Entrepreneurial Dynamics in Peripheral Territories: A Theoretical Analysis of Morocco's Southern Provinces

Abstract

The importance of entrepreneurship to economic growth, innovation, competitiveness, and sustainability is clear. While many studies have analysed entrepreneurial processes in developed cities and regions, few have investigated entrepreneurial dynamics in economically peripheral regions that are characterized by isolation, thin markets, and structural challenges. This research seeks to build a robust and flexible analytic framework to study entrepreneurial dynamics in the Southern Provinces of Morocco, a strategically important region that is undergoing rapid public investment and infrastructure-led socioeconomic transformation and regional integration.

This research is primarily conceptual. It draws from the literature of entrepreneurship and regional development, and employs an innovative synthesis of Opportunity Theory, Resource Mobilization Theory, Human Capital Theory, and Social Capital Theory. The analysis demonstrates the significance of human and social capital, combined with regional and entrepreneurial networking as important variables determining entrepreneurial dynamic in peripheral regions.

The dynamic framework outlined here argues that entrepreneurial development is a function of an individual's social and regional capital and networking structures. Collectively, these elements enable the individual to recognize and/or create opportunities, and/or innovate and/or generate sustained economic return. The framework also articulates that the entrepreneurial dynamic of a region is a determinant of the level of both regional resilience and sustainable development, and of the diversity and complexity of the regional economy, the level of innovation, and the growth and development of enterprises.

This research will add to the limited body of work on regional entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial ecosystems in peripheral areas, focusing specifically on the Southern Provinces of Morocco. It broadens confined concepts of entrepreneurship by embedding context and community within individual outcomes and entrepreneurial activities. In addition to that, the study formulates a theory to anchor future empirical research endeavours and to spatially-target policies that strengthen entrepreneurial ecosystems and sustainably develop isolated peripheries.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurial Dynamics; Territorial Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurial Ecosystems; Human Capital; Social Capital; Territorial Embeddedness; Entrepreneurial Networks; Peripheral Territories; Morocco’s Southern Provinces; Territorial Resilience; Sustainable Regional Development.

Received Date: April 21, 2026

Accepted Date: May 12, 2026

Published Date: June 01, 2026

Available Online at: https://www.ijsrisjournal.com/index.php/ojsfiles/article/view/710