How can municipalities in Central Europe create favourable conditions for local business? What and how can municipalities learn from each other? How can each individual in the local area contribute? And what requirements have to be met before know-how can successfully be transferred on a communal level? To answer all these questions, the authors of this book draw on results from a six-year research programme and comprehensively discuss the manifold opportunities, restrictions and prerequisites of establishing favourable conditions for small and medium enterprises in rural municipalities in Central Europe.