Government, SMEs and Entrepreneurship Development

In recent decades there has been substantial growth in the range of assistance programmes for SMEs and entrepreneurs across the world. Once regarded as peripheral to the economy and public policy, the significance of small firms and entrepreneurship has now been promoted to one of key importance in the economic and community development strategies of many nations. This has involved the development of specific dedicated government agencies and/or statutory authorities with a brief to promote SMEs; the creation of statutory advocates and ombudsmen for the sector; targeted finance schemes, soft loans, export finance and other financial support training and education schemes designed to foster enterprise, or to give new firm owner-managers sufficient business skills; particular programmes to support targeted groups; the creation of business advisory services; business incubators; and dedicated venture capital schemes. The contributions in Government, SMEs and Entrepreneurship Development will help policy-makers, economic development officers, administrators, elected officials, researchers and organisations doing business in the SME sector to better understand the issues involved in SMEs and entrepreneurship development. Drawing on experience from a wide range of countries, spanning both developed and emerging economies and examining a wide range of interventions, the book deals with strategies for small business development and entrepreneurship, the tools used to promote the small business sector, and methods of evaluating the effectiveness of interventions. Chapters by practitioners in businesses, enterprise development agencies and governments, as well as academics, are empirical or evidence-based and deal with both quantitative and qualitative approaches. They focus on the broad strategies that different governments and communities have adopted to foster enterprise development; the policy tools and instruments that can be used to promote small business and entrepreneurship; and on the outcomes of policy instruments and the methods used to evaluate interventions.