Enterprise hubs as a mechanism for local economic development in rural areas

Merrell, Ian; Phillipson, Jeremy; Gorton, Matthew; Cowie, Paul

doi:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2022.05.016

Cited by 26 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…The qualitative data were subsequently analysed with open and thematic coding techniques (Boyatzis, 1998), following a narrative approach (Muylaert et al, 2014), as this would capture their individual circumstances prior to the hub, their motivation for entering the space, their first impressions and how they have since developed whilst being in the hub. The final coding framework Table 2 followed the findings of Siepel et al (2020) and Merrell (2019), and included six main themes, as are developed in the following section: ‘Access to skills’, ‘Access to customers’, ‘Access to knowledge’, ‘Access to networks (social and professional)’, ‘Collaborations’ and ‘Lifestyle and amenities’.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research on clusters, coworking spaces and enterprise hubs has typically had an urban focus, although they are now beginning to spread to rural areas (Avdikos and Merkel, 2020). REHs are beneficial to their rural tenants, by providing crucial access to new networking opportunities and knowledge sources, and contribute to increased wellbeing (Merrell, 2019; Merrell et al (This Issue)).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They demonstrated quantitatively how creative practitioners outside of recognised creative clusters find great benefit from being within a micro-cluster. Similarly to Merrell (2019), they point to the importance of new knowledge sources, access to new customers and access to new skills for members of the micro-cluster.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

‘Honey pot’ rural enterprise hubs as micro-clusters: Exploring their role in creativity-led rural development

Merrell

Rowe

Cowie³

et al. 2021

Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit

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Rural enterprise hubs are physical infrastructures designed to help rural businesses access tangible and intangible benefits. They generally operate within two main business models: ‘Honey Pots’ (i.e. targeting business-to-customer tenants) and ‘Hives’ (i.e. targeting business‐to‐business tenants). This paper focuses on the former type, Honey Pot hubs, which are best suited to tenants who sell their products/services directly to the general public, such as some creative sectors, retail and tourism. Honey Pot hubs are designed to cater to such needs by attracting footfall to the space, providing cafes and facilities for the general public and hosting events. This paper explores how these Honey Pot hubs contribute to rural and regional development, through the creative practices of their tenants. The paper draws on qualitative interviews with Honey Pot managers and tenants in remote rural locations of the North East of England. The findings are useful for Hub practitioners, policy makers and rural creative businesses who want to develop similar initiatives in their locales.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘Honey pot’ rural enterprise hubs as micro-clusters: Exploring their role in creativity-led rural development

Merrell

Rowe

Cowie³

et al. 2021

Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit

Self Cite

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“…In recent years, coworking spaces (and other related physical infrastructures, such as enterprise hubs (Merrell, 2019), maker spaces (Sheridan et al, 2014) and fab labs (Walter-Herrmann and Büching, 2014)) have been steadily increasing in popularity (Gandini, 2015).…”

Section: The Rise Of Rural Coworkingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Coworking spaces can be tailored for office-based businesses (Leclercq-Vandelannoitte and Isaac, 2016) or for creative businesses – often called ‘Maker Spaces’ (Van Holm, 2015). Once considered a strictly urban occurrence (Merkel, 2015), rural enterprise hubs (REH) and rural coworking spaces (RCWS) are now increasing in popularity to support entrepreneurial rural communities (Avdikos and Merkel, 2020; Cowie et al, 2013; Fuzi, 2015; Merrell, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How rural coworking hubs can facilitate well-being through the satisfaction of key psychological needs

Merrell

Fuzi²,

Russell

et al. 2021

Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit

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Once considered an urban phenomenon, rural enterprise hubs (REH) and rural coworking spaces (RCWS) are now increasing in popularity to support entrepreneurial rural communities. Whilst previous research has examined economic and community benefits, a focus on well-being benefits has been overlooked. Framed by self-determination theory, this empirical research investigates whether rural coworking is reported to enhance user’s well-being by fulfilling key psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness. By applying a well-being focus, we found that potential key drivers of rural coworking uptake and durability could be elucidated, in terms of these three needs. In addition, we identified another category of well-being that was fulfilled through engagement with RCWS and REH – namely – ‘communion with nature’. We suggest that considerations of well-being are important to understand how rural coworking can attract and sustain local workers and suggest a future research agenda to further conceptualise well-being effects.

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Sustainable Entrepreneurship

Rajagopal¹

2023

Palgrave Studies of Entrepreneurship and Social Challenges in Developing Economies

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Enterprise hubs as a mechanism for local economic development in rural areas

Cited by 26 publications

References 59 publications

‘Honey pot’ rural enterprise hubs as micro-clusters: Exploring their role in creativity-led rural development

‘Honey pot’ rural enterprise hubs as micro-clusters: Exploring their role in creativity-led rural development

How rural coworking hubs can facilitate well-being through the satisfaction of key psychological needs

Sustainable Entrepreneurship

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