Instrumental value of cultural heritage as a promoter of sme in rural territories

Abstract

The modern world is characterised by two trends: globalisation and accentuation of cultural heritage, which are quite closely interrelated. The more the similar features become apparent under globalisation, the more people tend to show their local distinctions. At the same time, a distinctive feature caused by causal relationships may be observed as well: owing to the interaction of the mentioned trends, favourable conditions emerge for the development of small entrepreneurship and crafts. The authors conducted a survey of young individuals (aged 15-24) in Poland (n=200), Lithuania (n=100) and Latvia (n=174) and came to a conclusion that the demand for the instrumental value of cultural heritage might be assumed as one of the factors promoting small entrepreneurship and crafts, to a greater or smaller extent, in all the countries involved in the present research.