Merged with duplicate record 10026.1/874 on 01.02.2017 by CS (TIS)Since the 1970s the number of small firms in the UK has risen, but at temporally and
spatially uneven rates. These trends have heightened interest in the role of local
economies in shaping small firm growth and performance. This thesis considers the
growth and performance of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) based in rural
peripheral locations in the UK. In measuring this, quantitative survey work was
undertaken in rural core as well as rural peripheral localities, with the former acting as
a benchmark for comparison. lJtilising returns from standardised postal questiormaires
both the performance of the agricultural and non-agricultural business sectors can be
compared. By contrasting the performance of both sectors the distribution of existing
public sector funds aimed at rural local economic development (LED) is called into
question. There is little support for the notion that farm diversification will contribute
in any meaningful way to LED. When non-agricultural SMEs in rural peripheral
localities are compared with enterprises of a similar age and standard industrial
classification (SIC) code in core localities, few significant spatial variations are
apparent in business strategy and structure. The main problem for rural peripheral
locations would appear to lie not with the firms they already have, but rather the ones
which are not present, and in particular their relative structural weakness of fewer
medium sized manufacturing companies. When government SME policy is examined,
the institutional proliferation and increased government spending which occurred
during the 1980s did little to solve this structural weakness. It is contended that a key
need for SMEs based in rural peripheral localities is to transcend restricted local
markets and the main barriers, and possible solutions to, this process is drawn out in
the concluding sections.University of
Plymouth,the Cornwall Education and Research Trust and Teesdale District Council