Blazing a Trail for Rural Entrepreneurship: Promise and Challenge in Maine�s Outdoor Recreation Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

PURPOSE: Regarding the growth of public policies fostering rural entrepreneurship, the primary objectives of this work involve examining the concept of rural entrepreneurship, identifying key aspects that differentiate it from non-rural entrepreneurship, and assessing the role of the local entrepreneurial ecosystem in supporting the initiation and growth of rural ventures. To achieve these goals, the study adopts a novel approach by integrating an analysis of rural entrepreneurship features with an exploration of the entrepreneurial ecosystem’s impact. METHODOLOGY: After a review of the previous academic literature, the characteristics of rural entrepreneurship have been delimited, distinguishing it from non-rural. The research results have been obtained using a questionnaire, after a descriptive analysis of the sample, and an analysis of the difference in means by contrasting hypotheses using IBM SPSS Statistics 26. FINDINGS: This article explores the factors that contribute to rural entrepreneurship, challenging the notion that geographic location is the sole defining characteristic. Through the conducted investigation, it has been determined that a company’s classification as rural is not solely based on its geographical location in rural areas or involvement in primary sector activities. Other aspects, such as a strong connection with the local community or the ability to create value, are also essential in defining a rural enterprise. Additionally, it examines how business ecosystems can foster the growth and success of rural entrepreneurship. IMPLICATIONS: This study provides an analysis of how rural entrepreneurship can drive endogenous development in rural areas. It also offers insights for government entities and policymakers to implement effective support measures and strategies in business ecosystems within rural environments. This study highlights that the resources found in rural entrepreneurial ecosystems may not be sufficient to support rural entrepreneurship. It’s important to acknowledge that rural entrepreneurship requires specific resources that may not currently be available in business ecosystems. To increase the number of viable rural businesses, new resources tailored to rural entrepreneurship must be created, leveraging the area’s endogenous resources and growth models. ORIGINALITY AND VALUE: This study examines the distinctive attributes of rural entrepreneurship, with a deliberate departure from exclusive emphasis on geographical location or primary economic sector. Drawing upon empirical research conducted among a cohort of rural enterprises, the analysis reveals that neither physical location nor primary sector affiliation substantially contribute to the establishment of these rural businesses. Instead, a profound connection to, and a heightened sense of belonging within the rural milieu emerge as pivotal determinants. Furthermore, rural entrepreneurship emerges as a promising avenue for the development of the region, offering substantial growth prospects. The investigation encompasses a scrutiny of the resources within the rural business ecosystem and their capacity to stimulate rural entrepreneurial activity. This emerging focal point represents a novel field of concern for governmental bodies and political institutions operating in rural areas.

Rural entrepreneurs have employed traditional marketing strategies to access markets, depended on news media, print literature, and word of mouth to gather information, utilized more traditional telecommunication modes to procure services not offered rurally, and relied on travel to expand their social network. These traditional enablers for rural entrepreneurs can now be circumvented vis-à-vis the digital affordances offered by new technologies. The developing literature on digital entrepreneurship reveals that digitization at the most rudimentary level is connecting entrepreneurial ecosystems and social networks (Autio, Nambisan, Llewellyn, & Wright, 2017). Yet, the theoretical foundations of these connections remains under-researched and the competitive relevance of rural entrepreneurs needs to be re-examined in light of the enabling affordances of digital technologies. The purpose of this paper is to explore the literature on how digital technologies are enabling rural entrepreneurs as their own unique subset of the global entrepreneurial ecosystem

Purpose This paper aims to explore the distinctive features of entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) in low-density territories (LDTs) and propose an innovative EE framework tailored to these specific contexts. Design/methodology/approach To achieve our objective, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of 51 relevant research papers that shed light on the characteristics of EEs in LDTs. By critically examining existing EE theoretical frameworks, we assess their applicability to the distinct features of LDTs. Findings The study highlights both the challenges and opportunities entrepreneurs face in LDTs, emphasizing the importance of local leadership, long-term strategic vision, collaborative approaches, sustainability and open boundaries with external ecosystems. We demonstrate that successful EEs in LDTs require customized strategies that reflect the region’s specific cultural, social and economic dynamics, as well as the integration of natural capital. Research limitations/implications The variability among LDTs may limit the generalizability of our framework. Additionally, we focused exclusively on peer-reviewed articles, excluding other sources such as books and conference papers, which could offer complementary perspectives. Practical implications Developing resilient EEs in LDTs can serve as a catalyst for both economic and social growth in these regions. Our framework provides policymakers with practical tools to empower local entrepreneurs, stimulate economic activity and promote sustainable development in their regions. Originality/value This research makes a pioneering contribution by offering a tailored EE framework for LDTs, addressing gaps in the existing urban-centric models. Our findings provide actionable insights for policymakers and a foundation for future research in rural entrepreneurship.

Rural Entrepreneurship is an activity to fortify the progress of rural localities, and through this tool stimulate the inhabitants to find sufficient opportunities for their growth and integral development, this aspect being an element to make the decision to continue living in their territory and thereby reduce the migration of its inhabitants looking for family sustenance. The objective of this research is to analyze Rural Entrepreneurship in the New Rurality as an economic strategy to face the New Normal in the municipality of Nombre de Dios in the state of Durango, Mexico. For the research, a qualitative approach, a descriptive, non-experimental design and a cross-sectional scope were used. In relation to the previous approaches, knowing the actions of rural entrepreneurs in the New Rurality in the face of the New Normality caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is relevant for the state of Durango, Mexico, because it contextualizes the environment of rural entrepreneurship in the face of adverse circumstances that have prevented or truncated its development. Study will serve for future research related to Rural Entrepreneurship, the entrepreneurial ecosystem, generating utility for the University, the State and the urban and rural business community.

Entrepreneurship is a crucial driver of economic growth, especially in rural areas. Understanding the unique components that contribute to the success of rural entrepreneurial ecosystems is essential. This study presents a cutting-edge approach to uncover the essential components of rural entrepreneurial ecosystems that support rural entrepreneurship. We employ bibliometric techniques that enable us to leverage the Scopus database's academic paper metadata related to entrepreneurial ecosystems. Through citation analysis, we identify a core network of studies related to entrepreneurial ecosystems. Co-occurrence analysis visualizes the clusters of the most prominent components in both general and rural entrepreneurial ecosystems. We interpret the results based on a literature review. Our study categorizes the essential components into two: actor (academics, business, government, and community) and non-actor (human capital, network, entrepreneurial culture, financial systems, governance systems, infrastructure, environmental resources, and market) components. Environmental resources are critical in distinguishing the conditions of an entrepreneurial ecosystem in rural areas. This component represents the uniqueness and local economic potential of smaller areas, whereas in general entrepreneurial ecosystem studies, this component might not be a concern. By uncovering the components of rural entrepreneurial ecosystems, our study provides insights that can help policymakers, practitioners, and academics better support rural entrepreneurship and promote economic growth in rural areas.

Background: Collaboration plays a very important role in fostering a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem, unlike rural areas, which have constraints compared to urban areas and require special efforts to accelerate their economies.Purpose: This paper aims to explore how actors collaborate to create a prosperous entrepreneurial ecosystem in rural areas.Design/methodology/approach: We conducted a case study of Koto Mesjid Village, Indonesia, which involved collaboration between academics, government, business, and the community. Our research method involved content analysis of recorded academic reports regarding the case, using a systematic coding technique based on fundamental categories identified through a proposed model. The aim is to elucidate the relational dynamics among the ecosystem's actors, values, co-creation, and objectives.Findings/result: Our findings highlight the exchange of resources between the actors produced value that reformed the condition of rural entrepreneurial ecosystem. Collaboration led to densification and diversification of the ecosystem's resources, which in turn allowed its actors to discover new opportunities and increase their success in exploiting them. Conclusion: Building networks has the critical role to exchange knowledge in nurturing rural entrepreneurship. Policy makers can facilitate such networks to develop villages and promote regional economic growth.Originality/value: This study contributes to the conversation of service-dominant logic in the regional economic context by demonstrating that the co-creation of collective values is achievable and crucial for developing a thriving rural entrepreneurial ecosystem. Keywords: entrepreneurial ecosystem, service-dominant logic, value co-creation, regional development, rural

Sustainable business model innovation (SBMI) is particularly important in rural economies, yet SBMI research has largely ignored rural contexts and lacked a holistic treatment of drivers. Rural entrepreneurs face heightened vulnerability due to their reliance on natural amenities sensitive to disruption, and their limited access to resources, networks, and institutional support. SBMI provides a critical pathway for enhancing the economic and socio-ecological resilience of firms and local communities, enabling diversification while integrating sustainability into business strategies. In rural contexts, SBMI likely unfolds differently compared to better-studied urban settings, and enabling mechanisms are underexplored. To advance the field, we develop a holistic conceptual framework of SBMI that is salient to these oft-ignored rural contexts and offer propositions on how these mechanisms may operate to drive rural SBMI. We incorporate four interrelated factors—entrepreneurial networks (ENs), rootedness in place (RIP), dynamic capabilities (DCs), and sustainability orientation (SO)—that together shape how rural entrepreneurial organizations adapt practices to environmental and market shifts and integrate sustainability into their business models. By emphasizing the interplay between rural ventures, their networks, and their embeddedness within rural places, the framework underscores the centrality of place and entrepreneurial ecosystems in fostering rural SBMI. It offers theoretical and practical insights for designing interventions that strengthen resilience, promote sustainability, and support the long-term vitality of rural entrepreneurial ecosystems. What drives rural entrepreneurs to innovate their business models to be more sustainable, incorporating people and the planet with profitability? Integrating academic literature, our paper develops a concept where sustainable innovation of business models—the recipes for the business itself—is driven by the capabilities of the rural firm to adapt to new conditions, the firm’s views on sustainability principles, and the connections the firm has to its rural place due to local culture, resources, and networks. Rural entrepreneurs are deeply rooted within their local contexts and often utilize unique natural and social resources to build profitable businesses, making their ability to adapt practices for greater sustainability critical. Based on our new conceptual framework, we chart a course for future research through quantitative and qualitative methods to better understand what drives rural entrepreneurs’ ability to innovate for more sustainable business practices.

In contemporary global environment, the role of rural entrepreneurs in the sustainable development of rural areas is growing significantly. Existing research recognizes the importance of rural entrepreneurs at national and international levels. National governments tend to develop efficient forms of support for rural entrepreneurs. However, the results of this support system can be ineffective. Our study aims to identify strategies to improve state and municipal programs to support rural entrepreneurs. The government support can be classified into two forms: the programs that mainly focus on financial support and programs aimed to provide special consultations on conducting rural business. Based on a comparative analysis of support programs for rural entrepreneurs in Russia and New Zealand, we have identified the key types of support that governments provide to rural entrepreneurs. The study employs qualitative methodology, by interviewing rural entrepreneurs in the Sverdlovsk region, Russia and Canterbury region, New Zealand. This study has determined the most significant and attractive areas of state support for rural entrepreneurs. It also examines the effectiveness of existing measures of state support for rural entrepreneurship. The study concludes that both actors: the state, including local government, and rural entrepreneurs, are willing to consider program measures to form entrepreneurial ecosystems at national and regional levels. These programs need to ensure the interconnectedness and interdependence of all actions of both governments and entrepreneurs to improve the level of food security of the country and the sustainable development of rural territories.

Rural communities are intensively based on social capital, the potential of which might seem limited in terms of the possibility to expand beyond rural areas. Today, entrepreneurs, the main actors in achieving and sustaining rural development, have a unique opportunity in the exploitation of social capital in rural areas by utilizing the digital platforms. These new online entrepreneurs have become critical to the success of rural areas as they mobilize online resources to exploit the full potential of their local products in the global economy, thus remaining local while acting global. This process is illustrated by the development of the alternative food network as well as social networks that connect rural potential to the rest of the world. This paper aims to understand the role of such social networks in e-commerce by analysing entrepreneurial characteristics and the ecosystem of their enterprises through case studies. In addition, the network characteristics of chosen enterprises are examined under three main subjects: (i) types of relations with rural residents; (ii) relations with suppliers (both producers and logistics); and iii) the extent of their networks in the e-marketplace. Online entrepreneurs whose business is related to rural agricultural products are selected as case study examples. The data are derived from the results of interviews, and visuals are used to map out their entrepreneurial networks and ecosystems. The conclusions of this paper are: (i) by using online channels, rural entrepreneurs are able to broaden their market; (ii) agricultural lands are being protected since rural entrepreneurs use the potentials of local natural resources; and (iii) these enterprises are financially self-sustaining. The positive impact on local rural development by online rural entrepreneurs is obvious. However, to expand this impact on a regional scale, the promotion of public policies and planning are necessary.

Rural Entrepreneurship Development Ecosystem An Emerging Paradigm of Rural Socio-Economic Development

ABSTRACTAgglomeration-oriented theories have grown significantly in the past decade in the explanation and promotion of entrepreneurship. Theoretical frameworks and normative models such as entrepreneurial ecosystems are insufficient to observe, explain, and inform policies at the communal level in rural contexts. In this paper, we propose a socio-spatial lens as a more fruitful way of understanding the holistic picture of rural entrepreneurship. By means of abductive research, we explore the distinct elements of entrepreneurial places in rural contexts and derive an integrated meso-level framework, comprising place-sensitive determinations and dimensions, to observe and further analyse the enabling conditions of such places. The findings obtained and the framework developed will be of great use for the evaluation and decision-making, regarding entrepreneurship in rural communities.

Rural entrepreneurship is considered one of the key drivingforces for the development of rural and regional socio-economic systems. I propose to analyse the development of rural entrepreneurship in Russia within the framework of the entrepreneurial ecosystem theory. The article presents the results of studying economic and institutional factors constraining entrepreneurial activity in rural areas. The research, based on a survey of rural entrepreneurs in the Ural region, aimed to identify factors that have the greatest negative impact on the development of rural entrepreneurship. The survey questionnaire was compiled using the Likert scale. The survey was conducted over 10 years; each year a simple random sample of 30 respondents was chosen. Then the data was processed with the help of special software “Strata 11†. The obtained results have demonstrated that the main factors hampering the development of rural entrepreneurship were the lack of qualified workers able to perform innovative types of work (value 4.6), high cost (value 4.6) and high risk of innovative activity (value 4). The most interesting is the dynamic of the “enterprise immunity to innovation†aspect. While in 2007 it was named as one of the main negative factors (value 4.5), in 2017 its value decreased significantly (to 3). I claim, a lot of entrepreneurs incorrectly percept a business development model that is adequate to entrepreneurial ecosystem’s conditions. That misunderstanding leads to efficiency reduction of both certain enterprises and rural entrepreneurial ecosystem in general. The study’s results have both scientific and practical importance for defining a model of rural entrepreneurship development and determining the most effective mechanisms of its support.

Creativity can be defined as invention. Innovation is the implementation of that invention—getting it to the market that needs it. Thus, any community’s principal innovators are its entrepreneurs, whether they are the inventors of what they bring to the market or not. Encouraging rural innovation is, at its core, about fostering entrepreneurship. Rural entrepreneurs face numerous challenges to acquiring the financial, human, and physical capital they require to start, grow, and sustain their businesses. These include relative geographical isolation, a dearth of financial capital, fewer venture development organizations, a lower-skilled workforce, and underpopulation that lessens the serendipitous encounters that foster innovation, among others. The ability to create and maintain networks is crucial to overcoming these challenges. Networks are the product of social capital building, particularly the creation of bridging social capital. This type of social capital allows rural entrepreneurs to reach beyond their local communities for the resources they need. It is a variety of informal social capital that permits interactions among individuals and groups that do not necessarily know each other well. This chapter will explore bridging (versus bonding) social capital and its advantages to fostering entrepreneurship. It will examine the ways in which bridging social capital is built and maintained within the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Examples from the rural context will be used to illustrate these concepts. The chapter closes with a practical set of recommendations for social capital building in support of successful entrepreneurship.

This study explores the potential of social franchising to contribute to the development of the rural entrepreneurial ecosystem in contexts of market and governance failure in least developed countries. Social franchising is a social enterprise business model that provides market coordination and support systems to rural enterprises so they can achieve social objectives in a financially sustainable way. The case of Krishi Utsho—a network of 112 agricultural input shops in Bangladesh—illustrates how social franchising can address market and government coordination failures in the entrepreneurial ecosystem to benefit both rural entrepreneurs and their client smallholder farming families who earn under US$1 per day.

Rural entrepreneurship has gained increasing attention as a crucial driver of sustainable development in Zimbabwe, with the potential to create jobs, foster inclusive economic growth, and improve livelihoods in marginalized communities. However, rural entrepreneurs in the country face unique challenges that often inhibit their ability to thrive and scale their ventures. This study aims to explore the experiences and support needs of rural entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe, to inform the design of more effective, context-specific interventions. Through in-depth interviews with 30 rural entrepreneurs across various sectors in three rural development councils, the research delves into the key barriers they encounter, including limited access to finance, skills gaps, underdeveloped infrastructure, and fragmented entrepreneurial ecosystems. The findings reveal that rural entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe require a multidimensional support system that addresses their complex, interrelated needs. Tailored access to credit, business development services, and entrepreneurial training emerge as crucial components of this support structure. Additionally, the study underscores the importance of investing in rural infrastructure, fostering entrepreneurial networks and clusters, and leveraging the expertise of development organizations, private sector partners, and academic institutions. By adopting a holistic, collaborative approach to supporting rural entrepreneurs, Zimbabwe can harness the transformative potential of rural entrepreneurship to drive inclusive economic growth, create jobs, and improve livelihoods in marginalized communities. The insights from this study provide a valuable roadmap for policymakers, practitioners, and stakeholders to develop impactful, context-relevant interventions that unlock the full potential of rural entrepreneurship in the country.