were developed in the text in a research logical sequence. In the second the results gave structure to the presentation in a more formalistic way. In the third sequence seven paradoxes were developed from the empirical material. The results indicate that the entrepreneurial strategies can be viewed as identity driven, rather than market or technology driven. In this perspective entrepreneurship may be seen as an extension of the entrepreneur's identity. The identity concept, defined as the dynamic interplay between self and the environment, can also be used to explain how knowledge is developed in the radical entrepreneurial firm. This process could be focused either on relations, where multiple networks result in new knowledge, or technology, where new techniques and old tradition is transformed into new knowledge. Entrepreneurship in this perspective can be explained as a creative process, defined as a balancing act between conflicting demands, such as between tradition and the need to carry out radical entrepreneurship.

Published in

Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Sueciae. Agraria
1996, number: 12
ISBN: 91-576-5222-8
Publisher: Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet

SLU Authors

• Gaddefors, Johan

  • Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Business Administration


Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/100004