Entrepreneurship and firm growth in transition - The Case of Kosovo

• Pages: 257-266

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l. 7 N

o

. 1

M

arch, 202

1

ISS

N 2410-391

8

A

cces on

l

ine at www.ii

p

cc

l

.or

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25

7

A

cademic Journal o

f

Business,

A

dministration, Law and Social Sciences

II

PCCL Publishin

g

, Graz-

A

ustria

Entrepreneurship and f‌i rm

g

rowth in transition - The Case of Kosovo

Shai

p

Gash

i

I

nternational Business Colle

g

e Mitrovica, Kosov

o

Ab

str

a

ct

T

his study explores the development of entrepreneurship in the transition phase and integrations

p

rocesses with particular emphasis on challenges of f‌i rm growth and development in Kosovo.

M

oreover, this is an investigation of the perception of small business owners/managers’ on

s

pecif‌i c obstacles to growth and develop their businesses. This paper is supported by a special

e

mpirical study based on a survey conducted with 200 businesses including 7 regions of Kosovo.

I

t was organized in the

f‌i

rst hal

f

o

f

2017 directly with key business actors which identi

f‌i

ed

the main problems of entrepreneurship development and business growth. However, various

obstacles have been identi

f‌i

ed, mainly related to environment o

f

doing business. From the

d

ata obtained from the f‌i eld, statistical factor analysis has been done to measure the impact o

f

v

arious variables on business growth.

A

dditionally, data analysis shows that there is a close

correlation between the obstacles and the

g

rowth of businesses. The research results raise

i

mportant issues for discussion and recommendations regarding applications of policies and

s

trategies for the development and growth of businesses in Kosovo.

Ke

y

words

:

entrepreneurship, f‌i rm growth, transition, and obstacles.

I

ntr

odu

ct

io

n

E

ntre

p

reneurshi

p

as a new disci

p

line o

f

management that during last

f

ew decades

h

as ex

p

an

d

e

d

extraor

d

inari

ly

on a wor

ld

wi

d

e sca

l

e,

b

ui

ld

ing u

p

on a sustaina

bl

e

source o

f

new em

p

lo

y

ment, innovation and economic growth (Morales & Roig,

2005). Nevertheless, it is

p

erceived that knowledge on

f‌i

rm growth is still limited

(Davidsson & Wiklund, 2000); (Wiklund & She

p

herd, 2003). Di

f‌f

erentl

y

, in south-

e

ast

E

uro

p

ean countries inc

l

u

d

ing Kosovo t

h

e transition starte

d

wit

h

l

ow

l

eve

l

d

evelo

p

ment and under larger number o

f

challenges. The economies o

f

these

c

ountries are based exclusivel

y

f

rom small

f‌i

rms.

I

n Kosovo small

f‌i

rms are the engine

of

the entire econom

y

and a ke

y

f

actor o

f

develo

p

ment. Moreover, small

f‌i

rms are

c

onsi

d

ering as an entre

p

reneuria

l

an

d

t

h

e innovation s

p

irit, an

d

pl

a

y

s a crucia

l

ro

l

e

i

n

f

ostering com

p

etitiveness and em

p

lo

y

ment. Small businesses are an individual

k

e

y

to

h

arnessing entre

p

reneuria

l

s

p

irit an

d

innovation, t

h

us are crucia

l

to ensuring

c

om

p

etitiveness an

d

l

oca

l

economic growt

h

(Gas

h

i, 2015). “T

h

e growt

h

an

d

surviva

l

p

ros

p

ects o

f

new

f‌i

rms will de

p

end on their abilit

y

to learn about their environment,

and to link changes in their strateg

y

choices to the changing con

f‌i

guration o

f

that

e

nvironment”

(

Geroski, 1995

)

.

I

n transition countries with a low level o

f

develo

p

ment, uncertaint

y

is caused b

y

the lack o

f

su

pp

ort

f

rom institutions and missing in

f

ormation on

p

otential

f

uture

b

ehavior in the business environment. “

U

ncertaint

y

is a

p

erce

p

tual

p

henomenon

d

erived

f

rom an inabilit

y

to assign

p

robabilities to

f

uture events, mostl

y

because o

f

a