Luontoyrittäjyys osana verkosto- ja klusteritaloutta

Abstract

A preliminary study of the content and regional variation in the activity of nature-based entrepreneurship was launched in 1999, coordinated by the Agricultural Research Centre of Finland and in cooperation with the Institute for Rural Research and Training of the University of Helsinki. The publication at hand is concerned with the part evaluating the network and cluster economy of nature-based entrepreneurship. The significance of such a study is enhanced by the fact that the process started in Finland with cluster funding and support of the cluster programme of the Ministry of the Environment. The concepts of networking, network economy and cluster economy are linked to the realisation of the programme. However, these concepts have not been defined further either in the general discussion or in national economic, regional or social research as a whole. This is especially true for small-scale entrepreneurship and its link to other regional or social economy and to environmental policy in a new operational strategy, such as nature-based entrepreneurship. In Finland, the use of natural resources is controlled by large clusters. The network economy is nature-based entrepreneurship centres on small enterprises and is more efficient in its own operational environment, in local and often communal structures, than required by the operational environment of a large cluster. In addition, the large clusters are forced to concentrate to an increasing degree on their core business, which leaves ample space for a network economy. This is where nature-based entrepreneurship should aim. In this process, the economy of work and entrepreneurship is linked to the local market on the local level, not to arbitrary combined market entities, which may in the future cease to have a real counterpart in a global economy. The experience gained in the preliminary study recommends setting up the nature-based entrepreneurship cluster in a way relying more on operational models for small scale entrepreneurship known from rural history and supporting the network economy rather than the cluster economy. However, there is great regional variation between different parts of the country. The most interesting of these are related to the humanistic-ecological growth pattern of the network economy rather than to the extremely industrial operational logic of the cluster economy. Those working in the five fields of nature-based entrepreneurship share a common ground in production, production factors, values, ethics, marketing and the scale and nature of the activity. Development of a common image for scattered activity is supported for example by futurology, increase in ethical consumption, product differentiation and the sale of experiences and "tales" in connection with services and product ideas. In conclusion, the biggest theoretical problem is mainly whether the cluster economy will nurture two different and almost opposite social structures and how openness as a part of the network economy will define the operational logic of the markets and society in the future.