Search

Purpose: This study offers a comparative analysis of attitudes to small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) internationalisation in two different cultural settings, Wales and Brittany. The purpose of this paper is to conduct an in-depth investigation of attitudes to internationalisation among food and drink SMEs using mixed methods and focussing on both SMEs that internationalise and those that do not. This leads to a more comprehensive understanding of the issues influencing attitudes to SME internationalisation, which could facilitate policy development for such companies. Design/methodology/approach: Mixed methods are used in this study to provide a richness of data in investigating this complex issue. The majority of research in this field has focussed on quantitative research, however, this study heeds calls for more plurality in research on SME internationalisation to achieve a more detailed understanding of the issues affecting SME internationalisation. This is achieved through an online questionnaire of 169 food producing SMEs in Wales and Brittany, informed by International Entrepreneurship theory. A second phase of semi-structured interviews provides more context to the questionnaire findings, with 37 interviews conducted with respondents from the questionnaire. Each phase was conducted independently, with findings triangulated for further investigation. Findings: Companies of all characteristics have the ability to internationalise; however, cultural differences were observed between Wales and Brittany in both attitudes and the conditions for internationalisation. Breton SMEs displayed more proactivity to internationalisation, stemming from more favourable conditions, a greater reputation for food and more confidence. Conversely, Welsh SMEs were more reactive, relying on government support in encouraging internationalisation. Breton SMEs also benefitted from the strong cultural identity of food products, especially through the Produit en Bretagne brand and its network of producers. Originality/value: The study makes both a theoretical and methodological contribution to research on SME internationalisation. The comparative study of Wales and Brittany is significant in understanding cultural influences to internationalisation in two regions where the food and drink industry represents an important part of the economy. The focus on a single industry is significant in understanding the particularities of internationalisation within an industrial context, as findings from studies across multiple industries are considered less generalisable. A methodological contribution is sought through using mixed methods to provide a more comprehensive study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coast of Brittany hosts one of the largest seaweed forests in Europe, collected for several centuries, but today subject to climatic change. By an ethnoecological survey, this paper investigates the seaweed collectors' perception of the changes and hazards that affect their resources. We explored how hazards change their practices and adaptive capacity through strategy and ecological knowledge. Their knowledge evolved rapidly due to their interaction with the natural environment and exchange with scientists, generating new types of knowledge and management practices better adapted to expected future biodiversity change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our study aims to understand the recurring climatic conditions prevailing during the largest storms reaching NW France (Brittany). These storms are responsible for the breaching of coastal barriers and major flooding of lowlands. In a first part of our work, we examine the morphological impact and stratigraphic record of storm events along Western Brittany rocky coasts, with a special focus on the southern coast of the Bay of Audierne, the most exposed coast of the region. In a second paper (‘Middle- to Late-Holocene Storminess in Brittany (NW France): Part II’), we shall focus on the chronology of storm events and their climate forcing conditions. Drilling transects and stratigraphic analyses were first undertaken to constrain chronology, strength and wind direction during the main Holocene storm events. New dates, observations and a relative sea-level (RSL) curve were then used to inform discussion of the necessary climatic and morphologic conditions leading to destructive storm events. Most recorded events appear to be linked with cooling episodes of the Holocene and a RSL close to present. Some storms are clearly responsible for breaching and dune building or remobilisation. We demonstrate that storm frequency and intensity appear to rise in a stepwise manner during the late Holocene. Maximum efficiency is reached during the ‘Little Ice Age’ with clustered events probably lasting several days, but major storms also occurred immediately prior to the ‘Medieval Warm Period’. We suggest that recent coastal dune building from c.ad 1100 until now, despite a sea level close to present and continuously rising, may be a direct consequence of the restoration of beaches after periods of recurrent storminess. This building activity often occurred during dry negative North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) events, in connection with the available sedimentary supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the recurring climate conditions required for the largest storms occurring in NW France (Brittany). It is based on the analysed records of storm events along Western Brittany coast (see Part I). In this manuscript (Part II), storm recurrence is explored along with forcing mechanisms. Periods of more frequent storm events over the two last centuries are analysed first in order to link these events with possible forcing mechanisms (North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) modes) triggering the most destructive storms. Then, palaeostorm events are discussed at the Holocene scale, from 6000 yr BP to present, to verify the forcing mechanisms. Most recorded events appear to be linked with cooling episodes, mostly in winter, a transition to or from a negative winter NAO mode, a positive AMO mode. Extreme storms occur immediately prior to the ‘Medieval Warm Period’ (MWP). Maximum effects are reached prior to the onset of the MWP and during the Maunder and Dalton solar minima. Low storm activity occurred during the Spörer Minimum linked to an acceleration of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Main storm triggers seem to correspond to a positive AMO mode with an unstable jetstream configuration driving a negative NAO. In this study, four specific weather configurations were defined to explain each type of recorded storminess. The strongest storms correspond to low AMO and decennial-negative NAO modes (e.g. ‘Little Ice Age’), or high AMO in association with dominant low NAO modes, as during the early Middle Age and present-day period. Fresh or warm oceans in association with a positive NAO mode are stormy but with very low sting storms frequency. Although in agreement with the orbital forcing and the Holocene glacial history, increasing storm frequency and intensity is most probably partly biased by continuous sea-level rise and resulting erosion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wrestling is a worldwide activity, defined by some universal logics and taking various forms. There are many geographically or culturally based wrestling styles that are generally considered traditional. Wrestling itself is the signifier of different dimensions, being altogether a challenge, a cultural element and a liminal interaction between the imaginary and the body. It is an example of body culture considered as a collective symbolic wealth, diffused by the reputation of some techniques and the association with some cultural or social groups. The notion of tradition is associated with the sports and rooted in a customary and cross-generational mode of transmission. This paper examines the cases of kurash (Uzbekistan), gouren (Brittany, France) and kokh (Armenia), three wrestling styles that recently experienced or are still experiencing an institutionalisation process. These symptomatic wrestling styles face the question of conciliating uniqueness and adaptation to the cultural framework of sport. In addition, they constitute forms of symbolic capital and signifiers of different values, which adds the question of cultural legitimacy to sport management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ayer: Revista de Historia Contemporánea is the property of Asociacion de Historia Contemporanea and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Bird disturbance by human activities is one of the impacts related to human presence at conservation sites in Brittany (France). This paper is an attempt at reviewing this relatively unknown problem through the results of an international bibliographical review and of a regional inquiry conducted in close collaboration with managers of the conservation areas in Brittany. These two approaches will help to demonstrate the extent and complexity of the human / fauna interactions, as well as to take stock of the state of research in this field and, last but not least, to highlight the difficulties managers of conservation sites are facing to deal with this new issue. For the managers, bird disturbance is indeed the most important impact related to human attendance on conservation sites in Brittany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article revisits the French region of Brittany on the basis of sustained empirical research over a 25-year period. It identifies the twin use of influence and identity as forming a key part of an accepted and largely diffused territorial repertoire, based on affirming distinctiveness for reasons of vertical linkage, as well as horizontal capacity building. This article explores the different facets of this model of territorial influence. The two twin dimensions concern: first, a well-versed mechanism of lobbying central institutions and actors to defend the Breton interest; second, the use of territorial identity markers to forward the regional cause, relying on social movements and a broad capacity for regional mobilization. Within this overarching context, the Breton case demonstrates an intelligent instrumental use of identity and identity markers, but mainstream Breton forces recognize that this only makes sense in the light of the national level of regulation and structure of opportunities. The logic of this position is to integrate the Brittany region into a national model of territorial integration, while playing up identity markers to secure the maximum benefit for the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-indigenous seaweed species have been introduced to the coasts of Brittany, France for decades, with an increasing arrival rate since the 1970s due to both the introduction of the Pacific oyster and increased maritime traffic. In this study, seven species of red macroalgae originating from the Pacific Ocean were found in new locations around the coasts of Brittany between 2018 and 2022. The seaweed species belong to four different orders: Ceramiales (Antithamnion hubbsii, Polysiphonia morrowii, and Symphyocladiella dendroidea), Halymeniales (including Pachymeniopsis lanceolata and Polyopes lancifolius), Rhodymeniales (Botryocladia wrightii), and Gigartinales (Solieria sp.). The dispersal mode and putative invasive potential of each species were examined, and the species were described in terms of their macroscopic and microscopic appearance and habitat. These finds result from a combination of citizen science and long-term monitoring. Used together, these two approaches can aid in the detection of these species on other European coasts and in understanding their dispersion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The main objective of this paper is to thoroughly examine the remotely sensed wind characteristics around the coasts of Brittany as well as some more specific areas. The offshore wind power potential is then assessed. To achieve this objective, information on wind speed and direction with sufficient spatial and temporal sampling under all weather conditions and during day and night is required. This study uses more than 12 years (December 1999–December 2012) of consistent remotely sensed data retrieved from the ASCAT and QuikSCAT scatterometers to estimate the conventional moments and associated wind distribution parameters. The latter are comparable to wind observations from meteorological stations. Furthermore, combining in-situ and scatterometer wind information enables an improved assessment of the spatial and temporal wind structures at specific locations of interest to be made. The wind statistical results are used to study the spatial and temporal patterns of the wind power. Although the main parameters characterizing wind power potential such as mean, variability, maximum energy, wind speed and intra-annual exhibit seasonal features, significant inter-annual variability is also depicted. Furthermore, differences are found between the wind power estimated for northern and for southern Brittany. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of Nottingham French Studies is the property of Edinburgh University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Ecological monitoring of small mammal occurrence on Ushant Island (Brittany, France) revealed the presence of the bank vole (Myodes glareolus) in September 2017. This was the first report of the bank vole on the island. Evaluation of previous small mammal monitoring and analysis of several batches of barn owl pellets allowed us to conclude that the arrival on the island is recent, sometime between 1995 and 2017. Further study is necessary to determine whether the current population, still incompletely distributed into suitable habitats of the island, will be self-sustaining on a long-term basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We document for the first time the diet of a privileged French population from Brittany, a region that was the center of battles between the Kingdoms of England and France until the end of the fifteenth century. We present here the results of stable isotope analyses of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur of human and animal bone and tooth collagen for a late medieval to early modern Breton population. The isotopic values observed for the Dominican convent of Rennes, Brittany, are very similar to those reported for medieval archaeological populations in Great Britain, namely they have enriched δ15N values combined with almost entirely terrestrial carbon signals. We discuss the consumption of young animals in a diet made up of terrestrial, marine, and freshwater resources. We report dietary differences between socio-economic groups and gender, with women and nobles (male and female) showing patterns consistent with high animal product consumption and lower mobility. The S isotope ratios of both humans and fauna are very homogeneous and generally have coastal δ34S values. The convent is known to have been an interregional pilgrimage site during the early modern period, but the isotope values indicate that the identified migrants were not pilgrims. Stable isotope analysis therefore complements the available historical information on human diets and mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Brittany region of France is located in a low seismicity intraplate zone. Most of the instrumented earthquakes are limited to a shallow crustal depth without surface rupture. A paleoseismological analysis was performed on deposits on the Crozon Peninsula and in the Elorn estuary. We highlight hydroplastic deformations induced by liquefaction leading to clay diapirism, which were likely triggered by past earthquakes. This diapirism seems to be frequent in continental nonconsolidated sediments and to develop on the inherited tectonic structures, when a shallow water table and confining layers exist. Timing of deformation is dated using paleoenvironmental data, and electron spin resonance and infrared-stimulated luminescence dating methods. Two seismic periods were identified in western Europe during early Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 10 (~380 ka) and early MIS 8 (~280–265 ka). The lack of similar deformations affecting the Holocene tidal deposits in the Bay of Brest suggests that the magnitude of the triggering paleoearthquakes is probably higher (M w ~6) than the recent events (M w 5.4). These unusual intraplate major paleoearthquakes need specific factors affecting the far-field crustal stress loading to be triggered, such as a brief acceleration of the Africa-Eurasia lithospheric plate convergence, glacio-isostatic stress perturbations associated with the onset of major glaciations in northern Europe, or other processes induced by orbital forcing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The successive dwellers of the Palaeolithic Menez Dregan site (Finistère, France) experienced a different landscape because of the relative sea level transgressions and regressions which affected Audierne Bay between 465 and 369 Ka. We computed a series of bathymetric measurements and then produced a series of 3D images between Penmarc'h Bill, the Sein Ridge and the –120 m isobath to reconstruct these landscapes. Due to the lack of flint in the onshore and offshore Brittany basement, the –40 and –80 m regressive stages have been particularly well studied as they correspond to two well-developed flint-rich boulder bars. The other topographic features which probably attracted the attention of pre-Neanderthals were: (1) the vertical granite cliffs of Sein, Audierne and Penmarc'h; (2) the mid-Bay granitic pinnacles and cascade; (3) the Raz pass, which was the only communication route between the Audierne and Douarnenez Bays; (4) the Goayen and Pouldreuzic Rivers; (5) the Ar Palinier plateau made up of shelly limestone characterised by small caves and dolinas; (6) the Bigorne marsh, infilled by continental mud, which received drainage from all the rivers and the cascade; (7) the gentle south-facing slope located south of Sein island and (8) the N130° 2 m linear step cutting across all of their territory. Some of these data suggest that other Palaeolithic sites may have occurred at a deeper depth than the present sea level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is an essay about the interplay of objects, art and visual culture in several community museums and historical sites dedicated to local social history in coastal Brittany. There, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Breton maritime culture invented a range of compensatory ritual objects, sites and practices to account for loss of life at sea. The presentation of this material culture of mourning in small museums, regional museums and ecomuseums on the Breton North Coast and the islands of Sein and Ouessant are examined in this essay. These material objects once bore material witness to crucial moments in the life of the family and today serve to represent the community’s collective memories and to narrate the community’s heritage to the outside world. In several cases examined in this essay, literary representations, art and visual culture are compared to heritage sites and museums. Methodologies are drawn from social art history, studies of tourism and collecting, museum studies, material culture studies and feminist interests in the politics of the everyday. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a variety of combinations with regard to proximities (spatial and non-spatial) in inter-firm relations, and identifies their main determinants. The data employed come from a survey of more than 1,400 small and medium-sized firms in the Brittany region (France), which describe the relationship with their principal partner. Apart from spatial distance between partners, three forms of non-spatial proximity are identified—cognitive, technological and organizational—which are assessed in terms of their role in the relations. A typology of the relationships based on forms of proximity identifies a wide variety of configurations, which depend primarily on the nature of the relationship, and especially on the need for coordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the role of trade unions in the co-production of regions as spaces for politics. Focusing on the role of the Confederation Francaise Democratique du Travail (CFDT) in the social construction of Brittany in the 1970s, it demonstrates that a region is not a given entity, but is a collective construction whose co-producers include trade unions. Through deploying a regional discourse to give a territorial dimension to class-based analysis of social issues, trade union contributions have been threefold: setting up of regional networks and discussion fora, diffusion of banal regionalism, mobilization of images and usages of the region as a cognitive tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brittany is a robust exception to the traditional weakness of regional economic associations in France; from the 1990s, regional enterprises tend to organize on the regional scale, in order to pursue productive aims or even exert influence over public institutions. However, these collective actions depend on very different political and economic logics in High and Low Brittany. This configuration thus carries on to examine the theories on the recombining of the European territories (new-regionalism, new-localism), to understand how these logics contribute to a fragmentation of the regional governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Walker Connor has argued that the conflation of nation and state leads to muddled thinking about both concepts. While his advisory is well-taken, the decoupling of nation and state can be taken too far, for nation and state are intimately conjoined in the modern era. There are important ideational constructs embedded in the practices and principles of modern state governance that condition the ideology of state-oriented nationalists. This idealisation of community is less marked among nationalist activists whose concerns are primarily cultural rather than political. The differences are illustrated through the words and actions of individuals and organisations involved in the nationalist movements of Quebec and Brittany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]