Entrepreneurship in the northern region

Abstract

Entrepreneurship in the Northern Region. There has been a tendency to ignore the role of the entrepreneur in regional development. An examination of economic literature indicated that he performed functions essential to the efficient use of resources and to technological advance, while relying heavily on information for knowledge on which to act. In carrying out such functions the entrepreneur was central to the whole of economic activity in the production of goods and services and in economic change. Consideration of growth and location theories did not alter these conclusions. Regional data on indicators of entrepreneurship led to the conclusion that in recent years indigenous entrepreneurship has been relatively low. This situation was in contrast to that existing in the 19th. Century when the Northern Region was a leading industrial centre of the world. An investigation of growth in the Region traced the rise of the major industries in the 19th century and their subsequent decline in the 20th century. The development of the large industries led to particular forms of organisation, marketing and geographic isolation for many firms and workers. The result was that for many, experiences were limited and information flows restricted. When shifts in demand came in the 20th century from heavy capital goods to lighter consumer goods, entrepreneurs in the North were unable to bring about the industrial changes necessary to rejuvenation of the region. Government action was needed with mobile plants becoming the corner-stone of regional policy in employment terms. The signs of long-term self-sustained growth were not so encouraging. With real constraints on the supply of mobile plants in the future the Region will have to rely more heavily on its present resources of industry and entrepreneurship to promote further economic growth than it has done in the past.