Perception of Small and Medium Entrepreneurship in the Czech Republic

Abstract

This paper deals with small and medium enterprises in relation to the attitudes perceived by business owners in their immediate neighbourhood, society, in relation to banks and the government. The key question is the difference between entrepreneurs who started their businesses voluntarily and those who entered the business out of necessity. The majority of governmental policies, including Czech policies, focus more on the questions of financial support, however the support of entrepreneurs can be broader and may include the efforts to influence perception of an individual and the society so that they have a more positive attitude towards entrepreneurial activities. The attitudes in the Czech Republic are so far rather negative and such a change may be positively reflected in the level of the entrepreneurial activity which strongly affects economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Competitiveness is the property of Tomas Bata University in Zlin, Faculty of Management & Economics and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)