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Countries ranked by ease of starting a business

doingbusiness.org

61–70 of 101 posts

Re: Countries ranked by ease of starting a business

#62

Ranking for the G8 nations: 4 - United States 5 - United Kingdom 8 - Canada 15 - Japan 25 - Germany 31 - France 78 - Italy 120 - Russia With the exception of Russia, which has its roots in communism, Italy is by far the worst G8 country you could start a business in.

Italy and Germany have their (recent) roots in fascism. France has its in . . . well. I'm not going to go there. Note that the UK produced Adam Smith and, to a nontrivial degree, the US, and Canada. The culture and early government of the US in particular was notably influenced by the ideas of Adam Smith as well. What Smith called "economic individualism" is pretty much the foundation of a strong economy, and to the…

I am not sure "fascism" is the common bond. Slow, bureaucratic procedures with relatively high capital requirements seem to be the norm in continental Europe, with countries moving away from that model at different speeds.

Re: Countries ranked by ease of starting a business

#63
post #56

Really surprised that the UK ranks 16th on 'Starting a Business' and the US ranks 8th. From what I know, it takes a lot longer, costs more, and tends to involve actual lawyers to open a business in the US. In the UK, I did it all online for £25.

Maybe you're comparing apples to oranges? It's pretty easy/cheap to set up a LLC in most US states on line.

Re: Countries ranked by ease of starting a business

#64
post #3

I'm surprised Israel was so low given the info I read in the book Startup Nation ( http://www.startupnationbook.com/ )

The "starting a business" rank is definitely not accurate. 34 days on average to start a business? WTF? In fact in israel you can start doing business BEFORE you register it. Just make sure you register it right away, but you can start selling stuff immediately.

When we started our company it only took 1 day. We did pay a lawyer to do the work but the amount was quite low (though I don't remember exactly how much).

Re: Countries ranked by ease of starting a business

#65
post #33

Interesting that the countries with the most startups (USA, Israel, some in Europe, etc) aren't that highly ranked compared to surprises like Saudi Arabia. I really didn't expect Israel to be so low and Saudi Arabia so high. Anyone know why?

Does it not only concern natives? Doing business as a native in countries of the Gulf is far more different than doing it as a foreigner (see how to set up a business in Dubai, UAE).

UAE is also high in the ranks, still for me, as I researched, starting up there seemed more complicated and expensive than here in Poland (low in the ranks), except taxes (a PITA around here).

Re: Countries ranked by ease of starting a business

#66
post #38

Not sure how accurate this list is. Thailand, for instance, requires all businesses to have at least 51% Thai ownership, and I've heard Thai courts are fairly heavily biased towards locals over foreigners. Foreigners can skirt around this a little bit by having 10+ Thai silent partners in different parts of the country that don't know each other who collect a dividend or payment each year without active involvement,…

You're wrong here. For certain businesses, foreign ownership can be the full 100%. When we opened our business here, we actually had the change to go this route, but choose not to because it would have been more hassle though. But I am also wondering how accurate this list is. And what qualifies as a "business"? Here in Thailand, many small businesses don't requite any form of legal entity and opening a small shop fo…

> what qualifies as a "business"

One would hope that it would be a "real", limited liability company of some kind, that exists as a legal entity separate from that of its owners.

(Edit: I mean in terms of the survey, not that people without limited liability companies aren't "real" businesses)

Re: Countries ranked by ease of starting a business

#69
post #66
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're wrong here. For certain businesses, foreign ownership can be the full 100%. When we opened our business here, we actually had the change to go this route, but choose not to because it would have been more hassle though. But I am also wondering how accurate this list is. And what qualifies as a "business"? Here in Thailand, many small businesses don't requite any form of legal entity and opening a small shop fo…

> what qualifies as a "business" One would hope that it would be a "real", limited liability company of some kind, that exists as a legal entity separate from that of its owners. (Edit: I mean in terms of the survey, not that people without limited liability companies aren't "real" businesses)

I am curious as to why one would hope that... Around the world there are plenty of small businesses which are in no need of any kind of limited liability, however they still make money by turning a profit so I'd still call them a business.

Re: Countries ranked by ease of starting a business

#70

Ranking for the G8 nations: 4 - United States 5 - United Kingdom 8 - Canada 15 - Japan 25 - Germany 31 - France 78 - Italy 120 - Russia With the exception of Russia, which has its roots in communism, Italy is by far the worst G8 country you could start a business in.

Italy and Germany have their (recent) roots in fascism. France has its in . . . well. I'm not going to go there. Note that the UK produced Adam Smith and, to a nontrivial degree, the US, and Canada. The culture and early government of the US in particular was notably influenced by the ideas of Adam Smith as well. What Smith called "economic individualism" is pretty much the foundation of a strong economy, and to the…

The common connection between companies that don't do so well is corruption, not previous government choices.

As far as following Adam Smith's works, the economy the US has is a caricature of Smith's ideas (e.g. Smith was anti-monopoly).

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