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Small Entrepreneurship, Knowledge and Social Resources in a Heavy Industrial Territory. The Case of Eco-Innovations in Dunkirk, North of France

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  • Sophie Boutillier

    (University of Littoral, CLERSE (UMR-CNRS, 8019), Research Network on Innovation)

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to analyze the capacity of the small entrepreneur to innovate and especially eco-innovations. The entrepreneur is a social agent embedded in a given territory and a local community (work, family, school, and so on) from which he is identified by three types of resources: knowledge, financial, and social resources; we will define more analytically their role in this text and, especially, the key role of knowledge and social resources (informal social network). We interviewed 50 small entrepreneurs in the town of Dunkirk, a “heavy industrial area in crisis”, located in the North of France, to identify which resources (in knowledge, financial, and social resources) they are using to develop eco-innovations (new products and technologies).

Suggested Citation

  • Sophie Boutillier, 2019. "Small Entrepreneurship, Knowledge and Social Resources in a Heavy Industrial Territory. The Case of Eco-Innovations in Dunkirk, North of France," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 10(3), pages 997-1018, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jknowl:v:10:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s13132-017-0511-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s13132-017-0511-z
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