Intersections between policy and institutions: a focus on enterprise growth in Swaziland

Abstract

PurposePublic policy supported by effective institutions is one of the key strategies for promoting entrepreneurial activities. However, the problem is that an enabling environment that supports entrepreneurship is often lacking in several African countries. The aim of this article is to deepen our understanding of the mix of policy and institutional factors which create an enabling environment for enterprise growth in Swaziland.Design/methodology/approachPrimary data are sourced from 200 enterprises across Swaziland's main regions and hypotheses are statistically tested using correlational and regression analyses.FindingsResults show that a mix of different institutional and state support factors such as access to markets, education and training, access to finance, contract enforcement, regulations and business support programmes all have a significant and positive impact on enterprise growth.Research limitations/implicationsStudy implications relate to the need for specific and targeted policy interventions required to foster an enabling environment in order to stimulate enterprise growth in Swaziland.Originality/valueEmpirical investigations on enterprise growth in under-researched developing market contexts, such as Swaziland, are important since in many developing and emerging markets small enterprises are at the epicentre of the economy Moreover, this study adds to the stream of research highlighting that the application of institutional theory provides a detailed theoretical understanding of the actors and the process by which enterprise policy is formulated.

Factors affecting farmers’ entrepreneurial action at Etunda Green scheme project, Namibia

“…The primary research tool used for data collection for this paper was a structured questionnaire. Supported by researchers (Urban & Dlamini, 2020); (Arabi & Abdalla, 2020) Policy environment as an enabler was measured by 6 elements, Finance as a key resource that increase the likelihood of starting a new business was measured by 4 elements (Demirdag & Eraydin, 2021); (Arabi & Abdalla, 2020); (Abubakar, 2015) and business support services was measured by 5 elements (Mazzarol, 2014); (Arabi & Abdalla, 2020) (Brown , Mawsonb, Lee,, & Petersona, 2019). A total of 4 elements measured the construct of Market environment (Abubakar, 2015); (Arabi & Abdalla, 2020); (Kshetri, 2014).…”

“…Infrastructure was measured by 6 elements all supported by scholars (Kibler, 2013) (Kumar & Borbora, 2019); (Verheul, Wennekers, Audretsch, & Thurik, 2002). As a stimulator of entrepreneurial activities, Human Capital was measured by 4 elements (Demirdag & Eraydin, 2021); (Dvoulety & Mares, 2016) (Urban & Dlamini, 2020). Finally, a total of 8 elements measured the General business environment (Ding & Abetti, 2003); (Demirdag & Eraydin, 2021) (Arabi & Abdalla, 2020).…”

“…Findings from this study revealed that the majority of SSIF are currently experiencing severe, major and moderate obstacles concerning the element of market environment such as access to domestic markets, access to international markets as well as availability of market information. According to Urban and Dlamini (2020) access to a market is a key driver of entrepreneurship growth as it can increase competition, lower prices and maintain pressure on suppliers and producers and keep them innovative and efficient (Herrington, Kew, & Mwanga, 2017). The literature shows that one of the critical impediments to the growth of an enterprise is access to markets (Urban & Hwindingwi, 2017).…”

The impact of local government economic development programs on city-level entrepreneurial activity: evidence from Southern California

“…Traditional theories of public administration and regulation see government agencies playing a primary role in institutions. This continues at the national level; however, recent studies highlight institutional elements separate from government, especially in the context of entrepreneurship (da Cunha and Arvate, 2021; Tuszynski and Stansel, 2018; Urban and Dlamini, 2020) and regional and local economic development, where government agencies participate within and facilitate economic and entrepreneurial ecosystems alongside other actors (Bramwell et al. , 2019; Jolley and Pittaway, 2019; von Bloh, 2021; Walsh, 2019).…”

Perceptions on effectiveness of public policies supporting entrepreneurship and internationalization

“…At each stage, the entrepreneur encounters different obstacles and challenges and requires specific resources to suit the emerging contexts (Jolley and Pittaway, 2019). Therefore, governments can develop public policies that take into account the particularities of each stage of the entrepreneurial process in order to influence firm performance (Urban and Dlamini, 2020).…”