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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Ian Merrell, Professor Jeremy Phillipson, Professor Matthew GortonORCiD, Dr Paul CowieORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Until recently, rural areas have been largely disregarded in innovation policies, due to the lack of physicalproximity between businesses required to create agglomeration benefits. Rural enterprise hubs – defined asphysical infrastructure that provides workspaces to multiple tenant businesses, with additional services such asshared equipment, meeting rooms, co-working spaces, and business advice or support - are one means ofincreasing not only physical, but a wide range of non-spatial proximities between rural businesses. Drawing onand extending proximity theory, and based on qualitative case study research, this paper provides the first in-depth analysis of how co-location of businesses within Rural Enterprise Hubs can generate benefits for tenantsand overcome a lack of proximity to networks and support systems. It identifies the salience of these benefits fordifferent types of businesses and the extent to which hubs help to overcome common constraints faced by ruralbusinesses.
Author(s): Merrell I, Phillipson J, Gorton M, Cowie P
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Rural Studies
Year: 2022
Volume: 93
Pages: 81-91
Print publication date: 01/07/2022
Online publication date: 27/05/2022
Acceptance date: 18/05/2022
Date deposited: 30/05/2022
ISSN (print): 0743-0167
ISSN (electronic): 1873-1392
Publisher: Elsevier
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2022.05.016
DOI: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2022.05.016
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