Paper info: Developing a 'Small' Resource in an Industrial Network: The Case of Norwegian Goat Milk
Title
Developing a 'Small' Resource in an Industrial Network: The Case of Norwegian Goat Milk
Authors
Magnar Forbord
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Norway
Place of Publication
The paper was published at the 17th IMP-conference in Oslo, Norway in 2001.
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Abstract
Any firm will sooner or later face the problem of resources being used ?under their potential?,or simply waste. There are more reasons for such a problem, and more solutions. One is todevelop the resource. In the paper we start with a principal discussion of resources. Wechoose to view resources as variables ? as a bundle of possible uses. In addition, we regardresources as double-sided; they have both a provision side and a use side, and thus they arerelative. Such a perspective is highly relevant for the development of resources. Becauseresources can be regarded heterogeneous, combinations matter. In an industrial network,combinations stretch across firm boundaries. In the combination, different features of aresource come to use. Resource development can be said to be a question of finding new usesof existing features of a resource and/or giving it new features. To illuminate these points, wepresent the case of Norwegian goat milk. We tell three development stories related to thisresource. In the end we analyse these stories in the light of the theoretical frameworkpresented in the first part of the paper.