中山間地域のコミュニティ・ビジネスにおける事業ネットワークの特徴

抄録

This study focuses on characteristics of business networks in rural community businesses (CBs) in hilly and mountainous areas. We analyze the sweet potato community business in Iinan-cho, Shimane Prefecture, as a case study. Our key results are as follows: (1) The CB main company focuses on the promotion of production with stakeholders (SHs), such as building a system that allows rural employees to work throughout the year. (2) It expands business by securing new SHs from the existing network and its management resources. (3) Rural leaders play a central role in building business networks. In CBs in hilly and mountainous areas, it is important to have a mechanism that maximizes rural leaders’ abilities.