Rural Small Enterprises Research Articles

Formation of Small Rural Business in the Republic of Belarus

The present article is devoted to the formation of small rural enterprises in the Republic of Belarus. An overview of the current state of small business is discussed, as well as its dynamic growth in the country is put forward. Next, this paper singles out the possibilities of state budget aid to the development of small-scale business in agriculture. In addition, the role of infrastructure as reliable support of small businesses in rural areas is highlighted. Finally, some prospective directions for the development of small business sector in agriculture at the national, provincial and local level are proposed.

Rural resilience through continued learning and innovation

The article investigates how rural businesses demonstrate resilience when faced with adversities and the processes they utilise to survive. The work explores rural resilience through the use of learning and innovation in small rural enterprises. Drawing on case study work from rural England the results indicate that individual businesses find ways to overcome adversities and, through learning how to cope with them, create a resilient culture. Individuals businesses use various resources, and in some cases innovate, in order to continue business operations during difficult times. Continual learning becomes an important aspect of incremental innovations which are required merely for the business to survive. The work is timely as many small enterprises face difficulties in the wake of instability in the economic world.

The innovation performance of small rural enterprises and cooperatives in Tehran province, Iran

Rural small enterprises, especially those which are involved in processing and packaging food products, play an important role in creating opportunities for employment and producing value added products in the agriculture sector. However, a major challenge for these enterprises is a lack of sustainability. In this research, innovation was examined as the key factor for sustainability of small rural enterprises. The findings show regional cooperatives perform better in terms of innovation compared to private enterprises. This advantage could be seen in both product/service and market innovations.

Innovative Behaviour of Rural Small Enterprises

Small enterprises play an important role in developing sustainable employment and economic growth in rural areas. The role of innovation that can mobilise to render enterprises more dynamic and competitive is well known. The purpose of the study is to assess how responsible owners/managers of SEs relate to innovation. Managers were sampled from two categories: size and sector of rural SEs. The authors proposed a research model that suggested five factors that were found influential in previous research in the perception of innovative activity in rural SEs relating to product and process innovation development, market product, marketing methods, process technology and innovation, and ICT use. Empirical evidence is drawn from a survey of 40 SEs in Sweden. The research discusses implications emerging from the research factors and portrays a course for future research.

THE RELEVANCE OF ACCOUNTING CONTROL FOR AGRIBUSINESS DEVELOPMENT IN SMALL AND MEDIUM RURAL PROPERTIES

O presente estudo teve por o objetivo verificar a aderência à utilização de controles pelos gestores do agronegócio de pequenas e médias propriedades rurais para a gestão de suas atividades. A questão norteadora deste estudo era se os gestores das pequenas e médias empresas rurais utilizam de controles na gestão de suas atividades para tomar decisões ao realizarem investimentos. A pesquisa teve um caráter exploratório descritivo e os dados foram coletados por meio de questionários aplicados a pequenos e médios produtores rurais da região oeste do estado do Paraná. Os resultados evidenciam que poucos produtores utilizam controles para a gestão de suas atividades. Constatou-se que ainda há uma resistência muito grande para adotar a contabilidade como ferramenta de gestão. Conclui-se, portanto, que há necessidade de uma maior conscientização dos pequenos e médios produtores rurais quanto aos benefícios que o gerenciamento contábil poderia trazer para o sucesso das suas atividades agropecuárias.

Impacts of Electricity Access to Rural Enterprises in Bolivia, Tanzania and Vietnam

There is little empirical evidence to underpin strategies of poverty reduction through income generation in small scale rural enterprises through supplying energy. This paper reports on research findings from a three country study in Bolivia, Tanzania and Vietnam which aimed to provide insights into the scope and depth of impacts of modern energy services. Qualitative and quantitative data were gathered using structure and semi-structured interviews. The nature of the data collected was shaped by the Livelihoods framework. An analytical framework of four questions was used to synthesise the findings. What energy transitions are taking place in small rural enterprises, who benefits? Does the presence of modern energy carriers/technology stimulate production? Does an increase in productivity lead to a decrease in poverty in terms of financial capital? What is the impact of the changes in energy carrier/technology on the other four types of capital in the livelihood framework? For all of the above, the dominant contextual factors influencing the process were noted. Electricity was the modern energy carrier surveyed in the three countries. In answer to the questions regarding scope of impacts, at least for electricity, the impacts appear to depend on the location of the enterprise with regard to diversity of demand for enterprise services. The section of the population with the largest direct benefits in terms of increased financial assets and job opportunities consists of the existing better-off members of the community and their extended family. However, the benefits of improved working conditions for many entrepreneurs and workers and of both time and access to new and better quality products and services to customers of enterprises reach a much larger group of people, and these impacts can provide a substantial impact on poverty, if not on the financial dimension of poverty.

An Entrepreneurial Study with Reference to Tobacco Redrying Units in Coastal Andhra Pradesh

India is experiencing a state of transition from a subsistence-oriented, tightly integrated and inward looking local economy to a surplus-seeking market-led and outward looking economy. One strategy that could make this possible is the emergence of a multitude of small scale and rural enterprises. In recent years for a developing country like India, entrepreneurship has been a new impetus for economic development and growth. Entrepreneurship promotion and development have been identified as one of the key components of the nation’s economic development strategy. Entrepreneurial resource has been considered as a crucial input in the process of economic development. Economic development of any country is determined not only by the strength of its physical resources but also by the development and utilisation of its human resources. It is very important for a country like India, troubled by the twin problems of growing population and increasing unemployment to promote entrepreneurship and self- employment. This has taken a new urgency in India over the last few years.

Alpaca ownership or entrepreneurship? The New Zealand case

PurposeAlpaca ownership in New Zealand has been developing in recent years. However, very little academic research has been conducted in this area, particularly from alpaca owners' points of view. This exploratory study attempts to close some of the knowledge gaps in this area.Design/methodology/approachBetween April and June 2006, a total of 233 alpaca owners located in both the North and South Islands of New Zealand participated in the study by completing a questionnaire.FindingsWhile the overall results confirm the importance of the lifestyle dimension among New Zealand alpaca owners, the existence of many respondents whose operations are open to the public and who own a larger number of alpacas suggests more than just lifestyle motivations, but rather an intention to exploit commercial opportunities in this activity.Research limitations/implicationsThere is an acknowledged limitation regarding the quantitative approach used here. Such an approach may have limited the ability to capture insightful perspectives, for example, in the form of respondents' experiences that are unique to qualitative research.Practical implicationsImplications for New Zealand's alpaca ownership include the need for operators and industry bodies to increase their knowledge, particularly their marketing knowledge, in view of the growing volume of alpaca‐related products, such as their fleece.Originality/valueThe study presents insights into a rural activity in New Zealand that so far has received very limited attention from academic research. The exploratory nature of the study also provides an avenue for future studies to further explore small and medium rural enterprises that, as in the case of the alpaca industry, are currently emerging industries.

Key Constraints for Rural Non-Farm Activity in Tanzania: Combining Investment Climate and Household Surveys

We use a survey of small rural enterprises from Tanzania to identify subjective as well as objective obstacles to expansion and productivity of the country's rural non-farm sector. Our results suggest that infrastructure constraints significantly reduce participation in the sector and investment and productivity by existing enterprises. Such constraints are particularly harmful for small enterprises, suggesting that policies to improve delivery of key public services can provide a basis for rural non-farm development, with possible knock-on effects on poverty reduction.

The effect of minimum wages on actual wages in formal and informal sectors in Costa Rica

Summary As in many economies, wage gaps between formal and informal sectors have been persistent in Costa Rica. Using 12 years of microdata, we test whether increases in minimum wages raise actual wages; we find they not only raise wages in large urban and rural enterprises (traditionally referred to as formal), but they also raise wages of workers covered by minimum wage legislation in what are traditionally regarded as informal sectors where the legislation is often considered not to be enforced: small urban and small rural enterprises. Furthermore, minimum wages raise wages in these informal sectors more than in larger firms and hence work to reduce wage differentials between the larger and smaller firms. However, minimum wages have no significant impact on wages in the informal sector not covered by minimum wage legislation, the self-employed.

Relationship Between Perceived Roles of Small Scale Rural Enterprises and Personal Characteristics of Respondents In Ekiti State, Nigeria

The study examines the contributions of small-scale enterprise to the rural economy of Ekiti State. A structured questionnaire was administered to 80 randomly selected rural dwellers in Ise L.G.A. of Ekiti State. Frequency distribution, percentages and Pearson correlation were used to analyse data. Findings revealed that most respondents were between 20 and 30 years, were female and were single, though a relatively high percentage were married. Findings also showed that most respondents were educated up to secondary level, and had working experience of between 1 and 5 years in small scale enterprises. The study revealed that educational attainment was significantly related to the contributory roles of small-scale enterprise. Age, marital status, gender and work experience showed no significant relationship with the roles of small-scale enterprises in Ekiti State. It is therefore recommended that the government of the state should intensify efforts to improve the small and medium scale enterprise. Key words: rural, small scale industries Journal of Agriculture, Forestry and the Social Sciences Vol.2(1) 2004:47-51

Food supply chains and sustainability: evidence from specialist food producers in the Scottish/English borders

Despite an increasing interest in more sustainable forms of land management, few analyses have examined whether ‘local’ or ‘alternative’ food supply systems are sustainable in environmental, economic and social terms. Using SUSTAIN's ‘sustainable food’ criteria, this paper analyses the sustainability of a number of ‘speciality’ food supply chains operated by small rural enterprises in the Scottish/English borders. Results indicate that, in the main, the case study businesses are not particularly sustainable; instead, driven by a strong economic imperative, they often have to ‘dip’ into various ‘links’ associated with more conventional (commodity-based) food supply chains. The paper concludes by warning against the tendency to conflate terms such as ‘local’, ‘alternative’, ‘speciality’ and ‘sustainable’.

Les dynamiques des sociétés rurales en France de la révolution de 1848 à la Première Guerre mondiale

The Dynamics of Rual Societies in France from the Revolution of 1848 to the First World War Two concepts, that of small scale rural enterprises (petite exploitation rurale) and the local community (micropolis), form the focal point of the article. The paper examines the new questions, methods and results which the micro-historical approach to French rural history has developed, in order to understand the economic dynamism and the political mobilisation of rural societies between 1848 and 1914. Collective biographies, studies of villages and the micro-history of rural economy bring the local level into focus. Based on highly varied social, economic and geographical elements, the rural, proto-industrial and commercial as well as small and mid-sized agrarian family businesses became established as the backbone of rural societies in France in the second half of the 19th century. At the same time, in a process dating back to the Revolution of 1789, the institutions of the local community (commune) became the autonomous point of reference for the political system. The rural classes, especially peasants, were firmly integrated into the nation during the Third Republic, agrarian interests had a strong impact on national politics. The very complex struggle of group interests and political ideas in the local communities generated numerous variations in local political language – oriented toward the right as well as to the left.

Legal Minimum Wages and the Wages of Formal and Informal Sector Workers in Costa Rica

The dual economy development models hold minimum wages (among other institutions) accountable for persistent dualism. We use 12 years of micro data on thousands workers in Costa Rica to test whether legal minimum wages have a differential impact on wages in the formal sector vs. sector, defined in various ways. We find the evidence from Costa Rica is contrary to the assumptions of these models: increases in minimum wages not only raise wages in the urban formal sector (large urban enterprises) who are covered by minimum wage law, but they also increase the wages of all other workers covered by minimum wage legislation in what are traditionally regarded as sectors and where the legislation is often considered not to be enforced (i.e., small urban enterprises, large rural enterprises and small rural enterprises). Further, our results suggest that higher legal minimum wages raise the wage of workers in these informal sectors more than in the urban formal sector and hence may actually work to reduce average wage differentials between these sectors and the urban formal sector. On the other hand, minimum wages have no significant impact on the wages of workers in another sector that is regarded as but which is not covered by minimum wage legislation: the self-employed workers (both urban and rural). Thus, minimum wages may contribute to dualism between the formal and informal, defined as self-employed vs. salaried workers. However, we find no evidence that self-employed earnings are lowered by minimum wages.

FOREST-PRODUCT SMMEs IN THE WILD COAST SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE

ABSTRACT International debates on forest-based rural small enterprise development provide the theoretical context in this study. The research focuses upon the constraints that inhibit the growth and expansion of rural non-farm small medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) in the forestry sector in the Wild Coast spatial development initiative (SDI).

Rural development and financial markets in Romania

In the transition from a centrally planned to a market-oriented economy, such as in Romania, the domestic financial market plays two important roles. First, the financial market itself must be fundamentally restructured. Second, its efficient functioning is a crucial precondition for economic transformation. In transition economies, however, financial market institutions tend to concentrate their services on urban or larger rural enterprises. So far, small rural enterprises, even those with profitable investment plans, often do not have access to the financial market. This paper briefly characterizes the key issues of agricultural production units and their institutional environment and analyzes the depth and the efficiency of rural finance and its effect on Romania's rural economic transformation. It concludes with policy and institutional recommendations to strengthen rural finance.

An electoral geography of Western Europe

The European Parliament elections give the opportunity to map voting behaviour in Western Europe. The main methodological difficulty is related to the classification of the parties. The cleavage theory is not a sufficient basis for an operational typology. The left-right axis remains an important basis for a classification. We have discriminated three groups of parties (the left, including the ecologists; the moderate centre-right and classical right; a growing populist reactionary right and the extreme-right, with a different geographical pattern). Beyond those families, the regionalist parties can also be isolated. The green voting pattern is more specific to the ‘central’ regions and not linked to that of the traditional left, which is related to the traditions of the workers' movement or more specific to the “peripheral” regions. In general, the metropolitan regions vote more to the left than the surrounding regions, today more and more often on the basis of an intellectual voting pattern, including some well to-do urban and periurban districts. The centre-right and classical right voting pattern designate two main spaces: a conservative mid-European area, with a strong Christian-democracy in the Catholic countries with a quite recent State building (however recently collapsed in Italy), and rural peripheral spaces, mainly those dominated for a long time by small familial rural enterprises and/or by strong and conservative religious practices. At the European scale, the new populist reactionary right is stronger in the `central' regions than the traditional extreme right, even if the latter is also present in some central deprived urban and old industrial districts.

Informal Credit and Rural Small Enterprises Growth

AbstractThe broad question addressed in this analysis is the role of small enterprises in rural sustainable development. The focus is on the contributions of informal credit in light of the dismal performance of formal credit to which the majority of rural dwellers, specifically small enterprise owners, do not have access. The data collected from Vihiga, Western Kenya, using the rural rapid assessment method, exposes an almost complete lack of interaction of small enterprise owners with formal institutions of credit such as commercial banks, nonbank financial institutions, co-operatives, etc. The only exception is a recent government special credit program, Rural Enterprise Fund, designed along the lines of cheap credit of the 1970s, but all the same significant in terms of filling the void. It is informal credit, from borrowing and lending between individuals and from groups, such as Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCAs), which has proved to be the determining factor in the origins and growth of small enterprises in the rural sector. The owners of these enterprises confirm that they have benefited both economically and socially. However, they report problems of inaccessible and insufficient credit that need to be addressed at policy level.

Informal Credit and Rural Small Enterprises Growth: A Local-level Perspective on Sustainable Development in Vihiga, Western Kenya

The broad question addressed in this analysis is the role of small enterprises in rural sustainable development. The focus is on the contributions of informal credit in light of the dismal performance of formal credit to which the majority of rural dwellers, specifically small enterprise owners, do not have access. The data collected from Vihiga, Western Kenya, using the rural rapid assessment method, exposes an almost complete lack of interaction of small enterprise owners with formal institutions of credit such as commercial banks, nonbank financial institutions, co-operatives, etc. The only exception is a recent government special credit program, Rural Enterprise Fund, designed along the lines of cheap credit of the 1970s, but all the same significant in terms of filling the void. It is informal credit, from borrowing and lending between individuals and from groups, such as Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCAs), which has proved to be the determining factor in the origins and growth of small enterprises in the rural sector. The owners of these enterprises confirm that they have benefited both economically and socially. However, they report problems of inaccessible and insufficient credit that need to be addressed at policy level.

The role of promotional organizations in the non-farm sector

In densely populated countries like India, the capacity of agriculture to provide more employment is limited. The generation of small non-farm businesses in rural areas is thus seen as of crucial importance for boosting the economy and preventing migration to towns. This article argues that promotional organizations have an important role to play in supporting small rural enterprises in the non-farm sector. It identifies the disparate environments, the diverse human resources and the kinds of constraints faced by these organizations in building enterprises. Promotional agencies are classified into two groups – market-orientated agencies and capability-building organizations – and the strengths of each group identified for the entrepreneur involved.