Rural entrepreneurship: the tale of a rare event

Author(s):

Lúcia Pato, (Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal)

Aurora Amélia Castro Teixeira, (Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal)

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Abstract:

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to determine whether new rural ventures represent effective rural entrepreneurship or are just entrepreneurial ventures located in rural settings.

Design\methodology\approach

Data were collected from a direct questionnaire involving 408 new ventures headquartered in Portuguese business incubators and science parks, of which 142 are located in rural areas. To analyse data, the authors performed a preliminary and exploratory statistical analysis.

Findings

The authors demonstrate that only a small percentage of ventures operating in rural areas constitute examples of effective “rural entrepreneurship”, with the bulk of them being just enterprises located in rural settings. Rural new ventures tend to be small (in terms of employees and turnover), rely mainly on the internal market and lag behind other new ventures (located in both rural and urban municipalities) in terms of performance.

Research limitations/implications

The study only includes new knowledge-intensive ventures, that is, those headquartered in business incubators and science parks. Therefore, it cannot be generalised to other new ventures located in rural settings.

Originality/value

The extant literature on entrepreneurship has neglected the empirical implications of mixing, confounding and/or merging the concepts of “rural entrepreneurship” and “entrepreneurship activities in rural areas”. In this study, the authors discuss and analyse the empirical boundaries of such concepts and uncover the magnitude of pure “rural entrepreneurship”.

Keywords:

Portugal, Municipalities, New ventures, Rural entrepreneurship

Type:

Research Paper

Publisher:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Received:

30 August 2017

Revised:

01 November 2017

Accepted:

19 December 2017

Acknowledgments:

A word of sincere appreciation to the editor and referees for the valuable comments and suggestions. The authors are also indebted to all the owners of the new ventures who took time answering the questionnaire.

Copyright:

© Emerald Publishing Limited 2018
Published by Emerald Publishing Limited
Licensed re-use rights only

Citation:

Lúcia Pato, Aurora Amélia Castro Teixeira, (2018) "Rural entrepreneurship: the tale of a rare event", Journal of Place Management and Development, Vol. 11 Issue: 1, pp.46-59, https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMD-08-2017-0085

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