IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i3p1143-d1329067.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainable Rural Healthcare Entrepreneurship: A Case Study of Serbia

Author

Listed:
  • Ivan Paunović

    (CENTIM—Centre for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and SMEs, Bonn-Rhine-Sieg University of Applied Sciences (Campus Rheinbach), 53359 Rheinbach, Germany
    Faculty of Health and Business Studies, Campus Valjevo, Singidunum University, 14000 Valjevo, Serbia)

  • Sotiris Apostolopoulos

    (Department of Economics and Business, Neapolis University Pafos, Pafos 8042, Cyprus)

  • Ivana Božić Miljković

    (Faculty of Management, Campus Niš, Metropolitan University, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia)

  • Miloš Stojanović

    (Faculty of Management, Campus Niš, Metropolitan University, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia)

Abstract

This article deals with the under-researched phenomenon of rural health entrepreneurship and its major characteristics. The purpose of this study is to explicate the process of providing health services in rural areas of a developing country and their relation to SDGs. The paper is based on six semi-structured interviews conducted with Serbian health entrepreneurs in rural areas (two private practices, two policlinics, and two dental practices), a review of laws and strategies relevant to the field, and three sessions of discussions with eight experts (four authors and four additional experts). The research methodology follows an empirical, mixed-method case study research procedure. The results are presented in relation to the aspects of frugality, family orientation, and sustainability-oriented innovation. The timeline of the six case studies demonstrates the increasing importance of health entrepreneurs in rural areas due to the aging population and, therefore, increased needs for quality healthcare in these areas. The financing instruments have also become more formal and substantial in recent years, enabling the growth of healthcare businesses in rural areas. However, a major obstacle to further sustainable development remains the non-refundability of services before the state-owned, obligatory health fund, creating major social inequalities, especially in rural areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Ivan Paunović & Sotiris Apostolopoulos & Ivana Božić Miljković & Miloš Stojanović, 2024. "Sustainable Rural Healthcare Entrepreneurship: A Case Study of Serbia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-27, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:3:p:1143-:d:1329067
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/3/1143/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/3/1143/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Davide Hahn & Tommaso Minola & Giulio Bosio & Lucio Cassia, 2020. "The impact of entrepreneurship education on university students’ entrepreneurial skills: a family embeddedness perspective," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 257-282, June.
    2. Nikolaos Apostolopoulos & Panagiotis Liargovas & Pantelis Sklias & Ilias Makris & Sotiris Apostolopoulos, 2022. "Private healthcare entrepreneurship in a free-access public health system: what was the impact of COVID-19 public policies in Greece?," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 11(1), pages 23-39, February.
    3. Parmelee, Donna E., 1985. "Whither the state in Yugoslav health care?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 21(7), pages 719-728, January.
    4. Aldrich, Howard E. & Cliff, Jennifer E., 2003. "The pervasive effects of family on entrepreneurship: toward a family embeddedness perspective," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 573-596, September.
    5. Lorraine Uhlaner & Franz Kellermanns & Kimberly Eddleston & Frank Hoy, 2012. "The entrepreneuring family: a new paradigm for family business research," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 1-11, January.
    6. Lorraine Uhlaner & Franz Kellermanns & Kimberly Eddleston & Frank Hoy, 2012. "Erratum to: The entrepreneuring family: a new paradigm for family business research," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 13-13, January.
    7. Farmer, Jane & Kilpatrick, Sue, 2009. "Are rural health professionals also social entrepreneurs?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 1651-1658, December.
    8. Farmer, Jane & Lauder, William & Richards, Helen & Sharkey, Siobhan, 2003. "Dr. John has gone: assessing health professionals' contribution to remote rural community sustainability in the UK," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 57(4), pages 673-686, August.
    9. Thomas Åstebro & Serguey Braguinsky & Pontus Braunerhjelm & Anders Broström, 2019. "Academic Entrepreneurship: The Bayh-Dole Act versus the Professor’s Privilege," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 72(5), pages 1094-1122, October.
    10. Stefan Schaltegger & Marcus Wagner, 2011. "Sustainable entrepreneurship and sustainability innovation: categories and interactions," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(4), pages 222-237, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Randerson, Kathleen & Bettinelli, Cristina & Fayolle, Alain & Anderson, Alistair, 2015. "Family entrepreneurship as a field of research: Exploring its contours and contents," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 143-154.
    2. Eddleston, Kimberly A. & Kellermanns, Franz W. & Collier, Gregory, 2019. "Research on family firm innovation: What do family firms actually think and do?," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 10(4).
    3. Jelle Schepers & Wim Voordeckers & Tensie Steijvers & Eddy Laveren, 2014. "The entrepreneurial orientation–performance relationship in private family firms: the moderating role of socioemotional wealth," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 39-55, June.
    4. Andrea Calabrò & Mariateresa Torchia & Andreas Kallmuenzer & Hedi Yezza & Cheng Feng, 2023. "Transgenerational entrepreneurship in family firms: a configurational approach," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(7), pages 2535-2554, October.
    5. Mattias Nordqvist & Karl Wennberg & Massimo Bau’ & Karin Hellerstedt, 2013. "An entrepreneurial process perspective on succession in family firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 1087-1122, May.
    6. Farmer, Jane & Prior, Maria & Taylor, Judy, 2012. "A theory of how rural health services contribute to community sustainability," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(10), pages 1903-1911.
    7. Giovanna Gavana & Pietro Gottardo & Anna Maria Moisello, 2016. "Sustainability Reporting in Family Firms: A Panel Data Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-18, December.
    8. Beatriz Forés & José María Fernández-Yáñez & Alba Puig-Denia & Montserrat Boronat-Navarro, 2022. "Unveiling the Direct Effects of Family Firm Heterogeneity on Environmental Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-20, August.
    9. Berglund, Karin & Tillmar, Malin, 2015. "To play or not to play: That is the question: Entrepreneuring as gendered play," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 206-218.
    10. Fabio Zona, 2015. "Board ownership and processes in family firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 105-122, January.
    11. Shehnaz Tehseen & Syed Arslan Haider, 2021. "Impact of Universities’ Partnerships on Students’ Sustainable Entrepreneurship Intentions: A Comparative Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-20, April.
    12. Cheng, Chen & Li, Siming & Han, Jiajun, 2022. "Origin matters: How does institution imprint affect family business TFP?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    13. Yu, Wei & Zhu, Fei & Foo, Maw Der & Wiklund, Johan, 2022. "What does not kill you makes you stronger: Entrepreneurs’ childhood adversity, resilience, and career success," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 40-55.
    14. Cristina Aragón-Amonarriz & Agustín Mateo Arredondo & Cristina Iturrioz-Landart, 2019. "How Can Responsible Family Ownership be Sustained Across Generations? A Family Social Capital Approach," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(1), pages 161-185, September.
    15. Alfredo De Massis & Kimberly A. Eddleston & Paola Rovelli, 2021. "Entrepreneurial by Design: How Organizational Design Affects Family and Non‐family Firms’ Opportunity Exploitation," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 27-62, January.
    16. James J. Cordeiro & Ambra Galeazzo & Tara Shankar Shaw & Rajaram Veliyath & M. K. Nandakumar, 2018. "Ownership influences on corporate social responsibility in the Indian context," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 1107-1136, December.
    17. Lardon, Andy & Deloof, Marc & Jorissen, Ann, 2017. "Outside CEOs, board control and the financing policy of small privately held family firms," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 29-41.
    18. Kraiczy, Nils D. & Hack, Andreas & Kellermanns, Franz W., 2014. "New product portfolio performance in family firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(6), pages 1065-1073.
    19. Hongyi Sun & Pei‐Lee Teh & Jonathan D. Linton, 2018. "Impact of environmental knowledge and product quality on student attitude toward products with recycled/remanufactured content: Implications for environmental education and green manufacturing," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(7), pages 935-945, November.
    20. Julia Suess-Reyes, 2017. "Understanding the transgenerational orientation of family businesses: the role of family governance and business family identity," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 87(6), pages 749-777, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:3:p:1143-:d:1329067. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.