Business Development

Networking and the collaborative nature of the global economy reinforce tendencies towards geographical clustering of firms in specialist and related industries. This paper discusses cluster and network formation, networking, social capital and social network cohesion. How does trust influence business processes, economic sustainab ....

The UK Competitiveness Index, which was first introduced in April 2000, represents the most up-to-date, thorough and authoritative benchmarking of the competitiveness of the UK's regions and localities. The UK Competitiveness Index has been designed as an integrated measure of competitiveness focusing on both the development and sustainability o ....

Small-to-medium sized food enterprises make significant contributions to the Australian economy through developing innovative products and new markets. They also generate opportunities for rural producers from whom these enterprises source raw materials and other inputs. However, small-to-medium sized food enterprises experience significant chall ....

The Western Australian Regional Development Trust (Trust) is an independent statutory advisory body established under the Royalties for Regions Act (2009) that provides advice on the Royalties for Regions Fund to the Hon Brendon Grylls, MLA, Minister for Regional Development and Lands. The Trust plays an important role in providing independent ....

Previous analysis of networking activities among SME exporters in regional NSW, Australia indicates that they tended to be isolated entrepreneurs, who relied primarily on their internal innovation and marketing capacities rather than on local networks and clusters as suggested by regional development theory (Vaessen and Keeble, 199 ....

Central governments are faced with decisions about which towns to invest in across administrative regions. Using a recent example from the Loddon Mallee region in the Australian state of Victoria this paper reports on research undertaken to assist policy makers at the state and local government levels to classify and group towns as a tool to assi ....

This study examines how modes of entrepreneurship education (active, such as business simulations, versus reflective, such as theory lectures) – alone and in interaction with the universities’ regional context – affect students’ self-employment intentions. Results from a cross-level analysis show that active modes are, irrespective of the ....

Held biennially, this year saw the third Working Communities International Congress hosted by the National Employment Services Association (NESA). The congress aimed to draw on work undertaken since the global financial crisis and review the ways in which job creation and labour market policies and programmes have been implemented to encourage th ....

A five-year COAG trial program in the Murdi Paaki region of western New South Wales was operated by the then Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training and the New South Wales Department of Education and Training, in partnership with 16 Indigenous communities. The purpose of the program was to explore innovative ways of doing busi ....