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Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth

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Competitiveness of CEE Economies and Businesses

Abstract

In this chapter we explored country competitiveness and entrepreneurship as drivers of economic growth. The research was carried out on a sample of Central and Eastern European (CEE) member states of the European Union (EU). The analysis shows that economic growth as measured by GDP per capita growth rates, and global competitiveness of a country as measured by the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Competitiveness Index scores’ growth rates, are positively related to each other. The comparative analysis also reveals that efficiency-driven and certain transition CEE EU Member States have made the highest progress at various competitiveness pillars, which is reflected in their economic growth. The opposite has been found for two innovation-driven CEE EU Member States. When testing the hypothesis on the relationship between the average growth of quality of early-stage entrepreneurship indices and average growth of GDP per capita, no significant relationship was found. This finding is in accordance with the general thesis that entrepreneurial activity supports economic growth only as part of a favourable broader business environment. The research results constitute a preliminary analytical framework for policymakers and managers in the analysed countries.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia

    Romana Korez-Vide & Polona Tominc

Authors
  1. Romana Korez-Vide
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  2. Polona Tominc
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Correspondence to Romana Korez-Vide .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Poznań University of Economics and Business, Poznań, Poland

    Piotr Trąpczyński

  2. Poznań University of Economics and Business, Poznań, Poland

    Łukasz Puślecki

  3. SGH Warsaw School of Economics, Warsaw, Poland

    Mirosław Jarosiński

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Korez-Vide, R., Tominc, P. (2016). Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth. In: Trąpczyński, P., Puślecki, Ł., Jarosiński, M. (eds) Competitiveness of CEE Economies and Businesses. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39654-5_2

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