New Owner-managed Businesses in Rural and Urban Areas in Great Britain: A Matched Pairs Comparison

Abstract

WESTHEAD P. (1995) New owner-managed businesses in rural and urban areas in Great Britain: a matched pairs comparison, Reg. Studies 29, 367–380. This paper makes a contribution to the debate surrounding the characteristics and the performance of new firms and firm founders in rural as opposed to urban areas in Great Britain. It was appreciated that sample differences may overwhelm the exploratory analysis. Consequently, in order to overcome this potentially distorting influence a matched pairs methodology was utilized. Ninety matched pairs of rural and urban firms were identified. In total, data were collected on 147 variables covering the firm, the founder and the environment. Dichotomizing between the two defined area types statistically significant differences were observed with regard to only 16 variables (11%). The policy implications of the survey findings are discussed. WESTHEAD P. (1995) Les nouvelles entreprises individuelles situees dans les zones rurales et urbaines en Grande-Bretagne: une comp...