A Burden on Business? Reviewing the Evidence Base on Regulation and Small-Business Performance

Kitching, John

doi:10.1068/c0619

Cited by 73 publications

(101 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…In response, governments such as that of the United Kingdom, seek 'to reduce the number of unnecessary regulations that hold back businesses while ensuring that both workers and the public are protected' (Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), 2013). However, it is difficult to identify what effects regulations actually have or to link the mandates and prohibitions to particular business outcomes (Edwards et al, 2004;Kitching, 2006). Instead, it is necessary to adopt a more nuanced, dynamic understanding of regulation and SMEs.…”

Section: Literature Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Kitching et al (2013a) argue that 'there is no typical "small business effect" of regulation; outcomes vary over time, contingent on the agency of small businesses and their stakeholders' (p.7). Particular regulations, and how they are interpreted, will affect businesses in different ways owing to differences in firm size, age and sector (Arrowsmith et al, 2003;Hart and Blackburn, 2005;Morris et al, 2005) as well as to competitive conditions, degrees of regulatory enforcement and the responses of others in the firm's external and internal environments (Harris, 2000;Kitching, 2006). This creates a range of particular understandings of how given sets of regulations may apply to an organisation with owner-manager understanding often negotiated, drawing on a variety of sources such as external advisors, customers and employees (Kitching, 2006).…”

Section: The Regulatory Context Of Smesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such attempts have received particular attention in relation to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) (Kitching, 2006;Westrip, 1986) associated with the dominant political narrative of enterprise and business growth (Perren and Jennings, 2005). In this context, regulation is frequently considered as over-complicated, unnecessary and burdensome, with these problems falling disproportionately upon SMEs (Edwards et al, 2004;Young, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

‘You try to be a fair employer’: Regulation and employment relationships in medium-sized firms

Atkinson

Mallett

Wapshott

2014

International Small Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurs

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In this article, we explore the dynamic, indirect effects of employment regulation through a qualitative study of three medium-sized enterprises and their ongoing, everyday employment relationships. Whereas owner-manager prerogative is generally associated with informality in small and medium-sized enterprises, we identify instances of formal policies and procedures implemented in response to regulation being instrumental in exerting this prerogative. Furthermore, employees reinforced this process by making judgements regarding the employment relationship in terms of their perceived informal psychological contract rather than external regulatory obligations. This article extends understanding of dynamic, indirect regulatory effects in relation to the interplay of informality and formality within psychological contracts in medium-sized enterprises.

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Section: Literature Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Regulatory Context Of Smesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘You try to be a fair employer’: Regulation and employment relationships in medium-sized firms

Atkinson

Mallett

Wapshott

2014

International Small Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurs

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“…It has to be recognised, however, that other research using qualitative methodologies typically comes to rather different conclusions. For example, in terms of the relationship between compliance costs and business growth, quantitative studies tends to ignore the dynamic influence of regulation on business performance, or how regulation causes changes in business practices that, in turn, bring about changes in business performance (Kitching, 2006;SBRC, 2008).…”

Section: The Papersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Policy Support for SMEs

Blackburn¹,

Smallbone²

2011

Environ Plann C Gov Policy

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“…In response to this public awareness, some governments, for instance in the UK and Australia, accompany new tax legislation with some form of compliance cost impact statement. Although it seems appropriate to simplify the taxation system in order to decrease compliance costs, policy makers counterargue that taxes can be useful in reforming the economy (Gunz et al, 1995;Kitching, 2006). Environmental taxes, for example, can stimulate an evolution towards durable economic growth.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Survey of Tax Compliance Costs of Flemish SMEs: Magnitude and Determinants

Schoonjans

Cauwenberge

Reekmans

et al. 2011

Environ Plann C Gov Policy

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Introduction Researchers and practitioners interested in the tax burdens of companies almost exclusively focus on direct tax costs (eg, Slemrod, 2004; Vandenbussche et al, 2005). However, in addition to tax payments, companies are confronted with costs to comply with the tax legislation, and these costs can be significant. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are especially burdened by compliance costs as they often do not have in-house specialists to deal with the many bureaucratic and legal knowledge requirements (Gurd et al, 1998). In fact, tax compliance costs (TCCs) rank among the top burdens as perceived by SMEs (O'Reilly, 2005). For instance, for the UK Chittenden et al (1999) show that 25% of the total tax burden for small limited companies is related to self-reported costs of compliance. Despite heightened public and political sensitivity for TCCs, there are only a handful of empirical studies investigating this topic. With the intention of broadening the empirical evidence, we examine the TCCs of Belgian SMEs located in Flanders. To our knowledge we are the first to do so. As well as being characterized for its high tax rates on companies ö the Belgian total tax burden is as high as 58%öBelgium is a particularly interesting country to assess TCCs in the sense that it has a very complex tax system. There are no fewer than ninety-two different taxes imposed by the Belgian authorities (overview in appendix). This is a very high number compared with other countries. In the UK, for example, only twenty-two charges exist and in Australia fifty-six taxes are levied (PwC and Federation of Enterprises in Belgium, 2009). Moreover, new taxes are frequently introduced in Belgium and existing charges are often adjusted. This results in new compliance costs because of initial learning costs (Holtzman, 2007). Of the ninetytwo taxes imposed by the Belgian tax system, thirty-nine are taxes collected. Taxes collected are taxes such as employee social security contributions that are gathered and subsequently transferred to the government by a company. Contrary to taxes borne (eg corporate taxes), these taxes will not directly affect a firm's results. However, the taxes collected often generate the highest part of a company's compliance costs and thereby indirectly influence a company's bottom line. Firms act as subcontractors of

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A Burden on Business? Reviewing the Evidence Base on Regulation and Small-Business Performance

Cited by 73 publications

References 39 publications

‘You try to be a fair employer’: Regulation and employment relationships in medium-sized firms

‘You try to be a fair employer’: Regulation and employment relationships in medium-sized firms

Policy Support for SMEs

A Survey of Tax Compliance Costs of Flemish SMEs: Magnitude and Determinants

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