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Throughout Macedonia, beekeeping is becoming popular regardless of ethnicity. Studying ethnicity, the purpose of this paper is to determine what beekeepers in Macedonia thought in their own words about their beekeeping entrepreneurship. The objective is to identify whether motivations of ethnic Albanian beekeepers in Macedonia were the same or different compared to those of ethnic Macedonians in the same country, and if different, how.

To accomplish this objective, in-depth interviews were conducted with 40 beekeepers in Macedonia. A total of 29 interviews were conducted face-to-face and the other 11 by phone. The first set of interviews took place between December 2016 and February 2017, followed by more interviews in June 2017. In total, 27 respondents said they were ethnic Albanians, and 13 identified themselves as ethnic Macedonians. Also, ten respondents were women. While eight were full-time beekeepers, 32 were part-time beekeepers.

The results indicated that beekeeping businesses play a significant role in the transition economy of Macedonia. Beekeeping provides additional earnings that support rural families and keeps them financially stable. The majority of both Albanians and Macedonians understood that beekeeping on a part-time job basis provided a needed supplement to their income. Some part-time beekeepers are also working as auto-mechanics, locksmiths, medical doctors, restaurant/cafeteria owners, and tailors. A few in the sample were retired from their jobs or full-time beekeepers. An important difference between ethnic Albanian beekeepers and ethnic Macedonians in Macedonia is that the majority of ethnic Albanian participants see beekeeping as following in “my father’s footsteps”, while most Macedonians were motivated by the perceived opportunity of having a good business.

Limitations of the research are twofold. First, financial data of family beekeeping are not available, which would be useful in determining the contribution made to economic development. It is common, especially in transition economies such as the western Balkans, that financial results are very sensitive to their owners. Second, unavailable databases for beekeepers make any quantitative approach difficult, if not impossible, resulting in most research using the qualitative research approach.

This paper is one of the first to treat beekeeping as a form of artisan entrepreneurship, which also contributes to the understanding of family business. As in other countries, the important and operation of the family business among family members in Macedonia is passed from generation to generation. The results of this research revealed the value of networking, which was found to be very important to income. For beekeepers to develop, grow, and be branded in the community, networking is an important ingredient.

Kosovo is a transition country, and family businesses are seen as the best way to ensure its existence. The purpose of this paper is to determine the importance of beekeeping entrepreneurship in the country and the factors that affect entrepreneurship in this sector.

This research was developed through a case presentation where interviews with beekeepers from different cities of Kosovo were conducted. Because this research was conducted during the pandemic situation COVID-19, a total of 32 beekeepers agreed to give interviews, of which 30 were males and 2 were females. The interviews were conducted from March to May 2020. All interviews were recorded to obtain all the relevant details during data processing. All respondents agreed that their names could be made public. The interviews were conducted in Albanian language, and their duration was from 32 min to 1 h and 40 min. The questionnaire for the interview in total contained 25 questions.

Beekeeping in Kosovo runs entirely as a family business. Only 12 out of 32 respondents inherited the business from their families, while others started this business mostly out of curiosity. 59% of the respondents consider beekeeping as their primary income, while 32 percent as the only source of income. Only 9% of the respondents have less than 30 hives, and the beekeeping income does not have a big impact on their total income. Beekeeping is considered a dangerous business that forces beekeepers to have a second job. The most common risks are climate change and bee diseases. However, although they have a second job, their highest income derives from beekeeping. Education has the biggest role in the development of this business, while experience and technology do not play a significant role.

The number of respondents is small compared to the total number of beekeepers in Kosovo, so a larger number of beekeepers could give more accurate results. In addition, there is no general data on the impact of the beekeeping sector on the economy, especially on the role of this sector in reducing the unemployment rate.

The study adds value to the importance of artisan family businesses. Knowing the importance of family businesses, this study makes a great contribution to determining the factors that affect the development of beekeeping entrepreneurship as family business.

This paper analyses financial support services (loans and grants) from the perspective of beekeepers in Fiji's Northern Division.

A mixed-method, case study approach was used with key informant interviews, focus groups, semi-structured interviews and questionnaires.

Financial support was found to be an appropriate intervention. While beekeepers have access to loans, matching grants or small business grants to assist the establishment and growth of their activities, the appropriateness of these services varies based on the experience and skill of beekeepers. Capacity building was an important shortcoming in all financial services. It is recommended beekeeping clients undertake outcome-based, practical and/or mentorship-styled training to ensure beekeepers have the appropriate skills to maintain a viable enterprise.

This study was limited by a small sample size. Further research is needed to understand long-term impacts of financial support services and the availability and appropriateness of these within and between regions.

Recommendations are provided to encourage effective financial support for beekeepers to improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of their activities. This can impact beekeepers' livelihoods by increasing household income and income security.

There is a paucity of literature on the effectiveness of financial interventions to support beekeeping enterprises. This is the first study to compare financial support services from the perspective of beekeepers in the Pacific region.

This paper utilizes controversies over the role of a set of insecticides in mass honey bee die-offs in two different national contexts – France and the United States – in order to understand the science-state nexus in a comparative manner. On the one hand, the French government in 1999 and 2004 suspended the commercial use of the insecticidal products that beekeepers suspected of causing the honey bee declines. On the other hand, the US government has to date refused to heed beekeepers’ calls to limit the usage of the very same set of insecticides. We examine why the governments of France and the United States came to contrasting conclusions regarding broadly similar technoscientific issues. The divergent outcomes, we argue, are not simply the result of predetermined differences in the two states’ regulatory paradigms (with France being “precautionary,” and the United States adhering to a “sound science” approach), but are underpinned by divergent forms of beekeepers’ resistance. The paper further sheds light on non-state actors’ use of science and state to contest state (in)action by analyzing how historically influenced differences in state structures, the relational dynamics of beekeepers’ and farmers’ organizations, and the epistemic cultures of honey bee knowledge production, shaped different forms of resistance and influence in France and the United States.

The purpose of this study is to examine how commercial beekeepers operating in two different nations perceive their role towards their community and society. The realms of role theory will be adopted.

Data among 144 commercial beekeepers operating in both New Zealand and the United Kingdom (UK) were gathered through an online questionnaire. The design of the questionnaire, which allowed extended comments from the participating commercial beekeepers, validated the use of the inductive analysis approach that enabled the emergence of various distinctive themes, and the development of a theoretical framework.

Participants from both New Zealand and UK recognised similar ways of making a positive impact. Moreover, they agreed that their contribution spanned from pollinating fields and orchards, to improving food production and preserving nature. Nevertheless, the two groups also differed in their views, notably, of the degree of knowledge or awareness among stakeholders concerning beekeepers’ contribution.

By using a comparative view of how commercial beekeepers perceive their role vis-à-vis their wider community, this study addresses a call for rethinking the social value added that emanates from entrepreneurial activities, and how such value can affect society. Furthermore, in adopting social role theory, the study proposes a framework where strong associations between the empirical results and the tenets of social role theory are revealed. This framework affords a lens through which food-producing activities aimed at balancing producers’ commercial and environmental imperatives and their relationship with broader societal expectations could be reflected upon.

As the Academy for Business in Society considers the theme “Business in Society: Measuring Impact and Creating Change,” one fundamental question emerges and that is how to collaborate with universities to create positive impact and sustainable business models. The purpose of this paper is to address that question and offer one apt illustration for how to collaborate effectively across sectors.

This paper offers a case study of the Honey Bee Initiative (HBI) from George Mason University’s School of Business.

In this case study, the authors discuss the Initiative’s tri-sector domestic and global partnerships, community-driven development approach and innovative solutions as an exemplar of business as a force for good.

This paper provides unique insight into how universities can partner with non-profits, business and policy leaders to effect positive change. As such, the HBI program contributes to the growing body of research on the benefits of tri-sector partnership models as a means of addressing global goals and provides a valuable case study to understand better the necessity of multi-stakeholder partnerships. Moreover, the HBI’s tri-sector partnership model offers important insights into what makes these partnerships successful and serves as a replicable model that can be instituted in other regions around the globe.

Urban beekeeping is spreading as an answer to promote bee conservation and to develop local economies. This study aims to highlight nutritional properties of polyfloral honeys produced in urban landscape and to compare them to the countryside counterparts.

This research has examined polyfloral urban honeys from a restricted area in Central Italy, for antioxidant capacity, total phenolic content and 15 polyphenols profile. Physicochemical parameters have been also determined to assess the overall quality of the samples. Results were compared with polyfloral honeys produced in surrounding countryside and monitored in two harvest years, 2018 and 2019. Principal component analysis was applied to the data to disclose significant differences among honeys and harvest years.

Urban honeys revealed up to threefold higher total amount of polyphenols with respect to rural honeys, and in the 2019 harvest, despite water scarcity that affected the national production, demonstrated 50% higher antioxidant capacity and total phenolic content. The majority of the 15 polyphenols studied resulted in more abundant urban honeys, in particular in the 2019 harvest. The multivariate analysis evidenced how honeys could be successfully separated according to their production area and harvest year by their different polyphenols profile.

Limited data are available on nutritional properties of urban honeys and on their content in antioxidants. The present results suggest that the cultivated urban environment, with its large floral biodiversity, can provide extra nutrition for bees, resulting in the production of a honey rich in nutraceutical compounds.

The aim of this study was to produce an enriched honey powder with active compounds coming from bee pollen and investigate the effects of bee pollen addition as a carrier material on honey powder.

The effects of bee pollen addition as carrier material in corporation with gum arabic at different ratios (25, 50 and 75% of total carrier material amount) on vacuum-dried honey-bee pollen powder were investigated.

The bee pollen concentration raise in the mixture increased the particle size, total phenolic, flavonoid and sugar contents and antioxidant activity, whereas decreased the Hauser ratio and Carr index values, hygroscopicity and solubility of enriched honey powder samples. The honey powder samples had passable and poor flow properties and very hygroscopic (>20%) structure because of the high sugar content. The phenolic and flavonoid contents of honey powder samples with bee pollen changed between 1531.59 and 3796.00 mg GAE/kg and 424.05–1203.10 mg QE/kg, respectively, and these values were much higher than the control sample. On the basis of linear correlation analysis, there was a very high positive correlation between total phenolic, flavonoid and antioxidant activity, while there was a very high negative correlation between these parameters and solubility.

The study evaluated that enriching of honey powders with pollen, which is a product of both plant and bee origin, rather than enriching with different plant and animal sources has an innovative approach. Additionally, the usage of bee pollen as a carrier agent in food drying has not been previously reported in any study.

Honey is a product that has been consumed for thousands of years owing to honey's nutritional value and unique properties. This survey aimed to assess factors affecting consumer behaviour for honey in countries of the Balkans and Western Europe, on a comparative basis.

The high importance of honey consumption along with findings from previous surveys on consumer behaviour are included in the introduction chapter. Based on these, and focussing on the fundamental consumer behaviour theories (stimulus-organism-response (SOR) model, theory of planned behaviour (TPB), and health belief model (HBM)), a questionnaire was designed and answered by 2,113 individuals from the Balkans and Western Europe, of which 2,088 were honey consumers. Principal component analysis (PCA) analysis was used to interpret the results.

According to the analysis, both Western Europeans and Balkans consume honey weekly, whilst only a few consume honey daily. A crucial difference between the two samples is that Western Europeans consider honey to be an expensive product, whilst Balkans considers honey's price acceptable. In general, men consume more honey than women, and households with children purchase honey more often and in more significant quantities. In conclusion, the main reason affecting European honey consumption is the health impact, which is related to therapeutic properties and high nutritional value of honey.

PCA results clarified the factors affecting honey consumption, whilst at the same time, consumer profiles of Balkan and Western European consumers were outlined and compared with each other, outlining a more detailed description of honey consumption in Europe.

The LC Science Tracer Bullet, one of the most underused reference sources in many government documents collections, provides access to a wealth of information on subjects from beekeeping and folk‐medicine to aeronautics and lasers. Each Tracer Bullet is devoted to a specific topic and is designed “to help a reader begin to locate published materials on a subject about which he or she has only a general knowledge.” Developed in the style of Library Pathfinders, each explores the resources available on its topic and lists texts, handbooks, encyclopedias, dictionaries, bibliographies, government documents, and journal articles. Other sources such as the addresses and telephone numbers of relevant organizations are included and appropriate Library of Congress subject headings to use in searching for additional material are suggested.