"VSTÚPILI SME NA NEZNÁMY CHODNÍK", ALEBO SOCIÁLNA MOBILITA A PÔVOD MALÝCH A STREDNÝCH PODNIKATEĽOV V SR PO ROKU 1989

'We've entered unknown path': Social mobility and origins of small and middle business in Slovakia

• Slovak
• English

The paper is based on the results of the authoress' long-term empirical sociological research which started by the project 'Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship after 1989' realised in the second half of the 1990s. She analyses the origins and development of entrepreneurship in Slovakia at macrosocial level. She examines how the entrepreneurs themselves explain the reasons of starting their business. The next part of the paper describes personal background of entrepreneurs and stresses importance of personal orientation towards this kind of activities. The paper also deals with origin and structure of entrepreneurs' community. Since it is truly diverse, it is essential to identify the types of the entrepreneurs and consequently to reconstruct origin and structure of each type. In the last part of the paper the authoress confronts the empirical results with the theories of origin of entrepreneurship in the postsocialist countries.