Sustainability and Place-Based Enterprise

In this article, we critique the “placeless” character of enterprise sustainability research and introduce the concept of the place-based enterprise (PBE), arguing that such enterprises offer a potentially important means of fostering ecological and social sustainability in local communities. Drawing on a variety of disciplinary perspectives, we offer a specification of the concept of place and explore the relationships between places and enterprises. We maintain that PBEs, whose resources, productive activities, and ownership are anchored in specific local places, and who themselves possess a sense of place, may be more likely than conventional enterprises to pursue locally beneficial economic, social, and environmental outcomes. A typology of PBEs and suggestions for future research are proposed.