Friday, 27 October 2017

The support paradox in community enterprise experiments in the Netherlands

an article by Reinout Kleinhans (Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands) and Maarten Van Ham (Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands; University of St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland) published in International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business Volume 31 Number 4 (2017)

Abstract

In many European countries, community-based entrepreneurship is increasingly considered as a means to initiate small-scale urban regeneration. However, residents in deprived neighbourhoods are often viewed to lack key entrepreneurial skills.

Most research on community entrepreneurship support is based on cross-sectional studies and overly focused on government support. This paper extends current knowledge by reporting a unique national experiment in the Netherlands with community enterprises receiving support from a private foundation.

The paper aims to investigate how active citizens perceive the benefits and drawbacks of this support. Using a unique longitudinal approach, the paper analyses transcriptions of repeated semi-structured interviews (panel design) from community enterprises in several neighbourhoods.

While positive feedback is found, the study provides strong evidence for a 'support paradox': the support that was intended to overcome a number of entry barriers and difficulties on the road to community entrepreneurship has significantly hampered progress among several community enterprises.


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