The Embeddedness of small enterprises to the rural local economy of small and medium sized towns

This paper addresses the local-regional-supra-regional orientation of small-scale farms and firms in rural areas. Due attention is given to the role of local centres (villages, towns) for the functioning of rural areas. With help of a quantified indicator spatial linkages related to sales and purchases of small enterprises are shown. Furthermore the allocation of labour to the local economy is taken into account. The degree of embeddedness of small local firms in rural areas appears to be fairly strong, which means that they play a significant role in the local economy in several ways