Abstract:

The capability to evaluate the potential impacts of business models is a relevant activity that it is generally addressed through the development of a Business Plan (BP). Unfortunately, many of the assumptions in a BP are based on expectations that follow a “linear” approach, without considering the various interdependencies that constitute an intrinsic characteristic of all organizations (be they just “simple” startups or more complex and bigger companies) and that indeed make space for counterintuitive behaviours the way businesses are able (or not) to achieve their objectives following their expectations (or mental models). The capability to Think in Systems and the ability to create System Dynamics simulation models may help overcome this problem and can enhance the possibility to evaluate (through scenario identification and evaluation) the performance behaviour over time of a business. The rural environment is no exception, rather it constitutes an field in which the possibility to evaluate ex-ante the viability of a specific business is of great value to old and young entrepreneurs. In this context, the OREN Erasmus+ Project aims at empowering rural entrepreneurship by training them in setting up Business Prototypes and Business Plans as SD models and simulate them so to evaluate their potential outcomes over time, hence adapting the business plan to the unexpected situations that may arise during the simulation (a protected risk-free environment).
On the more traditional side, OREN's approach is to analyse the current situation by means of both desk- and field- research. The analysis so far has led to the identification of the main challenges a rural entrepreneur faces, as well as the main success factors that may support him. Unsurprisingly, this resulted in a) lack of workforce expertise, b) lack of management training, and c) socio-economic background being the main challenges, 1) Networking skills, 2) Management skills, 3) Planning and operational skills, and 4) Communication skills being the main success factors.

Keywords:

Systems Thinking, System Dynamics, Business Prototyping, Business Models, Impacts Evaluation.