Gary Bosworth

Commercial Counterurbanisation: An Emerging Force in Rural Economic Development

After rapid urban growth and industrialisation, the postwar era has seen counterurbanisation become a dominant demographic trend in the UK. Much has been written about the residential patterns of counterurbanisation, but the associated growth of rural business has attracted less attention. The author proposes the term ‘commercial counterurbanisation’ to describe the growth of rural economies stimulated by inward migration. In the North East of England, in-migrants own over half of rural microbusinesses, they are more growth-oriented, and they are responsible for considerably more employment than the whole of the agriculture sector. In arguing that commercial counterurbanisation is more than just a spatial decentralisation of business activity, the author explores the social as well as the economic motivations of ‘counterurbanising’ business owners. Commercial counterurbanisation can be a two-stage process, as the decision to work in a rural area or run a rural business may occur several years after a residential move. Where this time lag exists, in-migrant business owners will be influenced by different factors in different locations. In the context of neoendogenous development, the balance of local and extralocal forces is particularly significant. This leads to the conclusion that in-migrant business owners need to become embedded into the rural community for the wider rural economy to realise the maximum benefits from commercial counterurbanisation.

Identifying social innovations in European local rural development initiatives

Social innovation is attracting increasing attention in research and policy, heightened by continuing austerity across Europe. Therefore, this paper examines earlier research into community-led local development (CLLD) initiatives in rural areas of Europe to develop our understanding of the meaning and scope of rural social innovation. We draw on a Schumpeterian view where innovations emerge from new combinations of resources that bring about positive changes and create value in society. A Schumpeterian social innovation framework is derived as the basis for re-analysing data from previous evaluations of LEADER policy in five different national contexts. This elicits a clearer understanding of social innovation in a rural development context, identifying different processes and outcomes that create social value. As the CLLD agenda and the demand for innovation in Europe gather pace, our aspirations are to inform future research and other initiatives on how to integrate social innovation into the design and evaluation of new rural development policies and programmes.

Home based business sectors in the rural economy

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to challenge calls for a monolithic rural home‐based business (HBB) sector and instead propose meaningful sub‐sectors of HBB that fit within contemporary rural economic development theory. This informs business support and policy objectives.Design/methodology/approach – Survey analysis of rural microbusinesses in the North East of England compares home‐based and other rural microbusinesses to illustrate their defining characteristics. Case study interviews are then used to test theory development and provide greater understanding about the motivations and aspirations of HBB owners.Findings – The research demonstrates that the rural HBB sector is not homogenous. For some, the home is the business, for others it is a convenient location and for others it is not the place of work, simply the registered business address. This has significant implications for the needs of each type of business and their prospects for growth.Research limitations/implications – This paper i...

'Now without my car I don't know what I'd do': the transportation needs of older people in rural Lincolnshire

Britain is ageing. By 2035 the number of people aged 65 and over will account for 23% of the total population. This increase will have an impact on the economy, the provision of goods and services, and the resources needed to ensure a high quality of life into old age and active participation in society. The importance of transport in addressing social exclusion in rural communities has been acknowledged for some time and in this article we describe and report on the challenges faced by older people in rural Lincolnshire when trying to maintain active lifestyles. Drawing on a series of focus groups with older people (8–10 per group) who seldom accessed public or community transport, we examine the challenges faced by older people when trying to make journeys for social, leisure and health purposes. What becomes apparent is that, while community transport services play a vital role in rural communities, many older people are confused or unclear about what these services do, how they can be used, and how to access them. This article suggests that these services are often poorly publicised and underused in some areas of the county and therefore those most likely to benefit from them may be the ones least likely to use them.

Embedded models of rural entrepreneurship: The case of pubs in Cumbria, North West of England

There has been a significant decline in the number of pubs in rural areas of the UK in the past decade. The disappearance of these places has a dramatic impact on rural communities, as village and rural pubs work as a network tier for the entire area by providing opportunities in terms of community engagement, business connections and employment. The study presented in this paper investigates issues related to the decline of pubs in Cumbria, North West of England. The authors examine data gathered from secondary sources and primary research, including interviews with pub owners, managers and customers. This enables detailed analysis of factors of success and failure including initiatives taken by communities to conserve their pubs. Combining a community focus with economic and entrepreneurial approaches presents the value of village pubs in a new light, offering suggestions for alternative means of supporting them. Results indicate that more active involvement from local communities and public sector bodies is required to ensure the future of pubs and other rural assets that provide value to their communities.

Supporting rural entrepreneurship in the UK microbrewery sector

Purpose – The UK has seen rapid growth in the number of microbreweries but a concurrent decline in public house numbers raising concerns about the sustainability of this growth. The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of funding upon competition in the sector and the entrepreneurial characteristics of microbrewers. With an emphasis on rural-based businesses, the local economic impacts are also examined. Design/methodology/approach – The research is informed by analysis of trends in both the brewing and public house sectors in the UK. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with microbrewers, including five who had received funding to support their development. These were supplemented with three days of participant observation at collaborative brewing events with 26 microbrewery owners and three microbrewery managers. Findings – The findings indicate that the value attached to microbreweries extends beyond their economic contribution with wider outcomes including training and job creation, t...

Rural enterprise and neo-endogenous development

A ‘neo-endogenous approach’ to rural development explores the inter-relationship between entrepreneurship and its spatial context. Neo-endogenous development is defined as “endogenous-based development in which extra-local factors are recognised and regarded as essential but which retains belief in the potential of local areas to shape their future” (Ray, 2001: 4). The key principle is harnessing local resources, including human and social capital, while also recognising the importance of extra-local influences. Results from a large-scale survey, undertaken by CRE researchers in January 2009, describe the characteristics of rural businesses in the North East region. Building on earlier work by Bosworth (2008; 2009a, b) and Atterton (2005, 2007), analysis draws out the importance of in-migrant business owners in establishing and running rural businesses and the ways in which they differ from locally-born owners. In-migrants are important ‘neo-endogenous facilitators’ drawing new information and knowledge into rural areas through their extra-local networks. However, their contribution to the rural economy depends on their integration and embeddedness within their local community. Drawing on the work of Murdoch (2000: 417) who argues that the network approach is useful as a means of holding the ‘inside’ and the ‘outside’ together in one frame of reference, rural business associations are then viewed as providing such a context and space for the mediation of local and extra-local networks. The chapter contributes to our knowledge of the diversity of entrepreneurial activity across all sectors in rural areas, and highlights the importance of extra-local resources for local development.

The Character of Rural Business Relations

Rural spaces are often associated with strong community ties (Reimer, 1997; Atterton and Bosworth 2012) but the simultaneous spread of infor- mation technology and advances in personal mobility in the ‘Network Society’ (Castells, 2005) have stretched the geography of many rural networks and relations. In this context, this opening chapter considers the role of rural businesses as essential nodes in rural networks and the value that network relations can bring to smaller, rural enterprises.

Community-Based Entrepreneurship and Rural Development

The result of a major survey of SMEs across five nations of central Europe, this volume provides a valuable reference point for anyone researching entrepreneurship or local development in this region. The authors take the municipality as the primary unit of analysis, seeking to understand how institutional organisation and local conditions impact upon the performance of SMEs in rural regions. Beginning with a large scale survey in Austria, analysis moves on to compare findings here with data drawn from postcommunist states. This approach helps to identify the distinct challenges that perpetuate following their transitions to market economies.

Economic linkages between urban and rural regions – what’s in it for the rural?

ABSTRACT Urban–rural interdependences are modelled based on wages, cost of living, and interregional migration and commuting. Rural-to-urban commuting generates a scenario where the relative level of urban wages can continue to outperform rural wages without residential migration and increased costs of living acting as equilibrating forces. The spread of urban workers could be detrimental for rural regions without clear mechanisms for their human and financial capital to penetrate local economies. Therefore, ‘what’s in it for the rural?’ depends upon the ability of rural regions to capture the value attached to highly mobile, skilled workers choosing to live in the rural region.