Many home-based businesses trade nationally and internationally, and are important actors in local economies. While some home-based businesses display growth potential, many seek to remain small in order to maintain the home location.
This work stream seeks to understand what is different about operating a business from home vis-à-vis operating a business from commercial premises.
- Do home-based businesses benefit from agglomeration externalities?
- How embedded are the owners and their businesses – locally and regionally?
- How do home-based businesses grow and where are they more likely to grow?
A particular focus lies on digital home-based businesses and the self-employed who use digital work platforms (e.g. Upwork and People Per Hour).
This work stream puts great emphasis on non-academic impact. In particular, we work with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and local authorities to raise awareness of home-based businesses and new types of working and make suggestions how to support these in practice at local and national scales.
- Reuschke, D. and Mason, C. (2020) The Engagement of Home-based Businesses in the Digital Economy. Futures. Open Access: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001632872030032X?via%3Dihub
- Houston, D. & Reuschke, D. (2017) City economies and microbusiness growth. Urban Studies. 11 Jan 2017, 1-19. Open access: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0042098016680520
- Reuschke D. and Houston, D. (2016) The importance of housing and neighbourhood resources for urban microbusinesses. European Planning Studies 24:6, 1216-1235. Open access: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09654313.2016.1168364
- Price V. and Reuschke D. (University of Southampton) Performance and innovation in women-owned home-based businesses. ERC WORKANDHOME Working Paper 4