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Beneath Canada's Northwest Territories lies a potential of 30 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Will a $16 billion gas‐pipeline bring prosperity or gloom? Will this bring employment opportunities for local people or will more qualified people be brought in from southern communities? The purpose of this paper is to give an account of what Dene residents of the Sahtu Region have to say about oil and gas development.

Starting in 2005, in‐depth interviews with people across the Sahtu Region are conducted.

Respondents recognise the short‐term advantages of building a pipeline, but they are concerned about the long‐term impact on the environment that currently ensures their livelihood.

This study begs for a longitudinal follow‐up.

Policy‐makers may benefit from knowing the feelings of their constituents.

This timely study reveals long‐term environmental and social impacts of short‐term development. This is especially important in a region where people believe that they have an obligation to the land upon which they live.

The purpose of this paper is to describe some effects of the economic policies implemented by the Guatemalan government on rural communities.

A comparison of the trends in corn prices over time between Guatemala and the USA was used to determine which year the impact of economic openness policies began. Then, changes in the area harvested of corn and other agricultural products and diet composition and consumption patterns over this time period were used to assess effects on rural communities.

The trend in Guatemala's corn price and the trend in the US's corn price are similar in the period from 1988 to 2005. There has been a reduction of in the area of corn harvested and an increase in the area harvested of other agricultural products for 1980‐2005. Also, it appears that there has been a change in the food energy consumption, food proteins source and caloric intake Guatemalans.

Field interviews are needed to examine in detail the specific adaptations communities have had.

Economic opening policies can have an effect on cultural elements, such as corn production and the diet.

This paper suggests that the economic openness policies started to show their effects at the end of 1980 affecting agricultural production and the diet of Guatemalans.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted 2005 as the Year of Microcredit, recognizing the link between inclusive financial systems and the economic development of those most at need. Microcredit, or more broadly microfinance (MF) has a role to play in facilitating growth through the provision of credit to entrepreneurs. Association Al Amana for the Promotion of Micro‐Enterprises Morocco (Al Amana) is an unusually successful microfinance institution (MFI) registered as a non‐profit organization in Morocco. Starting in 1997, with capital provided by USAID, it has grown to become the leading MFI within Morocco and the broader Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It has seen rapid growth in clients and assets while also reaching a level of financial sustainability uncommon among MFIs. Why has Al Amana been so successful? This paper will seek to examine this question, highlighting key internal and external factors that have contributed to this organization's success.

Further, this analysis will examine Al Amana within its regional enabling environment to highlight those critical issues within an entrepreneurial finance climate that are conducive to MF lending. Additional analysis of Al Amana includes a review of their portfolio, key financial indicators, and other bank strategies that have been instrumental in their financial growth and success. Lastly, the analysis will conclude with a discussion of the key factors that will become important to the sustainability and growth of this MFI as it serves the needs of entrepreneurs in Morocco. The methodology for the research consisted of a literature review of MFI activity in Morocco and the MENA region, an examination of key elements within the enabling environment, and a financial review of Al Amana and its key financial results.

The results of the research provide a case study of a successful MFI that is contributing to the development of entrepreneurs in its region. It will also highlight the specific organizational factors as well as key elements in the enabling environment that have facilitated the success of Al Amana.

The paper highlights the success of Al Amana in Morocco and presents some of the challenges facing the organization.

The Indonesian government has been trying to support the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country, as these enterprises are expected to play a crucial role not only for employment creation but also for GDP formation and export development. The paper aims to address the following three questions. First, are networks important for the development of SME clusters, especially for those involved in export activities? Second, in what type of clusters are networks well developed? Third, what is the role of government; does it also play as an important network for SME cluster development?

This paper is based on an ongoing research on the importance of networks in the development of export‐oriented SME clusters in Indonesia. Although the paper also discusses other important issues related to the development of SMEs in the country, i.e. constraints facing the enterprises and women entrepreneurs, the paper focuses on the importance of networks.

First, SMEs are of overwhelming importance to Indonesia because they account for more than 90 percent of all firms outside of the agricultural sector. Second, the main constraints faced by small entrepreneurs are, lack of finance and difficulties in marketing. Third, the representation of women entrepreneurs in Indonesia is still relatively low which can be attributed to various factors, e.g. low level of education and lack of training opportunities that make Indonesian women severely disadvantaged in both the economy and society. Finally, although in general Indonesia is not well represented with small and medium industrial clusters that feed into global commodity chains, some clusters have gradually become export‐oriented. Among many factors, well developed networks especially with traders, trading houses, and foreign tourists are indeed an important factor for their increasingly export activities. Even these agents have played more important role than supports from government for their successful export.

The paper examines the importance of networks for the export‐oriented SME clusters in Indonesia.

Entrepreneurship in developing countries is arguably the least studied significant economic and social phenomenon. Previous studies focused on describing the attributes of entrepreneurship rather than providing a framework, in which entrepreneurs and policy makers alike can rationally plan and execute innovative business models. Current issues facing Malaysian entrepreneurs include low level of technology, lack of innovation through research and development, low working capital, and of highly domestic orientations. This led to a lack of resilience and efficiency among the entrepreneurs, thus rendering them ill‐equipped to compete globally. This adverse scenario is increasingly apparent among Bumiputera (Native of Malaysia) entrepreneurs as the growth of entrepreneurial activity has not been in tandem with the pace of the overall development of the nation. Hence, this study seeks to identify factors leading to success and failure so that Bumiputera entrepreneurs can prevent failure by correcting problems, and appreciate what it takes to succeed. Ultimately, a framework of success is proposed as a comprehensive tool to enhance their survival in a competitive global economy.

A survey instrument was used, and a total of 1,500 Bumiputera entrepreneurs participated, covering all the states in Malaysia.

The findings confirmed that eight factors are vital to the success of Bumiputera entrepreneurs. In rank order of importance, these factors are advancement drive, achievement oriented, commitment, decision‐making ability, managing risk, tenacity, networking, and optimism. As for the factors leading to the failure of Bumiputera entrepreneurs, inability to compete, lack of competency and capital, customer‐related problems, employee‐related problems, unfavourable economic conditions, bureaucracy, supplier discrimination, and negative community attitudes were found to be crucial.

The paper develops a framework to aid the success of Bumiputera entrepreneurs in Malaysia.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of access to credit through micro‐credit institutions on entrepreneurial performance and assesses the loan performance of public credit schemes in Nigeria in order to determine the sustainability of such schemes.

The study employed qualitative approach and exploratory perspective, using primary and secondary data obtained at beneficiary and institutional levels.

The loan repayment rates were generally low for many of the schemes, and this confirms the problems of public sector lending, with implications for the sustainability of the schemes. Many reasons were given for the low repayment rates, among which were poor credit culture of the schemes managed by public sector and the attitudinal nature of Nigerians towards public funds.

There is a need for policy makers, researchers and entrepreneurs to improve on the designing of micro‐credit schemes in order to be sustainable.

This paper makes a first step towards comparing the performance of public and private micro‐credit schemes in Nigeria.

Online Information Meeting — 1978 London, December 5–7,1978. Following the successful meeting held in London last year and reported in the March 1978 issue of this journal, Online Review is sponsoring the 2nd International Online Meeting which will be held at the Commonwealth Institute in London, England on December 5–7, 1978.

Details of Some Components Used for Subsidiary Services in Aircraft, Missiles and Space Vehicles. The Spraymat ice protection system, developed and manufactured by the Luton Division of D. Napier and Son Ltd., has now achieved well over 15 million flying hours and is operating on forty different types of civil and military aircraft throughout the world.

The purity of the milk supply is intimately related to the health of the community. There are very definite reasons why milk stands apart from other foods in its peculiar liability to be associated with human disease. These reasons are briefly the following:—