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Slovakia, a development that would be detrimental for Slovak economy,
particularly in relation to unemployment rates. It is therefore necessary to
implement institutional changes to reverse this trend.
Entrepreneurial activity of the Slovak population
x
In 2012, Slovakia's total early-stage entrepreneurial activity (TEA – the
percentage of the population aged 18 to 64 that are either nascent
entrepreneurs or owners - managers of new firms), the main indicator
measuring entrepreneurial activities within GEM, fell to 10.2%, a significant
decrease compared to 2011 levels 14.2%. This decline is reflected in our TEA
ranking among European countries. While in 2011 we were ranked first, in
2012 we fell to the fourth position. Despite this unfavorable development, the
Slovak TEA remains the highest among the V5 countries and Austria, but the
TEA values are very close to the Polish, Hungarian and Austrian numbers. It is
obvious that if Slovakia is to remain at the level of its closest benchmark
partners, it cannot afford a further reduction of entrepreneurial activities.. It is
clearly impossible to give a full and unambiguous explanation for the year-on-
year reduction in entrepreneurial activity. However, it should be noted that as
early as 2011 certain entrepreneurial indicators in Slovakia signaled a coming
reversal in the strong dynamics of early-stage entrepreneurial activity, namely
the weak perception of opportunities (which further deteriorated in 2012), and
the low intention to start a business whose pronounced decline continued in
2012. The situation is compounded by sustained problems in the
entrepreneurial environment in Slovakia that also impact entrepreneurial
activities and will continue to do so in the future (we discuss the state of the
entrepreneurial environment in more detail in the second part of this
summary). The entrepreneurial environment affects the motivation to start up
a business, which consequently influences the quantity and quality of business
activity. Partial explanation for this decline can also be derived from the
general downward trend in early-stage entrepreneurial activity in countries
whose development is driven by efficiency as well as innovation. A 2012
classification of the World Economic Forum placed Slovakia the highest stage
of innovation-driven development. One should note, however, that Slovakia
differs from the rest of this group in certain characteristics that contribute to
the decline in the entrepreneurial activity. These include, for example, low
unemployment and an abundance of jobs in large companies that offer good
employment opportunities and compete with entrepreneurship. These
characteristics were not typical for Slovakia in 2012, and therefore cannot be
viewed as explanatory factors for the inter-annual decline of entrepreneurial
activity. It is also clear that adding further data points to this time series will
allow a better explanation of the causes of this trend and open possibilities for a
more exact analysis of the factors affecting it.