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2024 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

4. Social Entrepreneurship in the Adriatic–Ionian Countries: Policy Background and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Development

Authors : Francesco Savoia, Federica Bandini, Daniela Preite

Published in: Social Entrepreneurship and Migrants' Inclusion

Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland

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Abstract

While the significant role of social entrepreneurship in driving sustainable development is widely acknowledged, its recognition and growth across European countries is highly uneven, especially in the Adriatic–Ionian macro-region. In such circumstances, the notable disparities in institutional and business environments pose challenges to bridging the gaps, requiring an assessment of how these environments are evolving and under what conditions. This chapter provides an overview of the policy framework for social entrepreneurship and the factors that may hinder or support social and traditional entrepreneurial activity in this macro-region. To this end, our research explores how the level of entrepreneurial ecosystems and the underlying dynamics of the single components have evolved over time, identifying strengths and weaknesses within countries. Using Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI) data, the evidence indicates divergence in the overall level of development of the entrepreneurial ecosystems, with improvements in Slovenia and Italy and constant or declining trends in the Balkan countries. The major issues for the latter concern unstable institutions and a low propensity to take entrepreneurial risks. This is in sharp contrast with their strengths: start-up skills and a high propensity and capacity to enter global markets. The study contributes to the broad policy debate on social entrepreneurship development and offers insights for future research on this topic. Its findings have implications for the sustainable and inclusive growth of the Adrion area, especially considering the ongoing migration flows in the EU.

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previous chapter Socio-economic Inclusion of Migrants in the Adriatic-Ionian Area: Dynamics, Policies and Challenges
next chapter Social Entrepreneurship Addressing the Challenges and Opportunities of International Migration: A Review of the Literature
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
Footnotes
1
The European Commission launched an Action Plan for Social Economy in December 2021 and, jointly with the OECD, a Global Action ‘Promoting Social and Solidarity Economy Ecosystems’ (https://​www.​oecd.​org/​cfe/​leed/​social-economy/​oecd-global-action/​). For other specific actions within the framework of EU policy, see the Social Business Initiative (SBI), and the Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) programme.
 
2
The social economy contributes to the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by addressing a wide range of societal challenges, including the social and economic integration of vulnerable people, environmental sustainability, responsible consumption and production, and the promotion of equal opportunities and civic participation (European Commission, 2020; OECD and EU, 2017).
 
3
In the past few years, the Balkans have also acquired new political relevance in the aftermath of the migration dynamics along the so-called Balkan Route, cooperating with the EU in security and migration management.
 
4
The interregional REInSER project dealt with the integration of refugees through social entrepreneurship. The main project goal was to improve refugees’ economic and social integration into the hosting societies of the European transnational ADRION programme area by exploiting social economy and social entrepreneurship approaches.
 
5
These principles refer to solidarity and mutuality, democratic and participatory governance, the primacy of people over capital, the combination of the individual and general interest, and the reinvestment of financial surplus into services to members or society (OECD, 2020).
 
6
The survey was conducted in 2015 within the international research project SEFORÏS. It surveyed more than 1000 social enterprises in seven EU countries (Germany, Hungary, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden and the UK), as well as in China and Russia.
 
7
On this point, enterprises surveyed by the European Social Enterprise Monitor (ESEM) focused particularly on Goal 3: good health and wellbeing (51%), Goal 10: reduced inequalities (51%), Goal 8: decent work and economic growth (49%), Goal 12: responsible consumption and production (44%), Goal 4: quality education (41%), Goal 17: partnerships for the goals (39%) and Goal 11: sustainable cities and communities (38%). For additional details, see the ESEM report (Dupain et al., 2021).
 
8
See Appendix 1 for further details about REInSER and the European ADRION programme.
 
9
See Appendix 1 for further details about the geographical area and the main EU policy initiatives.
 
10
The assembled country dataset used in this chapter is available upon request.
 
11
The index aims to measure the quality and dynamics of entrepreneurship ecosystems at the national level, elaborating individual data surveys and macro data from a variety of international sources including the World Bank, Transparency International, the World Economic Forum, UNESCO and the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). For further details, see the GEI report 2019 (Acs et al., 2020). A regional version for the EU countries (REDI) is also available, but uniquely for 2013 (Szerb et al., 2013). Since its introduction, the GEI has gone through many smaller changes and in 2016 it was extensively reviewed and renewed. Further details are available at http://​thegedi.​org/​global-entrepreneurship​-and-development-index/​.
 
12
To look at the full global ranking, see the GEI report 2019 (Acs et al., 2020, p. 19).
 
13
Generally, entrepreneurial attitudes refer to how a country thinks about entrepreneurship; abilities refer to skills, while the third dimension refers to entrepreneurial aspirations. Appendix 2 reports the full structure of the index (Table 4.3) with additional details on the three main entrepreneurial dimensions (or sub-indexes). It also offers a comparison between the Adrion countries and other European countries (Fig. 4.7).
 
14
Note that for Albania individual information to construct the GEI pillars are not directly available from the GEM Adult Population Survey. The individual variable method of calculation therefore employed data from neighbouring and similar countries, in this case, the average of Macedonia and Bosnia for 2016 and 2017, respectively. See Bonyadi and Sarreshtehdari (2021) for a recent critical review of this estimation method.
 
15
The individual score measures the entrepreneurial quality of the people in the ecosystem.
 
16
Official web page available at https://​www.​adriatic-ionian.​eu/​.
 
17
Official web page available at https://​www.​adrioninterreg.​eu/​.
 
Literature
Acs, Z. J., Autio, E., & Szerb, L. (2014). National Systems of Entrepreneurship: Measurement Issues and Policy Implications. Research Policy, 43(3), 476–494.CrossRef
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Bonyadi, E., & Sarreshtehdari, L. (2021). The Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI): A Critical Review. Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, 11(1), 469–488.CrossRef
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European Commission. (2011). Social Business Initiative – Creating a Favourable Climate for Social Enterprises, Key Stakeholders in the Social Economy and Innovation. COM(2011) 682 final.
European Commission. (2012). Towards a Job-rich Recovery. COM(2012) 173 final.
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European Commission. (2021, December). Building an Economy that Works for People: An Action Plan for the Social Economy. COM(778).
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Huysentruyt, M., Mair, J., Le Coq, C., Rimac, T., & Stephan, U. (2016). Cross-country Report: A First Cross-country Analysis and Profiling of Social Enterprises Prepared by the SEFORÏS Research Consortium. SEFORÏS/European Commission.
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Metadata
Title
Social Entrepreneurship in the Adriatic–Ionian Countries: Policy Background and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Development
Authors
Francesco Savoia
Federica Bandini
Daniela Preite
Copyright Year
2024
Book
Social Entrepreneurship and Migrants' Inclusion

Print ISBN: 978-3-031-55790-3

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-031-55791-0

Copyright Year: 2024

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-55791-0_4

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