Diverging Paths of Entrepreneurship in post-Transformation Countries. A comparative view

This paper considers the findings of academic studies and research on entrepreneurship and looks at what explains the evolution of entrepreneurship in post-transformation countries. Posttransformation countries include Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and other former socialist countries in Europe and former Soviet Asia. The paper shows that there are differences between these countries, even those integrated in the European Union (EU), and the most developed countries of Western Europe and North America. Perhaps less obvious, differences are significant and growing between the countries that are now integrated in the European Union and those that follow a different path. The paper shows that these differences are only in part of policy nature and tend to acquire systemic nature and have great influence over the features and role of entrepreneurship. The paper stresses the importance of entrepreneurship for former transformation countries and shows that the features and role of entrepreneurship and the entrepreneur are not invariant to the context where they arise and act. This is true in general, but is particularly so in the case of systemic change and is largely dependent on the quality of institutions. The study of entrepreneurship is important to highlight similarities and assess and explain differences and divergence among countries.