Research on Rural Small Business

SBA and its partners have formulated a future research agenda on the following issues. This is an ambitious research agenda and only selected parts of it will be undertaken in the near future. It's important for rural economic developers to know about this however.

-Characteristics and demographics of the owners of rural small businesses.

-The number of rural small businesses.

-The number of employees working for rural small businesses.

-The growth rate of rural small businesses compared to the growth rate of urban small businesses.

-The types of businesses that exist in rural communities and their structures compared to the types of businesses that exist in urban communities.

-The success/failure rates of rural small businesses.

-A comparison of success/failure rates of rural and urban small businesses.

-The reasons behind failure rates of rural small businesses.

-The correlation between the number of small businesses in a community, the unemployment rate, various types of government assistance, and commuting patterns for rural small businesses. How those patters differ from urban businesses.

-The impact of the global market place (Internet and e-commerce) on rural businesses.

-How rural communities have addressed/overcome challenges to assist small businesses in participating and succeeding in the global economy.

-The types of businesses that can succeed away from population centers.

-Rural Small Business Financing