Entrepreneurship In Europe Research Articles

Value patterns of entrepreneurs in Europe: does the legacy of the transition still matter?

The article examines the values of individual entrepreneurs in the European context. From among the various available value theories, it applies Shalom H. Schwartz’s framework of Basic Human Values. Schwartz distinguishes 10 values that are dynamically interrelated with each other along several shared dimensions. Two main dimensions (self-centered and collective) and four categories (openness to change, self-enhancement, conservation, self-transcendence) of values can thus be distinguished. The empirical part of the study starts with a cluster analysis to differentiate entrepreneurial groups according to the relative importance of self-centered values, before turning to values with collective connotations in order to draw more comprehensive profiles of the identified clusters. One of the main findings of this study is that more than two-thirds of Eastern European entrepreneurs cannot be characterized by normatively framed entrepreneurial value preferences—they are actually entrepreneurs without entrepreneurship.

The Role of Missionaries from the Nederlandsche Zendingsvereeniging (NZV) in the Development of Public Health in Cirebon Residency 1864–1899

Abstract In the second half of the 19th century, there was an outbreak of Malaria and Cholera in the Nederlandsch Indie region, including the Cirebon Residency. As a result, during epidemics, people died like rats. This was the situation faced by NZV missionaries. How did the NZV missionaries respond to this problem? By using the historical method, I found several facts that the NZV missionaries, especially Verhoeven, had contributed greatly to developing public health in the Cirebon Residency. Verhoeven through medical services was also able to arouse the philanthropic spirit of European entrepreneurs to establish an auxiliary hospital in Cideres and support monthly operational costs so that health services were provided free of charge.

Sea Change: Ottoman Textiles between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean

Sea Change: Ottoman Textiles between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean

The Dynamics between Structural Conditions and Entrepreneurship in Europe: Feature Extraction and System GMM Approaches

Structural conditions and population characteristics of countries have been identified in the literature as factors for an individual to become, or to have intentions of becoming, an entrepreneur. However, this is still a subject under research, which has become increasingly relevant and could be crucial in the current challenges of European countries. In this work, the factors for entrepreneurial intentions and entrepreneurship activity are studied. More precisely, the structural conditions of European countries, which has changed over the last two decades, is analysed. The aim is to describe this behaviour and to state the main conditions for developing entrepreneurship activities and the intentions to become an entrepreneur. To achieve this purpose, feature extraction, namely, principal component analysis and dynamic longitudinal approaches are used. In particular, we propose that the system-generalised method of moments (GMM) model is adequate in this situation. The results suggest that the structure of the European framework conditions for entrepreneurship, obtained using the Factor Analysis year by year, is quite diversified until 2008, while after 2008, it is more stable. Moreover, it is concluded that the conditions associated with entrepreneurial intentions and entrepreneurial activity differ between these two time periods. Hence, the dynamic aspect of the structural conditions that affect entrepreneurial activities or intentions should be acknowledged.

Current problems and prospects for the development of social entrepreneurship in Latvia

The article is devoted to the analysis of development trends, identification of problems and elaboration of recommendations for the development of social entrepreneurship in Latvia. The subject of study is theoretical and practical aspects of functioning of social enterprises in the context of current trends in the development of social entrepreneurship in Latvia. The purpose of the study:, to identify factors and problems of functioning of social enterprises in Latvia based on the analysis of their activities, as well as to evaluate possibilities for the development of social entrepreneurship in Latvia in modern environment. Research methods: content analysis, historical, analytical, comparative, tabular, graphical. Results of the study: historical prerequisites for the emergence of social entrepreneurship phenomenon in the world were considered. Based on the analysis of the development of social entrepreneurship in Europe, an analysis has been made and trends in the development of social entrepreneurship in Latvia in sectoral and regional contexts have been identified. The institutional environment and regulatory framework governing the development of social enterprises in Latvia were explored. The analysis of the main factors of socio-economic development of the country, which have a direct impact on the development of social entrepreneurship, has been carried out. The possibilities and advantages of developing social enterprises in Latvia have been described. Problems have been identified and recommendations have been elaborated for the further development of social entrepreneurship in Latvia. Applicability of the study results: conclusions and results can be used in the work of social enterprises within various fields of activity, in the work of associations of social entrepreneurship and other non-governmental organizations, authorities, as well as in the educational process of higher education institutions focused on economics and social welfare.

EntreComp Questionnaire: A Self-Assessment Tool for Entrepreneurship Competencies

The European Entrepreneurship Competence Framework (EntreComp) offers a comprehensive description of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that people need to develop for an entrepreneurial mindset. The use of the framework as a self-assessment tool has garnered attention, but there is scarce presence of instruments that address the whole set of competencies proposed by Entrecomp. In view of the lack of specific tools, the objective of this research was to assess the evidence of validity and reliability of a new questionnaire. The sample was composed of 742 college students from several Spanish universities between 17- and 64-years-old, with 34.6% being men and 65.4% being women. To evaluate the validity based on relationships with other measures, the Entrepreneurial Intention and Entrepreneurial Self-Capital scales were also administered. Confirmatory factor analysis showed an internal structure made up of four dimensions: Ideas and Opportunities, Personal Resources, Specific Knowledge, and Into Action. The results showed satisfactory evidence of validity based on relationships with Entrepreneurial Intention and Entrepreneurial Self-Capital and good reliability. The questionnaire has good psychometric properties and can be an easy and useful tool for the self-assessment of entrepreneurial competencies within the EntreComp framework.

Anticipating a Crisis: Creating a Market for Transnational Dementia Care in Thailand

We examine a “regime of anticipation” that has led mostly European entrepreneurs to build and manage new long-term care facilities situated around the city of Chiang Mai, Thailand, an emerging ‘hot spot’ in the relocation and provision of dementia care for an overseas clientele. Anticipations of crisis (and the explosive demand for dementia care) is exciting entrepreneurial imaginations in Thailand and, drawing on ethnographic field work and in-depth interviews, we examine how a transnational care market is being created and made to work. The owners and operators of these care facilities are experimenting with different care models and norms to create a transnational marketplace and to stretch the geographies of care. Yet dementia care is an inherently unstable commodity that might seem to resist outsourcing from the Global North to the Global South; as such, we pay close attention to the strategies deployed to try and stabilize the commodification of this most intimate labor. We detail how intimacy is constructed and circulated for dementia care to go global and the resources of trust required by owners and family members for this uneasy transnational economy to function.

Perceptions of types, influences, and how select Central European entrepreneurship ecosystems developed in the biopharmaceutical sector

Perceptions of types, influences, and how select Central European entrepreneurship ecosystems developed in the biopharmaceutical sector

The Relevance of Soft Skills for Entrepreneurs

This study explores the relevance of different soft skills for entrepreneurs, focusing on entrepreneurs from Portugal and Serbia. The study identifies a total of 38 soft skills from the European Entrepreneurship Skills Framework (EntreComp) and employs a quantitative methodology in the analysis of data collected from a questionnaire completed by entrepreneurs from these two countries. The findings reveal that soft skills competencies play a key role in the entrepreneur's activity, highlighting emotional intelligence, resilience, and persistence as fundamental attributes that an entrepreneur should possess. Furthermore, the respondents' answers have revealed notable differences in their perception of the importance of a majority of soft skills (27 out of 38 skills), which indicates that an entrepreneur's geographic area is a relevant factor in the perception of the relative importance of soft skills.

How Effective is European Public Support Granted to Social Enterprises for Employment in the Czech Republic?

The limited size of public budgets raises the need to evaluate public policies more thoroughly. This need also concerns the public funding of social entrepreneurship in Europe and its effectiveness and efficiency when aiming to increase employment among socially excluded people. Based on the propensity score-matching approach, using place of residence, gender, year of birth, and employment status before taking part in the social entrepreneurship program financed by the Operational Program Human Resources and Employment (OP HRE), we compared 307 individuals who received employment support from public budgets and a control group of 1,228 individuals without support. We found a positive effect of the social entrepreneurship program on employment. The supported group has a 19.3% higher chance of being employed 1 year after the support compared to the comparison group. Thus, the OP HRE investment in social enterprise support programs is effective. It is estimated that the public budget will see its investment completely returned in 11 years. From this perspective, the public funding of social enterprises may have positive implications for public sector authorities.

Open Innovation Competence for a Future-Proof Workforce: A Comparative Study from Four European Universities

Digital transformation is a key driving force of open innovation to capture and transfer knowledge inside and outside of a company’s bounds. New challenges in organizing multiple knowledge flows imply the need for increased competences related to this paradigm of future employees. In this article, we organize and aggregate the competencies required for open innovation collaboration and develop a competence profile that organizes individual competencies in an open innovation context. Based on elements of the European Entrepreneurship Competence Framework, we delineate an OI Competence Profile and list the core competencies to manage and accelerate the inflow and outflow of knowledge. We explore this profile by comparing data from 2332 students from four European universities to find differences in the distribution of OI competencies between countries. The study contributes to understanding the individual competencies that target the future OI needs of companies necessary in the context of digital transformation. It also introduces an interdisciplinary approach to integrate the research streams of management practice, open innovation, and entrepreneurial education.

The problem of staffing for the digital transformation of the entrepreneurial sector and the directions of its solutions

The active development of digitalization can have a significant impact on the formation of competitive advantages of organizations in the entrepreneurial sector, which was clearly manifested with the onset of the pandemic. The generalization of the results of business surveys in the entrepreneurial sector of the EU countries and Russia, presented in the work, revealed that the problem of staffing occupies a prominent place among the constraints on the development of digital transformations. It is shown that the current situation is characterized by an increasing demand for qualified specialists in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for various sectors of the economy against the background of a low level of digital skills in the workplace. At the same time, both in the entrepreneurial sector of the EU countries and in Russia, the coverage of organizations with advanced digital technologies is insignificant, in contrast to the basic segment technologies. Using the principal components method, generalized characteristics were constructed for reflecting the active use of advanced digital technologies in various fields, which made it possible to further assess their relationship with the set of indicators of investment in human capital. The implemented approach showed promising directions for solving the problem of staffing the digitalization of the business sector, which seems relevant for both Russian and European entrepreneurship.

KSZTAŁTOWANIE KOMPETENCJI W ZAKRESIE PRZEDSIĘBIORCZOŚCI... PODCZAS MIĘDZYNARODOWEGO WOLONTARIATU MŁODZIEŻY

Entrepreneurship is considered a key competence of the 21st century. The development of entrepreneurship competence should play an important role in lifelong learning in all forms of education. The aim of the article is to present the results of research on the development of entrepreneurship competence during the implementation of cross – border volunteering projects by young people under the European Solidarity Corps. The article presents how projects’ participants and the mentor of volunteers perceive the development of competences during cross - border volunteering, and presents the methods and tools that are used to support this process. The research refers to “The European Entrepreneurship Competence Framework (EntreComp)”

Business Group Competitive Advantage & Export Performance:The Case of Africa’s Minority Entrepreneur

To facilitate interfirm trust and exchange, business groups typically organize along an axis of solidarity such as kinship, religion, or political identity. In this paper, we consider whether business group solidarity based upon the minority identity of affiliate owners can be a basis for business group competitive advantage. Based upon World Bank enterprise surveys in 24 sub-Saharan African countries of over 8000 firms, we identify uncharacteristic affiliate performance effects upon the self-identified ethnicity of firm owners. We find affiliates owned by Indian, Middle-Eastern, and European entrepreneurs do not show the expected superior export performance compared with indigenous African owned firms. A finding suggests that long-established and exclusionary ethnic groups may either become less exclusive, consistent with the mixed embeddedness thesis. In contrast, our findings show that Chinese owners of group-affiliated firms significantly outperform both independent firms and other business group affiliates with non-Chinese owners. We contribute to understanding the origins of business group heterogeneity and the evolving basis of entrepreneurs’ competitive advantage.

A Review of the Relationship between Corporate Entrepreneurship and Financial Performance

The correlation between performance and entrepreneurship is researched in a large number of studies over the years. The research is analysing multiple aspects: the position of corporate entrepreneurship in gaining financial performance and also its position next to the other drivers and how corporate entrepreneurship is interconditioned with the others. The research results indicate the strong influence on the financial performance of the corporate entrepreneurship among the major drivers (human resources management, economic environment and digitalization), has confirmed our theory of their interconnectivity and has led us to the conclusion that entrepreneurial orientation includes corporate entrepreneurship, organisational culture, managerial tools in future research can be approached as a single element. In the development of this study, the authors used two methods of analysis (bibliometric analysis and systematic review) to synthesize and evaluate all published studies collected from the database Web of Science through a planned and structured approach. By realizing a quantitative analysis of the 317 papers using bibliometric analysis and the qualitative one carried out by filtering the papers with systematic review and resulting in a more in-depth analysis of 39 papers, the authors want to contribute to the improvement of literature for future research that can help increase the financial income of European entrepreneurs.

Sustainable innovations – selected aspects

The article aims to analyse the state of art in the field of sustainable innovation in Poland and identify barriers to developing this type of innovations. The article describes the main barriers in the implementation of sustainable innovations and related problematic issues. Eco-innovation may help European entrepreneurs develop sustainable solutions, allowing better use of valuable resources and reducing the economy’s negative impact on the environment. Awareness of the benefits brought by environmental technologies is still low. Implementing environmental innovation requires a strategic approach, and introducing them to the company’s existing structures is difficult and time-consuming. Contemporary challenges, such as climate change and the depletion of natural resources, require new solutions. Modern economies are based on intangible assets protected by intellectual property rights, intellectual property management is now an integral part of any effective business strategy.

Public policy recommendations for promoting female entrepreneurship in Europe

From 2021 onwards, female entrepreneurship is expected to grow very substantially as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The introduction of teleworking and staggered hours in many countries at national or workplace level will make possible the conciliation between labour and family life. The purpose of this paper is to identify the most influential explanatory factors in the behaviour of female entrepreneurship in Europe so as to subsequently propose efficient economic policy measures to promote it. The distinction between opportunity and necessity female entrepreneurs have been considered since both motivation and factors are different in each case. 15 econometric models using the panel data method for a sample of 20 previously selected European countries (grouped by their GDP level) during the period 2001 to 2018 have been estimated to determine which explanatory factors affect female entrepreneurship and necessity-based female entrepreneurship. The empirical analysis used demonstrates that more women enter into entrepreneurship due to necessity rather than in pursuit of opportunity for European countries both with higher levels of GDP and for countries with lower levels of GDP. In this context, the following policy measures should be implemented to promote female entrepreneurship in Europe: the optimization of government spending (training courses and mentoring, public procurement, stronger networks, support in reconciling business and family life, etc.), the government incentives for subsidizing high interest rates to support women in accessing financing, and the improvement of entrepreneurship education to increase the confidence of women in themselves in their own entrepreneurial capabilities.

West Indies technologies in the East Indies: Imperial preference and sugar business in Bihar, 1800–1850s

Today India is among the major sugar producers and sugar-making has a long tradition, yet the adoption of modern sugar technologies was delayed. Which factors underpinned this? This article examines the attempts of European sugar entrepreneurs to adopt new sugar technologies in 1830s–1840s Bihar. Its findings correspond with recent literature on Indian economic development which emphasises the role of declining agricultural productivity in economic stagnation in the colonial period. This article supports the conclusions that low agricultural productivity was the outcome of inadequate investment on the part of the British Empire. It also highlights that in the case of commercial crops – such as sugar – investment into new technologies with potential for increasing productivity was hindered by British trade policies. As British imperial policies gave preference to the welfare of the British consumer, lacked consideration for colonial manufacturing, they did not create a beneficial environment for long-run investment projects.

European Entrepreneurship Reinforcement Policies in Macro, Meso, and Micro Terms for the Post-COVID-19 Era

In today’s unprecedented transformation in the global socio-economic system caused by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and the escalating fourth industrial revolution, reinforcing innovative entrepreneurship appears a significant policy objective that can lead to overall socio-economic development. In this drastically changed context, entrepreneurship support policies seem that they need to be both conceptually and practically readjusted, simultaneously at the macro, meso, and micro levels. This paper investigates the case of public entrepreneurship policies in the European Union (EU), aiming to find specific patterns and suggest a new multilevel policy framework. Initially, the article offers a brief overview of the related trends created in the emerging post-COVID-19 era. Next, the “competitiveness web” perspective in terms of “macro-meso-micro” level synthesis is presented, considering that it can function as a theoretical framework for entrepreneurship reinforcement. Recent EU entrepreneurship support policy guidelines are then explored, emphasizing the latest trends and the development opportunities arising with the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility establishment to deal with the consequences of the current health and socio-economic crisis. Upon this basis, the paper concludes in a proposal for an integrated “macro-meso-micro” policy, placing at the epicenter the mechanism of the Institutes of Local Development and Innovation (ILDI). This policy aims to strengthen the spatially-located firms to reposition and readapt the “Stra.Tech.Man” potential they have and activate in their local business ecosystem (strategy-technology-management synthesis).

Does financial development really spur nascent entrepreneurship in Europe? — A panel data analysis

ABSTRACT After the global crisis, European governments have stressed the importance of financing new ventures. Nevertheless, the existing literature provides little information on the extent to which financial development drives new businesses. Using panel data on 22 European economies between 2009 and 2017, this study fills this gap by providing evidence of a U-shaped relationship between financial deepening and nascent entrepreneurship. This implies that without a high level of financial deepening, the banking sector only favors established businesses at the expense of nascent entrepreneurship. The study also shows that banking intermediation and venture capital do not really encourage new businesses at the macro level, whereas financial stability does.