Rural Business in an Urban Setting: Towards an Understanding Collaboration in a Community-Based Enterprise (CBE)

This research addresses the evolving and advancing role of community-based enterprises as a means of achieving not only more sustainable and competitive economies, but developing economies that address social needs in local communities. This research positions CBE’s as core entrepreneurial places in local communities that warrant attention given the contribution they make through their shared values, norms and beliefs in creating social value. Further, the context of this study concentrates on the food and beverage sector, increasingly challenged by a highly unsustainable food distribution system. Increasingly, it is becoming necessary to minimise food miles by reducing physical and social distance between producers and consumers, and so local community-based enterprises are viewed as a means to not only reducing environmental impacts, but also improving food safety and production transparency (Kim, 2011). Furthermore, local food distribution is economically viable for producers, consumers and communities, utilising ecological production, and ethical distribution practices. Numerous social values such as mutual trust, reciprocity, democracy and the sense of community are created through local CBE’s. Thus, it is critical that CBE’s receive attention from academia, policy-makers, support agencies and practitioners alike given their role in addressing global issues at a local level.