IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/entreg/v25y2013i5-6p521-540.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

SME policy implementation as a relational challenge

Author

Listed:
  • Miira Niska
  • Kari Mikko Vesala

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between actors, who implement the small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) policy, and entrepreneurs, who are the targets of the policy, by focusing on the question who is serving whose interests . The paper presents a case study conducted in one of the sub-regions in Finland. The data include individual interviews with 10 policy implementers and 19 small business entrepreneurs and two group discussions. The data are approached from the perspectives of discourse analysis and positioning theory. The results are further interpreted in terms of agent--principal relations. The results indicate that one relational challenge faced in the implementation of the SME policy is the proxy agency , in which both policy implementers and entrepreneurs position themselves as the principal and the other party as their agent. The proxy agency can be viewed as an interactional pitfall caused by the incompatible discourses of entrepreneurs and policy actors and the actor positions constructed with these discourses. Besides addressing the relational problems enabled by certain individual discourses, the paper also demonstrates how there is also a need to address the potential conflict that stems from the collision between discourses.

Suggested Citation

  • Miira Niska & Kari Mikko Vesala, 2013. "SME policy implementation as a relational challenge," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(5-6), pages 521-540, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:entreg:v:25:y:2013:i:5-6:p:521-540
    DOI: 10.1080/08985626.2013.798354
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/08985626.2013.798354
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/08985626.2013.798354?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David B. Audretsch & Isabel Grilo & A. Roy Thurik (ed.), 2007. "Handbook of Research on Entrepreneurship Policy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3856.
    2. Simon Bridge, 2010. "Rethinking Enterprise Policy," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-28983-3, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Norin Arshed & Colin Mason & Sara Carter, 2016. "Exploring the disconnect in policy implementation: A case of enterprise policy in England," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(8), pages 1582-1611, December.
    2. Renata Lisowska, 2016. "The Potential of Business Environment Institutions and the Support for the Development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises," Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, Centre for Strategic and International Entrepreneurship at the Cracow University of Economics., vol. 4(3), pages 85-101.
    3. Virva Salmivaara & Ewald Kibler, 2020. "“Rhetoric Mix†of Argumentations: How Policy Rhetoric Conveys Meaning of Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Development," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 44(4), pages 700-732, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. D.B. Audretsch & A.R. Thurik, 2010. "Unraveling the Shift to the Entrepreneurial Economy," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 10-080/3, Tinbergen Institute, revised 02 Apr 2011.
    2. Norin Arshed & Sara Carter & Colin Mason, 2014. "The ineffectiveness of entrepreneurship policy: is policy formulation to blame?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 639-659, October.
    3. Norin Arshed & Colin Mason & Sara Carter, 2016. "Exploring the disconnect in policy implementation: A case of enterprise policy in England," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(8), pages 1582-1611, December.
    4. Michael E. Cummings & Alan Gamlen, 2019. "Diaspora engagement institutions and venture investment activity in developing countries," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 2(4), pages 289-313, December.
    5. Magdalena M. Ulceluse & Martin Kahanec, 2017. "Does employment protection legislation promote immigrant self-employment?," Discussion Papers 46, Central European Labour Studies Institute (CELSI).
    6. Thomas Hellmann & Veikko Thiele, 2019. "Fostering Entrepreneurship: Promoting Founding or Funding?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(6), pages 2502-2521, June.
    7. Christina Theodoraki & Alexis Catanzaro, 2022. "Widening the borders of entrepreneurial ecosystem through the international lens," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 383-406, April.
    8. Alberto Arenal & Claudio Feijoo & Ana Moreno & Sergio Ramos & Cristina Armuña, 2021. "Entrepreneurship Policy Agenda in the European Union: A Text Mining Perspective," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 38(2), pages 243-271, March.
    9. Simone Scagnelli & Lorenzo Vasile & Mico Apostolov, 2019. "Survival Drivers Of Post-Incubated Start-Ups: The Effect Of Academic Governance," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(07), pages 1-20, October.
    10. Aleksandr Kokovikhin & Ekaterina Ogorodnikova & Dina Williams & Andrey Plakhin, 2017. "Institutional Factors in the Evaluation by the Entrepreneur of Municipality Investment Climate," Economy of region, Centre for Economic Security, Institute of Economics of Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, vol. 1(1), pages 80-92.
    11. Kim Hoe Looi & Jane E. Klobas, 2020. "Malaysian Regulative Institutional Context Moderating Entrepreneurs’ Export Intention," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 29(2), pages 395-427, September.
    12. Thurik, A. Roy & Carree, Martin A. & van Stel, André & Audretsch, David B., 2008. "Does self-employment reduce unemployment?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 673-686, November.
    13. Thurik, A.R., 2008. "Entrepreneurship, Economic Growth and Policy in Emerging Economies," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2008-060-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    14. Mayer-Haug, Katrin & Read, Stuart & Brinckmann, Jan & Dew, Nicholas & Grichnik, Dietmar, 2013. "Entrepreneurial talent and venture performance: A meta-analytic investigation of SMEs," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(6), pages 1251-1273.
    15. Patricia Herrera Kit & Jorge Iván Cuervo & Claudia Lugo Upegui, 2019. "El referencial de política pública: cuatro estudios de caso. Una aproximación desde Colombia," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Finanzas, Gobierno y Relaciones Internacionales, number 136, August.
    16. Rotger, Gabriel Pons & Gørtz, Mette & Storey, David J., 2012. "Assessing the effectiveness of guided preparation for new venture creation and performance: Theory and practice," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 506-521.
    17. Marta Gancarczyk, 2010. "System wsparcia dla przedsiębiorców - doświadczenia brytyjskie," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 5-6, pages 41-60.
    18. Michael Peneder, 2009. "The Meaning of Entrepreneurship: A Modular Concept," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 77-99, June.
    19. Asif Ali & Ashok Aima & Jaya Bhasin & Robert D. Hisrich, 2021. "Measuring Entrepreneurial Orientation in Developing Economies: Scale Development and Validation," Jindal Journal of Business Research, , vol. 10(2), pages 147-162, December.
    20. Robert Wapshott & Oliver Mallett, 2018. "Small and medium-sized enterprise policy: Designed to fail?," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 36(4), pages 750-772, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:entreg:v:25:y:2013:i:5-6:p:521-540. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/TEPN20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.