CFP: Frameworks for Entrepreneurship Research in Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources & Rural Development

[entrepreneurship-phd at lists.uni-due.de]

FRAMEWORKS FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP RESEARCH IN FOOD, AGRICULTURE, NATURAL RESOURCES & RURAL DEVELOPMENT
A National Conference on Entrepreneurship Research
October 18-19, 2007
Kansas City, Missouri
Deadline: 1 May 2007

The McQuinn Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership and the University of Missouri's Division of Applied Social Sciences are hosting a two-day workshop on the development of a framework for studying entrepreneurship in food, agriculture, natural resources, and rural development.

TOPICS:
Papers on all aspects of entrepreneurship are welcome, but we are particularly interested in papers addressing the organizational response to technological innovation in food and agriculture and the implications of organizational adaptation to rural development. Entrepreneurship is defined here broadly as not only the creation of new firms or the development of "entrepreneurial" personalities, but also the management of existing resources, the formation and development of innovative organizational forms (such as new-generation cooperatives), and the response of individuals and groups to technological change more generally.

OVERVIEW:
The economic importance of innovation has long been appreciated (e.g., by Joseph Schumpeter), but only recently have economists turned their attention to the adoption and diffusion of innovation through new organizational arrangements. Innovations do not diffuse evenly throughout an economy, but are adopted at different rates in different markets. In agricultural biotechnology, for example, the key determinants of diffusion appear to be the individual producer's incentives to adopt new technology and the ability of complementary supply-chain participants to accommodate its use. For "first-generation" traits such as herbicide resistance, the benefits of which accrue primarily to producers, the incentives for adoption are strong. For "second-generation" and "third-generation" traits such as nutraceuticals, fruits and vegetables with longer shelf lives, and corn amylase optimized for ethanol production, the benefits are distributed more evenly throughout the supply chain. Hence adoption depends on organizational innovations that allow supply-chain participants to work together and to distribute the benefits in an appropriate fashion. Understanding these innovations has profound implications for rural development.

The response to technological innovation can thus be interpreted as an entrepreneurial one, a process of creating new organizational structures, contractual agreements, and institutional environments that foster the adoption of new technologies. T. W. Schultz, for example, conceived entrepreneurship as the ability to adjust, or reallocate one's resources, in response to changing circumstances, such as exogenous technological change. Producers in a sector or region experiencing dramatic  technological or environmental change must adjust expectations, seize opportunities, take risks,  and learn from mistakes if they are to capture part of the value created by these changes. Moreover, such entrepreneurial behavior is frequently manifested not only in individual decision-making, but also collectively, through the emergence of creative forms of organization such as new-generation or closed-membership cooperatives, innovative contractual arrangements, and other forms of collaboration. Understanding the creation and diffusion of new organizational practices is critically important for regional development, and hence for policy makers seeking to support rural communities.

PAPER SUBMISSION PROCEDURE:
Please submit a 250-word abstract including the names and affiliations of all coauthors by May 1, 2007. Notification of acceptance or rejection will be given by June 1, 2007, and full papers will be expected by September 15, 2007. Submissions should be sent by email to:

CONTACT:       Ken Schneeberger
Email:         MAILTO:SchneebergerK at missouri.edu

FURTHER INFORMATION:
The conference will be held at the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurship in Kansas City, Missouri, beginning at noon October 18, 2007 and ending at noon the following day. Details on registration, fees, accommodations, and other practicalities will be provided once they are available.

Source: http://www.ssrn.com/update/erpn/erpnann/ann009.html