Returnees and Local Stakeholders Co-producing the Entrepreneurial Region

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine how returning entrepreneurs and local stakeholders are involved in co-producing an entrepreneurial region. A theoretical framework is proposed based on two metaphors: embeddedness and translation. Moreover, the value of the framework is illustrated by a case drawn from a study conducted over a 3-year period. The work is based on a constructionist approach, and the results emerged from a narrative analysis. Our partial ethnographic methodology gives us the opportunity to follow the interaction between entrepreneurs and local stakeholders over time. The findings show that what needs to become embedded to attain regional development is an entrepreneurial attitude to life in the region, not only the embeddedness of the returning entrepreneurs and their firms. Consequently, the framework results in a perspective emphasizing the interplay over time between entrepreneurs and local stakeholders. The value of the article is that it shows how the co-production of the entrepreneurial region between entrepreneurs and local stakeholders results in a continued regional development.