On the basis of historical evidence from
Italy, Putnam ( 1993: 37) claims that ‘social capital embodied in norms and networks
of civic engagement seems to be a precondition for economic development’. The social
capital model ( Coleman 1988) is that there is a positive relationship between the stock
of goodwill that businesses have within the community and their success.
Furthermore, a community’s vitality often depends on the vitality of the businesses
in town ( Flora et al. 1997) .