Entrepreneurial ecosystems in Bulgaria and Romania: A comparative analysis

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/tie.22154
• Date: 01 September 2020
• Author: James P. Hess
• Published date: 01 September 2020

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Entrepreneurial ecosystems in Bulgaria and Romania:

A comparative analysis

James P. Hess

Department of Management & Marketing,

Purdue University at Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne,

Indiana

Correspondence

James P. Hess, Department of Management &

Marketing, Purdue University at Fort Wayne,

2101 Coliseum Blvd. Neff 340R, Fort Wayne,

IN 46805.

Email: hessjp@pfw.edu

Abstract

This comparative analysis examines the neighboring entrepreneurial ecosystems in

Bulgaria and Romania. In transitioning from past planned economies, these countries

maintain similar approaches to entrepreneurship, yet they also exhibit distinct differ-

ences. Secondary data analysis revealed that both countries maintain a highly edu-

cated workforce with high start-up skills and similar levels of global competitiveness

in growing economies, while still facing low-risk acceptance and low opportunity per-

ception. On the other hand, Bulgaria excels in networking, building joint venture

deals, attracting investment, maintaining a stronger focus on R&D, and the ability to

nurture collaboration between industries and universities, while Romania displays

stronger political stability, greater ease in starting a business, a more advanced infra-

structure, and easier access to credit. As these countries capture the strengths of

their respective economies, both Bulgaria and Romania may one day represent pow-

erful hubs of innovation. Organizational leaders may use this study as a comparative

springboard to learn new, yet workable policies that may support entrepreneurship

within their respective ecosystems.

1|INTRODUCTION

The advent of entrepreneurial ecosystems has changed the dynamics

of the global business landscape, fueling shifts in knowledge, talent,

and other resources as diverse entities work interdependently toward

new, sustainable innovations. Within the last two decades, such hubs

of entrepreneurial activity have emerged in myriad locations around

the globe (Mack & Mayer, 2016). From Silicon Valley to London, Syd-

ney, Berlin, Southeast Asia, and beyond, entrepreneurial ecosystems

each comprised of unique political, socioeconomic, and organizational

factors have surfaced as strategic systems of innovation igniting mar-

ket leverage in each respective region (Audretsch & Belitski, 2017).

Entrepreneurial ecosystems are constantly evolving, each operating in

fundamentally different ways. Thus, the ecosystems cannot be

defined uniformly (Brown & Mason, 2017). In fact, each entrepreneur-

ial ecosystem is comprised of distinctive forces that build and sustain

regional entrepreneurial activity. According to Isenberg (2014) and

Roundy, Bradshaw, and Brockman (2018), no single catalyst drives the

success of entrepreneurial ecosystems, each being a self-regulating

network comprised of many interdependent players. Yet, with entre-

preneurship as the fundamental concept behind the entrepreneurial

ecosystem, a contextual framework arises that determines who

becomes an entrepreneur, to what extent entrepreneurial decision

making is supported, and how various factors impact entrepreneurial

outcomes (Autio, Kenney, Mustar, Siegel, & Wright, 2014). According

to Linan, Urbano, and Guerrero (2011), underlying beliefs about entre-

preneurship in general influence entrepreneurial players' desires to

support it. What results is a synergistic relationship whereby dynamic

interactivity among entrepreneurial players produces more than the

sum of their parts (Cooke, 2016). As entrepreneurial ecosystems react

to market conditions and players' actions, success is derived from sev-

eral key factors, including talent, entrepreneurial culture, the density

of researchers, access to markets, access to financial and human capi-

tal, and a supportive regulatory environment (Jha, 2018; Oh, Phillips,

Park, & Lee, 2016). Contemporary researchers continue to capture

the essence behind evolving entrepreneurial ecosystems to identify

new approaches to innovation and meaningful shifts in global business

patterns.

DOI: 10.1002/tie.22154

Thunderbird Int. Bus. Rev.. 2020;62:489–501. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/tie © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC. 489