Browsing by Subject "Transition"

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It's a man's world? The rise of female entrepreneurship during privatization in Serbia
(2020) Kufenko, Vadim; Ivanovic, Vladan
The relationship between female empowerment and economic development is one of the most complex examples of reverse causality, yet multiple scholars acknowledge that female empowerment promotes economic progress. One of the crucial aspects of female empowerment is female entrepreneurship; however, the literature on the emergence of female entrepreneurship is scarce. We focus on the rise of female entrepreneurship in Serbia and collect an extensive biographical dataset of women, who took part in privatization. Although women enjoyed the same de jure rights as men, they faced a number of informal restrictions such as i) patriarchal values, limiting the role of women in the society and ii) occupations in low-wage sectors, making it difficult to accumulate capital. Analyzing the determinants of failures of the newly privatized firms during 2002{2019 we find a significant negative relationship between the risks of failure and the cases of own independent entrepreneurial success of women prior to privatization as well as the cases, in which only the entrepreneurial success of husbands of these women was registered. This relationship is robust to controlling for diverse characteristics of firms and to inclusion of ownership duration. We also find that the presence of influential husbands in the background was not significantly related to the subsequent change of ownership. Although the ownership change was registered for the majority of firms in our sample, we find that during the Serbian privatization women managed to build up on their own entrepreneurial success, which contributed to female empowerment. These findings can be relevant for understanding the aftermath of privatizations with respect to gender inequality in other transition countries.
Reforms and foreign direct investment : possibilities and limits of public policy in attracting multinational corporations; a multiple case study of Romania and Croatia
(2009) Zühlke, Dietmar; Belke, Ansgar
I. Introduction: This thesis analyzes the impact of reforms in Romania and Croatia on the inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by German and Austrian Multinational Corporations (MNCs). The research questions are: (1) What role can public policy play in transition countries in attracting FDI, (2) what influence does public policy in transition countries have on the investment decision of MNCs, (3) how successful have investment policies been in Romania and Croatia, (4) what influence do different political actors have on FDI, and (5) what can be learnt from a cross-country analysis? II. Theoretical approach: This dissertation is based on two theoretical pillars: The theory of locational competition is well-suited to analyze both perspectives of potential investors and state actors. Furthermore, it includes the consideration of interdependences of different determinants as well as of trade-offs of political measures and decisions. The NIE is well-suited to categorize FDI measures and to analyze actions and time constraints of individual actors. III. Methodological approach: The analysis is focused on FDI in Romania and Croatia. It follows the case study approach and is based empirically on expert interviews. The analysis of Romania and Croatia is rewarding in particular since both countries belong to the most important FDI recipients of South East Europe and have not been analyzed in this combination so far. The qualitative analysis allows drawing country-comprehensive conclusions and can demonstrate to what extent EU candidate countries can learn from new EU member states. The case study approach enables the use of different types of sources and is open to the consideration of different research disciplines. The author conducted 90 expert interviews. Interviewees were on investors as well as state representatives. The transcript protocols comprise more than 400 pages and the consolidated case study database contains more than 6,700 expert statements. Furthermore 40 state and company documents were evaluated with a total of over 1,900 pages. IV. Key research results: The interview analysis leads to a definition of three dimensions of legal, economic and political determinants that comprise a total of 14 determinants and 29 sub-determinants. The subsequent analysis of the determinants allows answering the research questions above. (1): Political determinants are of key importance of the inflow for FDI into transition countries. States have to provide a minimum quality level for certain determinants in order to be considered as potential investment location at all (e. g. regarding property rights). (2): The analysis of the 29 sub-determinants shows that FDI is influenced by a multitude of determinants. They are considerably dependent on the perception of the MNCs. The most important determinants for transition countries are privatization, EU integration, internal political stability, property law, regional differences in bureaucracy, and the country image. (3) Romania did not start until the end of the 1990s and did not accelerate until 2004. Today Romania benefits, amongst other things, from a sound legal system and a liberal company registration. An important remaining problem is the weak infrastructure. Croatia started gradual reform after the death of Tudman. The political and economic stability as well as the positive country image represent important pull factors for FDI in Croatia. Property law constraints and bureaucratic obstacles are remaining investment barriers. For transition countries in general the removal of bureaucratic hurdles (such as registration times) as well as the reduction of uncertainties appears to have the greatest impact on FDI. MNCs then even seem to accept somewhat higher costs (e. g. for simple customs procedures). The ?race to the bottom? that is often worried about seems less realistic than a ?race for quality?. (4): 6 groups of state actors were identified who influence the inflow of FDI: central government and authorities, local governments and authorities, courts, and the EU. It was that central governments are the most influential actors group overall. Local authorities are of particular importance for follow-up investments. (5): The catching up of Romania in recent years has turned this country into a role for EU accession candidates in different areas (e. g. regarding the reforms of the local bureaucracy). Croatia?s reforms were less speedy due to the impact of the war and ? to some extent ? because it relied too much on its high living standards. The accession process will be an important vehicle for Croatia ? even more than for Romania ? in order to overcome the remaining deficiencies.
Soziale Marktwirtschaft und Ordoliberalismus : ausgewählte ordnungspolitische Aspekte und ihre Anwendung auf die Transitionsländer
(2019) Ivanovic, Vladan; Hagemann, Harald
The dissertation “Social market economy and Ordoliberlism: Selected institutional aspects and its application in transition countries“ analyses the pivotal institutional structures from the perspective of the proponents of social market economy and ordoliberals. Those institutional aspects determine economic development in the long run. In that sense, the research is linked to the contemporary debate on an importance of institutions in determing a long term economic and social progress. The central pillar of order within social market economy and ordoliberalism refers to the importance of stable value of money for efficient exchange and relations between economic agents. The free price order is as fundamental coordination mechanism as it is essential for creation of significant economic and social advantages in national economy. On the other side, in inflatory environment comes to substantial allocative inefficiences. There is as well an important disruptive influence of inflation on the state structures and freedom. The key role in establishing and maintaining the price stability belongs to an independent central bank. It is necessary, but not sufficient condition for it. The stability of prices and the power of central bank to maintain the stability of prices depend on the coordination with the other state instances, especially with the fiscal authorities, and other important circumstances, such as wage development and velocity of money. The second part of the thesis addresses various issues regarding the competitive order and supporting institutional structure for its development. Competitive order is valued as essential for enabling and protecting the freedom, social mobility, minimisation of transaction costs, rise of the exchange and deepening of the economic relations between economic agents. Several requirements have to be met in order to establish a competitive order. First refers to market openness, which is essential for an efficient participation in the world market. Private property regime as a structural right in economy represents the second precondition. Rule of law is the third requirement which is essential for the protection of individual economic agents. It protects them from predatory behaviour of other economic agents as well from the predatory state activities. In order to escape potentially negative impact of the political process on predictability, reliability and impartiality of institutional structure, which is warranted by rule of law, a clear separation of tasks and responsibilities between different elements of state structure is required. Particularly big challenge for the rule of law and its consequence in the form of competitive order is the concentration of private economic power. An establishment of a credible, consistent, and unbiased legal framework is the fundamental prerequisite for limiting inefficiences arising from the concentration of economic power. To intensify and spread state interventions may cause substantial risks in national economy. They jeopardise functionality and efficiency of political system which is essential for the properly functioning of institutional structure. There is, though, enough place for different measures of economic policy if it comes to structural imbalances in the economy. The third part is devoted to the analysis of the guiding ideas regrading the income distribution and general distribution of resources in the conomy. The state measures regarding the redistribution should mitigate the impacts of market failure, as well as market risks and uncertainities. State and the level of the development of the economy and already emloyed state measures are defining possibilities, effectiveness and efficiency of redistributive policy measures. The fourth part empirically analyses different institutional aspects in the transition countries. On the basis of a new de facto index of central bank independence is found that there is a significant effect of it on an economic growth and its volatility. Generally the more independent is a central bank, the larger will be an economic growth and greater its stability. Further, it is determined that the institutional quality measured by WGI exerted a significant influence on an economic growth in transition countries as well. Regarding the inequality, all transition countries recorded the rise of income inequality since the beginning of the transition, which was especially emphasised in the least developed countries.
Sustainable entrepreneurship and the bioeconomy transition
(2023) Hinderer, Sebastian; Kuckertz, Andreas
Transgressing planetary boundaries endangers the safe operating space for humanity. Thus, a transition of socioeconomic systems toward sustainable development is needed. Prior research elevated the role of sustainable entrepreneurship (SE) in the transition process toward sustainable development in general and the bioeconomy in specific. Bioeconomy strategies worldwide acknowledge the importance of entrepreneurship for the transition process. There is consensus in research that entrepreneurs are needed to implement the vision of a bioeconomy as defined in these strategies. However, it remains unclear how opportunities for entrepreneurial activity in the bioeconomy come into existence and how entrepreneurs contribute to the bioeconomy transition by acting on the provided opportunities. Thus, this dissertation aims to shed light on the interface of SE and the bioeconomy, specifically by investigating the interplay between SE and the bioeconomy transition in light of planetary boundaries and the role of entrepreneurs within the transition. The four empirical studies included in this dissertation take different perspectives on the interface of SE and the bioeconomy and thus contribute different insights to the overall picture drawn in this dissertation. For instance, Study 1 examines a transition pathway to a sustainable bioeconomy by involving an international expert sample in a Delphi survey and subsequent cross-impact analysis. Study 1 presents a list of events necessary to achieve the transition ranked by the experts to reflect their urgency. The cross-impact analysis facilitates combining the most urgent events to create an integrated model of the transition to a sustainable bioeconomy. The findings suggest that rather than bioeconomy strategies, technological progress leveraged by innovative bioeconomy startups and investments currently constitute the main bottleneck hindering a transition to a bioeconomy. Study 2 zooms into the level of new bioeconomy ventures. Based on interviews with ten bioeconomy entrepreneurs from six European countries, it investigates how entrepreneurial opportunities emerge in the bioeconomy context and what competencies entrepreneurs need to act on them. Conceptualizing the bioeconomy transition as an external enabler for SE, Study 2 opens new avenues for research on sustainable development and innovation policy. Furthermore, Study 2 shows that new venture creation in the bioeconomy requires unique knowledge and specific competencies. Study 3 asks how to scale sustainable new ventures and puts it in the context of the ongoing de-growth debate. In recent years the de-growth paradigm has gained popularity in the sustainability discourse. Questioning the absolute decoupling of economic growth from environmental degradation, de-growth proponents suggest downscaling production and consumption to reduce resource extraction and energy consumption. Applying latent class analysis to reveal de-growth attitudes among 393 surveyed entrepreneurs and subsequent regression analysis, Study 3 answers how de-growth attitudes among (sustainable) entrepreneurs are associated with their decision-making on scaling strategies for their ventures. Furthermore, it shows that the development level of the economy an entrepreneur is active in is an essential factor in the decision-making on scaling strategies. Study 4 investigates how sustainable new ventures gain legitimacy to acquire the necessary resources to grow. Previous research suggested being distinctive yet understandable as key to legitimacy for new ventures. However, Study 4 describes complex entrepreneurial identities, i.e., unconventional combinations of entrepreneurial identity claims from the founder and venture levels, as an additional source of legitimacy that benefits only sustainable new ventures but not conventional ones. Since sustainable startups aim to tackle complex problems, external audiences expect them to be different from established conventions of the status quo. An analysis of 15,116 crowdfunding campaigns and their creators’ user profiles via topic modeling and subsequent regression analysis supports this argumentation. The findings show that sustainable ventures with complex – or even odd – entrepreneurial identities receive more support from crowdfunders, while conventional ventures do not. Overall, this dissertation conceptualizes a bi-directional and potentially reinforcing relationship between SE and the bioeconomy transition by building on extant literature and collecting and analyzing new data in four empirical studies. Moreover, it highlights the role of entrepreneurs who need unique knowledge and specific competencies and differ significantly from conventional entrepreneurs in their behavior and entrepreneurial identity. Finally, this dissertation discusses how policy and societal norms can foster productive entrepreneurship that is innovative and sustainable within planetary boundaries.