Small business development in remote rural areas: the example of mature manufacturing firms in northern England.

摘要

This paper explores the question of whether established small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) have the potential to generate wealth and jobs for rural communities. Data were obtained from a panel of 304 SMEs in England. Using evidence on the development of mature manufacturing SMEs in remoter rural areas of northern England during the 1980s and comparing them with similar urban based firms in a major conurbation (London) and an outer metropolitan area (Hertfordshire and Essex), the paper showsthat whilst there was little difference between the rural and urban SMEs in terms of their growth performance when measured by sales turnover, the rural firms generated significantly more jobs. SMEs in remote rural areas are shown to pursue different development paths than their urban counterparts resulting from the way in which they adjust to the opportunities and constraints afforded by their local operating environments. The main section of the paper focuses on three particular kinds of adaptation: (1) to local market conditions, and in particular on the ability of SMEs to make the transition into national and international markets; (2) to local labour market conditions, including various qualitative characteristics of rural labour such as skill levels and functional flexibility; and (3) to the lack of an industrial milieu, especially the limited opportunities for externalizing production. The paper concludes by raising some concerns about the longer term competitiveness of SMEs in remote rural areas including low levels of labour productivity, technological backwardness and skill levels within the workforce.