IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/loceco/v33y2018i5p515-536.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Supporting rural Small and Medium-sized Enterprises to take up broadband-enabled technology: What works?

Author

Listed:
  • Liz Price
  • Jim Shutt
  • Jessica Sellick

Abstract

The last 15 years have seen major changes in the availability and usage of broadband in the UK. Despite these improvements, rural areas continue to lag behind urban areas for broadband connection speeds – a divide that is exacerbated by lower rates of broadband adoption among rural Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). This paper examines the experiences of SMEs that have participated in a publicly funded programme designed to stimulate demand for broadband in the rural region of Lincolnshire, UK. Drawing on interviews conducted over two periods of policy intervention (2003–2006 and 2010–2015) it examines the variety of business support approaches used and identifies the effects of these on use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) innovation, and sales within participating SMEs. The results show that while training events provide entry-level support for broadband use, more intensive support such as 1:1 advice and ICT grants leads to the significant changes within the business. Direct access to new technology in spaces such as Technology Hubs is identified as particularly important for rural SMEs. The paper concludes by identifying some common features of the business support that bring about the greatest benefits to SMEs in rural areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Liz Price & Jim Shutt & Jessica Sellick, 2018. "Supporting rural Small and Medium-sized Enterprises to take up broadband-enabled technology: What works?," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 33(5), pages 515-536, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:loceco:v:33:y:2018:i:5:p:515-536
    DOI: 10.1177/0269094218791508
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0269094218791508
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0269094218791508?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ivan Turok & Mike Raco, 2000. "Developing Expertise in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: An Evaluation of Consultancy Support," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 18(4), pages 409-427, August.
    2. Kolko, Jed, 2012. "Broadband and local growth," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 100-113.
    3. Nina Czernich & Oliver Falck & Tobias Kretschmer & Ludger Woessmann, 2011. "Broadband Infrastructure and Economic Growth," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(552), pages 505-532, May.
    4. Douglas Cumming & Sofia Johan, 2010. "The Differential Impact of the Internet on Spurring Regional Entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 34(5), pages 857-884, September.
    5. Federico Etro, 2011. "The Economics of Cloud Computing," The IUP Journal of Managerial Economics, IUP Publications, vol. 0(2), pages 7-22, May.
    6. Emmanouil Tranos & Elizabeth A. Mack, 2016. "Broadband Provision and Knowledge-Intensive Firms: A Causal Relationship?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(7), pages 1113-1126, July.
    7. Margarita Billón & Roberto Ezcurra & Fernando Lera-López, 2008. "The Spatial Distribution of the Internet in the European Union: Does Geographical Proximity Matter?," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(1), pages 119-142, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stockinger, Bastian, 2017. "The effect of broadband internet on establishments' employment growth: evidence from Germany," IAB-Discussion Paper 201719, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    2. Ajoy Ketan Sarangi & Rudra Prakash Pradhan, 2020. "ICT infrastructure and economic growth: a critical assessment and some policy implications," DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Springer;Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, vol. 47(4), pages 363-383, December.
    3. Yifeng Philip Chen & Edward J. Oughton & Jakub Zagdanski & Maggie Mo Jia & Peter Tyler, 2023. "Crowdsourced data indicates broadband has a positive impact on local business creation," Papers 2308.14734, arXiv.org.
    4. Philip Chen & Edward J Oughton & Pete Tyler & Mo Jia & Jakub Zagdanski, 2020. "Evaluating the impact of next generation broadband on local business creation," Papers 2010.14113, arXiv.org.
    5. Gabriel Ahlfeldt & Pantelis Koutroumpis & Tommaso Valletti, 2017. "Speed 2.0: Evaluating Access to Universal Digital Highways," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 586-625.
    6. Czernich, Nina, 2014. "Does broadband internet reduce the unemployment rate? Evidence for Germany," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 32-45.
    7. Abrardi, Laura & Sabatino, Lorien, 2023. "Ultra-broadband investment and economic resilience: Evidence from the Covid-19 pandemic," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(2).
    8. Briglauer, Wolfgang & Stocker, Volker, 2020. "Bedeutung digitaler Infrastrukturen und Dienste und Maßnahmen zur Förderung der Resilienz in Krisenzeiten," Policy Notes 42, EcoAustria – Institute for Economic Research.
    9. Cambini, Carlo & Grinza, Elena & Sabatino, Lorien, 2023. "Ultra-fast broadband access and productivity: Evidence from Italian firms," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    10. Jiao Xu & Chris Forman & Yu Jeffrey Hu, 2019. "Battle of the Internet Channels: How Do Mobile and Fixed-Line Quality Drive Internet Use?," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(1), pages 65-80, March.
    11. Luo, Qi & Hu, Haoyu & Feng, Dawei & He, Xiaogang, 2022. "How does broadband infrastructure promote entrepreneurship in China: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(10).
    12. Lindlacher, Valentin, 2021. "Low demand despite broad supply: Is high-speed Internet an infrastructure of general interest?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    13. Whitacre, Brian E. & Alam, Md Rafayet & Lobo, Bento J., 2018. "Econometric error nullifies finding of the impact of broadband speed on county-level employment," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 58-60.
    14. Brian Whitacre & Roberto Gallardo & Sharon Strover, 2014. "Does rural broadband impact jobs and income? Evidence from spatial and first-differenced regressions," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 53(3), pages 649-670, November.
    15. Kusumawardhani, Niken & Pramana, Rezanti & Saputri, Nurmala Selly & Suryadarma, Daniel, 2023. "Heterogeneous impact of internet availability on female labor market outcomes in an emerging economy: Evidence from Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    16. Longpeng Zhang & Wei Jiang & Zhiwei Tang, 2019. "Study on the promotion effect of informationization on entrepreneurship: an empirical evidence from China," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 9(1), pages 1-22, December.
    17. Tanja Broz & Goran Buturac & Miloš Parežanin, 2020. "Digital transformation and economic cooperation: The case of Western Balkan countries," Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci/Proceedings of Rijeka Faculty of Economics, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, vol. 38(2), pages 697-722.
    18. Elena Toader & Bogdan Narcis Firtescu & Angela Roman & Sorin Gabriel Anton, 2018. "Impact of Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure on Economic Growth: An Empirical Assessment for the EU Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-22, October.
    19. Lutz, Sebastian Uljas, 2019. "The European digital single market strategy: Local indicators of spatial association 2011–2016," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(5), pages 393-410.
    20. Falk, Martin & Hagsten, Eva, 2021. "Impact of high-speed broadband access on local establishment dynamics," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(4).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:loceco:v:33:y:2018:i:5:p:515-536. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/index.shtml .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.