What is Small Business Policy in the UK for? Evaluation and Assessing Small Business Policies

Abstract

PROFESSORJAMES CURRAN IS EMERITUS professor at Kingston University, England, and was formerly director of its Small Business Research Centre. Since 1980 the United Kingdom small business population has increased greatly. Small businesses have also acquired a key role in UK economic policies paralleled by a huge development in support structures to promote them. Despite broad rhetorical claims that policies and support help develop a strong enterprise culture and promote UK economic prosperity, the precise outcomes of these policies have been difficult to pin down. As policies developed over the twenty years, the evaluation of their achievements has also proved difficult because of methodological problems. This paper examines the problems of evaluating small business policies and support and draws out some key implications for their future in the UK It concludes that even allowing for the problems of evaluation, one of the best and clearest supported findings is of poor take-up of the support offered. In other words, although small businesses have become much more important in the UK economy, it is unlikely that this has been due to state intervention. Because of the well-entrenched unanimity on the value of small business support in the UK, little attention has been given to whether the support represents good value for public money. Small and medium-sized businesses now account for well over half of business turnover and jobs in the UK. Not only can there be doubts about whether the policies and support are cost effective but more importantly, the question can be asked whether such policies are needed at all any more.