PROMOTING ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY IN RURAL AREAS ON THE BASIS OF THE CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Ukraine’s rural territories are situated at a critical strategic juncture. The imperatives of post-war reconstruction, the acceleration of European integration, and the urgent necessity to overcome decades of depopulation and economic marginalisation necessitate a fundamental transformation in approaches to entrepreneurship stimulation – shifting from crisis-oriented measures toward ensuring long-term territorial competitiveness. This article addresses this challenge by analysing theoretical and methodological approaches to fostering entrepreneurial activity in rural regions through the lens of strategic perspective. The authors pose the question not only of what stimulates entrepreneurship today, but also of what establishes the structural foundations for sustainable rural development over a medium- to long-term horizon (five to fifteen years). The study systematises key theoretical frameworks – ecosystem, institutional, resource-based, cluster, place-based, community entrepreneurship development, and as-practice approaches – evaluating their strategic capacity to generate enduring competitive advantages for rural territories. Particular emphasis is placed on the ecosystem approach, which conceptualises the rural territory as an integrated environment where leadership, social infrastructure, digital networks, institutions, and natural capital function as mutually reinforcing strategic assets. The institutional approach is examined in terms of its potential to reduce transaction costs and establish legal certainty conducive to investment – conditions indispensable for post-war recovery. The place-based perspective highlights the necessity of territorially differentiated strategic support instruments to ensure effectiveness. Community entrepreneurship development is assessed as a conceptual framework for mobilising endogenous capital – human, social, natural, and institutional – toward collective strategic objectives. The findings demonstrate that stimulation measures are most effective when they are explicitly oriented toward strategic goals: enhancing export capacity, deepening value chains, attracting returnees, and integrating rural Ukraine into European networks of innovation and cooperation.