JDUBOIS Horticulteur

JDUBOIS Horticulteur is a family‐owned agrotouristic business, established in Béthune since 1958. While attaching particular importance to the protection of the nature and the environment, it mainly carries out three distinct but coherent activities: organic vegetable production (the principal one), a pedagogical welcome activity and a landscaping one. Moving from the first to the second generation in 1997, the business has faced a main challenge related to the customers’ habits changes while operating in an increasingly tight environment. There was a clear shift leading the customers to predominantly make their vegetables purchase in the supermarkets at the detriment of the direct purchase from the producer. Recently though, customers started coming back to the local production and seeking proximity. The choice of artisanal production and proximity is now turning into a real asset for the future, allowing the business to pursue innovation and diversification in its business model particularly through new activities in the pedagogical arena.

Keywords: business model, diversification, proximity, innovation.

This case was prepared by Moussa Djibrilla Ousseini and Rania Labaki, from EDHEC Business School (France), as a partial output of the Artisan Project.

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