Entrepreneurship as a community phenomenon; reconnecting meanings and place

Abstract

This paper explores entrepreneurship as a community phenomenon to establish the roles of entrepreneurship within the social and spatial boundaries of place. During the decade of studying this place through an entrepreneurial lens, we were able to identify processes that might normally be overlooked. One, albeit unusual, entrepreneurial event had worked to trigger these changes. We found a renewed sense of belonging and a stronger sense of place meaning that had revitalised this previously depleted community. Entrepreneurship had worked in and for the community by realigning the meanings and attributes of place. We argue that our novel unit for analysis, entrepreneurship in place, offers a broader, perhaps richer, view of entrepreneurship as a socialised phenomenon.