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Cutting Red Tape – Legal and Institutional Tools to Promote SMEs Cover

Cutting Red Tape – Legal and Institutional Tools to Promote SMEs

DANUBE
Volume 11 (2020): Issue 3 (September 2020)
By: ,  ,   and    
Open Access
|Oct 2020
Figures & tables

Figures & Tables

Figure 1

Red tape reduction at the intersection of contemporary concepts

Source: Kovač and Sever (2016)

Table 1

SMEs at the EU and national level

Type of enterpriseNumber of employeesAnnual turnoverAnnual balance sheet total
Medium-sized enterpriseEU: < 250
Slovenia: < 250		EU: ≤ €50 mill.
Slovenia: ≤ €40 mill.		EU: ≤ €43 mill.
Slovenia: ≤ €20 mill.
Small-sized enterpriseEU: < 50
Slovenia: < 50		EU: ≤ €10 mill.
Slovenia: ≤ €8 mill.		EU: ≤ €10 mill.
Slovenia: ≤ €4 mill.
Micro enterpriseEU: < 10
Slovenia: < 10		EU: ≤ €2 mill.
Slovenia: ≤ €0.7 mill.		EU: ≤ €2 mill.
Slovenia: ≤ €0.35 mill.

[i] Source: European Commission (2003); Companies Act (2006 and amendments)

Table 2

Key areas relevant for a business-friendly environment

Key (administrative) areas
Doing Business by the World Bank (research Focus is on: procedure, time & cost)Research performed on SMEs, 2016–2017 (research focus is on the RTR perception by SMEs)

  1. starting a business;

  2. dealing with construction permits;

  3. getting electricity;

  4. registering property;

  5. getting credit;

  6. protecting minority investors;

  7. paying taxes;

  8. trading across borders;

  9. enforcing contracts; and

  10. resolving insolvency.

  1. sectoral regulation;

  2. employees;

  3. payment of public duties;

  4. accounting;

  5. inspections;

  6. construction permits; and

  7. (re)establishing an enterprise.

[i] Source: Doing Business (2016, 2017, 2020); and own (2017)

Table 3

Ranking of key administrative areas

Administrative area perceived as an area loaded with administrative burdens (N=689)Administrative area perceived as an area loaded with administrative barriers (N=675)
RankAreaShareAreaShare
1payment of public duties53%payment of public duties45%
2accounting46%accounting38%
3inspections27%employees29%
4employees25%inspections29%
5construction permits22%construction permits20%
6(re)establishing an enterprise5%(re)establishing an enterprise9%

[i] Source: own (2017)

Figure 2

The extent of administrative barriers within individual areas – overview

Source: own (2017)

Figure 3

Administrative barriers identified by the SMEs in the selected areas

Source: own (2017)

Figure 4

Solutions identified for reducing red tape in the selected areas

Source: own (2017)

Table 4

Spearman’s correlation coefficients between solutions for reducing administrative barriers and the perceived extent of administrative barriers in individual areas

Greater stability of sectoral legislationChange in sectoral legislation with deregulationChange in sectoral legislation with procedural simplificationIntroduction of extra e-administrative services & development of the existing onesOrganizational merging of the bodies to achieve uniform relation with the partiesDevelopment of public officials’ solutions-oriented attitude
Dealing with the employees0.134** (N=458)0.151** (N=455)0.076 (N=455)0.015 (N=450)0.019 (N=450)−0.002 (N=451)
Taxes and other contributions0.051 (N=462)0.099* (N=461)0.093* (N=461)0.013 (N=451)0.073 (N=451)0.059 (N=454)
Accounting and financial reports0.095* (N=457)0.123** (N=456)0.122** (N=456)0.053 (N=448)0.121* (N=449)0.079 (N=450)
Inspection and control procedures0.166*** (N=444)0.132** (N=444)0.063 (N=444)0.018 (N=437)0.059 (N=437)0.096* (N=439)
Construction and similar permits0.201*** (N=407)0.127* (N=407)0.078 (N=409)−0.053 (N=402)0.078 (N=405)0.143** (N=406)
(Re)establishment of an enterprise0.116* (N=414)0.179*** (N=412)0.069 (N=415)−0.062 (N=409)0.044 (N=410)0.093 (N=411)

Note:

* p < 0.05;

** p < 0.01;

*** p < 0.001

Source: own (2017)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/danb-2020-0011 | Journal eISSN: 1804-8285 | Journal ISSN: 1804-6746 (formerly 1804-8285)
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Language: English
Page range: 195 - 213
Published on: Oct 17, 2020
Published by: European Research University
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Keywords:
Red Tape Reduction,
Administrative Burden,
Doing Business,
SMEs,
Stakeholders’ Perception,
Slovenia
Related subjects:
Business and economics,
Political economics,
Macroeconomics,
Economic policy,
Law,
European law,
European law, other,
Law, other

© 2020 Tina Sever, Dejan Ravšelj, Aleksander Aristovnik, Polonca Kovač, published by European Research University
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Volume 11 (2020): Issue 3 (September 2020)
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