Rural Development and Entrepreneurship

Abstract

The dissertation examines rural entrepreneurship as a potential vehicle for facilitating local and regional development. Development of the rural areas is one of the top priorities of European Union. Consequently, the phenomenon of Rural entrepreneurship is also gaining importance in the European context, where for the purpose of cohesion of urban and rural area a substantial amount of resources is deployed on the annual basis. In this paper we analyze the role of entrepreneurship in the creation of wealth and employment in the peripheral context. The overall research questions revolve around: How rural context affects the entrepreneurship in highly marginalized areas and the interplay between them. What are the most appropriate regional development and growth theories present for this purpose? How entrepreneurs discover new business opportunity? And, What mental schemes and strategies are deployed in doing so? And finally, What is the role that various institutions play to facilitate entrepreneurship in such areas?