This special issue contributes to island studies highlighting a variety of contexts, topics, and theoretical and conceptual depth, with a focus on sustainable development. Island studies is an interdisciplinary research field that covers varied perspectives and contexts, highlighting natural, geographical, social, economic, and many other perspectives and theoretical strands. One special feature of island studies is that there are as many contexts as there are islands, therefore, the study of islands requires both a theoretical and conceptual depth, as well empirical richness. The articles published in this special issue depart from the realization that meeting the varied expectations on island communities, more research is needed. Contributions are based on experiences from Croatia, Finland, and Sweden, highlighting how archipelagos are envisioned in social media and the consequences of from primary production, e.g., fisheries and agriculture being replaced by tourism by highlighting tourism entrepreneurship, drawing lessons from seasonal tourism and multi-seasonal tourism. However, most articles highlight various challenges and opportunities for sustainability by analyzing the changing role of second homeowners, demographic challenges, and obstacles to permanent residence on islands, democracy gaps, and solutions to meet sustainability challenges in studied countries. 

This study is the result of a participatory and collaborative project in which Swedish scholars and representatives of island organizations in Sweden set out to define what Swedish island research is and identify imminent research gaps. The article answers the following questions: 1) Which key research gaps can be identified in Swedish island research? 2) How can we relate Swedish island research to the international field of island research? The study is based on community based participatory research. Data was collected through a participatory process with workshops, webinars, and participatory activities in 2022. The main conclusion is that there is a democracy deficit affecting island development which is caused by the institutional structure in Sweden where island communities are mainly subordinated mainland municipalities, and a lack of island and archipelago policies.

This study analyzes the relationship between self-employment, corruption, and property rights in 30 European countries, including 11 Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) economies, across the two decades of 1996–2016. In general, relatively little research has focused on the relationship between entrepreneurship and the protection of property rights. Furthermore, past findings show that corruption may have both negative and positive effects on the level of entrepreneurial activity, either “greasing” or “sanding” the wheels for entrepreneurship. Overall, research on how the informal institution corruption and the formal institution property rights are linked to entrepreneurship in post-socialist/transition economies has been limited. We find that stronger protection of property rights increases self-employment ratios, both in Europe in general and in CEE economies. The relationship between self-employment and the control of corruption is not significant. We conclude that neither higher nor lower levels of corruption control affect the share of self-employment. In comparative perspective, the ratio of self-employment in the group of CEE economies does not respond differently to these two key institutions.

The lion’s share of entrepreneurship research highlights conditions in core regions, while entrepreneurship in peripheral areas has been less studied. This longitudinal study aims at exploring the interplay between the peripheral contexts of island and archipelago communities and firm outcomes - paying special attention to spatial variations and non-linear temporal dimensions. We focus on the survival of all firms active on 17 islands in the Stockholm archipelago, Sweden during a 20-year period (2000-2019). Using longitudinal multilevel modelling, we find that - despite being a seemingly ‘homogeneous’ place - spatial and temporal variations, however small, would have substantial effects on the conditions for everyday entrepreneurship in these communities. Our results show that firms located on islands with higher population density and seasonal dependability face increased probabilities of exit, while access to digital ecosystems, local services in the form of kindergartens, and year-round grocery stores decrease the probabilities of exit. Islands with thicker institutional context, indicating trust and community support, lead to higher survival rates.

Covid-19 increased the social and economic vulnerability of island societies. Swedishislands are key tourism destinations but are also home to many island residents. Previous studies have highlighted the impact of Covid-19 on core areas, but our knowledge of its impact on island communities is lacking. We use phenomenology to analyse how communities in small Swedish islands perceive the impact ofCovid-19. We use institutional theory and the concepts of social capital and accessibility in the analysis.Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and focus groups with islanders and representatives of local organizations on sampled islands. Pandemic regulations affected island communities differently.Authorities and shipping companies strove to discourage people from visiting islands. This affected tourismnegatively in some islands, whereas tourism increased in others. Informal institutions established a basis forgood community relations; enabled the mobilization of social capital, especially given action by local agentswho were endorsed by the community. Cooperation was a key to reducing negative impact. Accessibilityincreased on islands with well-developed and expanded IT-infrastructure that enabled holiday homeownersto work from their holiday islands. This helped create a sustained positive economic trend for grocery storesand the construction industry

La Covid-19 aumentó la vulnerabilidad social y económica de las sociedades insulares.Las islas suecas son destinos turísticos clave y hogar para muchos isleños. Estudios anteriores destacan elimpacto de la Covid-19 en áreas centrales, pero nuestro conocimiento sobre su impacto en comunidadesinsulares es escaso. Usamos la fenomenología para analizar cómo las comunidades en pequeñas islas suecasperciben el impacto de la Covid-19. El trabajo realizado emplea conceptos de teoría institucional, capitalsocial y accesibilidad. Los datos se recopilaron vía entrevistas semiestructuradas y grupos focales conempresarios y representantes de organizaciones locales. Las regulaciones de la pandemia tuvieron unimpacto diferente según islas. Las autoridades y las compañías navieras actuaron para que el público se abstuviera de visitar las islas. Esto afectó negativamente al turismo en algunas islas y positivamente en otras.Las instituciones informales que llevaron a buenas relaciones comunitarias, posibilitaron la movilización decapital social, especialmente cuando agentes activos avalados por la comunidad actuaron. La cooperaciónfue clave para reducir el impacto negativo. La accesibilidad aumentó en las islas con buena infraestructurade IT y permitió que isleños y dueños de casas de veraneo trabajaran desde sus respectivas islas. Este últimohecho creó una tendencia económica positiva sostenida en los sectores de alimentación y construcción.

This article summarizes the main results of the project “Island and Archipelago Tourism during the pandemic”. The main goal of the project was to find out how the pandemic affected companies in the hospitality industry on islands and in archipelagos; which challenges they faced, and to learn from eventual future opportunities. 

Ö-samhällen kan rimligtvis antas vara extra sårbara för extern påverkan, inte minst av en sådan chock som utgjorts av Covid-19-pandemin. 

Denna rapport bygger på undersökningar som genomförts inom projektet Ö- och skärgårdsturism under pandemin, och innefattar bland annat fokusgrupper och intervjuer med företagare och representanter från en mängd svenska ö- och skärgårdsföreningar.

This chapter studies the internationalization of the Swedish–Danish dairy corporation Arla. During a period of 100 years the dairy sector went from being at the focus of national and regional interest, the industry has become global. In some geographical markets, or in particular market areas, these transnationals – corporations as well as cooperatives – may compete fiercely, and their growth strategy is often to merge with or acquire local producers. However, these multinational firms also actively cooperate in other areas (e.g. in branding or distribution) or on other geographical markets. This may take the form of strategic alliances, such as joint ventures. Thus, coopetition – cooperation and competition – has been a common recent strategy. In the case at focus in this study, Arla Foods a.m.b.a. mergers are conducted with cooperatives in European countries, while businesses that are located further away are taken care of through exports and joint ventures. The main contribution of this article is that it employs internationalization theory and places the globalization of cooperatives in the middle of the academic discussion about internationalization. A recommendation for further studies is to both dig deeper into the changing nature of cooperatives historically, but also to look closer at the strategic deals that global expansion of cooperatives is based on. 

A lion's share of entrepreneurship research highlights conditions on core-regions, while entrepreneurship in peripheral areas has been less studied. This study aims at exploring the interplay between the context of island and archipelago communities and firm outcomes – paying special attention to spatial variations and non-linear temporal dimensions. Our focus lies in firms founded in 17 islands of Stockholm Archipelago, from the beginning of 2000 to the end of 2019. Using longitudinal multilevel modelling, we find that — despite a seemingly ’homogeneous’ place — spatial and temporal variations, however small, would have substantial effects on the conditions for entrepreneurship in these communities. Our results show that firms located in islands with higher population density and seasonal dependability face increased probabilities of exit while those in islands with access to digital ecosystems, local services in the form of kindergartens and year-round grocery stores have decreased probabilities of exit. Islands with thicker institutional context, indicating trust and community support, are related to increasing survival rates. Distance to market was found to be insignificant in terms of survival.

Denna rapport bygger på resultatet från intervjuer och fokusgrupper som genomförts inom ramen för ett forskningsprojekt som syftar till att undersöka hur den pågående Coronapandemin påverkat besöksnäringen på öar och i skärgårdar i Sverige.