An analysis of female entrepreneurship and innovation in Serbia in the context of EU competitiveness

Abstract

In economies that are led by innovation, innovativeness and competitiveness are interdependent. If an enterprise and/or economy is competitive in the market it will likely have a high level of innovation management, harmonized with EU standards. A variety of different methodologies is used to assess the innovation capacities of small and medium sized companies, but IMP?rove methodology is widespread in EU countries. It is a benchmarking process which gives, as the final output, a comprehensive report on how to improve and leverage innovation management for profitable growth, which includes a) identification of the gaps hampering growth and b) the direction in which and how the company should be developed and grown. For the purpose of this paper, IMP?rove methodology was adjusted and simplified to assess the innovation capacity of a single company without benchmarking. The focus of the paper is 22 Serbian companies owned and managed by women, which were included in innovation scanning according to the IMP?rove methodology in 2010. All companies included in the sample employ more than 10 employees. The resulting analysis aims to provide insight into the holistic innovation capacity of the selected companies through four dimensions of the so-called ?House of Innovation?1. They are: innovation strategy, innovation organization and culture, innovation process (life cycle management), and enabling factors supporting the development of the company?s innovation management. This analysis provides an overview of the innovation management platform necessary to enhance small and medium enterprises? (SME) business performance and competitiveness in the EU market. The analysis also presents the results of research on the gender aspects of the institutions and programmes that support innovativeness and competitiveness in SMEs. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. III 47005: Research and Development of the Platform for Science-Based Management of the Scientific and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia]

Firm innovation and access to finance: firm-level evidence from India

“…At the same time, firms with female ownership are more innovative in the manufacturing and services industry. Other studies also confirm that firms with female ownership are conscious and proactive in investing in innovation (Popović-Pantić, 2014).…”

It's a man's world? The rise of female entrepreneurship during privatization in Serbia

“…Figures are similar even in transition countries, even those lagging in reforms such as Serbia. Share of women involved in entrepreneurial activities in Serbia is around 26% (Pantic Popovic, 2014). However, there are only 22% of female CEOs in companies, which accounts for only 14% of all board members in Serbian companies.…”

“…One has to note that this statement refers to our sample, whereas across all Serbian firms, enterprises, owned by women exhibit slightly higher closure rates, comparing to the ones of firms owned by men(Pantic Popovic, 2014).…”

The innovation gender gap in transition countries

“…While the studies conducted by Becic and Vojinic (2018) on the relationship between female top manager and innovation in CEECS' firms show that, on average, firm innovation activities are lower when women are top managers, Dohse et al (2019) focus on the role of female managers and female owners in the introduction of product innovation in emerging and developing countries showing that female owners rather than female managers are more prone to introduce innovation. Finally, focusing on the Transition Countries, few analyses attempt to explain the innovation gap between male and female owners at firm's level (Hozer-Kocmiel et al, 2017;Popovic Pantic, 2014;Sirec & Mocnik, 2015). Although emphasizing the female capacity to improve incremental innovation, the study of Pantic ( 2014) is descriptive and relies on a sample of 22 Serbian small and medium firms.…”