Dynamic entrepreneurship – generator of sustainable economic growth and competitiveness

Fast-growing companies (gazelles) are the main creators of new jobs, revenue growth and vibrant, competitive economy. This paper reviews (a) conditions for dynamic entrepreneurship in Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia and (b) recent studies on dynamic enterprises (gazelles) conducted in these countries. However, since the authors are in the process of launching new research on gazelles (based on the same methodology and selection criteria), which is to be carried out simultaneously in all four countries in 2014, the paper provides (c) discussion on these initiatives and initial results as well. A constant growth of dynamic enterprises and gazelles and their increasing share in the economy presents an invaluable analytical instrument for forecasting overall economic growth in the next period. In order to define favorable, supportive environment for dynamic and sustainable entrepreneurship, the authors addressed the institutional and regulatory environment, level of knowledge of entrepreneurs, access to finance, incentives for introduction of modern technology, innovations, internationalization, etc. The authors also monitored the trends of entrepreneurial development index, entrepreneurial activity index and competitiveness index for each country. Since the integral pilot project was already implemented in Slovenia in 2011, and a number of conclusions were drown, the authors studied the main features of fast-growing companies and differences between the growth factors that affect growing companies in Slovenia, and compared respective results in all four countries. Among factors for growth, the most critical ones in Slovenia were: environmental barriers, management systems, and financing; these factors were further examined in other three countries. In addition, the growth rates of dynamic enterprises were compared with the ones of their European counterparts, and therefore these studies were able to offer an indication of what time is required by the Southeast European gazelles to catch up with their counterparts abroad. The most important findings of this research and its impacts on respective countries, served as a basis for making recommendations for better addressing the phenomenon of dynamic entrepreneurship, sustainable growth and rising competitiveness

Organizacijski dejavniki hitre rasti slovenskih dinamičnih podjetij

The authors provide key findings on the internal and external environmental factors of growth that affect the rapid growth of dynamic enterprises in relation to individual key organisational factors or functions. The key organisational relationships in a growing enterprise are upgraded with previous research findings and identified key factors of rapid growth through qualitative and quantitative analysis based on the analysis of 4,511 dynamic Slovenian enterprises exhibiting growth potential. More than 250 descriptive attributes of a sample of firms from 2011 were also used for further qualitative analysis and verification of key growth factors. On the basis of the sample (the study was conducted with 131 Slovenian dynamic enterprises), the authors verify whether these factors are the same as the factors that were studied in previous researches. They also provide empirical findings on rapid growth factors in relation to individual organisational functions: administration - management - implementation (entrepreneur - manager - employees). Through factor analysis they look for the correlation strength between individual variables (attributes) that best describe each factor of rapid growth and that relate to the aforementioned organisational functions in dynamic enterprises. The research findings on rapid growth factors offer companies the opportunity to consider these factors during the planning and implementation phases of their business, to choose appropriate instruments for the transition from a small fast growing firm to a professionally managed growing company, to stimulate growth and to choose an appropriate growth strategy and organisational factors in order to remain, or become, dynamic enterprises that can further contribute to the preservation, growth and development of the Slovenian economy.Avtorja v članku podajata ugotovitve preverjanja posameznih notranje in zunanje okoljskih dejavnikov hitre rasti, ki vplivajo na hitro rast dinamičnih podjetij v povezavi z nekaterimi ključnimi organizacijskimi dejavniki oziroma funkcijami. Temeljna organi­zacijska razmerja v rastočem podjetju nadgrajujeta s spoznanji dosedanjih raziskovanj in prepoznanih odločilnih dejavnikov hitre rasti, in sicer s kvalitativno in kvantitativno analizo na osnovi analize 4.511 slovenskih dinamičnih podjetij s potencialom rasti ter vzorca teh podjetij iz leta 2011, ki je služil za nadaljnjo kvalitativno analizo in preverjanje ključnih dejavnikov rasti z 250 opisnimi atributi. Na osnovi obravnavanega vzorca preverjata (vzorec je 131 slovenskih dinamičnih podjetij), ali so ti dejavniki enaki, kot so jih ugotavljali raziskovalci v preteklosti. Prav tako podajata empirične ugotovitve o dejavnikih hitre rasti v pov­ezavi s posameznimi organizacijskimi funkcijami: upravljanje – poslovodenje – izvajanje (podjetnik – menedžer – zaposleni). S pomočjo faktorske analize sta iskala moč povezanosti posameznih spremenljivk (atributov), ki najbolje opisujejo posamezni dejavnik hitre rasti in se navezujejo na omenjene organizacijske funkcije v dinamičnih podjetjih. Izsledki preveritve ključnih dejavnikov hitre rasti nudijo podjetjem možnost upoštevanja teh dejavnikov pri načrtovanju in izvajanju poslovanja in s tem izbor primernih instrumentov za prehod iz malega rastočega podjetja v profesionalno vodeno rastoče podjetje, za stimulacijo rasti, izbor primerne strategije rasti ter organizacijskih dejavnikov, vse z namenom, da ostanejo ali postanejo dinamična pod­jetja in tako dodatno prispevajo k ohranitvi in rasti ter razvoju slovenskega gospodarstva

A longitudinal comparison of the growth factors of Slovenian fast growing enterprises

<p><em>The article presents the main features of Slovenia’s fastest growing companies and compares them with “gazelles” in the EU. The longitudinal survey presented connects with three other studies applying the same research method, namely studies employing the same questionnaire on growth factors that affect growing companies through to the criteria by which they were selected as growing businesses for the survey. The author notes that the growth factors which have an impact on Slovenian businesses and gazelles in the EU mostly do not show any significant differences, and that these differences also did not change significantly over a 15-year period. This hypothesis is verified by both statistical methods and the data mining method called machine learning from examples.</em></p&gt

Organizacijski dejavniki hitre rasti slovenskih dinamičnih podjetij

The authors provide key findings on the internal and external environmental factors of growth that affect the rapid growth of dynamic enterprises in relation to individual key organisational factors or functions. The key organisational relationships in a growing enterprise are upgraded with previous research findings and identified key factors of rapid growth through qualitative and quantitative analysis based on the analysis of 4,511 dynamic Slovenian enterprises exhibiting growth potential. More than 250 descriptive attributes of a sample of firms from 2011 were also used for further qualitative analysis and verification of key growth factors. On the basis of the sample (the study was conducted with 131 Slovenian dynamic enterprises), the authors verify whether these factors are the same as the factors that were studied in previous researches. They also provide empirical findings on rapid growth factors in relation to individual organisational functions: administration – management – implementa­tion (entrepreneur – manager – employees). Through factor analysis they look for the correlation strength between individual variables (attributes) that best describe each factor of rapid growth and that relate to the aforementioned organisational func­tions in dynamic enterprises. The research findings on rapid growth factors offer companies the opportunity to consider these factors during the planning and implementation phases of their business, to choose appropriate instruments for the transition from a small fast growing firm to a professionally managed growing company, to stimulate growth and to choose an appropri­ate growth strategy and organisational factors in order to remain, or become, dynamic enterprises that can further contribute to the preservation, growth and development of the Slovenian economy.The authors provide key findings on the internal and external environmental factors of growth that affect the rapid growth of dynamic enterprises in relation to individual key organisational factors or functions. The key organisational relationships in a growing enterprise are upgraded with previous research findings and identified key factors of rapid growth through qualitative and quantitative analysis based on the analysis of 4,511 dynamic Slovenian enterprises exhibiting growth potential. More than 250 descriptive attributes of a sample of firms from 2011 were also used for further qualitative analysis and verification of key growth factors. On the basis of the sample, the authors verify whether these factors are the same as the factors that were studied in previous researches. They also provide empirical findings on rapid growth factors in relation to individual organisational functions: administration – management – implementation (entrepreneur – manager – employees). Avtorja v članku podajata ugotovitve preverjanja posameznih notranje in zunanje okoljskih dejavnikov hitre rasti, ki vplivajo na hitro rast dinamičnih podjetij v povezavi z nekaterimi ključnimi organizacijskimi dejavniki oziroma funkcijami. Temeljna organi­zacijska razmerja v rastočem podjetju nadgrajujeta s spoznanji dosedanjih raziskovanj in prepoznanih odločilnih dejavnikov hitre rasti, in sicer s kvalitativno in kvantitativno analizo na osnovi analize 4.511 slovenskih dinamičnih podjetij s potencialom rasti ter vzorca teh podjetij iz leta 2011, ki je služil za nadaljnjo kvalitativno analizo in preverjanje ključnih dejavnikov rasti z 250 opisnimi atributi. Na osnovi obravnavanega vzorca preverjata (vzorec je 131 slovenskih dinamičnih podjetij), ali so ti dejavniki enaki, kot so jih ugotavljali raziskovalci v preteklosti. Prav tako podajata empirične ugotovitve o dejavnikih hitre rasti v pov­ezavi s posameznimi organizacijskimi funkcijami: upravljanje – poslovodenje – izvajanje (podjetnik – menedžer – zaposleni). S pomočjo faktorske analize sta iskala moč povezanosti posameznih spremenljivk (atributov), ki najbolje opisujejo posamezni dejavnik hitre rasti in se navezujejo na omenjene organizacijske funkcije v dinamičnih podjetjih. Izsledki preveritve ključnih dejavnikov hitre rasti nudijo podjetjem možnost upoštevanja teh dejavnikov pri načrtovanju in izvajanju poslovanja in s tem izbor primernih instrumentov za prehod iz malega rastočega podjetja v profesionalno vodeno rastoče podjetje, za stimulacijo rasti, izbor primerne strategije rasti ter organizacijskih dejavnikov, vse z namenom, da ostanejo ali postanejo dinamična pod­jetja in tako dodatno prispevajo k ohranitvi in rasti ter razvoju slovenskega gospodarstva

How Entrepreneurial is Slovenia

Monografija na temelju podatkov Globalnega podjetniškega monitorja ugotavlja, da v letu 2002 slovenska družba ni funkcionirala kot podjetniška družba. Ni še dozorelo spoznanje, da je za uspešen razvoj nujno koordinirano sodelovanje države in podjetnikov, saj nihče ne more prisiliti podjetnika, da bo rasel, zaposloval in se razvijal. Vse to lahko izhaja samo iz njegove osebne motivacije, ki je odvisna od pogojev, ki jih ustvarimo v družbi. Zato je temeljni izziv, ki je pred nami, kako vzpostaviti jasno vizijo dolgoročnega razvoja Slovenije kot podjetne družbe ter ustvariti vzpodbudno okolje, da bi se čimveč ljudi uspešno lotevalo podjetništva. Velja temeljno spoznanje, da preko noči ni mogoče radikalno spremeniti podjetniškega potenciala. Občutne spremembe na bolje zahtevajo vztrajnost, dolgoročnejši napor za učinkovitejše delovanje v vrsti vladnih resorjev in v mnogih delih družbe, ki ustvarjajo ali zavirajo nagib k samostojnosti in ustvarjalnosti. Pomembno je, da je vladna politika do podjetništva konsistentna in zato predvidljiva z vidika posameznikov, ki se odločajo za lastno dejavnost. Pri tem morata usklajeno delovati osrednja vlada in lokalne oblasti.Monograph, based on the data of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2002, notes that Slovenian society has not yet functioned as an entrepreneurial society. It has not yet come to realize that for the successful development coordinated cooperation of the state and entrepreneurs is necessary, because no one can force the entrepreneur to grow, recruit and develop. All this can only come from his personal motivation, which depends on the conditions created by the society. Therefore, the fundamental challenge that lies ahead is how to establish a clear vision for long-term development of Slovenia as an entrepreneurial society, and to create a stimulating environment to enable more people embark on entrepreneurship career. Significant changes require more persistence and a long-term effort to operate more efficiently in a number of government departments and in many parts of society that is generate or suppress motivation for entrepreneurial activities. It is important that the government entrepreneurship policy is consistent and therefore predictable for individuals who opt entrepreneurship as their career. This also requires concerted action by the central government and local authorities