|
Although Canadian entrepreneurs generally believe they face an
overly cumbersome bureaucracy as well as costly procedures when
starting up new businesses, a recent survey has found that Canadian
entrepreneurs are much better off than many of their counterparts
around the world — at least when it comes to starting a business.
According to the study The Regulation of Entry, Canada
ranked first for its relatively low level of red tape for entrepreneurs
starting new businesses. The World Bank-Harvard University joint
study examined the regulation of entry of start-up firms in 75 developed
and developing countries. The study found that, on average, start-up
involves approximately 10 entry procedures and takes 63 days;
fees range from less than 1 percent to 263 percent of
the country’s GDP per capita to meet the official entry requirements.
This is in stark contrast with Canadian regulation. Canadian entrepreneurs
typically face two procedural steps that take regulators about
two days to process, at a cost (for small start-ups) of approximately
US$280 in application fees (about 1.4 percent of GDP per capita).
The study found a tendency for countries with more democratic
and transparent governments to have fewer entry regulations. At
least when it comes to starting a new business, the study found
that entrepreneurs are better off in Canada than any other country
in the world.
The complete study can be found at: http://post.economics.harvard.edu/hier/2000papers/HIER1904.pdf
| Rankings of the Top 10 Countries,
the G-8 Countries and the Bottom 5 Countries |
|
| Rank |
Country
|
Number of
procedures
|
Time
|
Fees in terms of
GDP per capita
|
|
| 1 |
Canada*
|
2
|
2 days
|
1.4 percent
|
| 2 |
Australia
|
3
|
3 days
|
2.1 percent
|
| 3 |
New Zealand
|
3
|
17 days
|
0.4 percent
|
| 4 |
United States*
|
4
|
7 days
|
1.0 percent
|
| 5 |
Sweden
|
4
|
17 days
|
2.5 percent
|
| 6 |
Ireland
|
4
|
25 days
|
11.5 percent
|
| 7 |
Finland
|
4
|
32 days
|
1.2 percent
|
| 8 |
Denmark
|
5
|
21 days
|
1.4 percent
|
| 9 |
Israel
|
5
|
32 days
|
20.2 percent
|
| 10 |
Norway
|
6
|
24 days
|
2.5 percent
|
| 14 |
United Kingdom*
|
7
|
11 days
|
0.6 percent
|
| 19 |
Germany*
|
7
|
90 days
|
8.5 percent
|
| 40 |
Japan*
|
11
|
50 days
|
11.4 percent
|
| 46 |
Italy*
|
11
|
121 days
|
24.7 percent
|
| 71 |
France*
|
16
|
66 days
|
19.7 percent
|
| 72 |
Russia*
|
16
|
69 days
|
37.8 percent
|
| 73 |
Colombia
|
17
|
55 days
|
12.4 percent
|
| 74 |
Mozambique
|
17
|
174 days
|
116 percent
|
| 75 |
Bolivia
|
20
|
82 days
|
263 percent
|
|
| *G-8 countries |
|
Small Business Research and Policy
