Abstract

This article presents the results of a recently completed study into the serious and potential legal problems that Dutch small and medium-sized enterprises face, the opponents they encounter and the legal service providers that they engage to deal with these problems. The study is based on two surveys among the 2,300 members of the SME panel of the EIM Business & Policy Research.

Highlights

  • The late CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, took Apple’s business very personally

  • A distinction is made between nine kinds of problems: problems relating to the payment for goods and services sold; problems relating to the quality, quantity and delivery time of goods and services sold; problems relating to working conditions, wages and the laying off of staff; problems relating to applying for permits; problems relating to taxes, customs and duties; problems relating to the payment for goods and services bought; problems relating to the quality, quantity and delivery time of goods and services bought; problems relating to environmental pollution, stench and noise; and other kinds of problems

  • In the case of potential legal problems (Table 17), 12.4% of all small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) engaged the services of a lawyer, followed by 8.9% that engaged the services of a collection agency, 8.5% that engaged the services of a judge and went to court, and 7.0% that engaged the services of a court bailiff

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Summary

Introduction

The late CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, took Apple’s business very personally. Walter Isaacson, Jobs’ biographer, relates in his book how this exceptionally influential innovator of the computer and communications industry never got over his anger when Microsoft’s Bill Gates, with whom he was working at the time to develop software for Apple’s Macintosh computer, copied the basic ideas of the Macintosh graphical user interface – with windows, icons and point-and-click navigation – and turned it into Windows. Since the American Bar Association conducted a survey on the legal needs of American citizens in 19946 a wealth of information has been gathered worldwide on the problems that citizens face and the ways they chose to deal with them.[7] this is not yet the case when it comes to the different kinds of problems that companies face when doing business. The literature on this topic is sketchy at best, which is quite remarkable when one considers the amounts of money involved. The thirteenth and concluding section will draw attention to some similarities and dissimilarities between the Dutch study and the other previously introduced empirical studies

Companies on their paths to justice
SMEs in the Netherlands
Incidence and frequency of serious problems
Incidence and frequency of potential legal problems
Opposing parties
Relationships between serious and potential legal problems
Engaging legal assistance in case of serious and potential legal problems
10. Legal services not engaged
11. Customary termination of problems
12. Experiences with legal service providers
Findings
13. Discussion

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