How can being engaged in an alternative marketing network support small scale, rural food entrepreneurs? : a case study of Bondens Egen Marknad in Halland

Abstract: Rural entrepreneurship is promoted as part of current efforts made to sustain rural development, at the same time research on the topic is relatively limited and more knowledge is needed. It is the aim of this thesis to attempt to identify ways in which an alternative marketing network may support small scale, rural food entrepreneurs. The farmer’s market Bondens Egen Marknad is an alternative marketing network for small scale, rural food entrepreneurs and was found to be a suitable case for studying rural entrepreneurship in keeping with the aim of this study. The phenomenon of rural entrepreneurship is complex and shaped by human socio-economic transactions and needs to be studied as such, a phenomenological constructionist approach was thus considered suitable. The findings in this thesis suggests that alternative marketing networks may support rural entrepreneurship in several ways, directly by offering an important sales and marketing channel and indirectly by embedding the member entrepreneurs in the local structure and thereby providing access to additional resources such as knowledge and comradeship. By offering insights into how alternative marketing networks may support rural entrepreneurship, it is hoped that the results presented here may further enhance our knowledge about entrepreneurship in rural settings.