title: Enterprise policy evaluation: is there a 'new' way of doing it?
abstract: Given that most economies are now in recession, policymakers are looking to small firms to act as engines of economic growth; this has led to a revived interest in the role of enterprise policy. The 'new' enterprise policy is systemic, promoting and shaping externalities and capabilities. At its core are R&D, innovation and education. It encapsulates a shift from direct intervention towards creating an enabling environment for small firms and entrepreneurship. At present there is a research lacuna regarding the evaluation of such policies. The aim of this paper is to fill this gap by making two key contributions. First, I demonstrate that traditional enterprise evaluation metrics are too narrow: they focus almost exclusively on private firm impacts, rather than broader societal impacts caused by the pervasive nature of 'new' enterprise policies. Second, I illustrate how logic models could be expanded to account for these broader impacts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lenihan
mesh_terms: D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D016520:Entrepreneurship; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D011640:Public Policy; D012106:Research