Economic adaptation of households Project: Niklas Labba During the last decade's Norwegian reindeer husbandry, as well as the agricultural sector in general, has been dominated by planned economy. In both sectors annual agreements with the Norwegian government are the basis to regulate market volume and marked prices. Until 2002, Norwegian meat (Norsk kjøtt) by, Gilde, was assign the role as market regulator for reindeer meat. In practice it meant that the organization of Norwegian farmers was obligated to purchase reindeer meat, regardless of demands from the market. At the same time subsidies were put into the system to stimulate slaughter and prevent income gaps between reindeer herding households. This can be illustrated as a top-down administration where neither quality nor prize is the basis for competition. In contrast to the planned economy the entrepreneurship perspective describes a bottom-up system where economic change and development stems from individual entrepreneurs that introduce new enterprises or new and more profitable ways of organizing resources. A transition towards market economy is assumed to increase entrepreneurial incentives, and stimulate competition between producers at individual or firm level. Market economy is in contrast to planned economy driven by the forces of competition, which is assumed to stimulate cost- effectives and higher product quality. The resource based perspective has elaborated theories on how a firm's resources can be used for sustained competitive advantage. Non entrepreneurial firms often underestimate the importance of immaterial resources, and neglect the alignment of production resources which makes it harder for them to detect “bottlenecks” in the production process. Profit opportunities also occur when existing resources are combined with new information or new perception of relevant information that leads to new markets or higher market shares. For instance, resources like snow mobiles, huts and reindeers can be used for tourist purposes, if reindeer husbandry is marketed as a eco tourism.. The use of existing resources in new ventures is described as Pluriactivity. To understand Pluriactivity in a reindeer husbandry context it is necessary to recognize the existing recourses, discover the opportunities that exist and understand the incentives needed for an entrepreneur to act. The economic incentives range from a survival strategy to a growth strategy, and it ranges from households to district level. It is assumed that entrepreneurship and Pluriactivity provides the necessary flexibility for adapting to fluctuating environments. Reindeer husbandry in Finnmark - as part of the Norwegian economy that changes towards a market economic system - will experience great challenges, but also opportunities. An entrepreneurship framework is important for understanding economic adaptations in reindeer husbandry, both to guide practitioners and to further elaborate on theoretical perspectives.