These sources see both the national and international environments
compared and contrasted in ways that explain the relevance of various
macro environmental factors such as economic stability, openness to
innovations and, most importantly, what this means for the support
provided for entrepreneurial activities. This macro view provides the
context for the authors to then narrow the focus to examine the prior
existing evidence related to urban and regional entrepreneurship in
Australia and these are explained in detail through an exploration of
an existing secondary dataset. With this thorough grounding done, the
bioregions are then introduced and readers are taken on a journey
through the unique characteristics of each of the regions. These details
include profiles of employment, the nature and types of businesses, population spread and demography, as is the growing importance of the service sector to the local economies.
These are key strengths of this book and it adds a valuable contribution as it explains the value of entrepreneurship in regional communities, specifically in terms of recognising the influence of gender. This book
presents important theoretical, practical and policy implications to foster
place-based entrepreneurial ecosystems in the regional Australian context
and is a must read for a wide audience from policymakers and services
providers through to students of entrepreneurship and small business.