Rural small businesses in turbulent times: impacts of the economic downturn.

Anderson, Alistair R.; Osseichuk, Ellina; Illingworth, Laura

Abstract

This paper explores differences in behaviour and performance between rural and urban small firms during the economic downturn. The authors had anticipated that the thinness of the rural environment would have had adverse effects. However, their survey of 6,300 respondents showed that rural small firms were performing marginally better. Both groups were proactively striving to cope with falling demand, not waiting for things to get better, but rural firms had better sales and fewer price reductions. The authors attribute this to local embeddedness, a more stable customer base and less competition. They note too the relative independence of rural businesses.

Citation

ANDERSON, A.R., OSSEICHUK, E. and ILLINGWORTH, L. 2010. Rural small businesses in turbulent times: impacts of the economic downturn. International journal of entrepreneurship and innovation [online], 11(1), pages 45-56. Available from: https://doi.org/10.5367/000000010790772449

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 1, 2010
• Online Publication Date: Feb 1, 2010
• Publication Date: Feb 28, 2010
• Deposit Date: Nov 1, 2011
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 1, 2011
• Journal: International journal of entrepreneurship and innovation
• Print ISSN: 1465-7503
• Electronic ISSN: 2043-6882
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 45-56
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5367/000000010790772449
• Keywords: Rural/urban small businesses; Economic downturn; External changes; Smallness; Gravitation; Embeddedness
• Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/675