Periodic Reporting for period 1 - RESILIENCE (RESILIENCE: Understanding the role of resources in building resilience in marketing systems of refugee-run businesses in Europe)
Berichtszeitraum: 2019-11-07 bis 2021-11-06
The project seeks to understand the resilience of marketing systems comprised of businesses run by those with a migrant and refugee background. Resilience is the ability of systems to not only survive, but also thrive, even in challenging situations and is part of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals related to communities. Despite its importance, we know little about how such businesses influence the resilience of the systems that they are part of, including their markets, neighbourhoods, and communities. This project therefore aims to contribute to this important area and is guided by the key question of how do small-scale businesses run by those with a migrant and refugee background impact resilience in their systems? Towards providing answers to this question, this project has engaged in inductive fieldwork towards the creation of theoretical models to further academic understanding of resilience and marketing systems, while aiming to create actionable models that can be used to strengthen activities of businesses run by those with a migrant and refugee background and their related systems.
During the fellowship, Stefanie Beninger has engaged in a variety of research and outreach. She has twice acted as a keynote speaker on the topic of resilience at a major practitioner conference. Dr. Beninger has organized and hosted workshops, panels, and conference sessions on the topics of resilience and forcibly displaced peoples, bringing together leading experts on the topic. The results of the fieldwork and desk research have been presented at international, regional, and local conferences and workshops, as well as been published in or are being submitted to academic journals, as well as publishing a chapter. She has also contributed to her university's online public repository on the topic of resilience and published a practitioner article with IE Insights.
The results of this study will have implications for academia, those with a refugee and migrant background, their host countries, and the public and private sector. For business academia, this work aims to contribute to calls to better understand systems and their associated resilience, focusing on a much-overlooked group. This study also aims to inform approaches regarding sustainable opportunities for those with a migrant and refugee background, an area in crucial need of attention. To achieve these outcomes, the researcher has engaged in a multi-pronged program involving desk and primary research driven by fieldwork; connecting with students and academics; outreach to practitioners; and other wider activities.