The Business Challenges Of Entrepreneurship In Transition Economies

Increase in globalization and internationalization in markets has created a complex business environment for all size firms in open market and also in transition economies. We see that there are more obstacles for entrepreneurs in transition. The purpose of this research is to examine the leading business constraints of entrepreneurship such as institutional environment and market (taxation andregulations, financing, policy instability, inflation, corruption, infrastructure, anticompetitive practice, marketing and managerial practices and bureaucracy) intransition economies. This study aims to integrate theoretical field with the empiricalstatistical data. The theoretical and empirical data were collected from literature andinstitutions based on statistical data, indexes and indicators to examine the business challenges. Therefore we use the global competitiveness index which is measuring nine pillars of competitiveness (institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomy, health and primary education, higher education and training, market efficiency, technological readiness, business sophistication and innovation). We also use governance indicator.We define governance broadly as the traditions and institutions by which authority ina country is exercised. This includes the process by which governments are selected,monitored and replaced; the capacity of the government to effectively formulate andimplement sound policies; and the respect of citizens and the state for the institutions that govern economic and social interactions among them. The six dimensions of governance corresponding to this definition that we measure are: 1. Voice and Accountability (VA) - measuring perceptions of the extent to which a country's citizensare able to participate in selecting their government, as well as freedom of expression,freedom of association, and a free media. 2. Political Stability and Absence of Violence (PV) - easuring perceptions of the likelihood that the government will be destabilized or overthrown by unconstitutional or violent means, including politically motivated violence and terrorism. 3. Government Effectiveness (GE) - easuring perceptions of the quality of public services, the quality of the civil service and the degree of its independence from political pressures, the quality of policy formulation and implementation, and the credibility of the government's commitment to suchpolicies. 4. Regulatory Quality (RQ) - easuring perceptions of the ability of thegovernment to formulate and implement sound policies and regulations that permitand promote private sector development. 5. Rule of Law (RL) - measuring perceptionsof the extent to which agents have confidence in and abide by the rules of society, andin particular the quality of contract enforcement, property rights, the police, and thecourts, as well as the likelihood of crime and violence. 6. Control of Corruption (CC) - measuring perceptions of the extent to which public power is exercised for private gain, including both petty and grand forms of corruption, as well as "capture" of the state by elites and private interests. BEEPS (Business Environment and EnterpricePerformance Survey), CPI (Corruption Perception Index) and WBES (World Business Environmental Survey) will be used to examine challenges. The WBES team sought toaccomplish the following objectives: To provide feed back from enterprises on the state of the private sector; To measure the quality of governance and public services including the extent of corruption; To provide better information on constraints toprivate sector growth, from the enterprise perspective; To sensitize client governments to the importance of listening to firms and using this information tocritically assess policies; To establish the basis for internationally comparable indicators which can track changes in the business environment over time, thus allowing an assessment of the impact of market oriented reforms on private enterprises; To stimulate systematic public-private dialogue on business perceptions and the agenda for reform. By the help of those data we will determine the institutional environment, markets and organizational strategies for entrepreneurs intransition economies. As a conclusion we will make proposals for the entrepreneurs inthe process of European integration

Determining the factor structure of an integrated innovation model

This paper reports on elemental factor analyses of the innovativeness study in the Turkish manufacturing industry, drawing on a sample of 184 manufacturing firms. Factor structures are constructed in order to empirically test a framework identifying the relationships among innovativeness, performance and determinants of innovation. After several independent principal component analyses, factor structures of innovations, firm performance, organization culture, intellectual capital, manufacturing strategy, innovation barriers, and monitoring strategies are presented

Innovation determinants in manufacturing firms

In this paper the findings of an empirical study concerning the innovation determinants in manufacturing firms is presented. The empirical study covers 184 manufacturing firms located in the Northern Marmara region of Turkey. The types of innovation considered here are product, process, marketing and organizational innovations. An extensive literature survey on innovation determinants is provided. A model is proposed to explore the probable effects and the amount of contribution of the innovation determinants to firm’s innovativeness level. Among all possible determinants considered, intellectual capital has the highest impact on innovativeness followed by organization culture

Effects of innovation types on firm performance

Innovation is broadly seen as an essential component of competitiveness, embedded in the organizational structures, processes, products, and services within a firm. The objective of this paper is to explore the effects of the organizational, process, product, and marketing innovations on the different aspects of firm performance, including innovative, production, market, and financial performances, based on an empirical study covering 184 manufacturing firms in Turkey. A theoretical framework is empirically tested identifying the relationships amid innovations and firm performance through an integrated innovation-performance analysis. The results reveal the positive effects of innovations on firm performance in manufacturing industries

Effects of innovation types on firm performance

Innovation is broadly seen as an essential component of competitiveness, embedded in the organizational structures, processes, products, and services within a firm. The objective of this paper is to explore the effects of the organizational, process, product, and marketing innovations on the different aspects of firm performance, including innovative, production, market, and financial performances, based on an empirical study covering 184 manufacturing firms in Turkey. A theoretical framework is empirically tested identifying the relationships amid innovations and firm performance through an integrated innovation-performance analysis. The results reveal the positive effects of innovations on firm performance in manufacturing industries

Innovative capabilities, operations priorities and corporate performance in manufacturing firms

The purpose of this paper is to explore the linkage between innovative capabilities and operations priorities and corporate performance and try to answer the question of how innovative capabilities support a manufacturing firm’s operations priorities and corporate performance. By using survey data from 184 manufacturing firms, firms are clustered according to their innovative capabilities. These clusters are explored in terms of operations priorities and corporate performance. The findings substantiate that manufacturing firms can be clustered according to their innovative capabilities. Each innovation cluster adopts and develops different operations priorities and they attain diverse financial performance levels implying that there are alternative ways to compete in the market even within the same industry. However, each alternative strategy provides diverse levels of benefits. The findings demonstrate further that high performing firms compete effectively on multiple operations priorities simultaneously. Hence, firms need to excel in multiple priorities and innovation types in their market

An integrated innovation model: how innovations are born and what are their impacts on firm performance?

The main objective of this paper is to present a comprehensive and integrated model of innovation at the firm level and to discuss the effects of firm characteristics on the innovativeness capabilities of companies. The results are based on an empirical survey covering 184 manufacturing firms in the Northern Marmara region within Turkey. In this study, first an integrated model of innovativeness is proposed. Later, the innovation determinants, especially firm characteristics, which have a significant role on innovation development success, are analyzed together with how innovativeness of firms influences their competitiveness and performance

An empirical study into the determinants of innovativeness in manufacturing firms

The main objective of this paper is to report on the findings of an empirical study on the determinants of innovativeness in manufacturing firms. The empirical study covers 184 manufacturing firms located in the Northern Marmara region of Turkey. The types of innovation are taken as product, process, marketing and organizational innovations as suggested in the Oslo Manual 2005 published by OECD. A model is proposed to explore the probable effects and the amount of contribution of the determinants of innovativeness to innovativeness level. Among all possible determinants of innovativeness considered, intellectual capital has the highest impact on innovativeness followed by firm culture

What are the determinants leading to innovation in manufacturing firms

In this paper, a comprehensive model of innovation determinants is analyzed based on empirical data gathered from 184 manufacturing firms located in the Northern Marmara region in Turkey. As opposed to the studies that establish the relationship with a limited set of antecedents and innovativeness, this study allows us to investigate how significant is an antecedent compared to others. Such knowledge is invaluable for the decision makers in order to manage their innovation strategies and provides a guideline for effective allocation of their limited resources to be more innovative. The analysis reveals that among all possible determinants considered, intellectual capital has the highest impact on innovativeness followed by organization culture. Path analyses for both of these major innovation determinants are investigated in detail. Some managerial implications are suggested

Effects of organizational innovations on firm's production performance

In the literature, various papers investigate the effects of the technological (product and process) innovations on firms performance. However, research on the effects of organizational innovations is rare. Furthermore, the performance of the firms is usually measured in terms of financial criteria such as the return on assets or equity., and the research on the effects of innovations on production performance is limited. The objective of this paper is to explore the role of different innovation types as well as the organizational innovations on the firm's production performance based on an empirical study covering 184 manufacturing firms in the Northern Marmara region within Turkey. A significant positive relationship between organizational innovations and the firm's production performance is determined