ABSTRACT
In light of the economic situation resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, economists have claimed that an improvement in competitiveness can enhance economic growth. A greater degree of competitiveness allows the relevant actors to engage in entrepreneurial activity in new markets and to create market niches that promote job creation. Among the factors that can stimulate competitiveness, entrepreneurship and digitalization play relevant roles. Digital technologies have generated new business opportunities for entrepreneurs;likewise, digital entrepreneurship allows different entrepreneurs to connect via a platform, thus facilitating access to global markets with growth potential. The fundamental objective of this paper is to study the relationships among digitalization, entrepreneurship and competitiveness in light of the factors that influence the digitalization process. An empirical analysis of 19 European countries is conducted, and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis is used to obtain the combinations of economic and social variables that affect competitiveness and entrepreneurship. The results of the empirical analysis show that to stimulate entrepreneurial activity, a country must exhibit an environment that is favourable to digitalization as well as an investment in talent that allows the relevant actors to take advantage of the benefits of digital technologies.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an economic crisis in advanced economies greater than the 2008 economic crisis, as the latest Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) forecasts indicate. Entrepreneurship activity is an important factor to be considered to reduce this negative. The objective of this paper is to analyze the factors that favor entrepreneurship in the COVID-19 pandemic situation and explore the relationship between entrepreneurship and sustainable development. Monetary, fiscal, competitiveness, and business expectations are factors to consider. To achieve this objective, we reviewed the specialized literature and proposed an economic model to verify the relationships between the relevant variables. The estimation of this model uses the Partial Least Squares (PLS) method. This study looks at select OECD countries where data on entrepreneurial activity are available and there are calculations by the OECD for the economic projections for 2020.