Projects / Programmes
Entrepreneurship for Innovative Society
January 1, 2009
- December 31, 2014
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 5.02.00 |
Social sciences |
Economics |
|
| 5.04.00 |
Social sciences |
Administrative and organisational sciences |
|
| 5.09.00 |
Social sciences |
Psychology |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| S0 |
Social sciences |
S0 |
| S124 |
Social sciences |
Patents, copyrights, trademarks |
| S180 |
Social sciences |
Economics, econometrics, economic theory, economic systems, economic policy |
| S184 |
Social sciences |
Economic planning |
| S185 |
Social sciences |
Commercial and industrial economics |
| S188 |
Social sciences |
Economics of development |
| S189 |
Social sciences |
Organizational science |
| S190 |
Social sciences |
Management of enterprises |
| S191 |
Social sciences |
Market study |
| S195 |
Social sciences |
Development cooperation |
| S264 |
Social sciences |
Applied and experimental psychology |
| T270 |
Technological sciences |
Environmental technology, pollution control |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 5.02 |
Social Sciences |
Economics and Business |
Entrepreneurship, innovativeness, economic development
Researchers (17)
Organisations (1)
Abstract
The basic objectives of the research program P5-0023 "Entrepreneurship for Innovative Society" in the extent of 1.2 FTE are set to gain knowledge and understanding of relationships between entrepreneurship, innovativeness and economic growth. It aims to strengthen the understanding of reasons present in companies and organizations which cause Slovenia lagging behind in innovativeness and entrepreneurship. It also aimes at providing policy making implications.
The main points of the research group are in explaining and understanding principles of transition to innovative economy and society, influences and consequences of becoming EU member from the viewpoint of company innovativeness, social responsibility and economic growth in relation to entrepreneurship. The research is based on knowledge gained in preceding research program "Innovative Company in Transition", and in basic and targeted research projects such as "Slovenian Entrepreneurship Observatory", "Global Entrepreneurship Monitor" and "Regional Entrepreneurship Monitor and Social Values" performed within same research group.
The basic theoretical starting point of the research is the finding that the specific conditions of the innovative and entrepreneurial activities in any region influence the size and amount of its socially beneficial entrepreneurship, which in turn supports economic growth and development. Innovativeness, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial behavoiur depend on humans (their values, especially their motivations and aspirations, and their capabilities), but there is a lack of attributes of this kind in the transition/latecomer economies, and they must be developed as quick as possible.
The design of the research program match these findings, including investigation of the economic and social development of a region; its capability of trading as an open competitive economy; its capability to employ both genders on an equal basis, both as entrepreneurs and as coworkers; its capability to research, develop and apply innovatively the achievements of R&D in both old and new enterprises, especially SMEs; its capability to develop new economic activities, etc., and to build its modern quality of life by competiveness based on innovativeness, entrepreneurship and systemic thinking. Research program investigates incorporation of the entrepreneurship and innovation management, including the intelectual property, into the integral enterprise management, the model of the corporate social responsibility (and its measuring by the contemporary creditworthiness etc.), the model of corporate ethical norms and culture, and the model of business economics able to investigate new types of enterprises. This includes entrepreneurs' and other influential persons' self-image and capability to take risk, methods of decision-making concerning the enterprise future (anticipatory models), holistic rather than one-sided consideration of technological and other inventions and innovations, especially the ones related to environment protection.
The briefed research content is accordant with the basic objectives of the program, which include, along with the knowledge and understanding of interdependence of innovativeness, entrepreneurship and the economic growth, especially: (1) a clearer understanding of reasons why Slovenia and other new EU members lag behind in innovativeness and entrepreneurship, and (2) understanding what can be done to diminish, or even abolish, this lag as much and as soon as possible.
Significance for science
The research group contributed to the understanding of the interrelation between economic growth and development and entrepreneurship, as well as to a more comprehensive methodology and system of indicators for the detection and measurement of entrepreneurial and innovative activities. The results of the research enable better quantitative analysis of the impact of several factors on the level of entrepreneurship, thereby better understanding how it is possible by the creation of a supportive environment more efficiently promoting the entrepreneurship and build up an knowledge based innovative society. Through research we have also contributed to the perception that economic behavior is significantly depending on the prevailing values as they influence the decisions taken by individuals. We also contributed to a better understanding of the model of factors affecting the entrepreneurial intentions, and we studied the factors affecting the perception of business opportunities, particularly in terms of gender differences. The research results show that in terms of company resources, social capital is of particular importance; its increase leads to a significant increase of business opportunities recognition between women. We have also shown which major international comparable indicators can be used to measure entrepreneurial activity and which influential factors of entrepreneurship can be identified. We operationalized the designed conceptual model of studying entrepreneurship and examine the entrepreneurial processes and the impact of its components on entrepreneurial activity, as well as explored the relationship between entrepreneurs, business, and delopment. This segment of the survey was designed primarily for the promotion of entrepreneurial potential at the national level, and the theoretical and empirical recommendations for the understanding of entrepreneurship and its impact on the personal, economic and sustainable development. The study of cooperation among enterprises has brought a deeper insight into the state of it in Slovenia and in comparison with other countries. We found out that, in recent years, support for entrepreneurship has been developing, but in comparison with other countries, Slovenia still lags behind. By combining the concepts of dynamic capabilities and dynamic company, we set the initial steps to improve the willingness of companies to cope with the dynamic and complex changes in the environment. We also note that the type and strength of culture and ethical climate in firms differ depending on whether they are family or non-family business. Through our research, we contribute to the understanding of the interconnectedness of certain elements or approaches to environmental policy of innovation in products. Some of these approaches include mainly organizational aspects of the establishment of environmental policies in companies, while others are focused on evaluating the specific impact of products on the environment. Although studies regarding the introduction of the concept of ecodesign products in the company exist, still have not been given clear answers how active environmental policy, introduced according to the principles and requirements of the ISO 14001 standard, promotes and includes environmental innovation products. We have contributed to the development of a methodology for assessing the environmental rating, based on multicriteria methodology, integrates objective measurement of value judgments and manages subjectivity. For the measurement of global phenomena such as sustainable development and measurement of social responsibility, we have developed methodological solutions: to take into account the interactions between the criteria we used the concept of soft Choquet integral, and have adapted it to the concept of multi-attribute decision-making; to simplify the expression of judgments on the importance of the criteria we adapt some methods of creative thinking.
Significance for the country
The results of the research group provide evidence-based proposals for the policy-makers and designers of development policies in Slovenia. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor and the Slovenian entrepreneurship observatory have become valuable source for adopting measures and preparing the necessary base for entrepreneurshp policy. The research has contributed towards a greater understanding of influencing factors on discovery of business opportunities and on entrepreneurial activity, as well as towards promoting political decisions that would create an encouraging environment for entrepreneurship. The study of entrepreneurial policies and the business environment in Slovenia show that the entrepreneurship support in Slovenia is not sufficient, while a comparison with other countries shows that we are lagging behind. The research results are also very important for the development of the education system in Slovenia, as they show that it is possible to develop entrepreneurial characteristics in kids and teach them, whereby entrepreneurship clubs are a good way of encouraging creativity and innovativeness. Innovativeness is an activity that can be learnt through the educational system and influences the development of entrepreneurial skills and competences. As far as sustainable solutions are concerned, these are approaches of creative problem-solving, which are transferable competences as well as the essence of entrepreneurial thinking. The research of the development capacity of family businesses shows that there is no statistically significant difference between non-family and family businesses. A possible explanation for these results lies in the relatively homogenous population of Slovenian family businesses. Most Slovenian companies we studied have a positive attitude towards basic ethical values, however family businesses are more personal, emphasise individual development, trust and openness, while non-family businesses are more dynamic, have strong aspirations for innovativeness and risk-taking, are more aggressive market-wise and more result-focused. Family businesses with succession solutions expect a much bigger increase in the number of employees than family businesses without such solutions. Placing and justifying the importance of company culture, philosophy, ethics and credibility as the key performance indicators of a company is a very important leap of thought for Slovenia and the Slovenian economy, as it is the only way of thinking that would ensure the success of Slovenia as well as its economy in the long term. We have also contributed to the literature from the field of management and service marketing, which is important for managing business and knowing the needs and behaviours of clients as well as for designing strategies with which companies can successfully compete on the market. This concerns content that had previously not been covered in the Slovenian (educational) area. Despite the popularity of the ISO 14001 standard and the increasingly more apparent trend of developing products that are more suitable to the environment and the legislation, there is insufficient data about the correlation between environmental certification and product eco-design in Slovenia. The research results partially fill in this gap. At the same time they indicate how Slovenian manufacturing companies are showing signs of switching from process-based environmental strategies to product-based environmental strategies. We additionally include the findings of the empirical research on well-being, which show that amongst the small and medium-sized enterprises in Slovenia, the most socially responsible ones are those with 20-99 employees and that subjectively, well-being amongst employees in private companies is higher in small than in medium-sized enterprises.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2009,
2010,
2011,
2012,
2013,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2009,
2010,
2011,
2012,
2013,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
