Navigating Contexts : Swedish Craft Gin Entrepreneurship and the Farm Sales Reform

This thesis explores the entrepreneurial dynamics of Sweden’s rapidly growing craft gin industry,with a focus on how regulatory frameworks shape entrepreneurial action. Drawing onsemi-structured interviews with eight craft gin producers and triangulated field data, the studyinvestigates two central research questions: (1) What contextual factors shape the challengesfaced by Swedish craft gin entrepreneurs? (2) How do institutional reforms, particularly the FarmSales (Gårdsförsäljning) legislation, influence strategic responses? Using Welter’s (2011) framework of discrete entrepreneurial contexts (institutional, business,social, and spatial), complemented by North’s institutional theory and literature on artisanentrepreneurship, the thesis finds that institutional and spatial contexts present the mostformidable constraints. Entrepreneurs operate within a rigid alcohol monopoly (Systembolaget)that restricts market access, imposes high excise taxes, and limits promotional activities.Additionally, spatial disparity—ranging from urban-centric visibility to remote logisticalchallenges—affects both opportunity and compliance under the new Farm Sales law. Despite these constraints, Swedish craft gin producers demonstrate adaptive strategies throughinformal networks such as the Gin Forum, hybrid business models, and terroir-based branding.The Farm Sales reform, implemented in June 2025, represents a critical inflection point: while itoffers new direct-to-consumer channels, its impact varies significantly across municipalitiesdepending on local interpretations and administrative readiness. The thesis contributes theoretically by contextualising entrepreneurship within regulated artisansectors, highlighting the co-evolution of entrepreneurial action and institutional change.Practically, it informs policymakers, support organisations, and emerging entrepreneurs about theuneven terrain of institutional access and the pathways toward building resilient, place-basedartisan enterprises.