New and small firms in the U.K.: an analysis of the policy process

This study examines new and small firms policy, specifically of the present government, from a policy process viewpoint. This disaggregates the decision-making process into three stages: formulation, implementation and evaluation. The analysis of policy displays how the conceptualisation of the economic system is translated into policy formulation and thence implementation. The internal logic of these two stages is examined, and anomalies are identified in these and in the transmission of policy between them. Performance evaluation, examining the efficacy of current measures, produces conflicting evidence, but this is partially explained by the undermining of both the assumptions and aims of the policy. Finally, criticisms of the policy are highlighted and further avenues of interest are suggested.