We aimed to 1) estimate the associations between innovation and international orientation of early-stage entrepreneurs and their growth aspirations and 2) determine whether these associations differ across south-eastern European countries (SeECs) and western European countries (WECs). We used the data from the 2003–2008 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Adult Population Survey for 3,098 SeEC and 3,626 WEC entrepreneurs. The results show that 1) a firm’s high level of competition inhibits its growth aspirations in both regions, albeit more so in SeECs; 2) innovative products/services stimulate firm growth aspirations in WECs only; and 3) international orientation stimulates firm growth aspirations in both regions, albeit more so in WECs.

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早期企业家的成长愿望：对东南欧和西欧国家的实证研究

我们的目标是：1）估计早期企业家的创新与国际导向及其成长愿望之间的关联； 2）确定这些关联在东南欧国家（SeEC）和西欧国家（WEC）之间是否有所不同。我们使用了2003-2008年全球创业监测成年人口调查中的数据，这些数据来自3,098个SeEC和3,626个WEC企业家。结果表明：1）企业的高竞争水平在两个地区都抑制了其成长愿望，尽管在经济合作与发展中更是如此。2）创新产品/服务仅在WEC中刺激企业增长的愿望；（3）国际定位激发了两个地区公司的成长愿望，尽管在WEC中更是如此。