This study was undertaken to answer the question, “In a cross-section of the featured creative entrepreneurs from Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, and Design, what kind, if any, of art education did these full time, handmade-craft business owners receive in EC-12 schooling and how has it affected their adult lives as successful craft business owners? In what ways, if at all, does it appear their formal art education led to their successful creative ventures in their adult years?” In order to answer this question, a survey was conducted of a cross-section of the participants featured in the book (Levine & Heimerl, 2008) and film (Levine, 2009) Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, and Design about their art educational backgrounds, including what amount of art instruction they received in EC-12 schooling, as well as in informal or community settings. Based on the survey results, four representative participants were interviewed. Their responses were then constructed into narratives so as to portray holistic portraits of their individual paths through art instruction to entrepreneurship. In doing this it was revealed that while EC-12 can be attributed with furthering the participants’ interest in art, and giving them a grounding in many technical skills still used in their daily lives, in most cases, formal art education alone has not seemed to provide enough training on its own to promote the participants’ future successes as creative business owners. It is only through the blending of the sum total of their formal, familial, and informal art education that successful outcomes have been found. / text

The microbrewery industry is the fastest growing industry in Sweden. In seven years, the industry has grown by 832 percent. The dramatic increase of microbreweries has led to a highly competitive business environment for these entrepreneurs. This calls for microbreweries to develop strategies for how to stand out in this increasingly competitive environment, i.e., create competitive advantages. However, previous studies have shown that craft entrepreneurs do not strive to achieve traditional economic objectives as the competitive strategy research field suggest that companies have. Hence, traditional competitive strategies may not be applicable for these entrepreneurs. The purpose of this study was therefore to develop an understanding how motivational factors affect craft entrepreneurs’ competitive strategy. To fulfill the purpose, we conducted a case study on microbrewers within the northern region of Sweden. We used a qualitative research methodology where we conducted semi-structured interviews. Seven microbreweries participated in the study. We found that craft entrepreneurs’ motivations for why they started and maintained their microbreweries were mainly because of their passion and interest for the craft and therefore this was their primary objective. However, they perceived profit as a necessity that would enable them to achieve their primary objective. Therefore, we found that these entrepreneurs have dual objectives. We also found that entrepreneurs’ motivations affected their competitive strategies. These entrepreneur’s dual objectives caused some dilemmas when the two objectives contrasted each other. We saw tendencies that this created tension among these entrepreneurs when they had to balance the two objectives of generating profit and achieving objectives related to their passion and interest for the craft. Further, we found that these tensions caused implications on the entrepreneurs’ perception of competitive strategy.  Their perception of competitive strategy differed from traditional theory in three areas. Firstly, they had a resistance to grow their businesses. Secondly, they had a resistance for product/market development. And lastly, they experienced a low level of ambiguity when competing and cooperating simultaneously. In this study, we have been able to deepen the knowledge of craft entrepreneurs and how their motivations affect their competitive strategy. This is a first step in developing an understanding of how additional objectives to profit can cause implications for competitiveness.

Questa tesi si propone di approfondire il significato del concetto di 'artigianato' dal punto di vista di tre differenti tipologie di stakeholder: 1) Associazioni e Camere di commercio; 2) Aziende, Fornitori ed Esperti e 3) Consumatori. L’obiettivo principale di questa tesi è riassumere i più recenti sviluppi in materia di artigianato evidenziandone lo stato dell'arte e proponendo osservazioni critiche in merito al concetto stesso di artigianalità. Verranno identificati eventuali limiti e lacune concettuali sul tema dell’artigianato nonché indicati suggerimenti per la ricerca futura. Questa tesi è articolata in tre ricerche: la prima, " Artisanship: A review of the conceptualization of the “craftmanship ", impiega la content analysis per esaminare le definizioni di 'artigianato' fornite da diverse fonti tra cui Fondazioni, Associazioni, Organizzazioni Internazionali e Intergovernative e Camere di Commercio. La seconda ricerca "Crafting the craft - evidence from Italian experts" utilizza la metodologia qualitativa delle interviste semistrutturate con manager, esperti e opinion leader che gravitano nel mondo dell’artigianato. L’ultima ricerca " Understanding of the concept of “craft” – from the perspective of Italian consumers " è un'indagine finalizzata a capire le percezioni del consumatore in merito all’artigianato e le sue preferenze per i diversi tipi di prodotti artigianali. Grazie all’intrinseca interdisciplinarietà di questa tesi, che collega diverse basi teoriche e discipline come sociologia, economia, arte, filosofia e storia sociale, si cercherà di colmare le attuali lacune presenti nella ricerca sull'artigianato offrendo, così, un nuovo contributo in materia. / This thesis aims to deepen the meaning of ‘craft’ by looking at the concept from the perspective of different stakeholders, including 1) Guilds and Chambers of Commerce; 2) businesses, providers and experts and 3) consumers. The overarching purpose of this dissertation is to summarize recent developments, to highlight the state of the art and to offer some critical observations of various understandings of the concept of artisanship, in order to identify conceptual gaps and limitations and directions for future research. This dissertation includes three studies: Study 1 - “Artisanship: A review of the conceptualization of the “craftmanship” – employs content analysis to examine definitions of ‘artisanship’ provided by different sources from Craft Foundations and Associations, international and intergovernmental organizations, and European Chambers of Commerce. Study 2 – “Crafting the craft – evidence from Italian experts” is based on a qualitative methodology and includes semistructured interviews with managers and experts of artisanal products. Study 3 – “Understanding of the concept of “craft” – from the perspective of Italian consumers” is a survey aimed at investigating consumer perceptions of artisanship and preference for different types of artisanal products. By bridging different theoretical bases and disciplines, such as sociology, economics, arts, philosophy and social history, this research will offer a novel contribution and fill gaps in the research on artisanship.