Another version of community size is the size of the local business network, measured by the number of businesses in the town {#BIZ}. The average number of businesses is 186, and no town has more than 425 businesses in total. The variable
{DISTANCE} is the miles from the centre of the town to the nearest metropolitan
area. The average was 53 miles, and no town was more than a drive of 1.5 h ( 93 miles)
from the nearest city. The eect of distance on a business’s success varies from business
to business ( positive or negative) because it can either insulate the business from
competition, or separate it from customers.