Sustainable growth & The Business community
Research into the business community has been part of Panteia’s area of expertise for over 90 years. Our research covers the business sector and its environment at local, regional, national and European level.
Today’s challenges and ambition to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are going to have a huge impact on the business community in the coming decades. In addition to achieving economic growth, the business community has an increasingly important role in creating a society with equal opportunities and a sustainable living environment. Besides, the business community faces new serious challenges such as increasing digitalisation, the energy transition and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
European economies and societies should become more sustainable, resilient and better prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the green and digital transitions.
Businesses are one of the most important building blocks for achieving sustainable growth and broad prosperity for Dutch policy at the local, regional, national and European level in the years to come. Panteia supports policy-makers and stakeholders in the development, evaluation and adaptation of policies at all policy levels and in all phases of the policy cycle. Where necessary we do this together with our expert networks at national and international level, such as the European Network for Social and Economic Research (ENSR).
Our themes:
SMEs and Entrepreneurship
The Dutch State of the SME Sector and the EC SME Performance Review (SPR) confirm that SMEs are the backbone of every economy, and make an important contribution to achieving the Dutch and European Union's policy goals. Panteia has been at the forefront of research on SMEs and entrepreneurship since its start in 1930. Topics covered include business development, the labour market, finance, education, internationalisation, administrative burdens, trades and industries, innovation and ICT, competition and sustainability.
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) shows the importance of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial behaviour. In economic terms, innovative and ambitious start-ups and scale-ups are crucial. Improving welfare and well-being means broadening policies to self-employment, but also target groups such as women entrepreneurship, senior entrepreneurship, and inclusive entrepreneurship.
Human resources and occupational health and safety (OSH)
Finding suitable staff is in the top three bottlenecks faced by the business sector. In addition to this is the necessity of a safe and healthy work environment has increased and the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of developing this further. Through its role as the national correspondent for the Netherlands for Eurofound and its work for the EC and EU-OSHA, Panteia contributes to this development.
Financing
The Survey on Access to Finance of Enterprises (SAFE) of the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) shows that access to finance is still one of the major bottlenecks. Panteia performs studies and evaluations of financing instruments at regional, national and European level. In the context of sustainability and broad prosperity, we see that the social impact of investments is becoming increasingly important.
Innovation
Increasing digitalisation, the climate goals, the green deal, the need for energy transition, the circular economy and the platform economy require continuous renewal of the supply and production process, but also of the organisation. This applies to all sectors.
Regulatory pressure
Excessive regulation generates unnecessary costs, such as administrative expenses, compliance costs, supervision costs, administrative costs, implementation costs and other costs resulting from regulatory pressure. Panteia conducts research into various forms of unnecessary regulatory pressure, with the aim of reducing the administrative burden for entrepreneurs. It thus contributes to time savings and creates opportunities for sustainable growth with a focus on the human dimension for entrepreneurs.
