Building social capital for sustainable enterprise development in country towns and regions: successful practices from the United States

This paper addresses some of the problems facing rural enterprise development, such as how to achieve sufficient economies of scale, how to find capital and resources, and how to succeed in an environment which may not appear ready to foster innovative business ideas. The author looks to rural social capital building to support enterprise development, illustrating the implications of this approach with reference to successful development programs in Humboldt County, California and in the Central Appalachians.