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Tourism scholars have looked on degrowth, non-growth and rightsizing debates (Hall, 2009) to emphasise the need for limits to growth and an alternative to existing developmental models. Degrowth debates challenge dominant discourses of development and modernity including sustainable development, and advocate on a transition from consumerism towards cooperative and circular economy to reduce inequalities and environmental impacts (Ludmark, Zhang and Hall, 2020). Although degrowth strategies have been criticised as very difficult to adopt and implement, it remains the challenge to reduce tourism experiences consumption and especially those involving air-transport (Prideaux and Pabel, 2020). For several authors, there is no other way in reducing carbon emissions and tourism’s contribution to global warming, than reducing non-essential air travel and thus degrowing tourism (Gössling, Hall, Peeters, and Scott (2010) as cited in Becken 2017; Sharpley, 2020). 

The aim of this research is to discuss discourses of a disputed tourist project in rural Sweden as communicated in mass media. More specifically, the research is examining the case of Sälen mountain resort and look on how the development process of a new international airport, inaugurated in 2020, was presented and debated in newspapers. The project was considered controversial with many proponents as well as opponents raising conflicting interests and points of view. To capture the public discourse, we have analysed newspapers articles, mainly from local papers, for the duration of the period from the announcement of the project in 2008 to the inauguration of the new airport in December 2019. Findings indicate that the development of an international airport was presented as hopeful and good. Pro-growth discourses around increasing numbers of international tourists and job generation, rurality and peripherality mitigation, or even of positive environmental impacts were evident in the media. Opposition on the other hand, came as debate articles and develops around tax-payers money, responsibility to future generations and environmental concerns. Discourses of weak and strong approaches and pro-growth vs degrowth become part of the discussion of the results to inform the theoretical framework of analysis. 

Tourism growth on the national level in Sweden is being concentrated to the three main urban centres. The question is if the same trend is discernible within Swedish regions. If so, tourism as a tool in regional transformation and for alleviating spatial disparities has a weak basis. The strategy to strengthen the competitiveness of each region/local community based on the Tourism Led Growth Hypothesis but is questioned. Urban hierarchy and centrifugal forces are often overlooked. Data on overnight stays between 2008 and 2016 are analysed for four regions in central Sweden: Dalarna, Värmland, Gävleborg, and Jämtland. Results indicate that there is an ongoing concentration to regional urban centres and that destination competitiveness is directly linked to an urban supremacy. Thus, tourism growth is primarily a concern for urban areas and, which contradicts the traditional notions of tourism policy in Sweden, where tourism is regarded as a remedy for declining regions.

Sustainability is a concept that has been dominating developmental and political debates during at least the last two decades. It is a contested concept, flexible enough to match diverse or even conflicting viewpoints and interests. In tourism, this vagueness is related to the value-based character of the sustainable tourism concept. The concept is often related to broad and sweeping ethical and ideological considerations and to a simplified and harmonic view on sustainable development where inescapable conflict of interests between social, cultural, economic and environmental issues are neglected. The aim of this research is to critically discuss discourses of sustainability of a disputed tourist project in rural Sweden as communicated in mass media. More specifically, the research is examining the case of Sälen mountain resort and look on how the development process of a new international airport, inaugurated in 2020, was presented and debated in newspapers. The project was considered controversial with many proponents as well as opponents raising conflicting interests and points of view. We have analysed material in newspapers for the period 2011-2019. Preliminary findings indicate that the project of the development of an international airport is presented as hopeful and good with indications of intrinsic though utilitarian values. Pro-growth discourses around increasing numbers of international tourists and job generation, or even of positive environmental impacts are evident in the media. Opposition on the other hand, comes as debate articles and develops around tax-payers money, responsibility to future generations and environmental concerns. Discourses of weak and strong approaches and pro-growth vs degrowth become part of the discussion of the results to inform the theoretical framework of analysis. As this transportation project and the discourses around it analysed rely a lot on the premise of growth and international tourism, aspects of circularity become also part of the discussion.  The role of an international airport as a transportation mega-project to compensate for rurality and peripherality as well as social sustainability is evident also in the discourses. Aspects of locality and proximity are ignored in these discourses and pinpoint its relevance to circularity paradigm and its contribution in advancing sustainability discourses. 

Ekonomutbildningar finns idag vid i stort sett samtliga svenska universitet och högskolor och företagsekonomi är det enskilt största ämnet sett till antal studenter i landet. Innehållet i utbildningarna är i stor utsträckning normativt och likriktningen när det gäller struktur och innehåll är påfallande. Företagsekonomens arbete består i att ta fram beslutsunderlag och fatta rationella beslut i frågor som rör nyttjandet av begränsade resurser i företag och organisationer. Tillämpningen av kalkylmetoder och rationella beslutsmodeller spelar en central roll. Studenterna ska genom högre utbildning förvisso lära sig att bli yrkesmänniskor, men de måste även ges möjlighet att utveckla sitt omdöme och kunna se konsekvenser av sitt handlande bortom systematiska metoder och modeller. För utveckling av det egna omdömet måste utbildning också ge möjlighet till bildning. Baserat på erfarenheter både som lärare på högskolan och från andra yrkesroller med ekonomianknytning, menar vi att vi inom ämnet företagsekonomi inte bara har ett utbildningsansvar, utan även ett ansvar för att ge studenterna en bra grund för deras bildningsprocess. Studenterna bör få en utbildning som även ger dem en grundläggande förståelse för andra ämnesområden som bidrar till att kunna sätta in frågor av ekonomisk karaktär i en vidare kontext. Med detta menar vi att utbildningen bör ge studenten förutsättningar för att kritiskt kunna reflektera över sin framtida roll i olika positioner i företag och organisationer i en snabbt föränderlig omvärld där utmaningarna är stora. Texten reflekterar kring varför bildning bör ges ett större utrymme och ger förslag på hur bildningsperspektivet kan integreras och implementeras i företagsekonomutbildningen.

Abstract

The tourism sector is growing in importance for the Swedish economy. However this growth is not uniformly distributed within the country and this in turn leads to an uneven distribution of tourism activity between regions as well as between rural and urban areas. In a previous study it is concluded that the growth of bed nights between 2000 and 2010 is concentrated to the three larger urban regions in Sweden. The substantial growth of tourism in Sweden is therefore mainly a big city phenomenon, which is in sharp contrast to the picture entertained by policy makers and government officials. Tourism is regarded and promoted as a universally applicable tool when it comes to develop rural areas or regions in need for alternative job opportunities when traditional occupations are phased out. 

This study addresses the question of redistribution within the regions. The question in focus is if the tendency of concentration of bed nights follows the same pattern within the regions as on the national level, i.e. if concentration increases over time. It is also of interest to identify those destinations, which deviate from the main pattern and to scrutinize the how they, achieve sustainable or at least long term competitiveness.

An analysis is based on data collected by statistics Sweden and the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth. Data on overnight stays in commercial establishments were derived on local level between 2008 and 2016 for four regions in central Sweden; Dalarna, Värmland, Gävleborg and Jämtland. This data set makes it possible to make a longitudinal (annual) analysis of the redistribution of bed nights in detail. The concentration was analysed based on a calculation of the locational quotient and the corresponding locational coefficient, which relates concentration of tourism to that of the population on municipal level.

A preliminary analysis of the data indicates a similar pattern as on the national level; i.e. there is a strong on-going concentration to regional urban centres indicating the presence of an urban supremacy. In other words, tourism growth is primarily a concern for urban areas rather than it being beneficial to rural development. This result contradicts the traditional notions in Sweden where tourism is regarded as a saviour for declining regions.

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework of specified buyer and supplier abilities which may be apparent in processes when firms wish to develop products where other features than function are important.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected through personal interviews with managers at eight major Swedish retail chains. The framework has been developed from an analysis of the data. Three of the cases are presented to illustrate how the framework may be applied.

Findings

The framework contains the concepts specification ability and description ability, which define and specify the demand abilities of the buyer, and the concepts translation ability, interpretation ability and implementation ability, which define and specify the problem-solving abilities of the supplier.

Originality/value

The framework presented here contributes to the business relationship and network literature on product development processes by highlighting and conceptualizing the process between buying firms who have different abilities or even inabilities to specify and explain desired product qualities, and the suppliers who should interpret the demands of these buyers.