Innovation of Startups, the Key to Unlocking Post-Crisis Sustainable Growth in Romanian Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

Abstract

This paper aims at identifying the entrepreneurial opportunities for establishing innovative startups during and post COVID-19 crisis. To reach this goal, we conducted an exploratory study based on semi-structured interviews with 168 students who intend to involve themselves in entrepreneurship in their future career. The research started from the debates in literature regarding the huge negative impact of the COVID-19 crisis on economic development, which can jeopardize the achievement of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The research findings confirm the results of other studies regarding the vulnerability of startups during crises, the reason why they have to refocus on innovative businesses, especially based on information and communication technology (ICT). Such businesses are considered incentives of sustainable development. Other ideas highlighted the importance of social entrepreneurship for the management of startups. It means that startups should develop strong relationships with employees but also with other stakeholders, like companies in the same industry, the public sector, academia, and citizens. In addition, changing the business culture aiming at developing green business could be an inexpensive solution for developing a sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem. These empirical results have implications for both business and the academic environment, which should cooperate in order to overcome the crisis. Such an approach could be used in the long run in order to manage other crises and to develop sustainable business.

COVID-19 to Green Entrepreneurial Intention: Role of Green Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy, Optimism, Ecological Values, Social Responsibility, and Green Entrepreneurial Motivation

“…The rapid spread of COVID-19 in the world has exerted a huge impact on the global economy, trade, and investment. As one of the most financially and socially devastating events ever to happen in history, it has affected almost every aspect of people's lives, caused severe economic and social dislocation, and incurred tremendous financial and human resource costs, forcing the society to reexamine the way people live and work in (Barbulescu et al, 2021). Therefore, achieving economic recovery is the top priority of every country.…”

The Influence of Local Economic Conditions on Start-Ups and Local Open Innovation System

“…An important conclusion from the analysis is also the confirmation of the existence of a positive impact of cities on the creation of start-ups [80][81][82]84]. This means that the models of economic helices, in which one of the key relations is the city-business interaction, function in practice [7,95] and in the reality of developing economies, of which Poland is part. Thus, the city can play the role of an important stakeholder in strengthening local entrepreneurship and supporting the creativity of its inhabitants.…”

“…They also become the basis for a more dynamic local development by attracting new sectoral investors and creating new jobs. In a long-term perspective, well-functioning start-ups contribute to the increase in income levels of the local community and improve the quality of life in the region [6][7][8]. Previous research also suggests that the initiation and development of start-ups-in addition to strengthening entrepreneurship-contributes to increased resilience to external threats, including those related to pandemics [9].…”

Prioritizing Entrepreneurship and Startup Culture Through Policy Intervention as A Strategy for Economy Recovery

“…Deeper researches to figure out the strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat (SWOT) of the policy intervention, general population and entrepreneurs in close linkages can draw conclusions of needed interventions that can foster the growth of startups as well as sustain the existing entrepreneurs. Researchers had studied the vulnerability in regards to startups in times of the pandemic with associated reason and needs to refocus on innovative businesses as a solution for the approaches towards a sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem (Barbulescu et al, 2021). Though entrepreneurial education in schools or colleges students contribute toward entrepreneurial knowledge but it is restricted to certain extent and suggest certain interventions (Hahn et al, 2017).…”