Page 55 - 1-Entrepreneurship and Local Economic Development by Norman Walzer (z-lib.org)

44 Ron Hustedde

translates into family-supporting wages and benefits. It can also be part of
a broader economic development strategy that includes increasing the re-
circulation of dollars in the community, such as though public services, and
community and regional facilities; expanding purchases by nonlocal peo-
ple; and recognizing the role of retirement benefits and unemployment
compensation as a flow of income into the community.

BUILDING AN ENTREPRENEURIAL CULTURE

What can a community do to encourage entrepreneurship or to strengthen
or build an entrepreneurial culture? The answer is multifaceted. An entre-
preneurial culture is based on two premises: (1) shared learning and (2) a
systems approach.
The first premise, shared learning, is about building a learning commu-
nity. Learning isn’t simply the act of acquiring information; it is about de-
veloping the capacity to produce the results that are truly desired. A learn-
ing community can be defined by its ability to learn new knowledge,
discover new insights, share this knowledge with the community, and mod-
ify its behavior so as to reflect this learning (Gruidl and Hustedde 2003).
The second premise is about strengthening the entrepreneurial system. A
major shortcoming of local economic development is that it does not con-
sider which critical components are missing or how they operate in isola-
tion from each other (Lichtenstein, Lyons, and Kuthanova 2004). An entre-
preneurial culture cannot be imposed from the top down nor can it be
isolated from other aspects of community life, especially community goals
and visions or programs involving the arts, health care, or education.
Essentially, a human system can be characterized by three criteria: (1) the
whole is greater than the sum of its parts, (2) all parts are interdependent
and affect each other, and (3) a living system perpetuates itself by self-
adapting to its context (Moffitt 1999).
An abstract discussion about the core themes of shared learning and a
systems approach is likely to be a frustrating exercise for action-oriented
economic developers and community leaders who prefer visceral ap-
proaches. Consequently, the remainder of this chapter focuses on seven
practical strategies and examples for building an entrepreneurial climate:

1. Create opportunities to learn, question, and think differently about
entrepreneurship
2. Welcome fresh voices and embrace diversity
3. Mobilize resources for entrepreneurs
4. Cultivate networks for entrepreneurs to thrive
5. Focus on assets instead of deficits