recent research A survey conducted by the Federation of Finnish Enterprises revealed that the majority of entrepreneurs believe that there are not enough incentives to expand their businesses in Finland. According to Yrittäjägallup’s research, 70% of respondents feel that the current business environment lacks the support needed to foster growth, and only 70% of respondents say they are satisfied with existing incentives. was only 14%.
Strengthening growth incentives is urgently needed
“The message is clear: We have a lot of work to do to provide further incentives for entrepreneurs to grow their businesses.” Petri Salminen, Chairman of the Finnish Enterprise Federation. “It is important to encourage business growth because business growth creates jobs and invests in the economy. It is important to remember that economic growth in Finland comes from the growth of Finnish companies. ”
Salminen emphasized that no single solution can drive business growth. Instead, a comprehensive approach across different sectors is needed to make Finland an attractive platform for investment and business expansion. This includes increasing the attractiveness of entrepreneurial risk-taking, ownership, investment and employment.
Decreased desire for growth among small and medium-sized enterprises
The SME Barometer shows a clear and continuous decline in the number of growth-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Just over a third of small businesses are now pursuing growth, down from about half in 2016. A Yrittäjägallup survey conducted in April highlighted particularly strong demand for increased growth incentives in the industrial sector (79%) and in companies employing 5 to 9 people. People (79%).
Conversely, entrepreneurs in the construction sector (21%) and Greater Helsinki (21%) are the most satisfied with current growth promotion measures.
Strategies to strengthen growth incentives
Entrepreneurs have identified several key measures to strengthen incentives for business growth. The most popular proposals include simplifying labor laws to boost employment (57%), improving entrepreneurship recognition (57%), expanding regional agreements (50%), and improving workforce quality. increase (31%), corporate tax adjustment (30%).
Other frequently mentioned factors include securing a workforce (29%), financing the business (29%), taxing dividends (28%), accepting failure (27%), and easing the process of starting afresh ( 21%).
Companies with 10 or more employees place particular emphasis on regulatory changes to make hiring easier (73%) and regional agreements (65%).
Salminen said: “This study shows that the government is on the right track by making it easier to hire workers, for example through fixed-term employment contracts, simplifying the grounds for personal dismissal, and introducing an unpaid first sick day. It shows,” he said. “Increasing regional agreements is also a huge incentive for growth, particularly for employers. The government is taking the right steps, but the right to negotiate different agreements will need to be addressed by future administrations.”
value entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship recognition is a consistently important growth incentive for all entrepreneurial groups, including individual entrepreneurs and women entrepreneurs.
“Increasing our appreciation for entrepreneurship is a challenge for all of us. We have seen significant improvement, but there is still room for growth.”
Taxation as a growth promoter
In the industrial sector, dividends and corporate taxes, labor availability, and financing are highlighted as important growth incentives. Dividend taxation is much more important for male entrepreneurs (35%) compared to female entrepreneurs (17%).
“Taxation also plays an important role in growth.Corporate taxation needs to be competitive, and dividend taxation needs to encourage entrepreneurship and risk-taking.Larger companies typically have higher profitability and dividends. The importance of these factors increases as the company size increases because of the high “distribution capacity,” Salminen said.
Regionally, financing issues are more pronounced in eastern Finland, and dividend taxation is a major concern in Greater Helsinki. Younger entrepreneurs value accepting failure (40%) and the ease of starting anew (35%) more than older entrepreneurs.
Click here for more information on the survey results.
Survey details
The survey was conducted by Belianila on behalf of the Federation of Finnish Enterprises and included responses from 1,076 representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises between April 3 and April 15, 2024. The survey results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
HT
