IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/erjour/v1y2011i2n4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Entrepreneurial Ladder in Transition and Non-Transition Economies

Author

Listed:
  • van der Zwan Peter

    (Erasmus University Rotterdam and EIM Business & Policy Research)

  • Verheul Ingrid

    (Erasmus University Rotterdam)

  • Thurik Roy

    (Erasmus University Rotterdam and EIM Business & Policy Research)

Abstract

This paper compares (former) transition and non-transition economies in Europe and Asia with respect to the opportunities available to achieve entrepreneurial progress. In addition, the differential impacts of three perceived environmental barriers to new venture creation are investigated. Entrepreneurial progress is measured using five levels of incremental entrepreneurial involvement. Data from the 2009 “Flash Eurobarometer Survey on Entrepreneurship, No. 283” by the European Commission, which covers all 27 EU Member States, five other European countries, China, Japan, South Korea, and the U.S., are used. China is found to have a forward position during the early stages of entrepreneurial progress, which contrasts with a lack of early-stage entrepreneurial potential in Japan and South Korea. However, converting nascent activities into a business start-up seems to be the most difficult in China and the U.S. Furthermore, we find that perceived environmental constraints hinder entrepreneurial progress most in (former) European transition countries.

Suggested Citation

  • van der Zwan Peter & Verheul Ingrid & Thurik Roy, 2011. "The Entrepreneurial Ladder in Transition and Non-Transition Economies," Entrepreneurship Research Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 1(2), pages 1-20, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:erjour:v:1:y:2011:i:2:n:4
    DOI: 10.2202/2157-5665.1012
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.2202/2157-5665.1012
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2202/2157-5665.1012?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pissarides, Francesca, 1999. "Is lack of funds the main obstacle to growth? ebrd's experience with small- and medium-sized businesses in central and eastern europe," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 14(5-6), pages 519-539.
    2. Isabel Grilo & Roy Thurik, 2008. "Determinants of entrepreneurial engagement levels in Europe and the US," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 17(6), pages 1113-1145, December.
    3. Jing Yang & Jiatao Li, 2008. "The development of entrepreneurship in China," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 335-359, June.
    4. Gry Agnete Alsos & Lars Kolvereid, 1998. "The Business Gestation Process of Novice, Serial, and Parallel Business Founders," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 22(4), pages 101-114, July.
    5. Norris F. Krueger Jr. & Deborah V. Brazeal, 1994. "Entrepreneurial Potential and Potential Entrepreneurs," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 18(3), pages 91-104, April.
    6. Tan, Justin & Yang, Jun & Veliyath, Rajaram, 2009. "Particularistic and system trust among small and medium enterprises: A comparative study in China's transition economy," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 544-557, November.
    7. Thurik, A. Roy & Carree, Martin A. & van Stel, André & Audretsch, David B., 2008. "Does self-employment reduce unemployment?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 673-686, November.
    8. André Stel & David Storey & A. Thurik, 2007. "The Effect of Business Regulations on Nascent and Young Business Entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 171-186, March.
    9. Erik Stam & Roy Thurik & Peter van der Zwan, 2010. "Entrepreneurial exit in real and imagined markets," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 19(4), pages 1109-1139, August.
    10. Thomas M Begley & Wee-Liang Tan, 2001. "The Socio-Cultural Environment for Entrepreneurship: A Comparison Between East Asian and Anglo-Saxon Countries," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 32(3), pages 537-553, September.
    11. Roy Thurik, 2014. "Entrepreneurship and the business cycle," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-90, October.
    12. Koellinger, Philipp & Minniti, Maria & Schade, Christian, 2007. ""I think I can, I think I can": Overconfidence and entrepreneurial behavior," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 502-527, August.
    13. Thomas M. Begley & Wee-Liang Tan & Herbert Schoch, 2005. "Politico–Economic Factors Associated with Interest in Starting a Business: A Multi–Country Study," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 29(1), pages 35-55, January.
    14. Isabel Grilo & A. Roy Thurik, 2006. "Entrepreneurship in the Old and New Europe," International Studies in Entrepreneurship, in: Enrico Santarelli (ed.), Entrepreneurship, Growth, and Innovation, chapter 0, pages 75-103, Springer.
    15. Estrin, Saul & Mickiewicz, Tomasz, 2010. "Entrepreneurship in Transition Economies: The Role of Institutions and Generational Change," IZA Discussion Papers 4805, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Tatiana S. Manolova & Rangamohan V. Eunni & Bojidar S. Gyoshev, 2008. "Institutional Environments for Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Emerging Economies in Eastern Europe," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 32(1), pages 203-218, January.
    17. Pissarides, Francesca & Singer, Miroslav & Svejnar, Jan, 2003. "Objectives and constraints of entrepreneurs: evidence from small and medium size enterprises in Russia and Bulgaria," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 503-531, September.
    18. Harry P Bowen & Dirk De Clercq, 2008. "Institutional context and the allocation of entrepreneurial effort," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 39(4), pages 768-768, June.
    19. Isabel Grilo & Jesus-Maria Irigoyen, 2006. "Entrepreneurship in the EU: To Wish and not to be," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 305-318, May.
    20. Hawkins, Del I., 1993. "New business entrepreneurship in the Japanese economy," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 137-150, March.
    21. Holt, David H., 1997. "A comparative study of values among Chinese and U.S. entrepreneurs: Pragmatic convergence between contrasting cultures," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 12(6), pages 483-505, November.
    22. Peter van der Zwan & Roy Thurik & Isabel Grilo, 2010. "The entrepreneurial ladder and its determinants," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(17), pages 2183-2191.
    23. Enrico Santarelli (ed.), 2006. "Entrepreneurship, Growth, and Innovation," International Studies in Entrepreneurship, Springer, number 978-0-387-32314-5, December.
    24. Ruta Aidis, 2005. "Institutional Barriers to Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprise Operations in Transition Countries," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 305-317, November.
    25. R. Duane Ireland & Laszlo Tihanyi & Justin W. Webb, 2008. "A Tale of Two Politico-Economic Systems: Implications for Entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern Europe," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 32(1), pages 107-130, January.
    26. Michael Kitson & Ron Martin & Peter Tyler, 2004. "Regional Competitiveness: An Elusive yet Key Concept?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(9), pages 991-999.
    27. Tsang, Eric W. K., 1994. "Threats and opportunities faced by private businesses in China," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 9(6), pages 451-468, November.
    28. Pia Arenius & Maria Minniti, 2005. "Perceptual Variables and Nascent Entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 233-247, February.
    29. Smallbone, David & Welter, Friederike, 2001. "The Distinctiveness of Entrepreneurship in Transition Economies," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 249-262, June.
    30. Michail Kouriloff, 2000. "Exploring Perceptions of A Priori Barriers to Entrepreneurship: A Multidisciplinary Approach," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 25(2), pages 59-80, December.
    31. Klaus E Meyer & Mike W Peng, 2005. "Probing theoretically into Central and Eastern Europe: transactions, resources, and institutions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 36(6), pages 600-621, November.
    32. John McMillan & Christopher Woodruff, 2002. "The Central Role of Entrepreneurs in Transition Economies," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(3), pages 153-170, Summer.
    33. Tatsuyoshi Masuda, 2006. "The Determinants of Latent Entrepreneurship in Japan," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 227-240, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Traikova, Diana & Manolova, Tatiana & Möllers, Judith & Buchenrieder, Gertrud, 2014. "Bribing culture and rural start-up plans in transition: evidence from Bulgaria," 2014 International Congress, August 26-29, 2014, Ljubljana, Slovenia 182794, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    2. Traikova, Diana & Manolova, Tatiana S. & Möllers, Judith & Buchenrieder, Gertrud, 2017. "Corruption perceptions and entrepreneurial intentions in a transitional context - The case of rural Bulgaria," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 22(03), pages 1-21.
    3. Ivlevs, Artjoms & Nikolova, Milena & Popova, Olga, 2019. "Former Communist party membership and present-day entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern Europe," GLO Discussion Paper Series 423, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    4. Ivano Dileo & Thaís García Pereiro, 2019. "Assessing the impact of individual and context factors on the entrepreneurial process. A cross-country multilevel approach," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 1393-1441, December.
    5. André van Stel & J. Cieslik Cieslik, 2014. "Trends in Business Ownership in Central and East European Transition Economies," Scales Research Reports H201202, EIM Business and Policy Research.
    6. Hilal Atasoy, 2015. "Latent entrepreneurship in transition economies," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 155-155, June.
    7. Artjoms Ivlevs & Milena Nikolova & Olga Popova, 2021. "Former Communist party membership and present-day entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 1783-1800, December.
    8. László Szerb & William Trumbull, 2015. "Entrepreneurship and transition in the European transition countries," ERSA conference papers ersa15p669, European Regional Science Association.
    9. Claudia Trentini & Malinka Koparanova, 2013. "Corruption and entrepreneurship: does gender matter?," ECE Discussion Papers Series 2013_1, UNECE.
    10. Lim, Dominic S.K. & Oh, Chang Hoon & De Clercq, Dirk, 2016. "Engagement in entrepreneurship in emerging economies: Interactive effects of individual-level factors and institutional conditions," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 933-945.
    11. Peter Zwan & Ingrid Verheul & A. Thurik, 2012. "The entrepreneurial ladder, gender, and regional development," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 627-643, October.
    12. Tha�s Garc�a-Pereiro & Ivano Dileo, 2019. "Female national-level entrepreneurship and the gendered dimension of the cultural environment," RIEDS - Rivista Italiana di Economia, Demografia e Statistica - The Italian Journal of Economic, Demographic and Statistical Studies, SIEDS Societa' Italiana di Economia Demografia e Statistica, vol. 73(3), pages 77-88, July-Sept.

    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. Peter van der Zwan & Ingrid Verheul & Roy Thurik & Isabel Grilo, 2009. "Entrepreneurial Progress: Climbing the Entrepreneurial Ladder in Europe and the US," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 09-070/3, Tinbergen Institute, revised 17 Mar 2010.
    2. Peter Zwan & Ingrid Verheul & A. Thurik, 2012. "The entrepreneurial ladder, gender, and regional development," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 627-643, October.
    3. Verheul, Ingrid & Thurik, Roy & Grilo, Isabel & van der Zwan, Peter, 2012. "Explaining preferences and actual involvement in self-employment: Gender and the entrepreneurial personality," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 325-341.
    4. Peter Zwan & Roy Thurik & Ingrid Verheul & Jolanda Hessels, 2016. "Factors influencing the entrepreneurial engagement of opportunity and necessity entrepreneurs," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 6(3), pages 273-295, December.
    5. Kiss, Andreea N. & Danis, Wade M. & Cavusgil, S. Tamer, 2012. "International entrepreneurship research in emerging economies: A critical review and research agenda," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 266-290.
    6. De Clercq, Dirk & Danis, Wade M. & Dakhli, Mourad, 2010. "The moderating effect of institutional context on the relationship between associational activity and new business activity in emerging economies," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 85-101, February.
    7. Aparicio, Sebastian & Urbano, David & Audretsch, David, 2016. "Institutional factors, opportunity entrepreneurship and economic growth: Panel data evidence," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 45-61.
    8. Jolanda Hessels & Marco Gelderen & Roy Thurik, 2008. "Entrepreneurial aspirations, motivations, and their drivers," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 323-339, October.
    9. Ivano Dileo & Thaís García Pereiro, 2019. "Assessing the impact of individual and context factors on the entrepreneurial process. A cross-country multilevel approach," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 1393-1441, December.
    10. Verheul, I. & Thurik, A.R. & Grilo, I., 2008. "Explaining Preferences and Actual Involvement in Self-Employment: New Insights into the Role of Gender," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2008-003-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    11. Traikova, Diana, 2013. "Determinants of non-farm entrepreneurial intentions in a transitional context: Evidence from rural Bulgaria," Studies on the Agricultural and Food Sector in Transition Economies, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), volume 72, number 72.
    12. R. Sandra Schillo & Ajax Persaud & Meng Jin, 2016. "Entrepreneurial readiness in the context of national systems of entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 619-637, April.
    13. Roy Thurik, 2014. "Entrepreneurship and the business cycle," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-90, October.
    14. Yongseok Jang & Woo Jin Lee & Brandy Hadley, 2020. "Interactive Effects of Business Environment Assessment and Institutional Programs on Opportunity Entrepreneurship," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-18, July.
    15. Vidal-Suñé, Antoni & López-Panisello, María-Belén, 2013. "Institutional and economic determinants of the perception of opportunities and entrepreneurial intention," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 26, pages 75-96.
    16. Jones, Marian V. & Coviello, Nicole & Tang, Yee Kwan, 2011. "International Entrepreneurship research (1989–2009): A domain ontology and thematic analysis," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 632-659.
    17. Block, J.H. & Thurik, A.R. & van der Zwan, P.W. & Walter, S., 2010. "Business Takeover or New Venture? Individual and Environmental Determinants from a Cross-Country Study," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2010-042-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    18. Danis, Wade M. & De Clercq, Dirk & Petricevic, Olga, 2011. "Are social networks more important for new business activity in emerging than developed economies? An empirical extension," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 394-408, August.
    19. Dmitry Khanin & Robert Rosenfield & Raj V. Mahto & Cherry Singhal, 2022. "Barriers to entrepreneurship: opportunity recognition vs. opportunity pursuit," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 1147-1167, May.
    20. Tomasz Mickiewicz & Frederick Wedzerai Nyakudya & Nicholas Theodorakopoulos & Mark Hart, 2017. "Resource endowment and opportunity cost effects along the stages of entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 953-976, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:bpj:erjour:v:1:y:2011:i:2:n:4. 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: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.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.