We are living in a world where priorities change over and over again. Rapid transformation in the international economy,
the recession, the COVID-19 pandemic, the emergence of important non-farm activities in rural regions, in combination with the consequences from the ongoing climate changed, have put an extra burden to rural entrepreneurs, who are facing increasing complexity in their business, which is exacerbating existing vulnerabilities, but also significant and favorable opportunities of growth. In front of many challenges new business models need to reorganize their focus and priorities to answer better customer needs and social (public, private and community) – demands. In particular, the entrepreneurial decision – making attitudes and process as well as the creation of innovative ideas should pass through the involvement of larger number of concrete touchpoints among players wìth similar business experience to tell and share their contribution.
Maximizing the opportunities depends on a constellation of factors coming together and creating business models could be more challenging and riskier without a theoretical background, besides the other challenges that could negatively affect the impact of rural entrepreneurship. Business models structuring may impose a knowledge basis of other concepts, and entrepreneurs should be aware of such existing terms that could bring added value to their business, and reduce risk of failure in developing strong and valuable strategies.
To exploit future opportunities in a manner that addresses rural vulnerabilities, and the overall transformations calls for new strategies and models of rural development to be found and applied so to turn lagging rural areas into resilient rural communities.
Capturing the existing trends in economic development in rural areas could be performed, in order to analyze the potential for diversification of economic activities, by finding the business models already implemented in the rural communities and measuring the impact they had on community development. In this way, a structure for a business model and an emphasis on business opportunities for the rural areas of interest could be developed.
