The Rural Enterprise Economy

Enterprises located in rural regions face various challenges in the globalised and digitised world. This book offers comprehensive answers to the question of what makes up the rural enterprise economy in the contemporary business world. It addresses the competitiveness and viability, strategic management and strategic change, and marketing issues for both incumbent and start-up companies in rural regions. The book presents new concepts that shed light on the rural enterprise economy with its entrepreneurs. With a broad range of cases from European regions, the book provides theoretical insights for scholars, practical case-based evidence for lecturers and teachers, and practical knowledge for business practitioners and planning specialists. Academic experts from European universities and research institutes provide compelling answers to this under-researched topic in business studies and economics.

Part I: Introduction to the Rural Enterprise Economy 1. Introduction to The Rural Enterprise Economy Part II: Rural Enterprise Development 2. The Hidden Strength of Rural Enterprises: Why Peripheries Can Be more than A City Centre’s Deficient Complements 3. Hidden Champions in Rural Germany: Innovation Strategies to Compete in Global Markets 4. Adoption of Digital Innovations in Rural Enterprises during COVID-19 5. Competitive Strategies of Incumbent Small Regional Banks in Rural Locations 6. Reflections on Tourism Business Viability and Competitiveness in Rural Regions 7. Tourism Marketing in Rural Contexts: The Potential of Wine Tourism in the Dao Wine Region 8. Participation of Micro-Enterprises and Public Organisations in Rural Development Projects: Balancing between Collaboration and Tensions 9. Rural Business Support Policy and Rural Enterprise Economy: The Neo-endogenous Approach to Entrepreneurship Promotion of Common Agricultural Policy Part III: Rural Entrepreneurship 10. Opportunity- and Necessity-Driven Entrepreneurship in Urban versus Rural Locations 11. Entrepreneurship in Rural Areas: Locational Choices and Embeddedness 12. Entrepreneurship in Rural Sweden: The Role of Weak Ties, Strong Ties and "Good enough" Internet Access 13. Tourism Micro-Enterprises and Entrepreneurship in Rural Norway: Opportunities and Constraints 14. Entrepreneurial Knowledge-Strategies in Specialty Food Innovations 15. Combining Local and International Embeddedness in A Rural Context Part IV: The Rural Enterprise Economy – Conclusions and Implications 16. The Rural Enterprise Economy: Conclusions and Implications

Birgit Leick is Professor in Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the School of Business, University of South-Eastern Norway. Her current research interests are entrepreneurship in the creative industries, digital entrepreneurs and the sharing economy, and regional economic development. Susanne Gretzinger is Associate Professor at the University of Southern Denmark. Her research interests lie in studies of regional business development, business-to-business marketing, relationship development in business networks and digitalization. Teemu Makkonen is Professor at the Karelian Institute, University of Eastern Finland (UEF). He holds a PhD and a Title of Docent in economic geography (University of Helsinki) as well as a Title of Docent in cross-border economic development (UEF). His research interests include regional and rural development, regional innovativeness and cross-border regions.