Economic and social sustainability represent a major problem in the rural Midwest US. In recent decades, local economies lost numerous jobs and many businesses. The quality of life has eroded. The paper analyses the sustainability of the rural economy and identifies a strategy for reversing the downward economic and social spiral. The strategy, suggested by the analysis of responses to a survey administrated to over 900 businesses in rural Midwest, is to make a wireless infrastructure the key element of any plans for future development. Family and non-family businesses are compared from the point of view of new technology adoption.
read full article