PurposePublic policies provide a way for governments to influence the effectiveness of business strategies in the international marketplace. The main goal of this article is to show the importance of key aspects for policymaking at the national level and, secondly, to try to evaluate if public policies and programmes are effective in the entrepreneurship and internationalization of firms.Design/methodology/approachThe Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data set was used to perform a multivariate analysis through multiple linear regression.FindingsThe economic and financial crisis that has plagued the world recently has incentivized entrepreneurs to be more creative and encouraged policymakers to be more effective in the important role they can play in economic growth. Thus, the findings indicate that government support can help firms be more entrepreneurial and increase their level of internationalization in the marketplace. The findings indicate that entrepreneurship is an important growth factor, so it is important to understand government support can be effective in stimulating business activity.Research limitations/implicationsThis study focusses on perceptions of government policy based on the GEM database, which means it is limited to subjective assessments rather than objective measures.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study will help business managers focus on their country of origin as a way to stress the impact of government policies on reputation in the international marketplace.Social implicationsGovernments need to acknowledge how their entrepreneurial policies regarding innovation and internationalization affect business success rate. This means emphasizing the trustworthiness and credibility of their policies.Originality/valueThis article highlights the need for more entrepreneurial policymaking that emphasizes government reputational affects in the success rate of firms in the international marketplace. This provides a way for firms to gain better recognition from country-of-origin effects but also for policymakers to prioritize international strategic efforts. By comparing data from different countries, the article highlights the different ways government policy can be utilized strategically in order to increase entrepreneurship and internationalization rates.