Conceptualising capital assets: towards a framework for entrepreneurial places

Whilst the entrepreneur, as the agent of change, has long been recognised as a means of regional development, there is a growing realisation that a combination of factors conducive to creating entrepreneurial places exists. Indeed, within an ecosystems approach, a number of key ingredients are said to provide the optimum conditions for entrepreneurship to thrive, including: human capital, a conducive culture, access to finance and markets, appropriate institutional and policy support, and effective leadership (Isenberg, 2010). However, whilst these ingredients remain critical success factors, this paper advocates that a still broader range of criteria, or capital assets, need to be considered, to evaluate the potential of place-based entrepreneurial strategies. As an exploratory study, the presentation identifies forty-two assets developed from the extant literature, that are subsequently presented within a seven capitals framework (Emery and Flora 2006; O’Leary, Burkett and Braithwaite, 2011). The resulting entrepreneurial assets framework is offered for discussion and as a starting point for future research directions. The contribution of this presentation lies in understanding the interaction of the seven capitals from a systems perspective, to engage in a holistic analysis of the entrepreneurial development pathways for rural places.