Rural entrepreneurship

My ongoing research on rural entrepreneurship is devoted to investigating interconnections between various entrepreneurs and their rural locations, for instance, creative entrepreneurs in rural regions, or rural place-based entrepreneurs and their competitiveness. 

Examples of research output

Place-based entrepreneurs and their competitiveness: A relational perspective on small regional banks

The article, published in 2020/2024 in "Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship" with Grit Leßmann, Alexander Ströhl and Tim Pargent, understands place-based entrepreneurs as regionally anchored companies that rely on regional resources to generate a sustained competitive advantage, but are increasingly challenged by a seemingly placeless and highly-globalized marketplace. This paper presents an illustrative case study to explore the competitive advantage of small regional banks from Germany. It finds that the place-based entrepreneurship of the small regional banks is determined by the interplay of static/dynamic proximities in the relationships, which leads to their strength and resilience. These relational and proximity-based benefits result in a strategy of investments by the banks in the relationships with regional SMEs, and the investments, in turn, support the building of a strong regional identity that is shared with the banks and their customers. 

https://doi.org/10.1080/08276331.2020.1836463 

Locational challenges and opportunities for SMEs in border regions

In this article, published in 2020 with Teemu Makkonen in "European Planning Studies" (ABS JG 2021 2-stars), we explore the unresolved issue in regional planning of whether small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) benefit from being located in border regions in terms of cross-border cooperation opportunities and cross-border externalities. By systematically reviewing the existing literature on the topic with the help of a mapping review, the paper finds that SMEs in border regions do benefit from cross-border cooperation opportunities. However, there is no strong empirical support of a prevalence of positive cross-border externalities. Rather, the review finds that SMEs in border regions are influenced by negative cross-border externalities. Since the results do not point in a clear-cut direction, given their high degree of context-specificity, we claim that further studies on the topic are necessary to combine the established knowledge on SME-based entrepreneurship with planning theories and concepts taken from the literature on borders, border asymmetries and border regions. 

https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2019.1705765 

Business networking in organisationally thin regions: A case study on network brokers, SMEs and knowledge-sharing

This article was published in 2020 in "Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development" (ABS JG 2021 2-stars) with Susanne Gretzinger. The background for this research was that research on business networks in organisationally thin regions, which are characterised by a low density and quality of business networks, is still in its infancy, while the facilitation of business networks receives increasing interest. The present paper combines both perspectives by investigating how different types of network brokers facilitate business networking and knowledge-sharing in organisationally thin regions. 

For the sake of this paper, Burt's theory on brokers in social networks is applied to knowledge-sharing in business networks for organisational thinness as context. A qualitative case study represents the empirical basis that describes network brokers from various domains in three different German case regions, which are characterised by organisational thinness. As key findings, the network brokers studied facilitate different types of business networks, and they use various levers to increase knowledge-sharing among companies in business networks. Two broker types emerge, private business-driven versus public policy-driven network brokers with distinct approaches to the facilitation of business networking and knowledge-sharing and different limitations due to organisational thinness. 

https://doi.org/10.1108/JSBED-12-2019-0393 

Balancing firm and network based resources to gain competitive advantage: A case study of an artisanal musical instruments cluster in Germany 

This article, which I had published in 2014 in "Management Revue" (ABS JG 2021 2-stars), investigates whether and how firms gain competitive advantage through local networks and clusters in times of accelerating globalisation. The paper focuses on traditional craft-based or artisanal industries, organised as clusters. The article presents a case study of an artisanal musical instruments cluster by using a resource-based perspective. It highlights how such firms may use local networking to safeguard critical resources, which are organised in clusters, despite globalisation. 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/23610635 and

https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/113675/1/747121605.pdf 

Barriers to co-operation and competitive advantage: Cross-border business networks of Saxon and Northern Bohemian firms

Small-scale business co-operation across borders is considered as major driving force of economic integration between Western and Central Eastern Europe. It is argued in this context that business co-operation and business networks support the creation of competitive advantage for firms. The paper published in 2011 in "Journal of Eastern European Management" sheds new light on this issue by adding a case study of firms in selected East German and Czech border regions. The study focuses on two inter-related research questions: Can firms create competitive advantage in small-scale business co-operation and networks within border regions? And what role is there for the barriers that firms encounter in this co-operation? These questions are investigated by means of a dataset of nearly 60 structured interviews with firms from the cross-border region.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/23281854  and 

https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/84083/1/766371956.pdf