Rowena Bell

The role of group learning in building social capital

Abstract Social capital assists in building economically and socially viable and sustainable learning communities, where communities can be geographic communities, professional or common interest communities, and groups of businesses such as Executive Link™, the subject of this article. This article investigates the elements of social capital and develops a set of indicators that show social capital is being built. The indicators can be applied wherever groups or organisations with a shared purpose engage in productive interactions which benefit not only the individual member groups, but the ‘learning community’ as a whole. Executive Link ™ consists of farm businesses which meet for non-formal training. It appears to have features of a learning community, including a shared purpose, and learning interactions across the boundaries of individual member businesses. This article identifies networks, commitments and shared values as the elements of social capital which contribute to the quality of learning int...

Sharing the Driving Seat: Involving everyone in a family business

Rural businesses and their communities need to be adaptable and flexible in order to meet the challenges of globalisation, low commodity prices, changing consumer tastes and the emerging issues of good practice in land and water management. Family businesses, especially farm businesses, are embedded in the economic and social fabric of rural communities. The sustainability, resilience and potential for growth of the community is influenced by the local small businesses and their operators. Family businesses are well situated to help their communities adapt and change.