| Appalachia is a mountainous region stretching across 13 eastern states, with the highlands of four of those states - West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina - referred to as Central Appalachia. The geographic isolation of this area has proven unattractive to business development, despite government efforts to provide resources for development. The decimation of extraction industries in the region has contributed to an economic decline and elevated poverty levels and unemployment among the region's residents. Yet, amidst the economic distress, entrepreneurial success stories can be found. The purpose of this exploratory study, using qualitative methods, was to discover and describe how social and business networking relationships create social capital that contributes to the success of regional entrepreneurs. In this holistic multiple-case study, the rich narratives of ten individually successful entrepreneurs relate the complexities of their networking relationships and provide the basis for better understanding the Appalachian entrepreneurial phenomenon. The participants were drawn from five distressed counties in four states of the Central Appalachian region. Those selected were invited to engage in a semi-structured dialogue, using a series of open-ended prompts. The analysis of the narratives provides strong evidence that the entrepreneurs use networking relationships to strengthen their competitive and strategic positions, employing them to gain access to resources, identify and exploit business opportunities, collaborate to improve marketing efficiency, and for business consultations. Once the metanarrative was established, subsequent analyses identified thematic elements of networking relationships, including gender differences in networking approaches and results, family involvement in networking processes, and the use of networking for strategic purposes such as a defense mechanism or for entrepreneurial serialization. Recommendations involve developing intentional networking strategies that strengthen collaboration efforts among entrepreneurs, exploiting technology to harvest value from virtual networking, establishment of network-based resource pooling, and investment in support mechanisms within governmental and public structures. Suggestions for future research include examination of social capital associated with different networking structures, exploring gender in networking effects, and looking at the relationship between culture and networking. |
