Partner Article

Don’t be afraid of regulation, say experts

Regulation can help businesses to grow, and is not something to be afraid of, according to a team of academics from Newcastle and De Montfort Universities.

In a study entitled “Situation small business regulation: A longitudinal study of how small firms receive, understand and respond to regulation” (REBEL) the team looked at the way small businesses receive, understand and respond to regulatory change.

The team worked extensively with 12 high-growth firms in the North East and East Midlands in the environmental services, bio-pharma, media and security sectors for three years to investigate how they deal with regulation on a daily basis.

The ESRC-funded project highlights factors which help firms to manage regulation well, how, if it is managed well, regulation can benefit business and how policymakers can reach small firms and influence their behaviour.

Dr Simon Down, a senior lecturer in Newcastle University Business School was one of the researchers working on the project. He was keen to stress the importance of regulation, but admitted that there is no simple solution.

He said: “Regulation can frame business and make it more professional - and that formalisation can ensure that businesses are doing things properly.

“However, businesses find it very confusing and destabilising to have to deal with constant changes in regulation.”

It is hoped that the findings will help a number of key stakeholders, including politicians, regulators, policy-makers, trade bodies and think tanks, as they have the potential to have a significant impact on how this and future governments think about regulation and policy setting.

At the events in London, Newcastle and Nottingham, attendees will be able to hear more about the key findings of the study and how they could be relevant to their organisation, discuss more customised, regulator specific feedback from the data and examples of ‘best practice’ from firms and regulators.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .