Abstract
Given the COVID-19 crisis, the importance of space in the global economic system has emerged as critical in a hitherto unprecedented way. Even as large-scale, globally operating digital platform enterprises find new ways to thrive in the midst of a crisis, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) nestled in local economies have proven to be fragile to shocks, causing countless local economies to unravel in the face of severe challenges to survival. Here, we discuss the role of entrepreneurship in re-building local economies that are more resilient. Specifically, we take a spatial perspective and highlight how the COVID-19 crisis has uncovered problems in the current tendency for thin contextualisation and promotion of globalisation. Based on this critique, we outline new perspectives for thinking about the relationship between entrepreneurship, resilience and local economies. Here, a particular emphasis is given to resilience building through deeply contextualised policies and research, localised flows of products and labour, and the diversification of local economies.
Highlights
Given the impact of COVID-19, most small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are encountering an array of disruptive challenges while governments struggle to enact effective policies to respond to the crisis (Cortez and Johnston, 2020; Haleem et al, 2020; Nicola et al, 2020)
The rush to embrace remote, e-commerce solutions is clearly anathema to local economic resilience, there are dangers in rushing to fuel short-term growth and peak efficiency, post-crisis, through a ‘copy–paste approach’ to competitiveness that is likely to repeat the neglect of space that caused the loss of resilience in the first place. (Re)building resilient local economies that are less susceptible to the adverse effects of external shocks and endogenous crises involves a long-term effort to shift the collective mindset to one that is receptive to a sacrifice in short-term growth and peak efficiency aims, in order to strengthen fragile locales to better withstand the threat of catastrophic impacts (Zolli and Healy, 2012)
The common denominator is not the population intensity, but the recognition that resiliency and self-sufficiency are notable aims for socio-economic well-being. This commentary outlines a spatial perspective on the role of entrepreneurship in the development of local economies in light of the current COVID-19 crisis
Summary
Given the impact of COVID-19, most small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are encountering an array of disruptive challenges while governments struggle to enact effective policies to respond to the crisis (Cortez and Johnston, 2020; Haleem et al, 2020; Nicola et al, 2020). In past research in the field of entrepreneurship, the importance of the spatial context in shaping the resilience of local economies has often been ignored.
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