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Public policies in a regulated entrepreneurial setting

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Alfred A. Marcus  and
Susan K. Cohen
Susan K. Cohen
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh Katz Graduate School of Business, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
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Abstract

The existing literature in public policy has commented mostly on mature and established businesses, leaving the relationships between entrepreneurial businesses and public policies less explored. Relying on qualitative research methods and quantitative surveys, we examine how managers in an intensively regulated entrepreneurial setting assessed the desirability of public policies. We show that managers in the regulated energy efficiency and renewable (EERE) business sector in the 1990s tended to view public policies favorably only if they lacked control over the business environment. The less control they perceived they had over the business environment, the more favorably they tended to view public policies. Our findings suggest that managers in a regulated entrepreneurial setting tend to view public policies as substitutes for their efforts to control their business environment, not as complements, as studies of mature and established companies in regulated settings commonly find. However, we also find some evidence to suggest these perceptions may evolve, as a business experiences greater success attracting customers.

Type
Research articles
Information
Business and Politics , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , August 2015 , pp. 221 - 251
Copyright
Copyright © V.K. Aggarwal 2015 and published under exclusive license to Cambridge University Press 

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