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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 determine alternative ways of overcoming many of the constraints which they face. Insights into the ways in which rural SMEs function within their environment reveal that the more agile rural SMEs have overcome their lack of access to networks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]