THE RURBAN FRINGE

Do Small Communities Foster Entrepreneurship?

Posted on | September 28, 2009 | No Comments

While studies, practitioners, and scholars have long flogged the importance of entrepreneurs in revitalizing rural areas, do small communities do the same thing?

Brian Whitacre and Lara Brooks examined five rural Oklahoma towns with successful entrepreneurship examples to determine just that … and captured their findings for the Daily Yonder, an online compendium of rural news.

In their study, Whitacre and Brooks found that all communities – in some way – benefited from geographical or natural amenities, even though they were from four diverse regions with very different levels and types of amenities.

Emphasizing Main Street was the first strategy Whitacre and Brooks noticed from the successful communities. 

Putting aside community differences and developing partnerships, focusing on assets, and diversification rounded out the approaches …  and highlighted how these communities have been successful entrepreneurially.

What’s missing, however, is discussion on the integral role local governance plays in supporting successful entrepreneurship strategies.

Entrepreneurship is about more than creating strategies and supports for entrepreneurs, it’s about fostering change and creating entrepreneurial communities … which require strength in leadership and a willingness to look at economic development in a new way.

Click here to read the article by Whitacre and Brooks.

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