Enterprising Initiatives in the Experience Economy

Over the last decade, the close relationship between culture and economy - or "the experience economy" - has risen on the agenda. Although there is an established research field for analysing the economic impact of entrepreneurship, there is currently a limited amount of research that analyses the cultural impact and opportunity of entrepreneurship. Linking experience economy with enterprising behavior moves the term away from businesses' competitiveness and consumer behavior towards a more value-focused business in general. This ground-breaking book integrates entrepreneurship and empowerment into one central theme, drawing on research from both the social sciences (innovation, entrepreneurship, empowerment and activism) and the humanities (participatory culture, user-generated designs, creative networks). Enterprising Initiatives expands the definition of entrepreneurship beyond a primarily economic profit-seeking phenomenon to a broader understanding of enterprising behaviour based on an individual-opportunity nexus. Beyond social entrepreneurship, it explores a broad range of individual, collective and cooperative citizen initiatives under the umbrella of enterprising action. This innovative approach will be of great interest to scholars in entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, cultural entrepreneurship, cultural studies, and consumer culture, as well as for policy makers in public and local government, regional development and cultural event management.

Britta Timm Knudsen is Associate Professor, Department of Aesthetics and Communication, Aarhus University, Denmark. Dorthe Refslund Christensen is Associate Professor, Department of Aesthetics and Communication, Aarhus University, Denmark Per Blenker is Associate Professor, Interdisciplinary Community for Advanced Research in Entrepreneurship, Aarhus University, Denmark.

1. Introduction: Entrepreneurship, Cultural Studies & Transformative Practice Part I: Staging Capitalism 2. Can Flatpacks Save the World? Transforming CSR to Sustainability 3. Re-enchanting the Orange Feeling: Challenging the ideological heritage of a rock festival in virtual communities 4. Wishful making-eventmaking strategies in contemporary culture Part II: Producing co-creation & empowerment 5. Turning participation around: Citizens' initiatives and their Strategies 6. Do-It-Yourself urbanism and the (re-)claiming of culture as a catalyst of urban transformation 7. Sandpit Urbanism 8. The ill blogger as social entrepreneur Part III Enterprising Learning and Design 9. Mundane Entrepreneurship 10. Momentary Perspectives in Entrepreneurial Learning 11. Entrepreneurial Education in the Process of Social Transformation: Challenges and Perspectives 12. Work Arounds and National Imperatives - Designing Culture as Practice and Policy 13. Towards an Experience-oriented Design Agenda