In this paper, we empirically assess the relationship between early-stage entrepre- neurial firms’ growth aspirations and their innovative and international orientation. We obtained the data before the economic crisis from the 2003—2008 Global En- trepreneurship Monitor Adult Population Survey for eight southeastern European co- untries (SeEC) and five western European countries (WEC). The results show that a firm’s newness of its technologies used and its offer and international orientations inhibit growth aspirations. In the early stage, firms lack the resources, experience, skills, and networking necessary to grow. The extent of the negative relationships between growth aspirations and innovative and international orientation is bigger in WEC than in SeEC.V prispevku smo empirično ocenjevali povezavo med aspiracijami po rasti in ino- vativno ter mednarodno naravnanostjo zgodnjih podjetnikov. Uporabili smo podat- ke raziskave Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Adult Population Survey za obdob- je pred gospodarsko krizo med letoma 2003 in 2008 za osem držav jugovzhodne Evrope (JVED) in pet zahodnoevropskih držav (ZED). Rezultati kažejo, da novosti v uporabljeni tehnologiji in ponudbi ter internacionalizacija zavirajo aspiracije po rasti zgodnjih podjetnikov. V zgodnji fazi podjetja nimajo dovolj sredstev, izkušenj, spretnosti in mrežnih povezav, kar bi spodbujalo njihove aspiracije po rasti. Nega- tivna povezava med aspiracijami po rasti in inovativno in mednarodno naravna- nostjo je večja v ZED kot v JVED
