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Call for Papers: Global Conference on Economic Geography (Dublin, 7 –10 June 2022) Special Session: SMEs/Family Businesses and Regional Context Organisers: Stefano Amato – IMT School for Advanced Studies - [email protected] Evans Korang Adjei – Umeå University - [email protected] Rodrigo Basco – American University of Sharjah - [email protected] Lech Suwala – Technische Universität Berlin – [email protected] SME/ family firms represent the most predominant forms of business organization across regions in developed and emerging economies (Basco et al. 2021). At the same time, these businesses represent geographically uneven phenomena with regard to their distribution across, their impact on, and their interactions with the local, regional, and (inter-) national levels and beyond (Basco and Suwala 2021, Ricotta and Basco 2021). Following the debate opened by Stough et al. (2015) and continued by Basco et al. (2021) to advance the cross-fertilization between (SMEs)/family business and regional studies/ economic geography, this call aims to move forward this debate by shading new light in a twofold and not mutually exclusive way. First, by unveiling under what conditions (SMEs)/ family and non-family firms are differently affected by the regional context where they are located (Capello 2011; Suwala 2021). The pervasive economic, social, and emotional connections with their home place (i.e., territorial embeddedness) may enable family firms to exploit some locational advantages (Cucculelli and Storai 2015; Amato et al. 2021) or to offset the downsides resulting from regional remoteness (Baù et al. 2019). Second, by exploring the (SMEs)/family firms’ influence on the regional context (Adjei et al. 2018), that is whether and to what extent the prevalence of family firms in spatially-bounded areas—such as regions and territories—fosters (Block and Spiegel 2013) or hinders (Cappelli et al. 2021) local and regional development. Potential topics include, but are not limited to: The influence of locality on SME/family firm’s decision-making and growth pathways SMEs/ Family firms and agglomeration economies and or proximity dimensions SMEs/ Family firms and regional structural change / spatial evolution of economic activities SMEs/ Family firms in industrial districts, business clusters or other regional institutions SMEs/ Family firms in rural and peripheral areas SMEs/ Family firms’ contribution to regional resilience SMEs/ Family firms in regional path creation, path branching/lock-in SMEs/ Family Firms and place-based or mission-oriented policies SMEs/ Family Firms and university-industry cooperation SMEs/ Family Firms and regionalized ‘Big Data’ SMEs/ Family firms and regional corporate responsibility SMEs/ family firms in digitalization, smart regions, Industry 4.0, and platform-based economies The regional role of SMEs/ family firms during exogenous shocks (e.g., financial crisis, pandemics etc.) References Adjei EK, Eriksson RH, Lindgren U, Holm E (2018) Familial relationships and firm performance: the impact of entrepreneurial family relationships. Entrep Reg Dev 31:357–377 Amato S, Patuelli A, Basco R, Lattanzi N (2021) Family Firms Amidst the Global Financial Crisis: A Territorial Embeddedness Perspective on Downsizing. J Bus Ethics Online first Basco R, Stough R, Suwala L (2021) Family Business and Regional Development. Routledge, London Basco R, Suwala L (2021) Spatial familiness and family spatialities—searching for fertile ground between family business and regional studies. In: Basco R, Stough R, Suwala L (eds) Family Business and Regional Development. Routledge, London, pp 7–32 Baù M, Chirico F, Pittino D, et al (2019) Roots to Grow : Family Firms and Local Embeddedness in Rural and Urban Contexts. Entrep Theory Pract 43:360–385 Block JH, Spiegel F (2013) Family firm density and regional innovation output: An exploratory analysis. J Fam Bus Strateg 4:270–280 Capello R (2011) Location, regional growth, and local development theories. AESTIMUN 58:1–25 Cappelli R, Cucculelli M, Peruzzi V (2021) Family firms and regional entrepreneurship: The European evidence. Fam Bus Reg Dev 193–209 Cucculelli M, Storai D (2015) Family firms and industrial districts. Evidence from the Italian manufacturing industry. J Fam Bus Strateg 6:234–246 Ricotta F, Basco R (2021) Family firms in European regions: the role of regional institutions. Entrep Reg Dev Online first Stough R, Welter F, Block J, et al (2015) Family business and regional science: “Bridging the gap.” J Fam Bus Strateg 6:208–218 Suwala L (2021) Concepts of Space, Refiguration of Spaces, and Comparative Research: Perspectives from Economic Geography and Regional Economics. Forum: Qualitative Social Research 22(3):1-48 *************************************************************************************************************************** Please submit your abstract (max. 250 words) via the official GCEG submission portal by 11th February 2022 (https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flounge.regionalstudies.org%2FMeetings%2FMeeting%3FID%3D352&data=04%7C01%7C%7C4cd8987a97d04c1dec9e08d9c5380403%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C637757666641696844%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=kgrj4%2Fwk9j7XwzTYzRo9YZ6oDI1mIbrQNIRhCZe3Wac%3D&reserved=0) and indicate that you are joining the Special Session SS05_04. Session details are available online at: https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgceg.org%2FSS05_04-SMEs-Family-Businesses-and-Regional-Context.php&data=04%7C01%7C%7C4cd8987a97d04c1dec9e08d9c5380403%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C637757666641696844%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=Aqu%2Fha8q3CfpN8DoLqJhnk6rGTinGrUnf6ugp0xqhJQ%3D&reserved=0 This session is linked to a special issue at RRR https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.springer.com%2Fjournal%2F10037%2Fupdates%2F19677408&data=04%7C01%7C%7C4cd8987a97d04c1dec9e08d9c5380403%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C637757666641696844%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=VHvrUJ9aP%2BoBzJqNdPmXj8%2BDtNbkq3NeBSVHAuhagUU%3D&reserved=0 ! Season's greetings, Stefano, Evans, Rodrigo and Lech
