Articles containing the keyword 'partial space'

The investigation examines the development potential of small sawmills in rural Finland. Development is defined with qualitative bias, given small sawmills’ limited possibilities for large-scale investments. Potential is defined in terms of the behavioural limitations to development. The investigation assumes that small sawmill entrepreneurial behaviour is essentially satisficing, and that the concept of bounded rationality is applicable. The empirical material concerns a random sample of 399 sawmills from all regions in Finland collected in connection with the 1990 small sawmill inventory.

Three sets of enterprise/entrepreneurial attributes are constructed using principal component analyses: i) entrepreneurial skills & organization, ii) small sawmill outlets, and iii) information attributes. Development potential is measured by employing discriminant analyses to test these attributes against four a priori sawmill classifications: i) sawmill production structure, ii) entrepreneurial development intentions, ii) sawmill operating environments, and iv) sawmilling as a livelihood. Each of these analyses contributes to an understanding of the entrepreneur-enterprise dialectic.

Based on the use of Pred’s behavioural matrix, small sawmill entrepreneurs’ quantity & quality of information and their ability to use information are examined with respect to sawmill typologies. In this way, the entrepreneur-enterprise dialectic is given a third dimension, that of the entrepreneurs’ partial space. The analysis is therefore able to examine development potential from the standpoint of an entrepreneur-enterprise-environment (partial space) trialectic.

The PDF includes a summary in Finnish.

• Selby, E-mail: js@mm.unknown
• Petäjistö, E-mail: lp@mm.unknown

The investigation concerns the nature of the dialectic relationships between small-scale entrepreneurs in peripheral areas and their business environments.

The investigation is weighted towards a theoretical and philosophical examination of the ways in which the behaviours of real-world entrepreneurs relate to their business environments. The theoretical framework first examines the assumption of intended or bounded rationality, which recognizes that human beings are in possession of imperfect information and imperfect ability, so that their perceived world is only an approximation of the real world. Following this, an epistemology is sought which enables the individual entrepreneur to be considered as the creator of his own world, and to compare this private world to the shared context of a wider set of spatial and social relations. Such an epistemology is found in existential phenomenology, which is subjected to a critical review.

As an empirical case study, the investigation examines the small sawmill entrepreneurs of North Karelia, Finland. The empirical investigation examines the aspects of the small-scale entrepreneurs’ business attitudes, perceived business environments, and their ability to use business-related information. The existential man-environment dialectic is revealed by relating these attributes to the entrepreneurs’ social setting and the level of entrepreneurship as revealed by the sawmill typology.

The PDF includes a summary in Finnish.

• Selby, E-mail: js@mm.unknown