Latvia and Entrepreneurship

The first understanding of entrepreneurship in Latvia occurred after the collapse of the Soviet Union. According to the GEM surveys, there were 110 thousand people, who were involved in entrepreneurial activities, and this number represents about 7.6 % of adult population of the country (Rastrigina, 2007). In the book Good Capitalism Bad Capitalism and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity by Baumol, Litan and Schramm, entrepreneurs are defined as any new or existing entity, that provides a new service or product, or develops and uses new way to produce or deliver existing goods and services at lower costs (Baumol et. al., 2007). Latvian entrepreneurial activity was quite stable over 2005 and 2006. However, there was significant drop in this area, especially in early-stage entrepreneurship in 2007 (Rastrigina, 2007, p. 9). Of course, it can be said, that entrepreneurial activity does exist in Latvia, actually, there are signs of entrepreneurship and innovation. That is true, because Latvia, in its overall business activity, is higher than Belgium and France (Rastrigina, 2007, Table 1), but in comparison to industrialized Western countries Latvian entrepreneurship activity is relatively low. Moreover, Latvia cannot be called fully entrepreneurial because Latvian rates are below European average (Rastrigina, 2007.), so there are some barriers and limitations to develop entrepreneurship in Latvia. …