Comparison Of Business Start-Ups In A Transition Economy And In A Traditional Market Economy: The Case Of The Czech Republic And Austria

This research compares business start-ups in two neighboring countries in Central Europe: Austria, with its traditional market economy, and the Czech Republic, with its recently developed market economy. A joint questionnaire (derived from the Vienna Entrepreneurship Studies) which was only marginally modified for the specifics of the two countries allowed a number of comparisons between 627 newly established businesses in Austria and 778 such businesses in the Czech Republic. The concept for these comparisons was based on a comprehensive view of configurations consisting of the entrepreneur's personality, resources, environment, and the start-up process. For both countries, a typically successful configuration of these dimensions was pre-defined and used as a reference for the measurement of deviations (effect sizes). On the basis of these effect sizes, it was then possible to detect clusters of configurations in both countries. The cluster solutions show remarkable similarities on an aggregated level, bringing to light at least two easily comparable clusters for each country. However, they do indicate many significant differences at the individual aspect level. In addition, an overall comparison of the Austrian and Czech clusters revealed clear differences in the characteristics of start-ups in a traditional market economy and a young market economy.