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Strategies to Revitalize Rural America It might also be possible to use electronic commerce to link several small communities together in a single larger market that can support small businesses that otherwise would not be feasible. For example, some have proposed that retail and service businesses in a county or multi -county region link together on a single web - site where customers could go to find any good or service available in the area Perhaps the greatest opportunities for rural small enterprises to expand their markets lie in regional metro- politan centers. Rural areas have traditionally looked to large businesses in such centers to move a factory or call center into a rural community. Perhaps instead, we should look to such businesses as a market for goods and business services provided by rural small businesses. Increasingly large businesses are "out sourcing" — focusing on the things they do best while contracting with outside businesses for other goods and services. In Italy, small rural manufacturers have long worked through established networks to gain contracts to pro- vide "out sourced" components to large Italian corporations based in metropolitan areas. These networks have provided a ready conduit for large companies to gain bids and contracts from many small rural manu- facturing businesses — typically operating 10- person shops. The networks made it possible for small manu- facturing firms to flourish in rural Italy by producing components for larger companies. The Italian networks of small rural manufacturers may provide some lessons for rural small business here, though the opportunities of today are probably not focused in traditional manufacturing. There are opportuni- ties in crafts and specialty manufacturing, and in providing business services to metropolitan businesses. For example, Joy Marshall operates a service business called Performance Planners out of Arthur in the Ne- braska Sandhills. It provides assistance in planning and organizing meetings to businesses in Omaha, Lincoln and across the state. But it's hard for rural businesses to market to metropolitan businesses without established networks for doing so. To overcome that, perhaps consortia sponsored by both large metropolitan businesses and small rural businesses should be formed to help them do business together. Alternatively, rural small businesses within a region could form cooperatives to market goods and services to metropolitan businesses in their region. Small entrepreneurship is one of the most promising strategies for creating genuine opportunity in rural com- munities. But whether it reaches its full potential depends on whether more communities embrace it and pub- lic policy support it. More government funding of small business development programs will be needed if all rural communities are to be served. And tax and business incentives programs now focused on large employers must be modi- fied to provide support and incentives for small business development, as we discussed in our December Newsletter feature on creating a National Rural Policy. Page 6