Impact of Digitalization on Entrepreneurship Development in the Context of Business Innovation Management

Abstract

The article discusses current digitalization trends from the perspective of business innovation management, the relevance of which has increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The relationship between the innovative and digital profile indicators and the level of entrepreneurship development is analysed and substantiated based on the world and European experience in general and Azerbaijan in particular. The study's main goal is empirical confirmation, formalization, and evaluation of digitalization's impact on entrepreneurship development in Azerbaijan, some European and Asian countries to improve public policy in the areas under study. For achieving the study goals, scientific methods of statistical, analytical, graphical, correlation and regression analysis, and economic and mathematical modelling using Excel and Stata software products were applied. The information base of the study is formed from scientific papers and publications in the field of innovation management, digital economy, and entrepreneurship, as well as World Bank data for a sample of 14 countries in Europe and Asia (Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovak Republic, and Ukraine) for 2006-2020. The author characterized trends in the total number of new firms, the overall density of business and the density of new business in the countries included in the sample, and indicators of the relative cost of procedures and the time to start a business in the studied countries. Particular attention is paid to the export and import of ICT goods, communication and computer services. A panel data regression model with fixed effects has been built to determine the influence of digitalization parameters on the business sector's development parameters. Evaluating the impact of digitalization on entrepreneurship development in Azerbaijan and other European and Asian countries could be useful to scientists, researchers, public authorities and local governments, business structures, and entrepreneurs.