A major focus of research on business angels has examined their decision-making processes and investment criteria. As business angels reject most of the opportunities that they receive, this article explores the reasons informing such decisions. In view of angel heterogeneity, investment opportunities might be expected to be rejected for differing reasons. Two sources of data are used to examine this issue. Face-to-face interviews with 30 business angels in Scotland and Northern Ireland provided information on typical 'deal killers' This was complemented by an internet survey of UK that attracted responses from 238 UK business angels. The findings confirm that the main reason for rejection relates to the entrepreneur/management team. However, angel characteristics do not explain the number of reasons given for opportunity rejection nor do they predict the reasons for rejecting investment opportunities. This could be related to the increasing trend for business angels to join organized groups which, in turn, leads to the development of a shared repertoire of investment approaches. We suggest the concept of 'communities-of-practice' as an explanation for this finding.

Research background: Entrepreneurship issues in the transition economies have attracted growing attention from scholars in recent years. However, the debate over the value of entrepreneurship in reinforcing structural change is still incomplete. The need for a more thorough approach is noticeable, taking into account drivers which determine entrepreneurial activity in the transition economies. The findings may be useful for recognising opportunities and threats of the development of these economies. Purpose of the article: This paper extends research on entrepreneurship in the transition economies by considering drivers of entrepreneurial activity. The aim of the paper is to investigate what drivers have their consequences for entrepreneurial activity in the Visegrad countries. As the Visegrad countries represent a unique context, because they faced a similar structure at the beginning of the transition process, a valuable insight can be gained by focusing on them. Methods: Hypothesis development is based on the literature review. Fixed effects panel regression was employed for hypothesis testing. Panel data consists of 440 observations for the Visegrad countries for the 2004–2014 period. To control for autocorrelation and hetero-scedasticity, Durbin-Watson test and Wald statistic were used, respectively. Findings & Value added: This paper contributes to the existing literature by pre-senting an analysis of drivers having their impact on entrepreneurial activity in the Visegrad countries. It provides new insights on understanding of the entrepreneur-ship issues in the transition economies. The main finding is that entrepreneurial activity in the Visegrad countries is determined significantly by the economy struc-ture and human capital. However, the signif-icance and the intensity of these effects are different. The findings may be interesting for policymakers in particular. Shifting from general entrepreneurship support towards a focus on promoting entrepreneurial behaviour among high-skilled workers should be considered. Fostering networking, collaboration and internalisation should be regarded for knowledge transfer and spillover enhancement.

Research background: While entrepreneurship in transition economies is the subject of a growing body of literature, the debate on factors influencing entrepreneurial activity in such economies is still incomplete. This paper extends this de-bate by focusing on the effect of changes in the economy structure on entrepreneurship in Poland. The findings might be supportive for policymakers in pursuing policy aimed at boosting entrepreneurship in a transition economy. Purpose of the article: The aim of the paper is to investigate the extent to which changes in the economic structure impact entrepreneurial activity in Poland. The paper contributes to the literature by providing empirical support to the pending research efforts to recognize entrepreneurship dimensions in a transition economy. Methods: The hypothesis was tested with fixed effects panel regression with robust standard errors. Data were sourced from the Statistics Poland for all Polish NUTS-2 regions for the period 2003–2017. Panel data are balanced and include 3 600 observations. Findings & Value added: This paper extends previous research on factors affect-ing entrepreneurial activity in a transition economy by focusing on the importance of changes in the economy structure for new firm creation. The findings provide evidence of the significant value of the service sector in boosting entrepreneurial activity in Poland. The findings might attract attention of policymakers. Fostering structural change towards smart specialization in services should be regarded when constituting programmes supporting entrepreneurship.

Streszczenie. W artykule przedstawiono odautorską wizję roli kultury ekologicznej jak czynnika stabilnego rozwoju regionów przemysłowych we współczesnych warunkach. Uściśla się naukowe rozumienie treści i struktury kultury ekologicznej. Na podstawie wyników badań socjologicznych autorzy uzasadniają tezę, że poziom kultury ekologicznej zarówno ludności, jak i przedstawicieli biznesu na Ukrainie, między innymi w Krzyworoskim Regionie Przemysłowym pozostaje na niedostatecznym poziomie. Rozwijana jest myśl o konieczności doskonalenia państwowej polityki ekologicznej i wychowania ekologicznego w sferze edukacji. Abstract. The article is deal with ecological culture as a factor of sustainable development of industrial regions in modern conditions. The scientific understanding of the content and structure of ecological culture is specified. Based on the results of sociological research, the authors substantiate the level of environmental culture of both the population and business representatives in Ukraine, including Krivoy Rog is insufficient. It is necessary to improve the state environmental policy and environmental education.

The main goal of the paper is to study the significance of businesses as a component of smart specialization, on the basis of the Opolskie Voivodship Development Strategy. The structure of the paper consists of two sections. The first part is related to theoretical studies which consider companies as an element of smart specialisation. The second part of the paper contains the analysis of Opolskie Voivodship Development Strategy with regard to the relevance of companies in a smart specialization of the voivodship in question.