Entrepreneurial energy: associative entrepreneurship in the renewable energy sector in Wales

Abstract

The central suggestion of this paper is that innovation in the concept of entrepreneurialship is overdue and that the concept of entrepreneurialship needs to be extended to accommodate its often neglected collective or pluralistic dimension, a concept termed "associative entrepreneurialship". It has also been argued that there may be a natural link between sustainability and co-operative form. In this paper these themes are drawn together by considering the entrepreneurial potential expressed by the recent creation of mutual businesses in a range of renewable sectors in Wales. It is suggested that at least in the renewable energy sector and perhaps in other sectors too, innovation in the direction of sustainability may require a development of the concept of entrepreneurialship in the direction of mutualism.