A comparison of new firms in assisted and non–assisted areas in Great Britain

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Abstract
During the 1980s governments at all levels in western economies focused increasingly on new and small firms as a crucial ingredient in the development of a healthy economy. In recognition of this, in the European Community, the SME Task Force was elevated to the Twenty Third Directorate General. At the national level, governments sought to develop schemes and initiatives which would both stimulate the formation of new firms and encourage existing firms to grow. Attention was particularly focused on those areas or regions with special needs as reflected in, for example, mature and declining industries and growing unemployment. In Great Britain, these areas were selected for assisted area status and a special package of schemes designed. This paper examines the effect of these schemes by comparing the characteristics of new firm founders in non–assisted and assisted areas, their personal reasons for start–up, local culture as reflected in their personal attitudes to entrepreneurship, their perceptions of the environmental factors which affected their business at the start, and their perception of the availability of support services.

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