THE BARRIERS AND OPPORTUNITIES TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL BUSINESS IN RURAL AREAS

Abstract

The study presenting and analysing the barriers and opportunities for small business development in rural areas of Poland and Lithuania.

The scientific problem – how to develop small business in rural areas and what kind of support measures would benefit business developers. Symmetric research in the form of a survey was conducted among 50 researchers-economists from the University of Agriculture in Krakow and in Aleksandras Stulginskis University in Kaunas. The aim of the study was to identify, evaluate and compare barriers and opportunities for small business development in rural areas of Lithuania and Poland and to propose effective incentives for such kinds of businesses.

The main barriers to the development of enterprises in Poland include high pension contributions and a complicated VAT paying system. In Lithuania it was indicated poor economic conditions in rural areas and related unemployment and poverty of some of their inhabitants. 

In Poland, huge opportunities for the development of entrepreneurship were perceived in the opening-up of eastern markets and support from the European Union’s funds. In Lithuania– in professional consulting and the use of aid from the EU.