Oliver Mallett - A History of Enterprise Policy: Government, Small Business and Entrepreneurship

Governments in developed and developing economies have increasingly turned to entrepreneurship and small businesses for economic growth, dynamism and economic and social inclusion. Policies seeking to encourage, support or otherwise influence these forms of economic activity are varied but virtually omnipresent, recommended by organisations such as the OECD and World Bank and implemented by governments of many political ideologies. With a range of activities across government labelled as enterprise policy, it is vital to unpick the different policies, initiatives and interventions and to understand their development in order to subject them to scrutiny and evaluate the actions taken in the name of enterprise.

This book provides the first in-depth, historical analysis of enterprise policy in the UK. Successive UK governments have been particularly active, with the number of initiatives estimated recently at 3000 and expenditure reaching as high as 12bn, yet facing continuous criticisms for its use, value or relevance. This historical study of UK enterprise policy represents a case study of different forms of enterprise policy and how they have developed, or failed to develop, over time, contributing to understanding of government, small business and entrepreneurship. It will be of value to researchers, academics, policymakers, and students interested in the history of small business and entrepreneurship as well as standing as a history of a specific policy area and the ways in which policies involving many different areas of government develop over time.

Oliver Mallett in an associate professor in Work and Employment at the University of Stirling, Scotland. Olivers research interests relate to employment relationships in small businesses and to government and private sector support for small businesses.

Robert Wapshott is a senior lecturer in Entrepreneurship at the University of Sheffield, UK, where he is a member of the Centre for Regional Economic and Enterprise Development. Roberts research studies small businesses and entrepreneurship with a particular focus on small business management and on regulation.

Edited by Susan Marlow and Janine Swail
(University of Nottingham, UK)

This series extends the meaning and scope of entrepreneurship by capturing new research and enquiry on economic, social, cultural and personal value creation. Entrepreneurship as value creation represents the endeavours of innovative people and organisations in creative environments that open up opportunities for developing new products, new services, new firms and new forms of policy making in different environments seeking sustainable economic growth and social development. In setting this objective the series includes books which cover a diverse range of conceptual, empirical and scholarly topics that both inform the field and push the boundaries of entrepreneurship.

Enterprising Education in UK Higher Education
Challenges for Theory and Practice
Edited by Gary Mulholland and Jason Turner

Social Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics
Understanding the Contribution and Normative Ambivalence of Purpose-driven Venturing
Anica Zeyen and Markus Beckmann

Time, Space and Entrepreneurship
James O. Fiet

Entrepreneurship and Global Cities Diversity, Opportunity and Cosmopolitanism
Edited by Nikolai Mouraviev and Nada K. Kakabadse

A History of Enterprise Policy
Government, Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Oliver Mallett and Robert Wapshott

For more information about this series please visit: www.routledge.com/Routledge-Studies-in-Entrepreneurship/book-series/RSE

Government, Small Business and Entrepreneurship

Oliver Mallett and Robert Wapshott

First published 2020
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2020 Taylor & Francis

The right of Oliver Mallett and Robert Wapshott to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
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ISBN: 978-1-138-33730-5 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-429-44248-3 (ebk)

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