Policy Making for
Entrepreneurship:
What’s Missing?
Anders Hoffmann, Ph.D.
Creative Director, FORA –
Centre for Economic and
Business Research
Danish Ministry of Economic
And Business Affairs
The Vision for our International Consortium
for Dynamic Entrepreneurship Benchmarking
> The consortium should not produce data but be a
critical demander and buyer of data from
respectable sources
...because without data you are just another
person with an opinion
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The existing data gaps?
> The International Consortium for Dynamic
Entrepreneurship Benchmarking have collected a
series of indicators
> 4 performance indicators
> 62 business environment indicators
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Gatekeeper Requirements for each Indicator
Relevant
An indicator must measure the issue or factor it is supposed
to measure and, therefore, at a minimum act as a proxy for
the measured concept.
Accurate
The indicator must originate from a reliable source, i.e.
from a well-known, verifiable and well-documented
source.
The method for collecting data must also be
standardised to some extent across countries in order
to increase cross-country comparability based on the
indicator.
Available
The indicator must be available for at least 50 percent of
countries in the study.
Coherent
The indicator must be interpretable a priori as to whether a
high value is to be preferred over a lower value or the other
way around.
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The quality is assessed
> Quality is defined as “fitness for use” in terms of
user needs (OECD, 2003)
> We define quality in three dimensions:
> Relevance,
> accuracy and
> availability.
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Assessment of Relevance (1 dimension)
The Indicator’s
Proximity to the
Framework Condition
it is Supposed to
Measure
Mark
Direct Measure
Proxy Measure
A
B
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Assessment of Relevance (2 dimension)
Policy initiatives’
impact on indicator
Mark
Direct impact
Indirect impact
A
B
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Assessment of Accuracy (1 dimension)
Data
Collection
Method
Mark
Very good
Good
Acceptable
A
B
C
> Very good: the indicator originates from national statistical
offices or international government institutions; or the indicator
stems from a fact-based survey.
> Good: the indicator comes from an action-based survey.
> Acceptable: the indicator comes from an opinion-based survey.
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Assessment of Accuracy (2 dimension)
The indicator is
Cross-country
Comparable
Mark
Fully comparable
Comparable to
some extent
A
B
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Assessment of Availability (1 dimension)
The share of OECD
countries for which
the indicator is
available
Mark
100 – 76 %
75 - 50 %
A
B
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Assessment of Availability (2 dimension)
The indicator is
available beyond the
initial benchmark
year
Mark
Yes
No
A
B
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Overall Evaluation
Name of
indicator
Mark
Good
Acceptable
Questionable
A
B
C
> Good (A): at least 5 As and no Cs
> Acceptable (B): at least 3 As and no Cs
> Questionable (C): less than 3 As or one or more Cs.
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Total measure of the business environment for entreprenurship
ctors affecting
ntrepreneurial
performance
y arears affecting
trepreneurial
performance
Opportunities
Capital
Ability
Incentives
Motivation/Culture
Entry Barriers/
Deregulation
3 indicators
Loans
7 indicators
Trad. Business
Education
1 indicator
Personal
Income tax
2 indicators
Entrepreneurial
Motivation
6 indicators
Access to foreign
Markets
3 indicators
Wealth &
bequest tax
3 indicators
Entrepreneurship
Education
2 indicators
Business tax &
Fiscal incentive
2 incicators
Initiatives towards
Specific groups
Technology
Transfer
2 indicators
Business Angels
Restart
Posibilities
1 indicator
Social security
discrimination
Communication
About heroes
Private demand
conditions
Venture capital
2 indicators
Entrepreneurship
Infrastructure
(public)
1 indicator
Administrative
Burdens
9 indicators
Procurement
Regulation
1 indicator
Capital taxes
5 indicators
Entrepreneurship
Infrastructure
(private)
Laubor market
Regulation
6 indicators
Stock markets
5 indicators
Bankruptcy
Legislation
3 indicators
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What’s Missing?
– a prioritised list
> Performance indicators are missing for both start-up
rates and growth rates!
> Abilities are badly measured (both education and
advise services)
> Capital markets (business angels, alternative exist
possibilities, loans)
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