Reminding the rest of the world that “ 'entrepreneur’ is a French word” has long been the first and last line of defense against detractors of the French economy. Finally reforms now have been made to France’s labor laws, but those who believe they have to do only with giving business more freedom to hire and fire workers are missing the point. The new laws also and more importantly open the French economy to SMEs and broad, structural change. In addition, the French tax code seemed aimed at preventing new companies from starting, rather than supporting new enterprise. “Entrepreneur” may be a French word but the connotation was not favorable, and the subtext suggested that an entrepreneur was someone who couldn’t find a job with a “real” company.

Source: Forbes January 28, 2018 15:45 UTC