Towards Sustainable Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in a Transitional Economy: An Analysis of Two Romanian City-Regions through the Lens of Entrepreneurs

Ana-Maria Grigore and Irina-Maria Dragan
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Ana-Maria Grigore: Faculty of Public Administration and Business, University of Bucharest, 030018 București, Romania
Irina-Maria Dragan: Faculty of Cybernetics, Statistics and Informatics, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010374 București, Romania

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 15, 1-21

Abstract: The entrepreneurial ecosystem, one of the latest trends for researchers and practitioners, has the potential to increase our understanding of entrepreneurship. Existing research was conducted mostly in developed countries. The purpose of this paper is to bring to light the particularities of entrepreneurial ecosystems in two important city-regions of Romania, which should result in a better understanding of the specific context of this transitional economy. Starting from the models of entrepreneurial ecosystems proposed in the literature, we added an element specific to most post-communist states: political entrepreneurs, underlying the impact of their presence for the evolution and sustainability of entrepreneurial ecosystems. The research design was a qualitative exploratory study. The study focused on a sample of 21 entrepreneurs from two city-regions in Romania: Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca. The interviews were based on open-ended questions prompting the respondents to engage in a storytelling approach to describe their experiences as entrepreneurs in a volatile environment, along with their perceptions. The data were analyzed based on a descriptive phenomenological approach using thematic analysis. The main findings, resulting from the qualitative interview data, are that although entrepreneurship, both in results and mentality, is well-established, seemingly over the “point of no return”, the particular context is still making things rough for entrepreneurial activity. The results suggest a strong need for coherent policies at local and national levels.

Keywords: entrepreneurship; entrepreneurial ecosystem; sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem; political entrepreneurship; city-region; Romania (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:15:p:6061-:d:391013

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