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1、Peeling the onion:public policy in entrepreneurship educationJeffrey R. CornwallJack C. Massey Chair in Entrepreneurshipand Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship,Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA, and William J. Dennis JrNational Federation of Independent Business, Washington,Distr

2、ict of Columbia, USAAbstractPurpose This paper aims to examine some basic pathways to bring issues of public policy into entrepreneurship classes.Design/methodology/approach The paper looks at policy issues related to taxation, regulation and employment which all offer important topics that can be i

3、ntegrated into a variety of standard entrepreneurship courses.Findings Integrating policy issues into entrepreneurship classes is important to assist students understand the importance of compliance, to see the linkages to their broader university education, and to help make them more informed citiz

4、ens.Originality/value This paper hopes to foster more integration of public policy into both the entrepreneurship classroom and into more traditional streams of entrepreneurship research. Keywords Entrepreneurship education, Entrepreneurship curriculum, Tax policy, Regulation, Employment, Business e

5、thics, Business law, EntrepreneurialismPaper type Research paperThere are two sets of rules that entrepreneurs must navigate as they launch and grow their business ventures. The first is the formal set of rules that are shaped by policy and guided by the law. The second is the informal set of rules

6、that are shaped by values and guided by ethical decision making and social responsibility. Teaching business ethics and social responsibility is firmly entrenched in the modern business school. While the outcomes of business ethics education has come under fire, the education of business students ab

7、out the ethical and social context of their decisions and actions continues to evolve (Giacaloneand Thompson, 2006. There is a clear expectation that one of the roles of business educators is to consistently teach the ethical dimension across all disciplines taught within schools of business. To ach

8、ieve this, most business schools have not only introduced courses in business ethics into their curricula to fully immerse students into the ethical realm of management, but have also made a commitment to integrate discussion of ethical issues relevant within each course offered in their programs. F

9、or many years, business ethics was taught from a more descriptive, relativistic approach. The goal was to make students aware of situations with an ethical component and provide frameworks for analysis. But in recent years, there has been a willingness to peel back the onion and examine the values t

10、hat are at the core of an organizations culture. It is the shared values of an organization that provide the fundamental context for ethical behaviors in business (Schein,2010; Cornwall and Naughton, 2003. For the entrepreneurial venture, these norms are a reflection of the The current issue and ful

11、l text archive of this journal is available atJournal of Entrepreneurship andPublic PolicyVol. 1No. 1, 2012pp. 12-21r Emerald Group Publishing Limited2045-2101JEPP1,1values the entrepreneur brings to the business from its inception. Ethical decisions are guided by the culture of the organization, wh

12、ich are generally a reflection of the values of the ventures founders.Teaching business students about the formal rules of business, however, has generally been relegated to units or specific courses on business law, which tend to focus on compliance and legal standards. A typical business law textb

13、ook starts withseveral chapters on the legal environment of business, which cover topics ranging from common law to constitutional law (Clarksonand Miller, 2009. Subsequent chapters examine torts, contracts, leases, employment law, government regulations, and property. While many of these topics are

14、 tied to the public policies from which they originate, the process of public policy creation and its dynamic impact on the legal environment is not addressed in any detail. And yet, just as values are at the core of the informal rules of ethics, public policy is at the core of the legal environment

15、 that establishes the formal rules facing entrepreneurs as they manage their ventures. Part of the reason that business educators may be hesitant to interject discussions of the public policies and how they came about into their lectures and class discussions is a long-standing hesitancy to bring po

16、litics into the classroom. But while the political process may shape public policy over time, politics and public policy are distinct. And, discussions of public policy in entrepreneurship classes can help provide context for the formal rules laws and regulations that impact most areas of the entrep

17、reneurship curriculum.Rationale for inclusion of public policy in entrepreneurship curriculum So what is the imperative for integrating public policy into entrepreneurship courses? The answer to this question can best be answered by examining the contribution that public policy discussions can make

18、to teaching entrepreneurship from three levels. At the most basic level is a pragmatic benefit that is tied to the specific content of entrepreneurship coursework. By having a more comprehensive understanding of the core public policy issues facing business owners, entrepreneurs are better prepared

19、to comply with the myriad of laws and regulations that face all businesses. This will help provide a richer context that goes much deeper into the forces that shape the formal rules of doing business that every entrepreneur must comply with.At a slightly broader level, public policy discussions can

20、offer a fuller understanding of the political, social, and cultural context of the entrepreneurship within the economic system. From this perspective, students can begin to discover points of integration with their broader educational experiences, bringing in the forces that shape public policy that

21、 are a part of the general education curriculum. Faculty across college campuses routinely integrate public policy issues into courses business students take as part of their general education in the social sciences, the arts, and the sciences. Rather than create walls that keep such discussions rel

22、egated to “the rest of their college education,” we have the opportunity to create linkages that tie those discussions directly into the concepts and issues that are part of entrepreneurship education. Granted, this may be a bit messy at times. Not all faculty teaching at universities are advocates

23、of the free and open commerce that is essential for entrepreneurship to flourish. But by linking the discussions they are having in classes outside of the business school directly into our coursework, we are able to provide opportunities for the kind of critical thinking that will help the students

24、discover the assumptions and premises that are at the heart of these debates. It also helps them uncover how these basic assumptions can shape the public policy that will directly impact them as entrepreneurs.13 Public policy in entrepreneurship educationFinally from a societal level, improving stud

25、ents understanding of how public policyshapes and constrains the formation and growth of new ventures, business faculty can help make entrepreneurship students more informed citizens throughout their careers long after they leave the halls of academe. By better understanding link between policy and

26、their everyday lives as entrepreneurs, this may encourage them to be more active in public debate about public policy and even become agents for change and advocacy. Bringing public policy issues into the classroomThree areas of public policy that typically directly impact entrepreneurs are tax, reg

27、ulatory, and employment policies. The next section will look at each of these three areas and offer some possible points of integration into a typical entrepreneurship curriculum. TaxesThe principal impact of tax policy on small business (orany business for that matter is to change relative costs. I

28、n other words, tax policy makes some goods and/orservices relatively more expensive and some relatively less. Levy a tax on an item and it raises the items costs; exempt another from the tax and it lowers the items cost. The result is that taxes encourage some behaviors and discourage others. The am

29、ount of encouragement/discouragementdepends on a variety of factors, including the amount and type of the tax, on whom the tax is levied, the capacity to pass the tax on to others, and so forth. That means taxes typically influence not only the direct profitability of businesses (profitabilityafter

30、taxes, but their levels of sales, reinvestment, and the composition of productive elements used in the enterprise. Since entrepreneurs are more than marginally interested in take-home, sales levels, costs, etc., taxes are a component of their business decisions. As a result, tax policy represents a

31、management issue for small-business owners that must be accounted for.Take a simple example with which we are all familiar. Sales and use taxes are levied in 46states, and sales-type taxes, such as hotel occupancy taxes or gasoline taxes, appear in every state and many localities. These taxes are us

32、ually itemized on a consumers bill and directly passed to them in the form of higher selling prices. They are not applied uniformly. Some items are taxed, some are not, and others are taxed at a reduced rate. The full tax is typically applied to goods sold; services often, though not always, escape

33、the tax as do all resellers; and, necessities such as food when taxed is often taxed at a reduced rate. Some collect the tax; others do not1.Some pay the tax; others do not2.Participating businesses incur administrative expenses to collect and submit tax revenues to the taxing regime(s.And, the date

34、(sfor submission of the sales taxes revenues collected affects cash flow, positively or negatively.Think of the different ways prices are altered, and therefore managed, in this seemingly simple tax. Since the tax raises selling prices, sales will be depressed for those levying them, other factor eq

35、ual, or consumers will buy cheaper substitutes which advantages businesses that sell them and vice versa. Sales tax rates often vary by product or service. Certain products and/orservices are therefore made relatively more expensive than others, creating competitive advantages for some businesses ov

36、er others. The controversy over taxing internet sales illustrates. Collecting and administering the tax is a business cost. Some states attempt to partially offset that cost with rebates to the smallest businesses. Regardless, collection costs change the relative overhead of large-and small-business

37、 operations due to the disproportionate costs incurred by smaller firms in regulatory compliance. Those unreimbursed costs drop to the bottom line, thereby reducing owner profitability, other factors equal. 14JEPP 1,1Even submitting tax revenues alters relative costs. Some states require businesses

38、to submit taxes on a date-specific following collection, thereby often giving a boost to cash flow; others require prepayment, doing precisely the opposite. And in the end, this flurry of activity and change in relative costs, changes the capacity of small-business owners to reinvest in the venture.

39、Other forms of taxes have similar effects on changing relative prices. Labor taxesraise the price of employees relative to machines (orcapital. Gross receipts taxes favor high-margin businesses relative to low-margin businesses. Tariffs favor domestic production relative to foreign production. While

40、 most think of taxes in terms of money extracted from take-home, the principal management implications of tax policy are relative changes in costs and their implications.There are exceptions where taxes on business, in contrast to people, principally impact take-home. A good example occurs when a ne

41、w tax is instituted or the rate on another is boosted. The issue then becomes the firms ability to pass on those costs. The ability to pass on costs in turn will be affected by competitiveness of the market, the abruptness of the cost (taxchange (orconversely the lead time to implement the change, a

42、nd the size of the cost (taxincrease (Dennis,2001a. Large, abrupt increases, in a highly competitive market, likely means a take-home reduction, at least on a temporary basis.There are several opportunities to bring discussions of tax policy into entrepreneurship curricula. Tax policy impacts on the

43、 business-planning process. The level of income and capital gains tax burden will affect how large the business must grow to if it is to achieve the financial goals of its founders and investors. Tax policy has a direct effect on the cost structure in the financial forecasts based on the specific ta

44、xes, the specific business model, and its geographic location dictate. Tax policy is relevant for courses in entrepreneurial finance, as it has a direct impact on valuation of the business, true rate of return for investors, and actual cash out for the owners at the time of exit. Tax policy also sha

45、pes the structure of an exit event due to differential treatment of a cash sale vs a stock sale. Also, tax policy can be a significant issue to address in family business courses as issues of succession planning are examined.RegulationRegulations are the administrative rules developed to implement t

46、he laws enacted by our legislative bodies. They are the legal details or the governing fine print if you will. Some regulations are obvious on their face a business owner cannot label a package to claim it weighs one pound when it weighs only 14ounces; others are arbitrary and could just as easily d

47、emand a different threshold or process than the one currently employed. For example, the Environmental Agency classifies a generator of o 100kg (ratherthan 90kg or 110kg of toxic substances as a “conditional exempt generator” for regulator purposes. Regulations can be written as performance standard

48、s, requiring an explicit outcome, or they can be specification standards, establishing an exact protocol. But obvious or arbitrary, performance or specification, they carry the force of law. Violation of the law can mean fines, forfeitures (confiscations,business closings, and even jail for business

49、 owners.Compliance with regulation has several potential impacts for small-business owners. For example, it means time must be set aside to discover and comprehend what government requires; ignorance of the law is no excuse3.It may also mean there will be direct compliance costs, such as mandated eq

50、uipment, or an unplanned15 Public policy in entrepreneurship educationinspection delay on a project. With added paperwork being a principal consequence of regulation, compliance usually means both time cost and direct expenses. Regulatory compliance also can limit a business owners freedom of action

51、, or options, thereby constraining innovative or entrepreneurial activity. This simple outline of potential impacts immediately identifies a host of management issues entrepreneurs must concern themselves with, financing issues,human resource issues, operations issues, legal issues, and personal tim

52、e and attention issues. The consequences are typically straightforward, though others are more subtle. Competitive issues illustrate the latter.Regulation advantages some competitors and disadvantages others. For example, one firm may have to comply, but its competitor does not. That situation can o

53、ccur if a business were located in one political jurisdiction and its competitor in another, a jurisdiction with a different set of rules or none at all. Or, the business may use inputs or processes than are governed by one set of rules while its competitor uses other inputs or processes governed by

54、 a different set (orperhaps none at all. The question becomes how to manage those differences, hopefully to your benefit, but certainly not to your loss.Particularly problematic for managers of smaller entities are the disproportionate cost impacts in regulatory compliance. Two types of costs influe

55、nce the total cost to comply with regulations variable costs and fixed costs (Brockand Evans, 1986. Variable costs change with the number of units of output. So, if Joe produces three times as many units as Sally, his variable costs are about three times hers. Fixed costs are as the term implies. Ea

56、ch regulated firm has costs that are the same regardless of output. For example, every regulated firm may need a $10,000license. Because small firms must spread fixed costs over fewer units of output than large firms, small firms pay relatively more than large firms on a per unit basis. One study es

57、timates these disproportionate costs are 36percent higher per employee in firms with fewer than 20people compared to firms with 500or more (Crainand Crain, 2010. So, disproportionate impacts matter a lot. And, small-business managers must compensate for it.Perhaps the most serious consequence for th

58、e economy, and the most irritating for the individual, is that regulation limits a business owners freedom of action, or his options, thereby constraining potential entrepreneurial activity. Limiting choice of action limits entrepreneurial search by putting some actions out-of-bounds (Kirzner,1997.

59、Not all entrepreneurial activity is beneficial and most people are happy some limits exist (Baumol,1990. But limits often serve to protect incumbent competitors or other entrenched interests. Innovative opportunities are thereby eliminated or capped. In fact, the genius of Bill McGowan (MCIand Fred Smith (FedEx,may not so much have been that they started successful companies that effectively founded new industries, but that they searched out-of-bounds and effectively cir

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