Entrepreneurship in Transition Countries: A Review

The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the key issues surrounding entrepreneurship development in transition countries focusing on six main themes. Though it can be argued that the transition countries started from more or less the same point when they embarked on their transitional path, in this paper, we indicate a number of the differences in initial conditions which further influenced SME development. By surveying the existing literature on SME development, this paper illustrates that as the transition process progresses, entrepreneurship development in transition countries is a story of increasing divergence. The transitional context provides unique opportunities for entrepreneurship activities to develop. However, at the same time this environment presents unique challenges for entrepreneurial development especially knowledge-based entrepreneurship as the free-market system matures within a context with low levels of SMEs and inherited negative views towards entrepreneurship.