Entrepreneurism and E-Government in Finland: Barriers to Entry

Presenter: Fatemeh Ahmadi ZeletiTampere University of Technology

INSIGHT @ NUI GalwayFatemeh.AhmadiZeleti@tut.fi

Adegboyega Ojo

INSIGHT @ NUI Galway Adegboyega.Ojo@deri.org

Olavi Uusitalo

Tampere University of TechnologyOlavi.Uusitalo@tut.fi

Outline

• Background• Goal of the Research Paper• Contribution• Theoretical Framework• Research Questions• Method• Results• Discussion & Conclusions• Recommendations

• 2002 to 2007 -> Number of SMEs in Europe has increased by over 2 million

• 2010 -> Decline in the number of SMEs was halted

• Performance in EU is mainly affected by:

- Lack of entrepreneurial spirit (obstacles when registering and formulating a new business)

- lack of skills and labor market flexibility

- lack of training and innovation

Background

Country Procedures (number) Time (days)

New Zealand 1 1

Singapore 1 1

Canada 1 2

Australia 2 2

Belgium 3 4

Hungary 4 4

Iceland 5 5

Denmark 4 6

Italy 6 6

France 5 7

Norway 5 7

Finland 3 14

Germany 9 15

Registering a new business

Background

Registering a new Business in EU 27+8th E-Gov Benchmark Measurement

Registering a new Business WWOECD Report 2012

Background• Availability of basic online eGov services in ‘Starting a new Business’, per Member State, 2012

(eGovernment Benchmark Framework 2012-2015, 2012)

Goal of the Research Paper

• Study of the e-Gov related factors that could contribute to lowering the barriers to entry for new entrepreneurs.

• To shed some light on the challenges and problems faced by entrepreneurs

(eGovernment Benchmark Framework 2012-2015, 2012)

Contributions

Our contributions are two-fold:

(1) Grounded on earlier work and interview results, we articulate the real needs and barriers of fresh entrepreneurs when starting a new business;

(2) Our results helps the Finnish government authorities to gain insight to entrepreneurs’ needs, requirements and constraints in order to design and implement effective G2B services for entrepreneurs.

Literature

Theoretical Framework

Research Questions

• What are the major entrepreneurship barriers when starting a new business? What challenges do they face?

• What should government authorities focus on before designing e-Gov services to support entrepreneurship?

Method

• A study of OECD statistics on the rate of entrepreneurship in OECD countries;

• A review of OECD and World Bank reports plus EU Commission records;

• A review of the related literatures in the subject area

• Structured and semi-structured interview with 36 young and fresh entrepreneurs in Finland Dec 2012 – Feb 2013 Interviews were of a semi-formal natureInterview entrepreneurs who have started their business no more than one year

Profile of Interviewees

Number of

Interviewees

Industry Percent (%)

19 Software and Game 52.7

7 Food and Beverage 19.4

4 Consulting 11.1

2 Cosmetics 5.5

2 Sport 5.5

1 Transportation 2.7

1 Music 2.7

Profile of Interviewees

63% female and 37% maleThe age range: from 24 to 32, of which most were from 24 to 28 years old Almost 80% of the interviewees are single and Finnish

ResultsThe following factors have a significant impact on the

entrepreneurial activities (Barriers to the entrepreneurial when opening a new business in Finland)

• Access to information, network infrastructure and forms;

• Saving resources and fear of failure (time, cost and performance);

• Maturity level of government online services (e-Gov);

• Two-way communication with department authorities.

Discussion & Conclusions

Our results confirm previous findings in the e-Gov literature about...

Our study revealed that besides the above factors…

Starting a new business conducive to entrepreneurs requires a broad range of reinforcing and supportive policies

Barriers to entry lock the opportunity for entrepreneurs to pursue.

Promote the rate of entrepreneurship also boosts the economy of the country

Many economies should undertake reforms to smooth the starting a new business. This transformation and data exchange between the

government and entrepreneurs can increase the standardization of data submitted to the government and makes the interchangeability of data

between entrepreneurs and authorities faster, effective, and efficient that requires lower cost and effort.

Discussion & Conclusions

Before a major e-Gov project is being designed, government people must have a complete understanding and details of

entrepreneurship needs

Government authorities should study and understand entrepreneurs as they are the users of the service and

systems

More attention should be paid to hear entrepreneur’s needs and challenges

Discussion & Conclusions

Recommendation to Policy Makers

• Maximum effort on reusing available resources and removing risks by sharing risks and removing barriers

• Keeping the service designs and performance inside the budget of the government

• Communication with responsible office should be well monitored

• Seamless Services

• My own experience shows that the real time chat has been very helpful

Thank you for your kind attention

G&A

about.me/f.ahmadi