Peripheralisation is a process to which a person, a group or an area might be subjected to. Stigmatisation, selective migration, disconnection, dependence and social exclusion are dimensions of peripheralisation that are interconnected and that accelerate each other’s effects. Structurally disadvantaged rural areas, especially remote small villages in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) are particularly affected by the processes of peripheralisation. While economic decline and ethnic exclusion produced contagious “ghettoes” (Virág 2010) or “internal colonies” (Kóczé 2011) in the last two decades in structurally disadvantaged small villages of Hungary, in the German context the phenomenon of a “rural ghetto” seems to be non-existent. In Germany, mainly East German old industrial towns and rural areas are affected by peripheralisation, selective out-migration, demographic shrinking and demographisation are emphasised here. Ethnographic research in the case study villages of Eastern Germany and Hungary confirmed that peripheralisation is relational and amongst others national and regional social policies influence how it manifests on the local level. While areas undergoing moderate peripheralisation were able to attract counter-cultural migrants (“back-to-the-landers“, Calvário and Otero 2015), who further counteracted peripheralisation processes, socially excluded people (Roma and long-term unemployed) accumulated in areas undergoing advanced peripheralisation. While counter-cultural migrants (case study G1 and H3), who follow a critique of materialist mainstream culture, modern farming practices, and the globalization of the agri-food systems, were free to decide where to live, the inhabitants of areas undergoing advanced peripheralisation (H2) got locked into spaces which are abandoned by the state, investors and the majority society (non-Roma people). As class, gender, ethnicity and place of residence influences autonomy, the individual and collective autonomy of the counter-cultural migrants is on a higher level than the autonomy of the inhabitants of areas undergoing advanced peripheralisation. As local initiatives (social and solidarity economy initiatives or rural social enterprises) are created to counteract processes of peripheralisation, the central question of this research is: In the context of peripheralisation how can social and solidarity economy initiatives contribute to local development? To explore in what ways rural social enterprises may (or may not) counteract processes of peripheralisation this study relies on a critical realist ethnography (with participant observation, in-depth interviews and documentary analysis) and on a normative approach of local development, integrating economic, social, and environmental aspects too. ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS In line with the relational approach to individual autonomy (Mackenzie 2014), a normative assumption of social enterprise scholars is that even if social enterprises receive state funding or money from private foundations or churches, they should be able to preserve their organisational autonomy. However, it should be pointed out that existing institutional contexts influence the political and organisational independence of social and solidarity economy (SSE) initiatives. Even if the reunification of Germany resulted in the assimilation of many East German institutions into West German ones, compared to Hungary, East Germany got integrated into a country with a thick institutional system for welfare provision and in which state-civil society relationships are rather characterised by partnership than state control. The current Hungarian government shows authoritarian tendencies, when it limits funding sources for civilian-based initiatives. Such a context, leads to municipality-based and faith-based social enterprises to blossom over civilian-based ones. These organisations are embedded in centralised structures and they often envision development through patronising means and thus reproduce the marginality of the socially excluded (particularly Roma) within the local society. Beyond monetary resources, non-monetary resources, such as volunteers or strong communities with reciprocal behaviour are considered to be potential resources for social enterprises. However, this research showed that with intensifying peripheralisation (eg. the selective out-migration of better-off social strata) SSE initiatives can decreasingly rely on non-monetary resources locally. Even if capitalist integration of CEE influenced negatively village communities, the reciprocal structures still existed in a village undergoing a higher (but not advanced) level of peripheralisation (H3) when the Ministers moved there and started their faith-based social enterprise together with the locals. In contrast, when the colleagues of the Equality Foundation started their civilian-based social enterprise in a village undergoing advanced peripheralisation, structures of reciprocal relations no longer existed there (H2). People in this village had time, but had been experiencing socio-spatial marginalisation (educational and territorial segregation, lack of jobs locally, limited access to public transport and car) for such a long time that they did not have the actual capacity to initiate local development without assistance coming from outside the village. SOCIAL CONSIDERATIONS The potential of participative decision-making is recognised by social enterprise researchers as a vehicle to empower marginalised people. From the four case studies only two initiatives (H2, G1) aim explicitly to achieve participative decision-making. Within the two other projects decisions are made through representatives of the community. In the case of the municipality-based social enterprise (H1), dominantly one representative, the Mayor has the power to make decisions, while in the case of the faith-based social enterprise (H3) the community representative, the 8 Presbyters and the Minister (who are all male) have the institutionalised right to make decisions for the community. The two civilian-based social enterprises (G1 and H2) are embedded in differently peripheralised contexts. In the case of advanced peripheralisation (H2) help comes outside of the village, from a development organisation. Building up the capacities of the local stakeholders for participative decision-making is a long-term strategy for the Foundation, which explicitly focuses on the empowerment of Roma and women. In case of moderate peripheralisation (G1) local agents, amongst whom counter-cultural migrants are overrepresented, have a capacity to start their SSE initiatives without help coming from a development organisation. Even if inhabitants of areas undergoing advanced peripheralisation have an agency, they need professional assistance from outside. It is, however, of particular importance that the development organisation follows the philosophy of democratic solidarity and has a capability-based approach. Without such assistance it would be naïve to expect agents of severely peripheralised areas to set up and run SSE initiatives themselves. At the same time it would be also wrong to think that without local knowledge (for example the knowledge of surviving in conditions of deep poverty and lived experiences of institutional racism) “developers” could reach long lasting results. Among the four case studies, the empowerment capacity was the highest in the civilian-based social enterprise (belonging to the Equality Foundation). This was the only initiative that acknowledged the ethnicised (and gendered) structural oppression of Roma (women). In addition to aiming to increase the individual autonomy of their stakeholders (through supporting adult education or providing advices on how to deal with domestic abuse), the organisation also aims to develop the collective autonomy of the inhabitants of the village through their community development project. Without identifying themselves as a Roma feminist organisation, the Equality Foundation has consciously focused on women as partners of local development. The reasoning behind their decision is connected to the role women play in the social reproduction of their households. ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS There are life situations, when social needs get prioritised over environmental considerations. Deep poverty is one of those life situations. For example, the daily survival under conditions of housing poverty and extreme cold weather overwrites long-term strategies, such as environmentalism. Due to a lower purchasing power, poorer households have lower levels of consumption too. This, however, does not mean that underprivileged people would not aim to consume more. On the contrary, as our society is dominated by the ideology of capitalist consumerism, to counteract social exclusion consumerism is seen as a strategy towards social integration for people living in deep poverty. The comparison between a Hungarian village undergoing advanced peripheralisation (H2) and a German village undergoing moderate peripheralisation (G1) shows that only people with a higher level of individual autonomy are capable of “decolonizing their imaginary” (Latouche 2011), namely of questioning capitalist consumerism and develop ethical consumption practices.:Contents List of Abbreviations 11 Figures / Maps / Images 13 Tables 15 1 Introduction 17 1.1 AIMS AND MOTIVATION 17 1.2 THE RELEVANCE OF THE RESEARCH 20 1.3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 21 2 Theorising peripheralisation and local development 23 2.1 PERIPHERALISATION, A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL, SELF-REINFORCING PROCESS 23 2.1.1 Dimensions of peripheralisation 23 2.1.2 Advanced peripheralisation 28 2.2 SOCIAL AND SOLIDARITY ECONOMY AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT 29 2.2.1 Economic dimension 30 2.2.2 Social dimension: autonomy and empowerment 31 2.2.3 Environmental dimension 36 2.3 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS 38 3 Contexts: social and solidarity economy in the context of peripheralisation 41 3.1 PERIPHERALISATION 41 3.1.1 Post-socialist transformation, a historical overview of periheralisation 41 3.1.2 Multi-dimensional peripheralisation in East Germany and Hungary 44 3.1.3 The relational aspect of peripheralisation 48 3.1.4 Advanced peripheralisation, a Hungarian (semi-peripheral) reality 50 3.2 SOCIAL AND SOLIDARITY ECONOMY IN CEE 51 3.2.1 Informal social and solidarity economy 52 3.2.2 Institutionalised social and solidarity economy 54 4 Methodology 59 4.1 TOWARDS A CRITICAL REALIST ETHNOGRAPHY 59 4.1.1 The scope of postmodern reflexive ethnography 60 4.1.2 Critical realism 61 4.1.3 Critical realist ethnography 62 4.2 CASE SELECTION AND COMPARATIVE PROCEEDING 63 Stage 1: Selecting areas undergoing peripheralisation 63 Stage 2: Identifying rural social enterprises 66 4.3 DATA COLLECTION 68 4.3.1 Interviews 69 4.3.2 Participant observation 72 4.3.3 Documents 76 4.4 POTENTIAL AND LIMITATIONS OF THE METHODOLOGY 77 4.4.1 Positivist critiques of the ethnographic approach 77 4.4.2 Anti-realist and postmodern critiques of ethnography 78 4.4.3 Critical realism and political engagement 79 4.4.4 Data analysis and reflections on the field experiences 81 5 Peripheralisation and the local scale 83 5.1 PERIPHERALISATION: THE LOCALITY AND THE CASE STUDY PROFILES 83 5.2 PERCEPTIONS AND RESPONSES TO PERIPHERIALITY IN DIFFERENT CONTEXTS 91 5.2.1 Surviving advanced peripheralisation 91 5.2.2 Uneven access to education 92 5.2.3 Counter-cultural migration 93 5.3 THE MAIN CHALLENGES AND MISSION OF THE CASE STUDY SOCIAL ENTERPRISES 95 6 The interplay between autonomy and local resource-mix strategies 99 6.1 ORGANISATIONAL AUTONOMY AND ACCESS TO FUNDING 99 6.2 MARKET-BASED RESOURCES: EARNED INCOME 102 6.3 NON-MARKET RESOURCES: GRANTS AND SUBSIDIES 106 6.3.1 International governmental funding 106 6.3.2 National governmental funding 114 6.3.3 Non-governmental funding 119 6.4 NON-MONETARY RESOURCES: THE CAPACITIES OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY 120 7 Empowerment capacity of the case study initiatives 123 7.1 DECISION-MAKING STRUCTURES 123 7.1.1 Representative decision-making structures 124 7.1.2 Participative decision-making structures 127 7.2 EMPOWERMENT OF ROMA (WOMEN) 131 7.2.1 The empowerment capacity of rural social enterprises: a perspective of the Roma 132 7.2.2 A gendered aspect: the empowerment of Roma women 137 8 Environmental considerations 143 8.1 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS ON THE LOCAL LEVEL 143 8.2 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS ON THE ORGANISATIONAL LEVEL 145 9 Summary and conclusions 149 9.1 LIMITATIONS AND POTENTIALS OF THE METHODOLOGY 149 9.2 THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS: THE CAPACITY OF SOCIAL AND SOLIDARITY ECONOMY IN COUNTERACTING PERIPHERALISATION 150 9.2.1 Economic considerations: autonomy and local resource-mix strategies 150 9.2.2 Social considerations: Autonomy and Empowerment 153 9.2.3 Environmental considerations: environmental consciousness and environmental impact 156 9.3 POLICY IMPLICATIONS FOR LOCAL DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL ECONOMY POLICIES 156 10 References 159 10.1 GENERAL WORKS 159 10.2 DATABASES, RELATED MATERIALS 172 10.3 MEDIA SOURCES 172 10.4 WEBPAGES 173 10.5 LEGAL REFERENCES 174 Annex 1 Expert sampling sheet (hu) 175 Annex 2 Information sheet (hu) 177 Annex 3 Information sheet (de) 179 Annex 4 Consent form (hu) 181 Annex 5 Consent form (de) 183 Annex 6 Expert interviews 185 Annex 7 Case study interviews 187 Annex 8 Participant observation 189 Annex 9 Anonymised data sources 193

This research examines the implementation process of blockchain technology and aims to identify prerequisites needed for this process. The study has been conducted through a case study at a Fair Trade handloom firm in Sri Lanka. Data has been collected through observations and semi-structured interviews with blockchain experts and employees at the case firm. The result is analysed through the TOE-framework. This research primary findings is divided into two categories, knowledge and willingness. Knowledge refers to usage of technical systems, awareness of how the firm's supply chain is built and knowledge of blockchain technology. Willingness refers to the ambition for constant improvement which is the crucial prerequisite for actually implementing blockchain technology. The firm’s knowledge and willingness to implement blockchain technology are the first stages of moving from Fair Trade certification to blockchain integration.

Social Supermarkets have become increasingly common around the world. These are food stores that sell food waste at a greatly reduced price to low-income people. The concept makes clear claims of sustainable business and also offers work training for unemployed. In recent years, the store concept has been spread to several new countries, including Sweden. Today, there is only one store in Sweden, located in Stockholm, which is operated by an organization called Stadsmissionen. Unfortunately, the need is massive. Many people are poor and hungry, and the queue is long before store opening. There are now plans for expansion, which is necessary if the demand for cheap food is to be met. This essay will explore the concept more deeply and the purpose of the thesis is to contribute with knowledge of users' experiences of Social Supermarkets. Finally, politicians from Vänsterpartiet, Kristdemokraterna and Moderaterna were also connected and asked whether the store is suitable or not in contemporary Sweden and future society. The opinions have been drawn apart, ranging from positive views with the store and shame about the situation. Vänsterpartiet sees it as an awful development while Kristdemokraterna and Moderaterna want to stimulate the concept even more. Most customers think that it helps them tremendously and the store manager now wants to build up more stores and better food waste co-operations. In the end, the study of Social Supermarkets, carried out from several different perspectives, eventually became a matter of ethics and morality.

This doctoral study examines whether MFIs in Ethiopia have developed the managerial readiness to face emerging threats and seize the opportunities within the context of unpredictable changes and turbulences. The interpretative phenomenological approach (IPA) has been used to collect, shape, and interpret the lived experiences, intuitions, and insights of 10 CEOs of MFIs. The data were interpreted using the double hermeneutic and analysed through the lenses of the theory of organisational agility and the Cynefin framework to make decisions. The premise of this study is that MFIs without agile organisational capability may fail to prepare and respond to changes in the external environment. The study results show multiple impediments that restrict MFIs from being adaptive towards achieving double bottom lines, i.e., the creation of social and financial value. MFIs in Ethiopia suffer from “pain points” such as inflation, illiquidity, and turbulences. The challenges include: the weak governance practice of nominal shareholders, outdated decision-making processes causing delays, staff turnover reducing enterprising capacity, and MFIs lacking sufficient digital and technological infrastructure. The study found most MFIs are incapable of responding quickly and innovatively to seize opportunities or to overcome adversities. The conclusion is that MFIs in Ethiopia have inadequate agile organisational capability to make strategic choices and execute operational processes during multiple and complex changes. The findings of the research are important, and pertinent for a better understanding of the organisational agility of social enterprises. The study has provided five recommendations to enhance policies and practical actions to build the agile organisational capabilities of social enterprises.

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Funding strategy has often been the determinant factor in the level of success for social entrepreneurships. The strategy could be a preference for internally generated revenue, externally generated revenue or a combination of the two. Interestingly, scarcity of resources has always been ‘a clog in the wheel’ of meaningful execution of projects irrespective of the funding model a social entrepreneur chooses. Through a review of existing literatures, this paper weighs the implications of choosing either externally generated revenue or internally generated revenue; specifically contextualizing the study to US. More so, it attempts to find out which of the two models would ensure optimum productivity, given that scarcity of resources would hamper the chances of effectively running the two models simultaneously. To arrive at a ‘plausible’ response, principles of resource valuation become vital in determining the costs and benefits associated with each model of funding. Consequently, the findings show that though both internally and externally generated revenue are sine qua non to an effective and efficient production of social values, internally generated revenue ensures better optimum production than externally generated revenue.

Thesis focus on funding possibilities of social enterprises in Czech Republic, different ways of funding from various sources and the ability of enterprises to reach these resources. Work has theoretical and empirical character. The theoretical part comes with overview of the history of social enterprises in Europe and in the Czech Republic, their development and legislative framework. Part of the work is devoted to theories of civic sector organizations, on the basis of which I am trying to point out the factors that might have an impact on financing social enterprises. Social enterprises tend to have other sources of funding than those that are available for commercial business. In connection with these sources, the common term to describe it, is multi-source or hybrid financing. Empirical part is preceded by an analysis of hybrid financial instruments that are available in the Czech Republic and which are designed specifically for social enterprises. Empirical part is composed of analysis of financial reports from selected social enterprises and demonstrates the true structure of financial resources for the studied period. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

The aim of the final thesis was the analysis of a social enterprise according to the TESSEA approach. The case study was conducted using both the document analysis and interviews. The document analysis showed which criteria (according to the TESSEA approach) were fulfilled by the chosen organization and which were not. Furthermore, there were analysed the mechanisms causing that the certain criteria were not fulfilled. These data were obtained through the interviews with the representatives of the organization. Finally, it is possible to conclude that the subject of the research fulfilled the criteria of the TESSEA approach. There were introduced the factors explaining why the criteria were not fulfilled. According to the representatives of the chosen organization among these main factors belonged the lack of financial and time resources, the lack of know-how, the legislative boundaries or the modeling the organization after commercial enterprises.

Associations as social economy enterprises are the main focus of this thesis. The theoretical part of the thesis presents the area of social economy and social entrepreneurship, both worldwide and in the context of the Czech Republic. The Czech legal framework for the area of social economy and its associations, as well as local specifics are also described. The discussion follows the principles delineated by Kim Alter. In the empirical part of the thesis, nine case studies of Czech associations - social economy enterprises are analysed with the use of publicly accessible documents. Using these case studies, the analysis shows how each case fulfils the principles of social economy enterprise. The author uses Alter's typology to ascertain, what type of social economy enterprise each of the cases represent: an embedded, integrated or external social enterprise.

This thesis addresses food insecurity from an Indigenous fisheries lens and presents a conceptual model by integrating three different but inter-related domains (ecological, cultural, and business) that impact Indigenous food security. Under the broader umbrella of fisheries and food security, the thesis addresses four objectives: (i) to investigate the co-existence of commercial and subsistence fisheries, (ii) to assess food security among commercial and subsistence fishing households, (iii) to explore the meaning of traditional food by engaging Indigenous youth with an objective to revitalize culture, and (iv) to examine the role of the fisherman’s co-operative as a social enterprise to address community economic development. The study was conducted over a period of 14 months (from September 2013 to December 2014) in Norway House Cree Nation, northern Manitoba, Canada. Community members are engaged in both subsistence and commercial fishing. The two kinds of fisheries co-exist, and potential problems of overlap are handled by temporal separation; spatial separation; formal mechanism of monitoring of net ownership; and informal communication for conflict resolution consistent with Cree values. The study found that extensive sharing of fish and other traditional foods by commercial fishers reached almost half of the total population in the community and contributed to improving food security. I used a participatory research approach to engage Indigenous youth to explore the meaning of traditional food. Participants produced a collaborative artwork on the theme of “what traditional food means to you?” This art work functioned as a boundary object, initiating discussion about food security planning in the community. Norway House Fisherman’s Co-op operates as a social enterprise mainly because of fish sharing and its role in business diversification for community economic development. The Chief and Band Council requested an exploration of ways to add value to their existing commercial fisheries. Based on the findings, further development can rely on: (i) better use of existing fish resources, such as the by-catch, (ii) fishing related economic development, such as value-added fish products, and (iii) use of options regarding regulatory bodies, such as eco-certification. / February 2017