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Influence of state participation on business conditions and entrepreneurship in the EU countries of the former eastern bloc

Domańska, Ada,Zajkowski, Robert

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Domańska, Ada; Zajkowski, Robert Article Influence of state participation on business conditions and entrepreneurship in the EU countries of the former eastern bloc e-Finanse: Financial Internet Quarterly Provided in Cooperation with: University of Information Technology and Management, Rzeszów Suggested Citation: Domańska, Ada; Zajkowski, Robert (2018) : Influence of state participation on business conditions and entrepreneurship in the EU countries of the former eastern bloc, e-Finanse: Financial Internet Quarterly, ISSN 1734-039X, Sciendo, Warsaw, Vol. 14, Iss. 2, pp. 9-17, https://doi.org/10.2478/fiqf-2018-0008 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/197407 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. 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If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0 www.e-finanse.com University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszów 9 Ada Domańska1, Robert Zajkowski2 Abstract Thepurposeofthispaperistoshowtheextenttowhichstateinterferenceintheeconomyaffects theconditionsoffunctioningforsmallandmedium-sizedenterprisesineconomiesoftheformer easternblocwhichhavealreadygonethroughtheEUaccessionprocess.ThedataonSMEs’situationweretakenfromtheFactSheetsoftheEUprogramSmallBusinessAct.Duetothefactthat thevariablesproposedtodescribethebusinessenvironmentdiffersignificantlyitwasnecessary tostandardizethem.Thezerounitarizationmethodwasappliedtorankcountriesproperly.Special attentioninthispaperisdevotedtoPolandandthesituationofbusinessesoperatinginthiscountry.Theresearchhasidentifiedsomeareasrequiringurgentchanges.Itiscrucialtoimprovethe situationsothatcompaniescanplayaproperroleintheeconomy.Acountrywhichcouldbean exampleofgoodsolutionsthatsupportbusinessdevelopmentisalsodescribed. 1 MariaCurie-SkłodowskaUniversityinLublin,FacultyofEconomics,DepartmentofBanking,e-mail:[email protected],ORCID:0000-00028239-4319. 2 MariaCurie-SkłodowskaUniversityinLublin,FacultyofEconomics,DepartmentofBanking,e-mail:robert.zajk[email protected],ORCID:00000002-0021-7977. INFLUENCE OF STATE PARTICIPATION ON BUSINESS CONDITIONS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE EU COUNTRIES OF THE FORMER EASTERN BLOC Financial Internet Quarterly „e-Finanse” 2018, vol. 14/ no. 2, s. 9-17 DOI: 10.2478/fiqf-2018-0008 JEL classification: L26, O57, P20 Keywords: SMEs, Small Business Act, formemr Eastern Bloc Received:20.11.2017 Accepted:26.03.2018 www.e-finanse.com University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszów 10 „e-Finanse” 2018, vol. 14 / no. 2 Ada Domańska, Robert Zajkowski Influence of state participation on business conditions and entrepreneurship in the EU countries of the former Eastern bloc Introduction The purpose of this paper is to show the extent to which state interference in the economy affects the conditions of functioning for small and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs)operatingintheformereasternbloc countries,whichnowbelongtotheEuropeanUnion.The SMEsectorplaysaspecialroleindevelopmentofindividual economies. SMEs are considered to be stimulants fora country’seconomicsituation.Theiroperationisasignof faircompetitionandreflectsasociety’sentrepreneurship (Ignatiuk,2011). The companies that have been prepared to take opportunities offered by globalization and acceleration of technological change are significant elements for further improvement of competitiveness and dynamic developmentoftheEUeconomy,allowingcreationofnew jobsandensuringahigherlevelofsocialcohesion.The abilitytoexploitthepotentialofsmallandmedium-sized enterprises will be decisive for the future prosperity of theEuropeanUnion(EuropeanCommission[EC],2008a). BecauseoftheimportantroleoftheSMEsectorfor thefurtherdevelopmentoftheEU,itwaspositionedinthe centeroftheLisbonStrategyforgrowthandjobsthrough theuseofapartnershipapproach(EuropeanCommission, 2005). Diversity of the environment in which individual economic entities operate makes it very important to create the right program to support SMEs - a program whichwouldtakeintoaccountthediversity.Thus,inJune 2008 the European Commission presented an initiative whichwouldfurtherstrengthensustainablegrowthand competitiveness of SMEs, called the Small Business Act (SBA)forEurope(EuropeanCommission,2008b). The fundamental assumption of the SBA was that most important to achieving success is to change the perceptionofentrepreneursinsociety.Positiveperception ofaspectsconcerningtheSMEsfunctioning,intheformof increasedemploymentandeconomicprosperity,should encouragepeopletostartabusiness.Itisapivotalpoint, crucial for creation of a business-friendly environment, which is why the culture of entrepreneurship and the associatedwillingnesstotakeriskshouldbesupportedby politicalleaders,themedia,andtheauthorities. Theprogramaimstocreateanewpolicyframework, consolidatingalreadyoperatingsupportinstrumentsfor businesses. Its implementation is to take place through the political partnership between the EU and Member States that respects the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality. A comprehensive policy framework is based on 10 principles employed to guide the development and implementation of policies at the EU andMemberStateslevel.Theseprinciplesareessentialto contributeaddedvalue,ensureequalconditionsforSMEs and improve the legal and administrative environment throughouttheEuropeanUnion(EuropeanCommission, 2008b). Literature review Research shows that due to the fact that former Easterbloceconomieswereoperatingundertheideology ofcommunismandlaterwentthroughtheEUaccession process,anumberofsimilaritiesmaybenoticedbetween them(Czarnecka,2007). Forthisreason,manyresearchersbringupthesubject of functioning conditions of entrepreneurship in these countries.Thefinalshapeofthebusinessenvironmentin eachcountryistiedtohistoricalandculturalissues.This situationledtodevelopmentofsolutionswhichappeared not to be efficient enough in post-socialist countries (Estrin & Mickiewicz, 2012). The strong attachment of post-socialist countries to the past (path dependency) is referred to in Douglass North’s theory (North, 1990). Other studies confirm that historical burden in these countries enhances a tendency towards corruption, which is intensified by weak institutions, bureaucracy andinefficientlaw(Tonoyan,et.al.,2010).Furthermore, thereisaloweracceptanceforentrepreneurialactivities (Manolova,Eunni&Gyoshev,2008). Moreover, it is pointed out in literature on the issue of entrepreneurship in countries of the former Eastern bloc that the transition economies have lower rates of entrepreneurship than are observed in other economies (Estrin & Mickiewicz, 2010). Some other studies also confirm this state of affairs (McMiIllan & Woodruff,2002;Estrin,Meyer&Bytchkova,2006;Aidis &Mickiewicz,2006).Therearealsosignificantdifferences that occur among the countries. The development of entrepreneurship in a given country corresponds to its level of economic development. Innovation-driven economieshavehigherinstitutionalandindividuallevels ofdevelopmentthansimilarlydevelopedefficiency-driven economies (Trumbull & Szerb, 2016). It is important to recognisethereasonsforthisdifferentiation. Ada Domańska, Robert Zajkowski Influence of state participation on business conditions and entrepreneurship in the EU countries of the former Eastern bloc www.e-finanse.com University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszów 11 „e-Finanse” 2018, vol. 14 / no. 2 The literature indicates that a large public sector has a negative impact on the functioning conditions of enterprises, both due to high taxes and high state spending (Henrekson, 2005; Minniti, 2008, Afonso, et. al., 2005, Boix, 2001, Warne, 1997, Van Thiel & Leeuw, 2002). High public debt can lead to limitation of funds availabletoprivateentitiesforfinancingtheirspending, i.e. the phenomenon of “crowding out” (Markiewicz & Miłaszewicz, 2006, Benedek, et. al., 2014, Zegarowicz & Wildowicz-Giegiel, 2017, Gaweł, 2004, Rogalska, 2012). On this basis, it was decided to formulate the hypothesis(H1),thatastate’sconsiderableparticipation intheeconomyhasanegativeeffectonthefunctioning conditionsofenterprises.However,itisworthnotingthat simultaneouslywithageneral“crowdingout”effectthere aresome contradictory examples such as Germanyand Norwaywherewecanobservehighinvolvementofthe publicsectorintheeconomyandarelativelylowlevelof publicdebt. On the other hand, business support programs carried out by the state have a significant impact on improvement of the functioning conditions and developmentofenterprises.Apositiveimpactofpublic programs on the level of employment was noted in Sweden(Norrman&Bager-Sjögren,2010).Theimpactof localinitiatives,launchedbytheEnterpriseInsight,onthe newlyformedenterprisesandself-employmentrateswas examinedinGreatBritainandturnedouttobepositive (Botham,2012).Thesecondhypothesis(H2)assumesthat businesssupportprogramscarriedoutbytheStatehave apositiveeffectonfunctioningconditionsofenterprises. Methodology As a part of the study an analysis was carried out on small and medium-sized enterprises in countries of theformerEasternblocwhicharenowmembersofthe EuropeanUnion. Relyingon the literature,11countries were selected for a detailed analysis of the functioning conditionsofenterprises:Bulgaria,Croatia,CzechRepublic, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia,andHungary.ThecountriesoftheformerEastern blocalsoincludethestatesoftheformerYugoslavia.What ismore,itshouldbetakenintoconsiderationthatBaltic Countries are former Soviet republics and additionally verysmallgeographicalentities.Duetotheculturaland political past they have quite different background and positionthane.g.Poland,Hungary,ortheCzechRepublic. Hence sometimes solutions that are workable in Baltic countriescouldfailinothereconomicenvironmentsand cannotbeimplementedinothereconomies. The information used in this article comes from theFactSheetsofindividualcountriesonthedegreeof implementationoftheProgrammeoftheSmallBusiness Actin2015.Theadvantagesofemployingthissourceare: statistical credibility, completeness of contained data, and high comparability. A significant drawback, on the other hand, are emerging delays in publishing parts of informationbycertaincountriesortheirtotallack. AsapartoftheSmallBusinessActprogram,different areasconcerningthefunctioningof smallandmediumsizedenterprisesarepresentedinaccordancewithits10 principles.Theyinclude: 1) Entrepreneurship, 2) “Secondchance”, 3) “Thinksmallfirst”, 4) “Responsiveadministration”, 5) Stateaidandpublicprocurement, 6) Accesstofinance, 7) SingleMarket, 8) Skillsandinnovation, 9) Environment, 10) Internationalisation. Because of the large extent of these analyses, aspectspresentedin the article focusonly on flexibility ofadministrationandavailabilityof financing for SMEs. Theseareaswereselectedbecauseoftheirimportance forfunctioningandformationofbusinessentities. Due to the fact that the variables proposed to describe the business environment differ significantly it wasnecessarytostandardizethem.Thezerounitarization method was applied to rank countries. This method is applicablewithbothquantitativeandqualitativevariables anditssimplicityleadstoeasyinterpretationofresults. Moreover,thismethodfulfilsthreeimportantcriteria: 1) After normalisation lengths of intervals of variabilityforallfeaturesarethesame. 2) Thelowerandupperlimitsofintervalsofvariability forallfeaturesarethesame:[0,1]. 3) Features which have a zero value can be also normalised(Kukuła,2012). In the case of boosters (their growth causes the growthinthelevelofanalysedphenomena)thedistance indicatorwasusedwhichdividesindividualcountriesfrom www.e-finanse.com University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszów 12 „e-Finanse” 2018, vol. 14 / no. 2 Ada Domańska, Robert Zajkowski Influence of state participation on business conditions and entrepreneurship in the EU countries of the former Eastern bloc thebestresult(includingtheEUaverage).Thefollowing formulaofstandardizationisusedthenintheform: where: xs,K– value of a normalized variable x for a given country, xK–valueofarawvariablexforagivencountry, xKmin,xKmax–valueofindicatorintheweakestandthe bestcountryforavariablex. Inthecaseofinhibitors(ifitincreases,thevalueof analysedphenomenadecreases)oppositescalingformula forstandardizingwasapplied.Ittooktheformof: By using this type of standardization data can be comparedandaggregated.Inaddition,thediversification ofscalingforboostersandinhibitorsallowustodetermine the correct direction and strength of an occurring phenomenon. Dataconcerningtheparticipationofthestateinthe economyandbusinesssupportprogramsweretakenfrom the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (Kelley, Singer & Herrington,2016).Spearman’srankcorrelationcoefficient which is a nonparametric measure of rank correlation, wasemployedtoverifythehypotheses(Lieberson,1964). Results and discussion The formation of the SME sector and its impact on the functioning of economies proceed differently in individualcountries.Itsspecificitydependsonthe level ofdevelopmentandsocio-politicalsystemachievedbya givenstate.Evenifthereisagreatsimilarityofoperating conditions,theroleofsmallandmedium-sizedenterprises willbedifferent,andthedegreeofdevelopmentwillbe differentiated(Ignatiuk,2011). When analyzing the proportion of the number of smallandmedium-sizedenterprisesinthetotalnumber ofeconomicentitiesitmustbemadeclearthatitstoodat asimilarlevelinselectedcountriesoftheEuropeanUnion (theyaccountedformorethan99.5%ofallcompaniesin allanalyzedeconomies),sotheinformationwasnotthe subjectofdeeperinquiry.However,presentationofdata concerningparticipationofpeopleemployedintheSME sector in relation to the total number of employees in enterprisesandshareintheaddedvalueofthevarious typesofentitiesshouldbegivenmoreattention(Table1). Smallandmedium-sizedenterprisesemployedfrom 67% to almost 79% of all company employees in 2015, sothis sharewassignificantlydifferentinthe countries Table 1: The share of employed in the micro, small and medium enterprises in the total number of employees in enterprises and share in the added value of individual entities in selected EU countries Country Micro Small Medium - sized SME Employed Value added Employed Value added Employed Value added Employed Value added Poland 35,80% 15,00% 13,90% 13,90% 18,20% 21,60% 67,80% 50,50% Bulgaria 30,20% 19,30% 23,80% 20,60% 22,10% 22,10% 76,10% 62,00% Croatia 30,30% 18,70% 19,10% 17,50% 18,10% 19,00% 67,40% 55,20% CzechRepublic 32,60% 19,20% 18,10% 15,30% 18,90% 21,00% 69,60% 55,50% Estonia 30,90% 25,20% 24,20% 23,70% 23,00% 26,60% 78,00% 75,60% Lithuania 26,60% 15,40% 25,70% 24,10% 24,30% 29,20% 76,70% 68,50% Latvia 29,40% 18,60% 25,70% 23,40% 23,60% 26,90% 78,60% 68,80% Romania 22,20% 13,50% 23,30% 16,10% 21,70% 20,00% 67,20% 49,60% Slovakia 39,00% 27,10% 15,80% 17,70% 15,90% 16,50% 70,70% 61,20% Slovenia 35,10% 21,70% 18,20% 19,10% 19,40% 22,30% 72,70% 63,10% Hungary 34,60% 18,70% 18,60% 16,10% 16,30% 18,80% 69,90% 53,60% EU-28 29,20% 21,10% 20,40% 18,20% 17,30% 18,50% 66,90% 57,80% Source: Author’s own elaboration based on 2015 SBA Fact Sheets Ada Domańska, Robert Zajkowski Influence of state participation on business conditions and entrepreneurship in the EU countries of the former Eastern bloc www.e-finanse.com University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszów 13 „e-Finanse” 2018, vol. 14 / no. 2 analyzed. The smallest percentage in this respect was noticed in Romania, Poland and Croatia (about 68%). Nonetheless,itshouldbementionedthatitdidnotdiffer significantly from the EU average and even surpassed it. The largest number of employed in the SME sector wasinLatviaandalsowheresuchcompaniesgenerated high(higherthantheEUaverage)percentageofadded value. This may be due to the almost equal dispersion of employment between the micro, small and medium enterprises. The highestsharein the addedvaluearea, however, belonged to SMEs operating in Estonia (over 75%).Themainassetinfavourofsuchahighlevelseems tobealargepercentageofcompaniesinthe information technology and communication sector. Moreover, the publicsectorofthiscountrycontributedsignificantlyto thedevelopmentofinnovation. The lowest added value in relation to SMEs from other countries was created by the sector in Romania. The problems to which attention was drawn primarily were the lack of a national tourism strategy as well as underdevelopedanduncompetitivehotelinfrastructure. Low participation in this regard was also presented by smallandmedium-sizedenterprisesoperatinginPoland. It was probably due to a high proportion of people employedinthesmallestentities-micro(over35%),as well as the sectoral structure of enterprises itself (low share of companies in the business requiring professional expertise). Subsequently, the impact of the SME sector, expressed through the percentage of created jobs and createdaddedvalue,ontheeconomiesoftheseEuropean Unioncountries,didnotdiffersignificantlyfromtheEU average.Itshouldbenoted,however,thatthesituation innortherncountries(Lithuania,LatviaandEstonia)was muchbetterthaninothercountries.Theycantherefore be a role model for other economies, such as Poland, wheretheSMEsector’sshareingeneratedaddedvalue isstillquitelow. Responsiveadministrationisanimportantelement evaluated in the framework of the Small Business Act which determines the degree of public sector capacity to respond to the needs of SMEs (Table 2).  It should be stressed that in this regard the northern countries like Lithuania, LatviaandEstoniaperformthebest.The authorities in these countries try to create a friendly businessenvironment.Therefore,differentsolutionsare implementedsuchastheLatviansinglecustomerservice network, which integrates services of seven national institutions, considerably reducing the administrative burden. It may be accordingly assumed that creating Table 2: Responsive Administration in the selected EU countries (normalized data, marking: BG - Bulgaria, PL - Poland, CZ - Czech Republic, EW - Estonia, H - Hungary, HR - Croatia, LV - Latvia, LT - Lithuania, R - Romania, SK - Slovakia, SLO – Slovenia) Aspects PL BG CZ EW H HR LV LT RSK SLO UE Time to start a business 1,00 0,67 0,78 0,72 0,89 0,78 0,89 0,67 0,89 0,00 0,79 0,72 Cost of starting a business 0,70 0,90 0,00 0,54 0,40 0,04 0,91 0,66 0,75 0,40 1,00 0,22 Paid-in-minimum capital 0,77 1,00 1,00 0,66 0,00 0,51 1,00 1,00 0,99 0,64 0,18 0,79 Time required to transfer property 0,71 0,93 0,80 0,86 0,87 0,35 0,86 1,00 0,85 0,87 0,00 0,78 Cost required to transfer property 0,94 0,42 0,20 0,92 0,00 0,00 0,60 0,84 0,70 1,00 0,60 0,11 Number of taxpayments per year 0,14 0,50 1,00 0,93 0,64 0,07 0,93 0,64 0,43 0,00 0,64 0,59 Time it takes to pay taxes 0,45 0,00 0,11 1,00 0,47 0,66 0,70 0,75 0,79 0,66 0,52 0,71 Cost of enforcing contracts 0,67 0,45 0,00 0,55 0,89 0,95 0,49 0,46 0,20 0,15 1,00 0,56 Fast-changing legislation and policies are a problem for doing business 0,34 0,45 0,20 1,00 0,09 0,06 0,38 0,57 0,00 0,08 0,25 0,28 The complexity of administrative procedures is a problem for doing business 0,34 0,01 0,22 1,00 0,22 0,10 0,59 0,66 0,00 0,12 0,10 0,28 SMEs interacting online with public authorities 0,74 0,53 0,83 0,89 0,55 0,81 0,80 1,00 0,00 0,80 0,81 0,66 Licenses and permit systems 0,55 0,08 1,00 0,78 0,53 0,00 0,60 0,27 0,15 0,44 0,01 0,34 Burden of government regulations 0,67 0,57 0,81 0,00 0,81 1,00 0,43 0,62 0,52 0,90 0,86 0,51 Sum 8,02 6,50 6,95 9,83 6,36 5,32 9,17 9,14 6,27 6,06 6,77 6,57 Source: Author’s own estimations based on 2015 SBA Fact Sheets www.e-finanse.com University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszów 14 „e-Finanse” 2018, vol. 14 / no. 2 Ada Domańska, Robert Zajkowski Influence of state participation on business conditions and entrepreneurship in the EU countries of the former Eastern bloc favourable conditions for the development of the SME sectorbythepublicauthoritiesisconducivetosubsequent highaddedvaluegeneratedbytheseentities. Itisalsoworthpayingattentiontothefactthatthe indicatorscalculatedforPolandarehighaswell.Wecanbe proudoftheshorttimenecessaryfortheestablishment ofanenterpriseandlowcostofsuchaprocess.Problems occurinthetaxsystem,especiallyinthelargenumberand timespentonmakingtaxpayments.Enterprisesalsohave tofacehighvolatilityinlegalprovisionsandstatepolicy, aswellasthecomplexityofadministrativeprocedures. The biggest challenges, however, await the companiesthatoperateinCroatiaandSlovakia.Themost importantissuesthereareaconsiderablelackofstability ofthelawandcomplicatedadministrativepractices.The highcostofstartingabusinessandtimeneededforitalso seemtobeproblematicissues. Theanalysisof accesstofinancingforSMEsinthe selectedEUcountrieswashamperedduetothelackof partialdatafromsomeofthecountries.However,onthe basisoftheavailableinformation,itshouldbenotedthat companiesoperatinginEstoniahavetostrugglewiththe leastproblemsinthisarea(Table3).Problemsareonly causedbyhighlossesfrombaddebts.Otheraspectssuch as the total time of getting paid or banks’ willingness tolenddonotcausesignificantdifficultiestoeconomic entities. Therearealsonomajorimpedimentstotheaccess to financing for small and medium-sized enterprises in Poland. Nonetheless, the area that needs some repair indeed is the amount of venture capital investment in relation to GDP. It should be highlighted though, that thisproblemexistsinmostcountries,theonlyexception beingpreviouslymentionedEstonia. Thebiggestproblemsintermsofacquiringcapital, areenduredbythecompaniesoperatinginSlovakia.This countryhasthelowestlevelofaccesstopublicfinancial support including guarantees, and low willingness of bankstolend.Moreover,theindicatorofstrengthoflegal regulations reached the lowest value in relation to the other countries. It is a measure that indicates whether legalprovisionsprotecttherightsoflendersandhowit affectstheeaseofaccesstocredit.Thehigheritsvalue, theeasieritistoobtainthisformoffinancing(Zalewska &Zalewski,2012). In order to verify the presented hypotheses the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was calculated between the functioning conditions of enterprises in respectofflexibleadministration,accesstofinancingand public debt counted in relation to GDP, assessment of statepolicyintermsoftaxesandbureaucracy(carriedout by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor [GEM]), claims oncentralgovernmentinrelationtoGDP,assessmentof statepolicyintermsofsupportandrelevance(GEM),as Table 3: Access to financing for SMEs in the selected EU countries (normalized data, marking: BG - Bulgaria, PL - Poland, CZ - Czech Republic, EW - Estonia, H - Hungary, HR - Croatia, LV - Latvia, LT - Lithuania, R - Romania, SK - Slovakia, SLO – Slovenia) Aspects PL BG CZ EW H HR LV LT RSK SLO UE Rejected loan applications and unacceptable loan offers 0,64 0,46 1,00 0,87 0,44 0,68 0,27 0,00 0,65 0,70 0,41 0,72 Access to public financial support including guarantees 0,81 0,51 0,91 0,61 0,78 0,54 0,95 1,00 0,79 0,89 0,00 0,57 Willingness of banks to provide a loan 0,86 0,89 1,00 0,76 0,61 0,67 0,73 0,88 0,75 0,81 0,00 0,48 Cost of borrowing for small loans relative to large loans 0,98 1,00 0,40 0,64 0,57 0,39 0,46 0,49 0,73 0,00 0,60 0,44 Total amount of time it takes to get paid 0,51 0,45 0,46 1,00 0,42 0,00 0,64 0,38 0,57 0,39 0,04 0,17 Bad debt loss 0,98 0,84 1,00 0,00 0,96 0,70 0,92 1,00 0,88 0,97 0,88 0,97 Venture capital investments 0,00 0,00 0,00 1,00 0,01 ND ND ND 0,00 ND ND 0,01 Strength of legal rights index 0,57 0,86 0,57 0,57 1,00 0,29 0,86 0,43 1,00 0,57 0,00 0,39 Sum 5,35 5,01 5,34 5,44 4,79 3,27 4,81 4,17 5,36 4,34 1,93 3,75 Description: ND – no data available Source: Author’s own estimations based on 2015 SBA Fact Sheets Ada Domańska, Robert Zajkowski Influence of state participation on business conditions and entrepreneurship in the EU countries of the former Eastern bloc www.e-finanse.com University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszów 15 „e-Finanse” 2018, vol. 14 / no. 2 wellastheassessmentofgovernmententrepreneurship programs. Calculated Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients (Table 4) show that the functioning conditions of enterprisesarestronglynegativelyrelatedwiththelevel ofpublicdebtexpressedinGDP(inrelationtoGDP)and claimsoncentralgovernmenttoGDP.Theyarehowever stronglypositivelycorrelatedwiththeappropriatestate policy on taxes and bureaucracy. This confirms the first hypothesisassumingthatconsiderablestateparticipation intheeconomyhasanegativeeffectonthefunctioning conditionsofenterprises. State policy in the field of support and relevance, as well as government business support programs, are stronglypositivelycorrelatedwithfunctioningconditions ofenterprises,whichconfirmsthesecondhypothesis. Conclusions and recommendations There is a significant difference in the conditions under which businesses in the selected EU countries operate.Thecauseofthissituationisadifferentlevelof stateparticipationinindividualeconomies,aswellasthe different effectivenessof business supportprograms.An exampleofastatewhichtoalargeextentsupportsthe developmentofentrepreneurshipandcreatesconditions for a suitable business environment can be Estonia. LithuaniaandLatviastandoutaswellincomparisonto the other economies. Poland came out quite average however.HenceitfirstshouldberecommendedforPoland thatforallgroupsofstakeholdersitiscrucialtoobserve best practices implemented in neighbouring countries whicharesupportiveofentrepreneurshipdevelopment. Next should be considered the likelihood of successful implementation (instillation) of business condition that arespecificforPoland’seconomy.Thisisaneasierwayto boostandgetmomentumforthesufficientdevelopment ofPolishbusinessentities. On the other hand, in order to improve the functioning conditions of enterprises, the government mustintroducebusinesssupportprograms.Ithastobe stressed however, that an increase in taxes cannot be the source of their funding because it is related to the limitationofincomeintheprivatesector.Itiscrucialto maintain public spending at an appropriate level so as not to trigger a budget deficit, which would lead to an increase in the public debt for it negatively affects the businessenvironment.Itisthereforeimportanttokeep aproperbalancebetweenthestate’sparticipationinthe economy,expressedinpublicdebt,theamountoftaxes, bureaucracyandgovernmentbusinesssupportprograms. Table 4: Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient between examined characteristics. Features Responsive administration Access to finance PublicdebtcountedinrelationtoGDP -0,591 -0,755** Governmentpolicies:taxesandbureaucracy 0,583 0,833** ClaimsoncentralgovernmentinrelationtoGDP -0,745** -0,518 Governmentpolicies:supportandrelevance 0,667* 0,200 Governmententrepreneurshipprograms 0,788* 0,520 Source: Own estimations based on Small Business Act Fact Sheets and Global Entrepreneurship Monitor **Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level *Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level www.e-finanse.com University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszów 16 „e-Finanse” 2018, vol. 14 / no. 2 Ada Domańska, Robert Zajkowski Influence of state participation on business conditions and entrepreneurship in the EU countries of the former Eastern bloc References Aidis,R.,Mickiewicz,T.(2006).Entrepreneurs,ExpectationsandBusinessExpansion:LessonsfromLithuania.EuropeAsia Studies, 58,855-880. 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