Local interpretation of national micro‐enterprise policy: To what extent has it impacted on local enterprise development?

Small businesses and micro‐enterprises provide more than 75 per cent of all private sector employment in most countries. In today's environment where large urban areas are more attractive to young people and multinational employers, micro‐enterprise support has become a very important element of both industrial and regional policy, especially in Ireland. However the development of support policies for small businesses is not new and has been evolving over the last 30 years, but up to the early 1990s no support structure policies existed for micro‐enterprises. This research involves an assessment of Ireland's current government micro‐enterprise policies and their effects on entrepreneurs and the growth of their businesses at a local level. The research endeavours to establish if government policy in the micro‐business sector is meeting the objectives of government, if it is satisfying the requirements of the entrepreneurs, i.e. promoters of micro‐enterprises at local level, and to understand what are the effects of local interpretation of government policy on entrepreneurs and their businesses.