Page 51 - 1-Entrepreneurship and Local Economic Development by Norman Walzer (z-lib.org)

40 Ron Hustedde

independence, innovation, diversity, and wealth creation can be viewed as
entrepreneurial-friendly while those that place higher values on conform-
ity and homogeneity or that tend to be overwhelmed by their deficits and
problems can be viewed as entrepreneurial tolerant or resistant.
Typically, a community has several cultures within a dominant culture.
These cultures can be ethnic, gender, or values-based clusters of people with
shared interests. For example, a group of Hispanic entrepreneurs, small
manufacturing firm owners, or pro-environment entrepreneurs may have
their own informal networks, values, and resources that are shared. They
don’t necessarily oppose the dominant culture but operate within it on
their own terms.
There are also entrepreneurial countercultures within rural communities,
which can be expressed in a variety of ways. For example, when tourism-
based firms question the location of a potential polluter, they could be
viewed as counterculture. When a group of small business leaders create
their own organization apart from the local Chamber, that action could be
viewed as counterculture.
Indeed, culture shapes and molds the entrepreneurs that emerge in rural
spaces. Culture can be defined as a type of collective mind programming (Hof-
stede and Hofstede 2005, 4). It includes value judgments and social behav-
ior. A community’s culture defines what is acceptable and what is not. Cul-
ture isn’t rigid and fixed; it evolves. It is shaped and reshaped by internal
and external forces, including entrepreneurs (Williams 1983). The closure
of a manufacturing plant, government regulations, the opening of a major
retail discount store, or the success of a youth entrepreneurship fair can con-
tribute to attitudes, values, and behavior about entrepreneurship.
Culture is also influenced by factors such as settlement patterns, religion,
and other historical conditions. For example, Appalachian coal towns have
typically been dominated by a single firm, which influenced thinking in
subtle and visceral ways that discouraged entrepreneurship and innovation.
In other Appalachian settings, such as Ivanhoe, Virginia, traditional indus-
trial recruitment has been replaced with an informal patchwork of income
sources, including nontraditional approaches such as bartering and finding
creative ways to meet local needs and to sell to external markets.
Entrepreneurial cultures can inspire entrepreneurs to emerge. This type of
culture is expressed through a can-do attitude that is manifested in symbols
and behavior that value entrepreneurship; it can include award ceremonies,
value statements, community-minded visions, local policy, investments,
and other approaches.
Culture is so pervasive that it tends to be forgotten as it fades into the
background as a part of economic development strategies. Some commu-
nities have cultures in which they feel victimized by external forces while