Title: A study of small business owners' perceptions and experiences of government policies in Suzhou, China

Authors: Victor Chang; Fatima Khaleel; Fangyu Zhang; Qianwen Xu

Addresses: School of Computing, Engineering and Digital Technologies, Teesside University, Middlesbrough TS1 3BX, UK ' Khaleel Consulting, Abujia 100001, Nigeria ' Business School, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand ' IBSS, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, 215000, China

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to explore the Chinese government policies towards small businesses and the perspectives of the business owners on the implemented policies. The research adopts an in-depth interview with five business owners in Suzhou, China and the data collected from the interview are analysed by the SWOT method. Our findings reveal that businesses are satisfied with government intervention. However, over intervention may cause discouragement and may lead to the failure of businesses in China. In addition, the analysis of the findings reveals that most businesses require policy changes and policymakers should consider the weaknesses and opportunities for the future growth of the economy. Our paper provides a contribution to the literature of Chinese businesses and government policies, and helps the owners to understand the business context and challenges. The inability to investigate more entrepreneurs all over the country is the limitation of the study.

Keywords: economic growth; government policies; business owners; entrepreneurs; China.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEBR.2020.108500

International Journal of Economics and Business Research, 2020 Vol.20 No.1, pp.59 - 79

Received: 18 Oct 2019
Accepted: 01 Jan 2020

Published online: 14 Jul 2020 *

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