In 2013, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) was conducted in Macedonia for the fourth time, based on the methodology of Babson College and London Business School. It included a telephone survey with 2.000 respondents aged 18 to 64, measuring their perceptions and attitudes towards entrepreneurship, their entrepreneurial activities and aspirations. In addition, 37 national experts were interviewed, contributing to the analyses on the framework conditions for entrepreneurship. This report presents the trends in relevant indicators for Macedonia for 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2013, including comparative analysis with the countries of the region: Bosnia and Hercegovina, Croatia, Slovenia and the average of the EU countries.
The Entrepreneurial perceptions reflect the attitudes towards entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship, the opportunities of starting a business, possessing skills and experience, the intentions to start a business and other indicators. Every third respondent believes that there are good opportunities to start a business in the next 6 months. More than half of the respondents consider that they have the required knowledge to starting up a business. In general, in Macedonia there are positive attitudes regarding entrepreneurship as a career option, people consider that the entrepreneurs enjoy a high status in the society and consider that there is enough media attention for the entrepreneurship. Compared to the countries in the region and the average of the EU countries, in Macedonia, most of the respondents (37.2%) think that there are good opportunities of starting up a new business, most of them (29.1%) plan on starting their own business in the next 3 years, and 69.5% consider that entrepreneurship is a good option for career.
The section for entrepreneurial activity examines to which degree people undertake new business activities, and why do they stop doing business. The entrepreneurial activity is measured through the key index TEA (Total Early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity). TEA index in 2013 in Macedonia is 6.63%, where 3.35% are nascent entrepreneurs, (those who have business activities approximately up to 3 months), and 3,53% are new (those who have business activities up to 3,5 years). GEM analyses the characteristics of the entrepreneurship in the early stage and makes a difference between necessity-driven and opportunity-driven entrepreneurship. In Macedonia in 2013 most entrepreneurs are driven by necessity (60,98%), and 22.95% said that they are motivated by the perceived opportunities. Unlike Macedonia, in Slovenia, Croatia and the countries of EU, the entrepreneurs in the early stage are much more motivated from the perceived opportunities than necessity. In Macedonia most of the entrepreneurs are men, aged 25 to 34, with a higher level of education and income. In 2013, 7.29% of the respondents said that they are owners or managers of already established businesses (with business activities over 3,5 years). The main reason for business discontinuation this year is the unprofitable business and the problem with the access to finance.
Entrepreneurial aspirations describe the qualitative nature of the entrepreneurial activities through examination of the aspirations for growth, innovation and towards the external market. In Macedonia 59% of the entrepreneurs in the early stage expect to employ up to 5 people in the next 5 years, 23% expect to employ from 6 to 19 people, and 18% expect to employ more than 20 people. In 2013 the innovation rate in Macedonia is 13.82% in TEA businesses, and 4.23% in the established businesses. In Macedonia most of the enterprises in the early stage have responded they have 1% to 25% of foreign costumers, which defines their aspiration towards the external markets.
Furthermore, the GEM report includes analyses on the Entrepreneurial Framework Conditions, through the survey conducted with national experts. These analysis gives an insight into the ways these nine areas support or limit the development of entrepreneurial activities. Those areas are: finance, government policies, government entrepreneurship programmes, entrepreneurial education and training, R&D Transfer, internal market openness, physical infrastructure for entrepreneurship, commercial and legal infrastructure for entrepreneurship, cultural/social norms.