Lessons from Cape Breton and Mondragon

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Lessons from Cape Breton and Mondragon Durham E-Theses Community businesses in depleted communities: lessons from Cape Breton and Mondragon Lionais, Doug How to cite: Lionais, Doug (2004) Community businesses in depleted communities: lessons from Cape Breton and Mondragon, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3031/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 COMMUNITY BUSINESSES IN DEPLETED COMMUNITIES: LESSONS FROM CAPE BRETON AND MONDRAGON • fo o "-' t • ~ 'o -" < • ' - ~ I I • J . - ' Submitted for a Doctorate of Philosophy Doug Lionais University of Durham Department of Geography 2004 A copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. 1 3 JUl 2004 Abstnct The broad topic of the thesis is the emergence of local businesses enterprises within the limitations of a depleted community. The thesis explores this topic through an examination of the community business approach to development as a novel response to the plight of depleted communities. Depleted communities are characterized as places where, despite economic disparity, residents maintain strong attachments to place. In the absence of the mainstream economy, alternative approaches to economy and local development are often attempted in depleted communities; community business is one such response. New Dawn Enterprises in Cape Breton, Canada's oldest community development corporation, is studied as an example of the community business approach. New Dawn is compared to the Mondragon Co-operative Corporation in Spain. From these examples a theory of community business is developed regarding: how community businesses are formed; how they respond to the socioeconomic needs of the community; and how they maintain communitarian values within competitive business structures. Community businesses were found to emerge through novel forms of entrepreneurship: community business entrepreneurship. Community business entrepreneurs are able to access community assets and lever them into economic assets through business structures. The community businesses that they establish, it was found, are structured around three basic principles: wealth creation, community rootedness, and social purpose. These three principles protect the social nature of the organization. It was also found that leadership in community businesses plays an important role in maintaining the balance of social goals and business practices, particularly in absence of the original entrepreneur. The two case studies demonstrate that business development is possible in depleted communities, particularly when focused on the community assets of such places. While such business development is possible, the cases also show that community businesses on their own are not sufficient to replete depleted communities. Table of Contents Declaration and Copyright ........................................................................................................................ 1 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................... 2 PROLOGUE: THE CENTRE OF THE WORLD AT THE EDGE OF A CONTINENT .................. .4 Song For The Mira ..................................................................................................................................... 5 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 6 Cape Breton Profile ............................................................................................................................... I 0 History ................................................................................................................................................... I2 Contemporary Cape Breton ................................................................................................................... I9 Cape Breton Culture .............................................................................................................................. 32 Thesis Outline ........................................................................................................................................... 39 CHAPTER 1: UNEVEN DEVELOPMENT AND THE DEPLETED COMMUNITY ...................... 44 Bye, Bye, My Island (Good-Bye) ............................................................................................................. 45 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 46 Uneven Development: Conceptualizing the Problem ............................................................................ 47 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 47 Economic Geography: Uneven Development and Capitalism .............................................................. .48 New Economic Geography ........................................................ , ........................................................... 55 The New Economy and the Pattern ofUneven Development.. .............................................................. 6I Implications for Under-developed Regions ........................................................................................... 64 The Problem Redefined- The Depleted Community ............................................................................ 66 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 66 Defining the Depleted Community ........................................................................................................ 67 Depleted Community as a Process ......................................................................................................... 85 Conclusion: Implications for Development Revisited ........................................................................... 89 CHAPTER II- COMMUNITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ...................................................... 91 The Cape Breton Tour Guide .................................................................................................................. 92 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 93 CED History and Prominence ................................................................................................................. 93 Defining CED ............................................................................................................................................ 97 Community as Key Term ..................................................................................................................... I02 The Social Economy and Community Economic Development .......................................................... 105 Definition and History ......................................................................................................................... I 05 Characteristics ...................................................................................................................................... I 07 CED's role in the social economy ........................................................................................................ I09 CED and the Depleted Community: Limitations and Potentia1 ......................................................... 111 Limits ......................................................... :......................................................................................... II5 Potential ............................................................................................................................................... II6 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 118 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................................... 120 The Return .............................................................................................................................................. 121 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 122 Choice of Research Topic ....................................................................................................................... 122 Research Aims lll!lld
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