The impact of regulations on firms. A study of the biotech industry

This paper investigates how the rapidly expanding biotech industry is regulated, and how these regulations impact on firms in practice. More specifically, it considers how much is known and understood about the regulations and their provisions, and about the regulatory apparatus in place for their implementation. Drawing on semi-structured interviews carried out with founders, managers and senior scientists in start-up biotech firms, the paper illustrates that the socio-legal literature's characterisation of small firms as less compliance orientated is too neat. Small firms do not necessarily have a limited knowledge and comprehension of the law. Nor do they necessarily have low levels of motivation to improve and maintain health and safety standards. In fact, the opposite may be true. Small firms may approach the regulatory ideal where the routines, procedures and precautionary measures prescribed by regulations permeate the organisations.