Failed Projects Applied by Firms Under the LEADER Programme. An Analysis for Andalusia

The LEADER approach adopts a bottom-up perspective in which different stakeholders (individuals, local organizations, public authorities, and firms) can participate and apply for projects in a rural context. Firms are key stakeholders when implementing local development strategies as their projects have a positive impact on growth and employment. The aim of this chapter is to examine the socio-economic factors influence the failure of those projects applied by firms under the period 2005–2017 in the Spanish region of Andalusia. First, we apply multivariate analysis to identify groups of operational areas of LAGs. Next, we examine the spatial distribution of these clusters across the Andalusian region as well as the distribution of failed projects across clusters. The results obtained reveal that the high failure rate of firms compared with other stakeholders can be explained, at least partially, by the existence of a poor productive structure and ageing, depopulation, and accessibility problems.