Supporting knowledge exchange in rural business—A case story from Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland

Abstract

This study arose from a knowledge exchange project whereby business support and knowledge exchange opportunities were provided to rural small businesses as an academic outreach programme. We review how academic support to small businesses in rural Southwest Scotland was delivered. Academic support for micro-business in Southwest Scotland is an under-researched topic. The owners volunteered to share their experiences of this support with the wider business community and university staff acted as consultants and researchers, mentoring the businesses and developing insights into rural business support. The article describes the processes and outcomes of the project, and the factors which affected the ability of the businesses to take advantage of academic business support. We utilised a case-study approach, in-depth interviews and follow-ups over a one-year period, later adding a longitudinal perspective. Our findings indicate that rural factors, business life cycle stage, sectoral skills availability along with the specific market and organisational context combine to create challenges for small business owners and impact on their ability to access and benefit from business support services. The results are significant for business engagement strategies of universities and for business support policy for small and micro-businesses in geographically isolated regions. The participant-consultant roles of the researchers facilitated the development of rich, ‘insider’ insights into this neglected topic.

The impacts of higher education institutions on sustainable development

“…Other studies exemplified the support of HEIs to establish a high school archival program (Fernekes and Rosenberg, 2008), to reopen a closed school (Officer et al, 2011), and to educate high school students (Lynch, et al, 2005). The support of local businesses is described by Hill et al (2016), who analyzed the process of knowledge exchange from an HEI to rural businesses, and Riebe (2012), who studied the benefits of university-based entrepreneur centers for women. These works show positive impacts of outreach engagement, which is confirmed by MacPherson and Zilokowski (2005) for university-based industrial extension services.…”

Implementasi Pemberdayaan Masyarakat Dan Kapasitas Aktor Perguruan Tinggi Di Kota Serang

“…Hal ini sesuai dengan penelitian (Sururi & Mulyasih, 2017) yang menekankan mendorong penguatan kapasitas warga baik secara individu maupun kelompok melalui partisipasi aktif masyarakat dengan memanfaatkan potensi dan sumber daya lokal sehingga menghasilkan kader perencanaan pembangunan desa dan mentransformasikannya menjadi pelaku kebijakan pembangunan sebagai subjek perumusan kebijakan Berdasarkan uraian hasil peneliitian di atas, maka dapat dideskripsikan bahwa strategi pemberdayaan masyarakat melalui pendekatan kepada para tokoh masyarakat, tokoh pemuda dan tokoh agama sekaligus menempatkan anggota masyarakat sebagai pembicara atau narasumber menunjukkan hasil yang efektif di mana masyarakat lebih mudah menerima dan mendapatkan penghargaan dari aktor pemberdayaan masyarakat perguruan tinggi. Penetapan strategi pemberdayaan masyarakat akan sangat membantu aktor perguruan tinggi untuk lebih memahami bagaimana komunitas pemberdayaan secara praktis dapat diakomodasi (Laverack & Labonte, 2000) dan terkonfirmasi melalui hasil penelitian yang dilakukan oleh (Sururi, 2015) dan (Hill et al, 2016) yang menyebutkan pentingnya peran institusi perguruan tinggi dalam proses pertukaran pengetahuan dalam mendukung perkembangan ekonomi lokal di pedesaan sebagai bagian dari dan penetapan metode pemberdayaan masyarakat yang sesuai dengan karakteristik sosial dan budaya masyarakat setempat.…”

“…Oleh sebab itu, mendorong penelitian tentang kapasitas perguruan tinggi dan implementasi pemberdayaan masyarakat menjadi penting untuk dikaji secara mendalam. Berbagai penelitian dalam konteks internasional yang relevan dengan penelitian ini beberapa diantaranya yaitu (Hill et al, 2016) dalam hasil penelitiannya menjelaskan tentang pentingnya peran institusi perguruan tinggi dalam proses pertukaran pengetahuan dalam mendukung bisnis lokal di pedesaan, kemudian (Macpherson & Ziolkowski, 2005) memberikan kesimpulan bahwa pemberdayaan masyarakat akan cukup efektif jika memberi focus terhadap pelayanan penyuluhan industri berbasis universitas.…”

Developing and Validating Sustainability Indicators for Measuring Social Impact of University–Community Engagement Programs

“…For example, Strydom and Kempen [16] and Wang [17] described how universities enhanced the local economic sustainability of microenterprises and played a crucial role in promoting entrepreneurship in underserved local communities. Hill et al [18] and Zeng et al [19] analyzed the processes involved in knowledge and skills exchange from universities to rural small businesses and rural e-commerce industries as a part of academic outreach programs. These studies demonstrate the positive impacts of supporting rural small businesses.…”