Research in the International Journal of Management and Enterprise Development has looked at how Sámi entrepreneurs in Northern Sweden and Norway are reshaping the concept of rural business. The Sámi are the indigenous people of Norway, Sweden, the Kola Peninsula, and Finland.
The work suggests that far from being confined to their immediate locales, indigenous business owners are actively bridging the local and the global, drawing on cultural heritage while engaging with networks that stretch well beyond their home territories. The research offers a new look at the implications for how rural entrepreneurship is understood and supported. It could be equally applicable beyond the European Arctic across complex cultural and environmental landscapes worldwide.
The researchers used four case studies, following Sámi entrepreneurs to see how they navigate their “spatial contexts”, a term used to capture both rooted places imbued with cultural and historical significance, and the broader movements and relationships that cross local boundaries. Revealing this dual relationship with space challenges the received wisdom that rural business is inherently place-bound and reliant solely on local resources, labour, and markets.
The Sámi offer a unique perspective on rural entrepreneurship. Historically, they live a semi-nomadic lifestyle with reindeer herding being perhaps the most well-known of their activities. As such, the people have always operated across vast territories and through what are now national borders. Today, this legacy of mobility gives their businesses not only a regional identity but allows them to work on a much wider, sometimes internationally.
The research works beyond conventional business theory and identifies key motivations and methods used by Sámi entrepreneurs to navigate their spatial contexts. The work then shows how Sámi entrepreneurs integrate cultural values into their business practices. Rather than viewing tradition and innovation as opposing forces, they blend them and go beyond simplistic economic survival to encompass well-being, cultural continuity, and environmental balance. Such an integrated approach is largely absent from mainstream entrepreneurship discourse, but the new findings might be used to improve policy affecting the Sámi and other entrepreneurs way beyond this region.
Jørgensen, E.J.B., Johansson, J., Nygaard, V. Öhman, M-B. (2025) ‘Both right nearby and far away: Rural Sámi entrepreneurs’ engagement with spatial contexts’, Int. J. Management and Enterprise Development, Vol. 24, No. 5, pp.1–22.