Supporting rural businesses in the UK: changing government engagements in providing business support to businesses in the devolved nation of Scotland and England

This chapter discusses the role of public sector entrepreneurship in business support service delivery, using the example of supporting rural businesses in Scotland, UK. The discussions differentiate the role of public sector entrepreneurship into operational activities as civil-political service agent, economic facilitation and administration, and commercial market participation. Our conceptual considerations are illustrated with two case studies of rural business support provision and draw on four semi-structured research interviews with Scottish government business advisers and programme managers. Scotland's devolved status within the UK allows us to evaluate the evolving role of government funded business support services, highlighting the challenges occurring when the government acts as a commercial agent in the marketplace. We extend the generic roles of public sector entrepreneurship through their application to business support services and identify the additional role of ‘relationship management and expert facilitation’. The chapter contributes to the public sector entrepreneurship and business advice literature.