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The purpose of this article is to explore the strategy of an enterprising farmer. The background problematic is that in Europe, agriculture has faced dramatic pressures for restructuring, and facilitation of the strategic skills of farmers and a stronger entrepreneurial orientation have been suggested as a possible solution for the emerging problems. We use an illustrative case to show how strategy formation and implementation may require different skills, competencies and attitudes.

A case study is used to examine the issues of strategy formation and implementation. Whilst the findings from the case may not be generalisable, our analysis provides an opportunity to conceptually reflect on the issues. These issues may have wider implications beyond the research site.

The theoretical and case study analyses reveal that the concept of entrepreneurial strategy is ambiguous. Yet, if proper care is taken to distinguish the concept from, and relate it to, the elements in which it is embedded, the notion is a useful tool for both theory and empirical investigation. By applying such a procedure, we show that the contexts of conventional farming and business diversification call for an understanding about the clearly different entrepreneurial skills and appropriate strategies and strategic implementation.

This research suggests that a major challenge for the agricultural sector is to enable farmers to develop their strategic, marketing and entrepreneurial skills. This requires economic support and greater emphasis on education and training. It is hoped that this research will assist in this challenge.

This research shows that entrepreneurship is currently at the focus of much theoretical, practical and political interest. In Europe, agriculture has faced increasing pressures for restructuring: facilitation of marketing and entrepreneurial skills of farmers and a stronger entrepreneurial orientation have been suggested as a possible solution for the emerging problems. The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of entrepreneurial capability of farmers to diversify. The central focus of this article is on the entrepreneurial identity of portfolio farmers in Finland and the extent to which the differences between portfolio farmers, other farmers, and non‐farm rural businesses can be explained.

The subjects of the study were rural small‐business owner‐managers and farmers in Finland. The authors carried out a survey of random samples from three populations, each representing a broad cross‐section of relevant industries, including a sample of non‐farm rural entrepreneurs (n=590) and portfolio farmers (n=2,200).

It emerges that portfolio farmers have a stronger entrepreneurial identity than conventional farmers. Compared to conventional farmers, the portfolio farmers in the sample perceive themselves as growth‐oriented, risk‐takers, innovative, optimistic and having more personal control upon their business activities.

This research suggests that a major challenge for the agricultural sector is to enable farmers to develop their entrepreneurial and marketing skills. This might require increased economic support and greater emphasis on vocational education and training.

Entrepreneurship is currently at the focus of much theoretical, practical and political interest. In Europe, agriculture has faced dramatic pressures for restructuring, and facilitation of the entrepreneurial skills of farmers and stronger entrepreneurial orientation in the rural areas have been hailed as possible solutions for the emerging problems. The aim of this paper is to use this nexus of agriculture and entrepreneurship as an illustrative example, through which the nature of entrepreneurial skills and the elements underpinning their adoption can be examined.

The task is carried out by reflecting theoretically on the concept of entrepreneurial skills and on their embedded nature, before demonstrating the usefulness of the concept as a tool in understanding the case of an enterprising Finnish farmer, active both in conventional farming and in diversified business.

The theoretical and case study analyses reveal that the concept of entrepreneurial skills is far from an unambiguous one, as well as is the aim to develop them through teaching. If proper care is taken to distinguish the concept from, and relate it to, the elements in which it is embedded, the notion is a useful tool for empirical investigation. By applying such a procedure, it is shown that the contexts of conventional farming and business diversification call for clearly different entrepreneurial skills, some of which are more amenable to teaching than others.

This paper shows how one can develop a fuller understanding of the skills that farmers need to become entrepreneurial by diversification.

This study aims to analyze the relationship between individualist values and entrepreneurial intentions. Previous surveys have shown that major national differences in entrepreneurial intentions can be observed within Europe and that part of this variation can be explained by cultural values, especially the individualism–collectivism dimension. However, previous findings about the relationship between individualism and entrepreneurship remain contradictory.

This study is a micro-level analysis of the influence of individualistic values. The theoretical framework of the study is based on the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991, 2001) and theories of individualism advanced by Hofstede (1980) and Triandis and Gelfand (1998). The research data were gathered from a survey of Finnish students (N = 725).

The results show that the relationship between cultural values and entrepreneurial intention is very complex. In contrast to Hofstede (1980), the study assumes individualism and collectivism to be two separate and independent dimensions of cultural values, both of which have a positive, indirect effect on entrepreneurial intention by way of subjective norms and perceived control.

Both individualist and collectivist values promote entrepreneurial intentions. From this point of view, general citizenship education, which supports the development of young people’s cultural values, can be seen as a significant element in entrepreneurship education. This suggests an instance of holistic education, the aim of which is for individuals’ autonomy and contestability to be combined with community and collective responsibility.

The analysis of Triandis and Gelfand (1998) has not been systematically utilized in the previous studies on entrepreneurial intentions. The findings of this study address not only the influence of psychological factors over entrepreneurial intentions but also the impact of individualist and collectivist values. The results complement the results of previous studies.

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a qualitative study concerning managers’ and employees’ rhetorical evaluations of a spatial organizational change.

The approach of rhetorical social psychology is applied to study how the actors of an organization speak about a transformation from a single-room office setting to an open, multi-space office. The material consists of 36 interviews.

It was found that the responsible managers and employees used contradictory argumentation of what “real work” is like and what the change will result in as rhetorical resources when supporting and contesting the transformation. Although their set of arguments and counter-arguments drew from the same beliefs and values, they were used for opposite purposes.

The results of this research advance awareness of the multidimensional and contradictory nature of change rhetoric and this understanding can be utilized in supporting more effective change programs. For example, instead of constructing unnecessary polarizations between those who resist change and its supporters, the study facilitates to identify the ambiguity of argumentation related to change and the differing symbolic meanings subscribed to.

The study contributes to the organizational change literature by showing the ambiguity of change rhetoric and the contradictory nature of argumentation, both within the talk of specific employee groups and between groups.

The purpose of this paper is to examine young people’s attitudes toward social welfare and their perceptions of who is responsible for providing social welfare benefits.

Social welfare attitudes were examined related to three themes: government responsibility, trust in society, and individual responsibility. A sample of 725 students from 12 high and vocational schools in south Finland was used for analysis.

The data suggest that young people have a high regard for the importance of the government’s role as a social support and a mechanism of social welfare for all citizens. In addition, the results show that women highlight government responsibility more than men, and that men highlight the individual’s own responsibility for social issues. According to the results, there is a weak relationship between cultural values and social welfare attitudes. Collective values relate positively to an emphasis on trust in government and government responsibility for social problems, and relate negatively to an emphasis on individuals’ personal responsibility.

The study shows that the main principles of the welfare state are still accepted by the Finnish youth, although recent speculations about the future of welfare states.