Introduction : enterprising places / Lee Pugalis, Joyce Liddle -- Regions as enterprising places : governance, policy and development / Robert Huggins, Brian Morgan, Nick Williams -- Enterprising places as historical synergies : an institutional account of Coventry through the Middle Ages / Edward Kasabov, Usha Sundaram -- Leading success? Establishing leadership and governance in a 'successful' economy / Martin Quinn -- Co-operation mechanisms in the Portuguese SMEs' production and outsourcing activities / Vitor Braga -- The role of rural food business networks in sustainable rural development / Clare Hayden, Mary O'Shaughnessy, Patrick Enright -- State strategies and entrepreneurial governance / Lee Pugalis, Gill Bentley -- Leadership, governance and knowledge in an enterprising place : the case of Brainport Eindhoven in the Netherlands / Lummina G. Horlings -- Enterprise, leadership and partnership in Leeds / Rachael Unsworth -- Informal settlements : the prevalence of and barriers to entrepreneurial synergies in slum communities / Lee Pugalis, Bob Giddings, Kelechi Anyigor -- Enterprise, wealth creation and place : a case study of the Liverpool city-region / Alan Southern -- Conclusions : future prospects, policy issues and research frontiers / Lee Pugalis.

Mobilising an enterprise surge in specific places has become the leitmotif of contemporary spatial interventions and state-sponsored strategies. Global economic shocks, rising demands for welfare services and public sector austerity measures are signifiers of the complex processes that have heightened public policy imperatives associated with enabling enterprise. Consequently, the search for entrepreneurial synergies has intensified the need for devising mechanisms for delivering broader social, cultural, environmental, economic and political objectives. However, developing collaborative leadership necessary to mobilise diverse networks of actors that can implement strategies sensitive to the plurality of place is not a straightforward task: negotiating the generation of entrepreneurial synergies in places calls for alternative conceptual tools, and complementary policies. Using theoretical explanations and empirical analysis, the chapters critically examine the entrepreneurial turn of public policy and urban studies.

Print version record