The purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of government regulation on small business performance outcomes. The received wisdom arising from previous studies often assumes a rather narrow view of regulation focussing on the burdens, costs and constraints that regulation imposes on...

The issue of regulation and its adverse impacts upon small businesses has been noted by several organisations (Better Regulation Task Force, 1999, 2000a, 2000b, 2001; Small Business Council 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004; Small Business Service, 2004a). The recent ICAEW report on the 2004 Enterprise Survey...

The government’s main objective in developing better regulation and policy is to reduce the regulatory burden on small businesses, particularly those which act as a barrier to start-up and growth, and improve the ability of small businesses to sell to the public sector.The purpose of this...