Richard Blundel
Biographic Data
| ID | 5123325 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Richard Blundel |
| GIVEN NAMES | Richard |
| FAMILY NAME | Blundel |
| SIGNATURE | BLUNDEL R |
| AFFILIATIONS | The Open University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5000-3117 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 5 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 9 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Just business? Rethinking the role of small and medium enterprise climate action through a just transition lens
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are critical to achieving climate action goals but are neglected in policy and academic debates. Current SME climate and energy policies are failing to address the complexity and vulnerability of SMEs in the transition to a low carbon economy, often treating these organisations as a homogeneous group, with dominant narratives that appeal to economic or moral imperatives to decarbonise, without recognising…
Crisis and opportunity
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are key actors in climate change mitigation and adaptation. Their aggregate emissions are significant, and they are disproportionately affected by climate impacts, including extreme weather events. SMEs also play a vital role in shaping the environmental behaviours of individuals, communities, and other businesses. However, these organisations have been largely neglected by climate policies across all lev…
Imagined Outcomes”
By the mid-twentieth century in the United Kingdom, musical instrument manufacturing had become an increasingly mechanized activity. Craft skills had been displaced in many areas, yet remained a vital source of competitive advantage in local and international markets and were particularly valued by professional musicians. This article examines the contrasting experiences of two British musical instrument manufacturers, tracing the unfolding relat…
Improvisation and Entrepreneurial Bricolage versus Rationalisation
In periods of economic crisis and instability, the response of many business organisations is to try and adapt to prevailing market conditions. This typically results in a pattern of retrenchment and rationalisation designed to cut costs. Responses of this kind may be justifiable and, to varying degrees, effective at a firm-level. However, their wider repercussions can include the worsening of a pre-existing economic downturn (e.g. large- scale r…
Reinventing artisanal knowledge and practice
This paper presents a critical review of the ways in which the specialised knowledge and working practices of craft-based industries have been transformed in the context of broader processes of industrialisation and global competition. The opening section makes the case for artisanal knowledge as a ‘Cinderella’ subject that remains important yet largely uncharted territory for innovation researchers. It is followed by a critical review of existin…
Strategy without design
Strategy without design: the silent efficacy of indirect action, by Robert C.H. Chia and Robin Holt, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2009, xii + 248 pp., £55.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-521-89
Critical Realism
This chapter provides an outline of the origins and principal features of critical realist social theory, followed by a focused review of the methodological implications of this philosophical perspective. The primary purpose of the chapter is to consider why critical realism might offer a suitable ‘vehicle’ for qualitative research in the field of entrepreneurship, and to assess its explanatory potential with reference to recent empirical studies…
Penrose, critical realism and the evolution of business knowledge
This article examines the challenge of modifying orthodox 'case study' approaches to the growth of firms and interorganizational networks in the light of recent work on the evolution of business knowledge.We suggest that a modified Penrosian framework, combined with a qualified application of critical realist practices, could contribute to more coherent and insightful theorizing in this area.We begin with a critique of Edith Penrose's legacy, inc…
From Artisans to “Factories”
This article traces the uneven development of English cheese-making from its early commercialization to the eventual triumph of the “cheese factory.” The narrative shows how contemporary actors initiated and adapted to changes in technology, distribution, consumption, and regulation. It indicates that artisanal practices have both borrowed from and become integrated with industrial logics and strategies, exemplifying a process that Charles F. Sab…
From Artisans to “Factories”
This article traces the uneven development of English cheese-making from its early commercialization to the eventual triumph of the “cheese factory.” The narrative shows how contemporary actors initiated and adapted to changes in technology, distribution, consumption, and regulation. It indicates that artisanal practices have both borrowed from and become integrated with industrial logics and strategies, exemplifying a process that Charles F. Sab…
Crisis and opportunity
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are key actors in climate change mitigation and adaptation. Their aggregate emissions are significant, and they are disproportionately affected by climate impacts, including extreme weather events. SMEs also play a vital role in shaping the environmental behaviours of individuals, communities, and other businesses. However, these organisations have been largely neglected by climate policies across all lev…
From Artisans to “Factories”
This article traces the uneven development of English cheese-making from its early commercialization to the eventual triumph of the “cheese factory.” The narrative shows how contemporary actors initiated and adapted to changes in technology, distribution, consumption, and regulation. It indicates that artisanal practices have both borrowed from and become integrated with industrial logics and strategies, exemplifying a process that Charles F. Sab…
Critical Realism
This chapter provides an outline of the origins and principal features of critical realist social theory, followed by a focused review of the methodological implications of this philosophical perspective. The primary purpose of the chapter is to consider why critical realism might offer a suitable ‘vehicle’ for qualitative research in the field of entrepreneurship, and to assess its explanatory potential with reference to recent empirical studies…
Penrose, critical realism and the evolution of business knowledge
This article examines the challenge of modifying orthodox 'case study' approaches to the growth of firms and interorganizational networks in the light of recent work on the evolution of business knowledge.We suggest that a modified Penrosian framework, combined with a qualified application of critical realist practices, could contribute to more coherent and insightful theorizing in this area.We begin with a critique of Edith Penrose's legacy, inc…
Strategy without design
Strategy without design: the silent efficacy of indirect action, by Robert C.H. Chia and Robin Holt, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2009, xii + 248 pp., £55.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-521-89
Reinventing artisanal knowledge and practice
This paper presents a critical review of the ways in which the specialised knowledge and working practices of craft-based industries have been transformed in the context of broader processes of industrialisation and global competition. The opening section makes the case for artisanal knowledge as a ‘Cinderella’ subject that remains important yet largely uncharted territory for innovation researchers. It is followed by a critical review of existin…
Improvisation and Entrepreneurial Bricolage versus Rationalisation
In periods of economic crisis and instability, the response of many business organisations is to try and adapt to prevailing market conditions. This typically results in a pattern of retrenchment and rationalisation designed to cut costs. Responses of this kind may be justifiable and, to varying degrees, effective at a firm-level. However, their wider repercussions can include the worsening of a pre-existing economic downturn (e.g. large- scale r…
Imagined Outcomes”
By the mid-twentieth century in the United Kingdom, musical instrument manufacturing had become an increasingly mechanized activity. Craft skills had been displaced in many areas, yet remained a vital source of competitive advantage in local and international markets and were particularly valued by professional musicians. This article examines the contrasting experiences of two British musical instrument manufacturers, tracing the unfolding relat…
Crisis and opportunity
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are key actors in climate change mitigation and adaptation. Their aggregate emissions are significant, and they are disproportionately affected by climate impacts, including extreme weather events. SMEs also play a vital role in shaping the environmental behaviours of individuals, communities, and other businesses. However, these organisations have been largely neglected by climate policies across all lev…
Just business? Rethinking the role of small and medium enterprise climate action through a just transition lens
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are critical to achieving climate action goals but are neglected in policy and academic debates. Current SME climate and energy policies are failing to address the complexity and vulnerability of SMEs in the transition to a low carbon economy, often treating these organisations as a homogeneous group, with dominant narratives that appeal to economic or moral imperatives to decarbonise, without recognising…
Political science (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Business (4 works) · Economics (4 works) · Computer Science (3 works) · Craft (3 works) · Cultural Industries and Urban Development (3 works) · Epistemology (3 works) · Action (physics (2 works) · Art (2 works)