There is no doubt about the importance of multi-country studies of entrepreneurial activity in enabling the comparison and replication of research and generating meaningful contributions to scholarship, practice and policy. This international comparison perspective is especially important when processes in each single economy are analysed against the broader global, European or regional environment. Since entrepreneurship is a complex social phenomenon, several dependencies can be understood only with comprehensive research that includes continuous positioning of national entrepreneurship in the European and global perspectives. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) is the largest and most complex research project in the field of entrepreneurship (and likely in the field of social sciences in general) in the world. Today, it is possible to compare data for more than 100 countries not only in the field of early-stage entrepreneurial activity but also in areas such as general attitudes of the adult population towards entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial intentions, fear of failure and business opportunity recognition. Therefore, it was a rational decision to base the scientific monograph “Danube Region Entrepreneurship Observatory: Diversity and Potential” on GEM data. After a short introductory chapter, in the chapters that follow we analyse the entrepreneurial profiles of Danube region countries and entrepreneurial intentions in the region and investigate the competition and aspirations of early-stage entrepreneurs in these countries. This is the first publication in a series of scientific monographs observing Danube Region entrepreneurship. It is intended to strengthen the understanding of what influences entrepreneurs and enterprises/organisations and creates differences among the Danube Region countries in innovativeness and entrepreneurship and to identify tools and concepts to conduct appropriate evidence-based policy. We want to contribute to efficiency improvements in the entrepreneurship pipeline in Danube Region countries, building up better entrepreneurship ecosystems in the region and reinforcing cooperation among entrepreneurship researchers and educators.
F.02 Acquisition of new scientific knowledge
COBISS.SI-ID: 12023324»Entrepreneurship Support for the Unemployed in Slovenia« has been a collaborative project between the Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Programme of the Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD) and the Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission, with the co-operation of the Slovenian Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. It is part of a multi-year programme of work on inclusive entrepreneurship, undertaken by the LEED Programme of the OECD and DG Employment of the European Commission. The project is a rapid assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of entrepreneurship support for the unemployed in Slovenia. It is part of a series of joint OECD-European Commission review projects that examine inclusive entrepreneurship policies and programmes for specific target groups in selected EU countries. This report presents a brief overview of current entrepreneurship support for the unemployed in Slovenia and provides an assessment of the key strengths and weaknesses of current and planned offerings in the areas of entrepreneurship skills, access to finance and the regulatory and institutional environment. It also makes recommendations for improvement under each area. There are several strong elements in the entrepreneurship support system for the unemployed. First, specialised entrepreneurship training is available to unemployed people who are interested in business creation and self-employment. In addition, even more support is available to highly-educated, unemployed youth. They can access several programmes that provide training, coaching and mentoring. Underlying this targeted support, the national government has made strides in simplifying the business environment through the development of online information portals and streamlining regulations. Despite the availability of entrepreneurship training for the unemployed, especially for highly-educated youth, there are some gaps and areas for improvement in the entrepreneurship support system. First, there is a gap in entrepreneurship training offerings for the less educated unemployed, early school leavers and core-age unemployed people (i.e. 25 to 49 years old), who make up the bulk of the unemployed population. The most significant gap is the absence of financial supports that support the unemployed in business creation. Another area for improvement is that information on start-up financing and potential sources of investment could be strengthen and simplified so that the unemployed can easily access and understand it.
F.02 Acquisition of new scientific knowledge
COBISS.SI-ID: 12077596Slovenian business demographics was analysed using secondary data collected by Agency of the Republic of Slovenia for Public Legal Records and Related Services (AJPES). The AJPES database has been covered 63,590 companies and 67,500 entrepreneurs for the year 2014. The analysis of the European enterprises was carried out based on Eurostat data collected for 22.347 million enterprises of the non-financial business sector of the EU-28 in 2012. In-depth analysis of the situation in Slovenian start-up ecosystem was carried out by the analysis of primary data. We interviewed 156 start-ups by the online questionnaire containing 46 questions. Questions were answered by start-ups’ co-founders and senior staff. Acquired secondary and primary data were analysed using descriptive statistics and displayed by tables and/or graphics using the MS Excel tool. By analysing the Slovenian and European enterprises, we studied the status and trends in the entrepreneurial sector and identified similarities and differences in several aspects. Based on the results of the analysis, we formed recommendations of monetary and non-monetary measures of economic policy, which aim to stimulate economic activity, competitiveness, and job creation due to more favourable conditions for the operation of existing businesses and establishing new businesses. Recommendations made on the primary data basis of Slovenian start-ups are particularly valuable as they were designed by the contribution of the start-up enterprises, which targeted the global markets by their innovative products in their earliest stages of the life cycle, generate most of their revenue from exports and are therefore very promising and have great potential. The ultimate objective of the study was to form recommendations made on the basis of empirical data analysis and contribute to the creation of an appropriate development of entrepreneurial ecosystem that aim to realization of entrepreneurial opportunities of both existing and new enterprises, which contributes to the development of society as a whole.
C.02 Editorial board of a national monograph
COBISS.SI-ID: 85752833This paper examines the use of management tools among Slovenian and Croatian employees, with the main focus on linkages between the current use of management tools and patterns of its future use. The authors developed and tested a model for predicting the future use of management tools based on the current use of tools by employees in organizations, underlying assumptions of the theory of planned behavior and the information-perception-behavior link. Descriptive statistics suggest that there are differences in management tools use patterns among Slovenian and Croatian employees. Among the most used tools, employees in both countries significantly and differently use (especially) outsourcing, mission and vision statements, knowledge management, total quality management, and customer segmentation. Using structural equation modelling for testing the proposed relations in the developed model on samples of Slovenian and Croatian employees reveals that the current use of tools plays an important role in predicting the future use of tools in Slovenian organizations, while linkages for the Croatian sample are rather insignificant. More specifically, the current use of management tools has a positive influence on the future use of management tools, while the impact of the current percentage of satisfied users with management tools is very weak. Further, a comparison of results with international data reveals differences in the patterns of management tools use between former catching up countries (studied are two former transition economies) and economies with a longer tradition in the market economy. Based on the current state of management tools use, linkages between their current and future use, and patterns of tools use in high-developed economies, the authors speculate about the future pattern of management tools use in catching up countries based on experiences from high-developed market economies. Those assumptions represent a building block for boosting the use of management tools in organizations in catching up economies, and thus helping those organizations to reduce the gap between them and most developed organizations.
F.25 Development of new organisational structures and managerial solutions
COBISS.SI-ID: 11958556The purpose of this study was to examine the association between social entrepreneurship education and experience in prosocial behaviour on the one hand and the perceived desirability and feasibility of social entrepreneurship among business students on the other. A sample consisting of business students was selected bearing in mind the possible implications of this study on business education curricula. The sample included 512 soon-to-graduate business students from five countries: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia and The Former Yugoslav Republic (FYR) of Macedonia. Our results indicate a statistically significant positive association between the ˝know what˝ component of social entrepreneurship education and both the desirability and the feasibility of social entrepreneurship. The ˝know how˝ component of social entrepreneurship education is statistically significantly positively associated with the feasibility of social entrepreneurship. Experience in prosocial behaviour has a statistically significant positive association with both the desirability and the feasibility of social entrepreneurship. Our results suggest that social entrepreneurship education programmes should include gaining some experience in volunteering, activism and making donations. These activities focus students´ attention on social problems and empower them to find proper solutions.
F.24 Improvements to existing system-wide, normative and programme solutions, and methods
COBISS.SI-ID: 12685596