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The objective of this chapter is to lay the foundation for the edited collection of contemporary research contributions contained in this book. Specifically, the chapter is concerned with defining and conceptualising rural entrepreneurship.

The chapter seeks to explore why and how a rural enterprise can be defined, and determines whether rural entrepreneurship is a distinctive category of entrepreneurship theory and practice. Building on descriptive rural enterprise taxonomies proposed in previous studies, the chapter considers the drivers and barriers impacting on firm start-up, growth and decline in rural environments.

The authors argue that there is little difference between a rural and non-rural enterprise in terms of structure, that is how the business is organised or managed, or how the characteristics of the individual entrepreneur are exhibited. Thus, it would appear that there is no specific category for, nor definition of a rural entrepreneur beyond that of ‘an individual who manages a venture in a rural setting’.

The chapter is based mainly on a review of extant literatures.

The chapter concludes that it is the exogenous factors that differentiate rural from non-rural ventures, and it is these factors that will have a significant impact on start-up, growth and failure rates.

Globalisation is generally defined as the “denationalisation of clusters of political, economic, and social activities” that destabilize the ability of the sovereign State to control activities on its territory, due to the rising need to find solutions for universal problems, like the pollution of the environment, on an international level. Globalisation is a complex, forceful legal and social process that take place within an integrated whole with out regard to geographical boundaries. Globalisation thus differs from international activities, which arise between and among States, and it differs from multinational activities that occur in more than one nation‐State. This does not mean that countries are not involved in the sociolegal dynamics that those transboundary process trigger. In a sense, the movements triggered by global processes promote greater economic interdependence among countries. Globalisation can be traced back to the depression preceding World War II and globalisation at that time included spreading of the capitalist economic system as a means of getting access to extended markets. The first step was to create sufficient export surplus to maintain full employment in the capitalist world and secondly establishing a globalized economy where the planet would be united in peace and wealth. The idea of interdependence among quite separate and distinct countries is a very important part of talks on globalisation and a significant side of today’s global political economy.

The purpose of this research study is to identify differentiation factors Burgundian wineries use to distinguish their brand, and to determine whether these methods align or conflict with luxury marketing differentiation attributes.

A qualitative methodology of 23 in-depth interviews with various sized wineries, as well as Burgundy market experts, was used. In addition, document analysis of websites and marketing materials was carried out along with a comprehensive review of the luxury marketing literature.

Results show that Burgundian wineries have adopted some, but not all, of the luxury marketing differentiation attributes. Furthermore, there are a series of core tensions in the industry, including disagreement on using luxury marketing strategies. These findings contribute to the theory base in luxury wine marketing by illustrating how general luxury marketing attributes are used for wine brand differentiation.

This research is the first of its kind to investigate luxury marketing differentiation practices of Burgundy wineries. The results are relevant for new wineries in Burgundy, as well as those in different regions of the world who desire to emulate, and perhaps come close to achieving, some of the luxury price points that certain Burgundy wine producers achieve. The information is also useful to assist related industries, such as food and spirits, which struggle in implementing luxury marketing strategies.

This case provides students the opportunity to practice variance analysis for an annual operating plan using flexible budgeting skills. First, a static budget is flexed to account for changes in product volume. Then, actual results are compared to the flexed budget and analyzed for product price, efficiency, and other variances. In addition, the case allows for discussion as to how flexible budgets can be used for management decision making, and how various compensation structures can affect financial results.