Legal Aspects that Impede and/or Facilitate Clustering of SMEs

Brussels, October 19, 2007 (Name of Presenter/Organisation) WPx: (WP Title)

Governance, Policies and Legal Conditions for Access to Market through Extended and Dynamic Clustering of SMEs

Legal Aspects that Impede and/or Facilitate Clustering

of SMEs

Davide M. ParrilliInterdisciplinary Centre for Law and ICT, ICRI – K.U.

Leuven – IBBT [email protected]

Davide M. Parrilli - ICRI Tecnodays 2008Perugia, 30/10/2008


Agenda

• Starting point of the research;

• Objectives of the research;

• Content of the legal analysis;

• Conclusions and results;

• Open question.

Davide M. Parrilli - ICRIPerugia, 30/10/2008 Tecnodays 2008


Starting point

Davide M. Parrilli - ICRI

Results of the interaction with stakeholders (companies and

clusters): organizational factors are perceivedperceived to be more important than contextual (legal) factors: the latter

are nevertheless very relevant.

Perugia, 30/10/2008 Tecnodays 2008


Objectives

Aim of the legal analysis within EFFORT:

provide a list of potential legal barriers and enablers to SME clustering with a comparative and dynamic approach:

many elements together act as barriers and enablers, even if company and

cluster managers are not aware of that.



Content of the legal analysis

• Contract law and setting up of a new business;• IPR protection and patents;• Legal environment:

* Enforcing contracts;* Access to credit;* Licenses and public procurement;

• State aid;• Employment law;• Taxation: substantial and procedural aspects.



Conclusions and results (I)

Overall conclusions: • Clusters and clustering are new concepts for

lawyers.• EFFORT is a pioneering project in the sense

that it takes into account many different legal forces that are likely to affect SME clustering

and tries to indicate potential barriers and enablers to clustering.

• Importance of ICTICT to remove barriers to clustering.



Conclusions and results (II)

Enforceability of contracts in Courts:• Implementation of ADR systems;

• Enforceability of first instance decisions and limitations to their

appealability in civil cases;• E-courts mechanisms (e.g. Small

Claims Online).



Access to credit:

Combine different interests (banks and companies), need to assure

informationinformation and transparencytransparency to borrowers.


Conclusions and results (III)



Administrative law:• Reduction of administrative burdensadministrative burdens

(red-tape) to firms: the Dutch case;• Adoption of ICT technologies (e.g. e-

procurement): examples of good practices around Europe.


Conclusions and results (IV)



State Aid:

Principle: direct or indirect financial help is forbidden by EC law,

But…

The aid for innovation clustersaid for innovation clusters can help cooperating firms to grow (direct

incentive for clustering).

Conclusions and results (V)



Employment Law:

• Companies and clusters need flexibility (flexicurity?) as regards employing and dismissing people,

working time, etc;

• Clusters can be a useful tool to employ more people in Europe.

Conclusions and results (VI)



Taxation:

• Corporate-oriented policies are enablers to clustering (EI, NL, etc.);

• The effect of corporate taxcorporate tax on clustering is only indirectindirect: it affects primarily

companies;

• Need for online filing mechanisms and ICT in the tax bureaucracy.

Conclusions and results (VII)



On the basis of these conclusions, it is necessary to assess whether the

implementation of extended and dynamic clustering will lead to the creation of creation of

newly defined and flexible multinational newly defined and flexible multinational groupsgroups or the ‘local dimension’ will prevail

and will, to a certain extent, limit the development of clusters.

Open question



THANK YOU!

Davide M. Parrilli

[email protected]


Legal Aspects that Impede and/or Facilitate Clustering of SMEs

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