Coordinating technology introduction and entrepreneurial activities in rural areas

The main purpose of this research is to investigate how technology introduction projects in rural areas should be coordinated in order to achieve local economic development and the role of social capital and entrepreneurial activities.Characteristics of three approaches were considered including top-down conventional coordination, Communities of Practice (CoP) and social entrepreneurship. Previous literature suggests the last two methods can lead to increased bridging social capital, which generates relationship between social and commercial entrepreneurship. By qualitatively researching two successful case studies in Indonesia, it was found that for a top-down approach using CoP elements, bridging social capital was developed leading to both profit and non-profit entrepreneurial activities. However, the reverse was also found, even though it was less obvious. For a top down approach with a local leader functioning as a social entrepreneur, bridging social capital was also developed leading to both profit and non-profit entrepreneurial activities.