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Studies have suggested that entrepreneurship is a key mechanism for rejuvenating and facilitating economic growth in deprived areas. To provide further understanding of the persistently low entrepreneurial intentions found in deprived areas this chapter identifies key mechanisms and theoretical frameworks that link the formation of appropriate human capital to the prevailing environment, and that influences may flow in both directions. This contributes to the existing literature to provide a fuller understanding of interest to policy-makers of why past interventions have struggled to boost entrepreneurial intentions and where new interventions may be most effective in generating more positive entrepreneurial intentions in deprived areas.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate to what extent urban regeneration programmes were targeted at the most deprived geographical areas and populations within the boundaries of nine local authorities (LAs) in the North West of England.

For each of the nine LAs, area‐level and individual survey data were used in estimating the proportions of the more deprived neighbourhoods and individuals included in (or excluded from) regeneration target populations after 1995.

The area‐level approach found that, in general, the more deprived neighbourhoods within local authority districts had been included in a main regeneration programme target area. However there was evidence of inconsistent coverage between LA areas, as well as some cases of very deprived local areas having no involvement at all in major regeneration programmes since 1995. Additional analysis of available survey data found that substantial numbers of residents with one or more individual indicators of deprivation (not in full‐time employment, not owning home, in difficult financial situation) had not been included in a regeneration target population.

The basic nature of the measures of regeneration and deprivation used in the study reflect its status as the first stage of a wider project investigating the association between regeneration activity, social exclusion and health.

The findings of the study highlight the requirement for evaluators of a regeneration programme to consider how successful the intervention has been in targeting those residents for whom it was initially designed. This should precede any measurement of the programme outputs and their impact upon the “well‐being” of the targeted community.

The study is original in its use of both aggregated and individual level data in its consideration of how regeneration targets “need”.

Government intervention has increasingly identified deprived communities as a key focus for enterprise support. The purpose of this paper is to examine attitudes and perceptions to enterprise support in a deprived community in the UK city of Leeds.

A survey of 142 entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs, and 18 follow‐up in‐depth interviews with entrepreneurs, were conducted with people living in the study area. The survey examined the entrepreneurial activity of members of the community, and usage of enterprise support.

The paper finds that certain forms of enterprise support in deprived communities may actually discourage entrepreneurship. Also, where entrepreneurial ventures are supported they tend to operate in activities relating to generic trades with low entry barriers, with many enterprises having little actual or perceived requirement for external support, with it being likely that these would have been established with or without support.

A potential limitation of the study is that it is restricted to a case study of deprived communities in one particular city.

Increased investment in the supply of enterprise support may not lead to increased levels of entrepreneurship, with support that aims to engage with people who have never considered starting a business, or do not have the skills required to launch and grow a venture, is unlikely to be cost‐effective given their low growth potential.

The results of the research are potentially applicable to other deprived communities, and provide lessons for policy relating to the promotion of entrepreneurship.

This paper analyses migrations at neighbourhood level in relation to the persistence of deprived neighbourhoods. The research is based on a sample of deprived neighbourhoods located in the inner-cities of Brussels and six Flemish cities. Their migration pattern was analysed and compared to a sample of middle-class neighbourhoods which are also located in the inner city. More than one million migration movements covering a period of 14 years (1986-1999) were analysed according to age, nationality and family composition. This was the first time that data of this kind were available for research in Belgium. The main findings hint at a migration pattern that perpetuates deprived neighbourhoods. Residents of these neighbourhoods move more often and over a shorter distance then their counterparts in the reference neighbourhoods. Residents of a deprived neighbourhood also tend to move to another deprived neighbourhood. A clear difference is noted between the Belgian population and migrant groups such as Moroccans and Turks. Groups that are weaker from a socio-economic perspective tend to stay much more within the circuit of deprived neighbour-hoods, hereby perpetuating their existence. We also noted that once their economic situation has improved, the strongest households move out of the neighbourhood, leaving the rest of the population ‘trapped‘ behind. The article closes with a set of policy recommendations.

This paper aims to evaluate whether early‐stage entrepreneurs and the established self‐employed in rural communities trade off‐the‐books and whether this tendency varies across deprived and affluent rural localities.

Face‐to‐face interviews were conducted with 350 households in both affluent and deprived rural communities in England.

In both the affluent and deprived rural communities surveyed, wholly legitimate enterprises represent just the tip of the iceberg. Beneath the surface is a large hidden enterprise culture of both registered businesses trading off‐the‐books and unregistered wholly off‐the‐books enterprises. However, the preponderance of both early‐stage entrepreneurs, as well as the established self‐employed to trade off‐the‐books is greater in deprived than affluent rural communities, intimating that deprived rural communities are perhaps relatively more enterprising and entrepreneurial than is currently recognised.

These findings are based on a small‐scale study of five English rural communities. Further studies are now required to evaluate whether similar findings are replicated elsewhere.

The paper reveals that legitimising the hidden enterprise culture in deprived rural communities could be an important but so far untapped means of promoting enterprise and economic development.

Evaluates the extent of informal entrepreneurship in rural communities and how this varies spatially.

Geographic information for the home address of the accident casualty is obtained from the home-address post-code for each casualty. This allows the STATS 19 data base, the UK police system for reporting accidents, for the former Lothian Region in Scotland, 1990 to 1992, to be linked to social and economic indicators in the 1991 UK census and to the corresponding digitised boundaries at the smallest census geographical level (Output Areas, OAs) and post-code sector level in Scotland. For each post-code sector Standardised Casualty Ratio (SCR) which is commonly used in epidemiology to study rare diseases is calculated from the ratio of the number of casualties observed to that expected in the area. Adjusted SCRs are calculated, they are the ratios of the numbers of casualties predicted by social and economic factors that are measured at the census using Poisson regression to the expected numbers. Empirical Bayes Estimates (EMEs) are applied to prevent the results from areas with small populations being shown as too extreme. Results from the analysis indicate that accident risk to residents from deprived areas is high compared with those from affluent areas. Finally maps that can be used to identify areas in Lothian where there is relatively high SCRs are presented.

“Food deserts” in British cities are partly the result of the expansion of multiple food retailing. New large stores force smaller stores to close down, thus depriving local residents of food shopping opportunities. Examines this proposition through an analysis of changes in consumer access to food shopping in Cardiff over the last 20 years. Shows that although accessibility scores have increased in Cardiff since 1980 they have increased at a faster rate in higher income areas. In a pocket of deprived areas accessibility has declined over the decade. Thus, there has been a polarisation effect with a widening gap in accessibility scores across the city.

The North of England characteristically has higher levels of alcohol‐related harm and higher levels of mental illness compared with the South. The purpose of this paper is to present observations on the use of services by people who have both alcohol and mental health problems to explore the equality and economic impact of services.

Inpatient hospital datasets as well as other NHS service datasets were examined to gather intelligence on alcohol and co‐occurring mental and behavioural disorders.

The study finds that there are high levels of dual diagnosis (DD) of alcohol and mental health in the North West with significantly higher rates in the more socially deprived areas and gap in access to services.

These health inequalities in relation to DD can only be demonstrated robustly for hospital inpatient admissions because other datasets currently provide intelligence only at larger geographies – such as Primary Care Trust – or by service provider.

Population surveys are useful to generate estimates of the prevalence of mental health issues in alcohol users which then reveal that there are greater inequalities in access to services in more deprived populations. Such valuable intelligence should be generated at the local level so that the most appropriate and the most cost effective services can be commissioned for the local population.

This is the first time that the economic cost of DD in the various services has been estimated.

Individuals living in areas of higher deprivation are more likely to have requested mental health treatment but are less likely to have received treatment or benefitted from it. Less is known about the extent of access equality and treatment outcomes for individuals with a long-term health condition who experience mental health difficulties. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the extent to which the neighbourhood Index of Multiple Deprivation predicted access to treatment, appointment attendance, treatment completion and clinical outcomes in a British health psychology clinic.

Retrospective data were used from 479 individuals referred to a health psychology clinic over 12 months. Clinical outcomes were measured using the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation – Outcome Measure. Patient data were linked with their neighbourhood Index of Multiple Deprivation decile. Data were analysed using correlation, linear regression and Fisher’s exact test.

There were no significant associations between deprivation and whether an individual attended assessment, attended treatment or completed treatment or between deprivation and patients’ clinical outcomes. Exploratory evidence indicated that individuals from higher deprivation neighbourhoods may be over-represented in clinic referrals, and individuals from lower deprivation neighbourhoods may be under-represented, compared with local population distribution estimates.

This evaluation provides insights into treatment outcomes and deprivation in those with physical health difficulties. Further evaluation using a larger sample and comparing referrals with local prevalence estimates of comorbid mental and physical health problems would enable greater confidence in the conclusion that no evidence of inequality on the basis of neighbourhood deprivation was found.

MAPNA Operation and Maintenance Company was established in 2003 to provide long-term services in the energy sector in Iran. This company delivered comprehensive solutions including operation and maintenance, overhaul and repair, commissioning, performance test and training in the fields of power and oil and gas. By 2021, the company had provided long-term operation and maintenance services in more than thirty power plants in Iran and had implemented more than 200 projects worth more than 300 million USD. MAPNA Operation and Maintenance Company believed that a sustainable and responsible management could be achieved through integrated management of the economic, social and environmental impacts of the business. This approach became more apparent when the company provided services countrywide, and they interacted with a wide range of stakeholders. In this context, efforts were made to create common values for both the organization and society. Some of the company’s long-term projects were in less developed areas of the country. One of the social issues in those regions was creating jobs for jobless people and preparing them to work in order to have a better life. The company policy in providing manpower for such projects was to employ indigenous manpower, training them and creating sustainable jobs for them. After hiring local workforce, the company provided professional and general training programs to improve their skills and knowledge. Also, the company was committed to prepare a healthy and safe work environment for employees to learn and comply with ethical and social norms and develop a sustainable environmental attitude by increasing the efficiency of using natural resources and controlling environmental pollution. Work-life balance programs were implemented to ensure a productive presence in the workplace and to maintain a healthy and meaningful family relationship for employees. This case aims to elaborate more on the challenges of the sustainable activities of the long-term projects that MAPNA Operation and Maintenance planned and implemented in terms of its corporate social responsibility and social entrepreneurship specifically in less developed areas.