Small enterprises, fungibility and Indonesian rural family livelihood strategies.

One critical aspect of the study of rural development involves the contribution of non–farm employment. In light of the need for employment creation and income expansion, the analysis of small businesses and home enterprises has been understudied. The current paper focuses on these activities in a spatially differentiated sample of transmigrant households from South Sumatra, Indonesia. An overriding objective is the deeper understanding of enterprise activities in terms of economic, social and contextual variables. Statistical inference is used to draw out relationships which contribute to the body of knowledge on enterprises and entrepreneurs in the developing world. In addition qualitative analyses of business experiences are presented using a case study approach with information derived from in–depth household interviews. In this regard the family mode of production is used as a theoretical tool to gain insight and seek more generalisation on the Lipton defined concept of ‘fungibility’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]