The 'pod shaving' revival: how rural entrepreneurship is leading to a re-birth of craft production in cricket bat manufacturing in England

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Smith, D.J. ORCID: 0000-0001-7359-8451, Rossiter, W. ORCID: 0000-0002-2199-1136 and Matthews, R. ORCID: 0000-0001-6031-7016, 2021. The 'pod shaving' revival: how rural entrepreneurship is leading to a re-birth of craft production in cricket bat manufacturing in England. In: 18th Rural Entrepreneurship Conference, University of Swansea, Swansea [virtual], 13-15 July 2021.

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Abstract

The resurgence of craft (Kroezen et al., 2021) observed in a number of industry sectors reflects the success of new entrants in challenging the prevailing industrial orthodoxy. This study finds that in the UK, part of the sports equipment industry, responsible for the manufacture of cricket bats, has seen a surprising increase in new entrants over the last two decades. This re-structuring reflects significant changes in the sports equipment sector, that have included the rise of global sports brands and the offshoring of production. The emergence of a number of small independent bat makers, virtually all of whom are located in rural areas, are the focus of this study. It was found that while the backgrounds and prior experience of these rural entrepreneurs varied widely, they all shared a strong commitment to producing an authentic handmade product using traditional craft-based artisanal methods. This, combined with their embeddedness within their local communities and the extent to which the internet offered a cost effective route to market, was found to explain the emergence of this new wave of rural entrepreneurship.

Item Type:

Conference contribution

Creators:

Smith, D.J., Rossiter, W. and Matthews, R.

Date:

July 2021

Identifiers: