1. Regional development agencies : a generational story / Nicola Bellini, Mike Danson and Henrik Halkier -- 2. Multi-actor and multi-scalar regional development policies in the knowledge economy / Margareta Dahlstrom, Lise Smed Olsen and Henrik Halkier -- 3. Regional development agencies,...

Purpose It is important that agency advice and support for SMEs in rural areas is congruent with how business-owners perceive their needs and challenges. To explore how well matched these two sides are, this chapter investigates the difficulties faced by small businesses operating in rural...

Purpose: In Scotland, the self-directed support (SDS) legislation is a catch-all payment system which brings challenges to local authorities, service delivery organisations and the service users it is intended to empower. Set against a backdrop of cuts to local authorities and third-sector...

Rural southwest Scotland relies to an atypically large extent on its small firms. This research adopts a qualitative approach to explore and map the relationships of 12 rural SMEs in the service sector. Although formal networks are underdeveloped in rural southwest Scotland, business owners...