La dynamique spatio-économique contemporaine ou recentrage spatial du développement au Québec

Au Québec, les pôles primaires, secondaires et tertiaires identifiés en 1966 ont servi de base pour établir un modèle descriptif et normatif de l’organisation spatiale. La hiérarchie de centres urbains alors établie devait en principe supporter le drainage, la transformation et la diffusion des facteurs du développement. Trente ans après cette interprétation qui a soutenu l’initiation de politiques publiques dans le cadre d’une stratégie de polarisation en des lieux ciblés, on constate que le développement socio-économique n’est pas tout à fait conforme au modèle initial. L’agglomération de Montréal n’est pas à la hauteur de son rôle moteur. La plupart des centres intermédiaires stagnent. Par contre, certains lieux et certains territoires s’affirment fortement. De nouveaux pôles émergent. Et des corridors de développement se dessinent hors de l’axe traditionnel du Saint-Laurent. Finalement, le Québec assiste à un phénomène de recentrage spatial de son développement socio-économique. Ce qui nous amène à préciser que la dynamique spatiale québécoise nécessite une nouvelle modélisation pour laquelle ce texte offre une modeste contribution.<br>In Quebec, a hierarchy of development poles identified formally in 1966 has been the base for establishing a descriptive and prescriptive model of spatial organization. With Montreal as the main pole, those urban centers may drain, transform and diffuse development factors. After thirty years of public policies based on development pole strategy pointing on specific urban centers, socio-economic development doesn’t really conform the initial model. The great Montreal doesn’t perform as it should. Many intermediate centers are stagnants. But some centers and areas are strongly emerging. And development corridors are appearing outside the traditional Saint-Lawrence line. Finaly Quebec illustrates a phenonenon of spatial recentering of its socio-economic development. Those tendencies of the Quebec’s spatial dynamic points out the necessity for a new modeling for which this text offers its modest contribution

STAGES OF SMALL ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT: A COMPARISON OF CANADIAN FEMALE AND MALE ENTREPRENEURS

The explosive growth in the rate of new business formation by women has spurred renewed research interest in the area of female entrepreneurship and its related economic impact. Yet, there has been a dearth of research into the influence of gender on new venture formation and development. This study draws on data from the annual survey of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor to examine the differences between female and male entrepreneurs in the early stages of small enterprise development. The data was aggregated for the period 2002 through 2004, and consisted of 444 Canadian entrepreneurs: 164 females and 280 males.Gender differences are explored within the context of a variety of personal as well as business-related variables. Women entrepreneurs had a much greater propensity to have established a consumer or business services enterprise, and reported significantly lower income levels. In addition, they were less likely than their male counterparts to work full time at their business, to utilize new technology or to anticipate new business opportunities in the near term.In terms of the enterprise's stage of development, it was found that 62 percent of the enterprises operated by females were ‘nascent’ small firms, while 38 percent were ‘new;’ the respective proportions for males were 55 percent and 45 percent. The analysis revealed that the difference between genders on business-related variables strengthens as the firm evolves through the stages of development from nascent to new; however, there was mixed support for the corollary hypothesis that differences in personal characteristics and attitudes diminish during this progression: even for ventures that have reached the ‘new’ phase, personal variables continue to act as important discriminators between genders.The paper provides a discussion of the implications of these empirical findings, as well as some directions for future research.