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Rural Entrepreneurship: Opportunities for Rural Development

The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008. Rural Entrepreneurship: Opportunities for Rural Development. By John C. Allen, Director Jim Goodwin, Senior Program Officer Western Rural Development Center Utah State University.

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Rural Entrepreneurship: Opportunities for Rural Development

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  1. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 Rural Entrepreneurship: Opportunities for Rural Development By John C. Allen, Director Jim Goodwin, Senior Program Officer Western Rural Development Center Utah State University

  2. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 Presentation Overview • Research Questions • What role does the community play in fostering entrepreneurial behavior? • Does community structure influence the number of new jobs and businesses? • Findings

  3. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 Self-Development Projects • Involvement in the effort by local organizations • Substantial investment of local resources • Local control of the resulting enterprises

  4. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 The 5 Recognized Strategies of Development Development Entrepreneurship Business Retention and Expansion Industrial Recruitment Workforce Development Tourism

  5. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 THEORETICAL FOUNDATION- Community Development • Entrepreneurship – an economic development strategy embraced within broader concept of community development • Community development – “….group of people in a locality initiating a social process (i.e., planned intervention) to change their economic, cultural, and/or environmental situation.” • Development in the community vs. development of the community

  6. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 EDGE: A case study Enhancing, Developing, and Growing Entrepreneurs • Nebraska rural entrepreneurial training program • Hosted by local communities, organizations and associations • Develops community capacity and supports launching of new businesses and supports expanding existing businesses.

  7. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 Desired Outcome • Building community capacity through facilitating new structural arrangements • Increased entrepreneurial activity within the community and region • The definition of entrepreneurial activity is expanded to include : • Civic entrepreneurship • Social entrepreneurship Both enhance a community’s capacity to respond to change.

  8. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 First Research Question What role does community play?

  9. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 RESEARCH METHODS • First stage involved in-depth interviews with local program leaders and knowledgeables to obtain their insight and assessment on the program history, organization, funding, leadership, successes, and failures.

  10. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 RESEARCH METHODS • Eight communities selected, based on: • Geographic dispersion across the state • Variation in community size but with a focus on rural/small city • Differences in perceived success of the programs • Differences in organizational principles • Key informants in each community were selected for interviewing. The number varied by community from two through five, depending on how many had been heavily involved in the program. Altogether, 25 program leaders were interviewed.

  11. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 RESEARCH METHODS • Programs were classified as to their level of success. • Most successful – have held at least five classes, have a supportive and involved coalition, and have strong program leadership. • Moderately successful – have held fewer classes and have deficiencies in coalition involvement and support and/or program leadership. • Least successful – have held no more than two classes, have serious deficiencies in coalition involvement and support and/or program leadership, and have ceased to function.

  12. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 FINDINGS Phases of Successful Development

  13. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 Awareness and Interest • Awareness addresses the issue of knowledge of the problem and that there is a solution to the problem. All respondents in the eight communities recognized some degree of economic problems their communities were suffering, especially in relation to being located in a rural or remote setting. They also perceived EDGE as having the potential to stimulate economic activity and thereby generate jobs and income.

  14. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 Awareness and Interest • Interest addresses the issue of motivation to act upon the problem after awareness of the problem and a potential solution occurs. Although there was broad dissemination of information on EDGE through the extension system, a comparatively small number of communities in relation to the total number in the state actually became interested in and implemented the program.

  15. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 ORGANIZATION • Organization addresses the issue of establishing the social structure for implementing the program. EDGE structure consists of two critical elements: • A program coordinator to insure sufficient human resources for organizing and implementing the program. • A broad-based coalition of local leaders and other interested individuals.

  16. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 ORGANIZATION: Coordinator • Attributes of position contributing to program success and longevity: • Committed and locally situated leadership • Sufficient time and resources

  17. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 ORGANIZATION: Coalition • Attributes contributing to program success and longevity: • Large (25-30 members) • Broad based representation • “Macroentrepreneurs” • Empowered

  18. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 INITIATION addresses the issue of resource mobilization • Funding for the program comes from state grant, student tuition, coalition member contributions, and lead organization contributions. • Large, committed coalition with rotating members helps sustain funding.

  19. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 IMPLEMENTATION addresses the issue of resource application • This includes hiring the instructor, recruiting students, and teaching the classes. • Important instructor characteristics include academic credentials for teaching but also personal experience in operating a business or at least working in the business world. • Coalition involvement is important in student recruitment. • Local media representation on the coalition is important in student recruitment.

  20. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 CONFIRMATIONaddresses the issue of institutionalization of the program in the local community • EDGE program communities decide on an annual basis whether or not to continue the program based on formal evaluations conducted with the participants, perceptions of impacts on the community, and availability of resources. • Successful programs had initial successes sufficiently impressive to institutionalize the programs. • Even with initial success, disenfranchisement can occur if coalition members do not perceive beneficial impacts for their organizations or the community.

  21. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 SUCCESSION addresses the issue of program continuity • This must be addressed when there is a loss or change in a local program’s leadership, such as the departure of the coordinator or the lead organization’s representatives. • Programs need to establish some mechanism for continuity in leadership. • In programs where the key leader has left, program activities have diminished and in some cases ceased completely.

  22. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 Second Research Question: • Does community structure influence the number of new jobs and businesses?

  23. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 A Quantitative Look at Jobs and Businesses Created • In-depth interviews used to identify macroentrepreneurs. • Community selection was based on: • geographic dispersion • variation in community size • differences in perceived success of entrepreneurial support

  24. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 Mail Survey of Macroentrepreneurs • 231 macro entrepreneurs identified in seven communities • 125 completed surveys • Response rate =55%

  25. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 FINDINGS • Statistical analysis found: • Voluntary structure of community is important in enhancing job creation and new business development. • Coalition diversity were important variables in explaining increased job creation and business expansion • Macroentrepreneurs play an important role in facilitating entrepreneurial activity at the community level.

  26. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 What relevance is there to government and communities? • Entrepreneurial activity can be viewed as individual and community activity • How and if a community organizes itself impacts number of jobs and businesses started and expanded • Development of community impacts entrepreneurism

  27. The Montana Rural Community Conference t Billings, Montana t January 15-17, 2008 References Korsching, Peter F. and John C. Allen. “Locality Based Entrepreneurship: A strategy for community economic vitality.” Community Development Journal Vol 39 No. 4, 2004 pp. 385-400. Korsching, Peter F. & John C. Allen. “Local Entrepreneurship: A Development Model Based on Community Interaction Field Theory.” Journal of the Community Development Society. Vol. 35, No. 1, 2004. pp. 25-43.

  28. WRDC – Engaging the Future John C. Allen, Ph.D. johna@ext.usu.edu Director, Western Rural Development Center Professor, Dept. of Sociology, Social Work & Anthropology Jim Goodwin jgoowin@ext.usu.edu Senior Program Officer Western Rural Development Center Utah State University 8335 Old Main Hill Logan, UT 84322-8335 (435) 797-9732 (435) 797-9733 (fax) http://extension.usu.edu/wrdc Presented at <<insert conference name and date>>

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