Entrepreneurship in Transitional Economies: Review and Integration of Two Decades of Research

Abstract

This review maps research on entrepreneurship in transitional economies since the start of institutional reforms. Data came from 129 academic journal articles published between 1990 and 2009. 62 articles reported research on macro (country) level, discussing the nature and speed of reform, credit constraints, assistance programs and the role of small business for economic development. 67 articles studied micro (firm) level factors, but only 14 of them employed data analytical methods to study what explains entrepreneurial success, suggesting a role for networking, industry experience and entrepreneurial orientation. We suggest more research on understanding the context of entrepreneurship, with a special focus on the informal institutional environment and industry structure. Also, future research can explore topics such as strategic agendas, opportunity identification and entrepreneurial cognition, which have been rare to date. We particularly emphasize the need for rigorous and replicable large-scale empirical studies.

Corruption Perceptions and Entrepreneurial Intentions in a Transitional Context–the Case of Rural Bulgaria

“…Bulgaria was hard hit by the "shock therapy" and the institutional hiatus of the transition period and is plagued by rampant petty corruption (Manev and Manolova, 2010). Previous studies of corruption in Bulgaria paint a grim picture of stable entrenchment of bribing and bending the law practices (Stoyanov et al, 2014;Vorley and Williams, 2015).…”

Suboptimal Size: Factors Preventing the Growth of Russian Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

“…Furthermore, in 2012-2014 the share of players who had no growth aspirations, i.e., those did not plan to create jobs, increased significantly. 2 This situation is confirmed by the conclusions of a mounting body of research on entrepreneurship in emerging economies [Manev, Manolova, 2010;Ojala, Isomaki, 2011]. However, in contrast to SMEs in developed economies, which face challenges mainly in achieving high rates of growth [Lee, 2014;Mason, Brown, 2013], the SMEs in transitioning economies, especially in Russia, struggle to grow at all [OECD, 2015;Welter, Smallbone, 2011;Smallbone et al, 2014].…”

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“…Furthermore, in 2012-2014 the share of players who had no growth aspirations, i.e., those did not plan to create jobs, increased significantly. 2 This situation is confirmed by the conclusions of a mounting body of research on entrepreneurship in emerging economies [Manev, Manolova, 2010;Ojala, Isomaki, 2011]. However, in contrast to SMEs in developed economies, which face challenges mainly in achieving high rates of growth [Lee, 2014;Mason, Brown, 2013], the SMEs in transitioning economies, especially in Russia, struggle to grow at all [OECD, 2015;Smallbone et al, 2014].…”