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The aim of this research paper is to investigate entrepreneurial opportunities through digital technology among agrifood businesses. Specifically, the research paper uses resource bricolage theory to evaluate the various activities that agrifood businesses conduct through digital technology, and whether these businesses realise their full potential from these activities.

Data are gathered from 22 semi-structured interviews with representatives of small agrifood businesses. Maximum variation sampling was used to ensure that respondents were representative of different types of agrifood businesses across the food supply chain. Interview data were analysed through thematic analysis.

Agrifood businesses engage in a range of activities through digital technology, however, findings point to a continuum of different attitudes among respondents towards the adoption of digital technology, ranging from passive to proactive attitudes. Notable themes from the research identified efficiency and productivity, usability, marketing and connectivity as issues in the adoption of digital technology by agrifood businesses. However, these businesses were less likely to engage in cutting-edge technology activities.

This research contributes to emerging research on digital entrepreneurship, but particularly on digital entrepreneurship in the agrifood sector. This builds on existing debates relating to the passive nature of agrifood businesses towards growth opportunities. The use of research bricolage is also a novel theoretical approach to research on this topic. The development of a digital technology adoption continuum provides businesses and policymakers with a deeper understanding of how digital entrepreneurship opportunities can be harnessed.

This study analyses the sequence of actions carried out by successful enterprises in the agricultural sector and aims to understand the logic followed with such actions and the differences related to the types of families that develop them.

Through a multiple case study approach, the business and family trajectories of 14 successful agricultural enterprises in Mexico were analysed. The actions carried out by enterprises are conceptualized as strategic movements and are classified into seven categories: (1) growth and intensification, (2) reconversion, (3) diversification, (4) integration, (5) differentiation, (6) outsourcing and (7) digitization. Depending on their relationship with agriculture, entrepreneurial families are classified into three categories: (1) continuing families, (2) returning families and (3) incoming families.

The entrepreneurship logic follows three stages: evaluation, expansion and consolidation, through which different activities are tested, then the one that produces the best results is expanded and adopted as the main activity, and finally the expansion of the main activity and its evaluation are combined by comparing and complementing it with other agricultural activities. The difference is that continuing families adhere more to the traditional productivist model based on growth in scale and improved productivity of primary production. On the other hand, actions that imply a distinction in the quality of production such as integration and differentiation and that require links with other organizations such as outsourcing are more frequently carried out by returning and incoming families.

The findings obtained through case studies cannot be statistically generalized to a specific population, however, our perspective can be transferred to other cases to obtain analogous findings.

The study is a unique piece in terms of the analysis of how families with different degrees of proximity to agriculture develop successful enterprises.

This research investigates the multifaceted effects of Covid-19, Brexit and climate change on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the hospitality sector. Specifically, the authors evaluate the main opportunities, challenges and implications that hospitality businesses face in times of crises, and innovate as a response.

The research adopts a mixed methods approach firstly analysing quantitative data from the Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS). Second, qualitative where data are gathered from interviews with a range of hospitality SMEs. The data are analysed independently and then triangulated to gain a deep understanding of the issues faced by hospitality SMEs and their responses.

This research contributes to knowledge on the impact of economic challenges on the hospitality sector. This research underlines that hospitality businesses face multiple challenges. The findings show that sector has responded with innovations to meet requirements and regulations, some which were forced upon the industry due to changing regulations and some unforced innovations based on the strategic intentions and entrepreneurialism of the business owners.

The paper embeds the pandemic with Brexit and climate change challenges, identifying two distinct types of innovation as SME responses in the hospitality sector. Survival in the hospitality industry is reliant upon adaptations, some brought about by the pandemic and others by Brexit and climate change.

This research evaluates specific circular economy issues in relation to the hospitality sector. This is investigated in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, considering the impact that the experiences of UK hospitality SMEs had on their circular economy activities. Viewed through a resource bricolage lens, for some this was a consequence of the challenges of the pandemic, while others were proactive in pursuing circular economy strategies.

A sequential mixed methods research design is established based on a pragmatic worldview. The first phase analyses secondary data from the Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS) to evaluate circular economy aspects on hospitality businesses in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Phase 2 collects and analyses qualitative semi-structured interview data from directors of hospitality SMEs to investigate the experiences of businesses in this research context.

Results point to a desire for hospitality SMEs to engage in circular economy activities, especially as a means of achieving financial efficiency, however this is sometimes constrained by increased costs. Resource bricolage theory underlines potential advantages for SMEs to engage with the local community to support circular economy activities and bring mutual benefits.

This research contributes to the under-researched topic of circular economy issues in hospitality SMEs. The focus on SMEs is significant as small businesses are more resource-constrained than larger businesses. The context of the post-COVID period is also notable due to changing attitudes towards circular economy aspects from the experiences of the pandemic.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the current use of social media in agriculture. The primary focus of the research is to understand the messages and compare social media adopters with non-adopters. The paper addresses wider questions of the use of social media to support on farm entrepreneurship and business and considers what barriers to take up exist within the industry.

The paper adopts a case study approach utilising qualitative and quantitative methodology; combining survey data on Welsh farms and semi-structured interviews to gain a deeper understanding of social media use. The research is further informed by online documentary evidence gathered from agricultural Facebook pages and Twitter accounts. The discussion section develops a conceptual model that provides a novel perspective on social media usage in agriculture-based enterprises and discusses the potential for further uptake.

The paper identifies barriers to adoption of social media by agriculture-based enterprises. In conclusion, although there are barriers and objections to social media use, its mass influence provides opportunities to engage with stakeholders and develop more entrepreneurial activity. The risk aversion of some users prevents them from moving from the observational mode into one of engagement.

This paper brings an insight into social media’s potential to assist agriculture-based enterprises in dealing with the tensions between pressures to improve core farming practice and other entrepreneurial activity. The paper raises important implications for policy approaches that might seek to promote a complementary approach to farm technology adoption and entrepreneurial stance.

Little is known regarding triggers in the adoption of governance practices within family businesses. Enterprises can implement governance practices to avoid re-arising conflicts lived in the past. Moreover, the type of conflicts experienced can determine the order in which different types of governance practices are adopted, another issue that requires further investigation. To address these knowledge gaps, this study gathers evidence into how the adoption of governance practices is linked to the conflicts experienced in family businesses and how this adoption evolves.

A multiple case study was conducted with 15 family businesses in the agricultural sector. The conflicts experienced throughout the enterprises' trajectories and the governance practices adopted were analysed and classified according to their relationship with the family, business and ownership subsystems.

The study shows that there is no direct link between the conflicts experienced and the governance practices adopted in family businesses. The most recurrent conflicts have to do with the relationship between family and ownership; however, the adoption of governance practices is centred on the relationship between business and ownership. The practices that mediate the relationship between family and business are adopted second, and the practices that mediate the relationship between family and ownership are adopted last.

The study applies a classification of conflicts and governance practices that adjusts to the complexity of the family business. The research contributes to the field by providing an understanding of the integration of knowledge about the family business, governance systems and conflict.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

The research develops a technology adoption continuum in the agrifood sector, illustrating the owner/managers attitude towards technology. In addition, they identify four categories of digital technology use in agrifood businesses and barriers to adoption of digital entrepreneurship.

The briefing saves busy executives, strategists, and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Increasingly driven by the global education industry (GEI), a neo-liberal perspective dominates education reform agendas in transitioning economies (Ball, 2012; Steiner-Khamsi, 2016; Verger, Steiner-Khamsi, & Lubienski, 2017). The drive to equip a competitive workforce for a knowledge economy frames efforts to build stronger pathways between education and work. These efforts tend to be led by global consultancies and often overlook local challenges. Although recent literature on policy borrowing in education has highlighted the drawbacks of analyzing education out of context, countries in the Global South continue to import education models across contexts (Steiner-Khamsi, 2016). The case of Saudi Arabia, a transitioning economy with agendas heavily influenced by international management consultancies highlights the challenges faced by a profit-driven GEI. This essay argues that current approaches to education reform in the Global South fail to address existing social and cultural challenges in the local context. The standardization of education policies and provision has led to several negative consequences in education reform efforts. Through presenting the case of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) reforms in Saudi Arabia, the essay argues that engaging international education consultants in the process of education reform fails to address the local concerns of TVET and instead imports a new set of challenges to implementing a thriving further education sector in the Kingdom.

This paper aims to challenge existing assumptions in talent management (TM) research, showcasing a misalignment between commonly held assumptions and the characteristics of the youth-intensive hospitality sector workforce.

Following a review of the TM literature, Piirto’s educational talent pyramid is adopted to conceptualize a recalibration. Drawing on multidisciplinary literatures (i.e. adolescent development, youth employment, positive psychology), and adopting a (talent) developmental approach, a reframing of prevalent TM discourses is enunciated based on the logic that the hospitality workforce is predominantly in a developmental state.

TM discourses are misaligned with the workforce composition of the hospitality industry, which is dominated by young, often unexperienced, workers. The need for dramatically recalibrated TM structures and underlying assumptions, centred around a greater attention to the “development” of talent and a more employee-focused and inclusive approach, can facilitate greater alignment between TM and hospitality.

This paper extends a body of work advocating for more inclusive TM and developmental postures. The contribution, via a hospitality industry context, has been to create linkages between talent- and youth-development discourses.

This paper outlines a number of implications, among which are a pathway forward for hospitality industry to rebuild its poor HRM image and conversion of “transient” hospitality jobs to career jobs (for youth).

This paper identifies youth as a distinct workforce entity and suggests that hospitality jobs represent a critical developmental context for young people, resulting in a series of critical implications for TM practice and theorizing.