Author: Brady    Davis

Major: Management

Graduation Year: 2017

Thesis Advisor: Stephanie Welcomer

Description of Publication: Sustainability-as-flourishing has been introduced as a new paradigm to conceptualize sustainability, and is defined as an ideal future state where all life on earth has the potential to flourish indefinitely. This paper explores the potential for farmers and local producers to advance sustainability-as-flourishing through their operations. Existing literature lays the foundation for this case-based method and provides the basis for an investigation of how entrepreneurs express a set of requisites necessary to develop this concept. This investigation focuses on artisanal cheesemakers from Maine participating in the Maine Cheese Guild. Thirty of these artisan producers were interviewed, and their interview transcripts analyzed for how they practice and conceptualize sustainability. The analysis revealed the extent to which these entrepreneurs express the requisites of sustainability-as-flourishing on the ground and through their operations. The degree to which each of these requisites are expressed or neglected is discussed. Avenues of future research are also proposed and include how entrepreneurs view profit, seek to promote social justice and equity through their enterprises, and recognize and address the root causes of socioeconomic problems.

Location of Publication:

• fogler
• reynolds

URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/295/