Assessing Drivers of Lifestyle-Based Entrepreneurship in Natural Products Field

Abstract

Entrepreneurship in the natural product field is growing, founded in the utilization of sustainable natural resources and entrepreneur’s personal values and motives. Natural product field offers interesting perspectives for entrepreneurship where business activity is shaped by financial targets, personal value system and relationships with nature. The field’s immatureness, heterogeneity, and undeveloped supply chains highlight the decisions independent entrepreneurs make regarding their business strategy. This research explores the path towards entrepreneurship of two entrepreneurs within the natural product field regarding entrepreneurship motivation and commercialization strategies in the form of an extreme case study. It addresses that entrepreneurship within natural product field is driven by passion, customer entered approach, and willingness to combine personal values with business activity. Case companies differ from one another regarding their willingness to grow, educational background, and brand building. However, similarities can be found regarding valuing quality, customer feedback, and self-directed information seeking. The results expand previous understanding about entrepreneurship motives, indicating how strategic make or buy decisions are tied into entrepreneur’s identity, values and resource acquisition. Specifically in natural product entrepreneurship, commercialization is not only a technical process but rather based on entrepreneur’s value system, covering product origin, authenticity and ethical grounds.