EMCC European Monitoring Centre on Change

Slovakia: ERM comparative analytical report on emerging forms of entrepreneurship

  • Observatory: EMCC
  • Topic:
  • Published on: 21 March 2011



About
Country:
Slovakia
Author:
Ludovit Cziria and Viola Kromerová
Institution:

Disclaimer: This information is made available as a service to the public but has not been edited or approved by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. The content is the responsibility of the authors.

Single self-employed and part-time entrepreneurs are most emerging forms of business activities of self-employers in Slovakia, which have been publicly discussed during the last 10-20 years. The discussion was focussed on the development of economic and employment conditions and resulted in changes in business and labour legislation. Contributions of self-employed to compulsory insurance funds, taxation and informal employment of self-employed by employers instead of their regular employees were the most topical issues. To encourage unemployed to run own business as self-employer particular measures were adopted during the economic crisis. NADSME regularly analyses, supports and provides information about actual state and development of SMEs in the country.

The questionnaire

Part I: Public/policy discussion

General policy discussions and policy approach

Do the public/policy discussions specifically deal with the different forms of business activities, since when and for how long?

Table 1: Presence of the different emerging forms of entrepreneurship in the public debate
 

Yes, continuously since xx year? (Please indicate year)

Yes, on and off in the last 10 years

(Please indicate yes where it applies)

Yes, has been on the public agenda, but since xx year it is no longer part of the agenda (Please indicate year)

No, it has never been part of the public agenda

(Please indicate X where it applies)
One-person enterprises /self-employed  

Yes

    
Part-time entrepreneurs  

Yes

    
Parallel entrepreneurs      

X
Serial entrepreneurs      

X
Business transfers and successions    

2003

  

For each of the entrepreneurship/business activities covered by policy discussions, which policy domains are they covered in? Please indicate with an ’X‘ where relevant.

Table 2: Policy domains engaged in the policy discussion of the emerging forms of entrepreneurship
 

Labour policies

Educational policies

Economic/Industrial policies

Innovation policies

Regional policies

Other (please specify)
One-person enterprises /self-employed

X

X

X

X

X

  
Part-time entrepreneurs

X

  

X

  

X

  
Parallel entrepreneurs            
Serial entrepreneurs            
Business transfers and successions

X

  

X

X

X

  

In which media and forum do the public debate and policy discussions about the different types of entrepreneurship take place?

Please indicate whether they are implicitly (e.g. publications are covering entrepreneurs in general with implicit implications for the different forms of entrepreneurs/business activities) covered and/or explicitly mentioned (for instance parallel entrepreneurs are explicitly mentioned in publications) in these publications

Table 3: Media and forums discussing the emerging forms of entrepreneurship
 

Public media such as newspapers and magazines incl. electronic media

Policy documents and analysis

Proposed legislation and/or business support schemes

Others, please specify
One-person enterprises/self-employed

Hospodárske noviny

Trend

Professional articles

Feasibility and impact studies of the Ministry of Finance and Slovak Craft Industry Federation

Flat taxation, lump sum costs and simplifies book keeping. Changes in the Labour Code.

  
Part-time entrepreneurs

Hospodárske noviny

Professional articles

Abolishment of double payments to compulsory social insurance fund

  
Parallel entrepreneurs        
Serial entrepreneurs        
Business transfers and successions

ES 5.-7. Schemes

Technology Innovation Frameworkprogramme

      

Specific topics to describe the different types of entrepreneurship

What has motivated the public debate?

Please specify for each of the five forms of entrepreneurship:

Table 4: What has motivated the public debate of the emerging forms of entrepreneurship

Type of Entrepreneurship

Motivator

One-person enterprises/self-employed

Identified dysfunctionalities required changes in business legislation. Identified failures in the labour market: definition of dependant work, mass layouts and easier dismissals and taking care for OSH, high contributions to compulsory social insurance, own responsibility in case of lacking orders.
Part-time entrepreneurs

Identified dysfunctionalities needed changes in business legislation.
Parallel entrepreneurs  
Serial entrepreneurs  
Business transfers and successions

Harmonisation of Slovak legislation with the EU legislation. Identified dysfunctionalities in business and employment conditions. Participation in development projects.

What has been the focus of the policy discussion?

To help you answer question 5, we list some examples of key issues that could be addressed in the policy discussion:

Please specify for each of the five forms of entrepreneurship:

Table 5: The policy focus in the public debate within each of the emerging forms of entrepreneurship

Type of Entrepreneurship

Policy focus
One-person enterprises/self-employed

Regulation of business conditions in order to reduce administrative burden of establishing own business.

Regulation of taxation burden and contributions of self-employed to compulsory social insurance funds.

Financial incentives for business creation by unemployed –especially during the economic crisis.

To combat illegal employment through substitution of regular employees by self-employed to reduce employers´ labour cost.

Special schemes for taxation and contribution to compulsory insurance funds aimed at encouraging self-employment.
Part-time entrepreneurs

Promoting self-employment.

To avoid double payments of part-time employers to compulsory social insurance funds.
Parallel entrepreneurs  
Serial entrepreneurs  
Business transfers and successions

Increase of social protection of employees concerned by the transfer.

Has the public discussion resulted in a concrete outcome/impact?

Yes, it resulted in amendments mainly to labour, business, social insurance and taxation legislation with active participation of social partners.

Please specify for each of the five forms of entrepreneurship:

Table 6: Outcome or impact of the public debate of the emerging forms of entrepreneurship

Type of Entrepreneurship

Outcome/Impact
One-person enterprises/self-employed

Yes: New legislation has been implemented, including new business promotion schemes. Positive impact on the labour market in terms of increased number of self-employed in the economy.
Part-time entrepreneurs

Yes: New legislation has been implemented, which encouraged part-time entrepreneurs to keep their business. Previous double payments to compulsory social insurance fund was reduced or even eliminated.
Parallel entrepreneurs  
Serial entrepreneurs  
Business transfers and successions

Yes: Amendments to the Labour Code increased social protection of employees concerned by the transfer. Changes in the Business Code better regulate illegal business activities.

Overall assessment

Within the last couple of years, to which extent has the public and policy discussion been more focused on the following different types of entrepreneurship compared to the business policy/entrepreneurship debate in general?

Table 7: Increased focus at the emerging forms of entrepreneurship?
 

To a low degree To a high degree
 

1

2

3

4

5
One-person enterprises/self-employed    

X

    
Part-time entrepreneurs  

X

      
Parallel entrepreneurs

X

        
Serial entrepreneurs

X

        
Business transfers and successions    

X

    

Please list the main sources of information in the search for the above

Policy reviews and proposals from trade and branch organisations

Legislation passed

Government and policy publications

Policy reviews and proposals of representative employer organisations

Standpoints of central trade union confederation and sectoral trade union associations

Part II: Standardised structural data

Which standardised business statistics are available covering the different forms of entrepreneurship/business activities (explicitly or implicitly, i.e. also data that could be used to describe these forms of entrepreneurship without being published with this specific objective/heading)?

Table 8: Availability of business statistics about the emerging forms of entrepreneurship
 

Type of data available

Indicate access to data by an ‘X’ in the first column

First published

Indicate year

Time series of data

(Biannually, annually, quarterly, monthly, once only, other)

Data source for the data
One-person enterprises/ self-employed

Number of enterprises

X

1999

Monthly

Once only

Once only

Once only

Annually

Slovak Statistical Office (ŠÚ SR) -RES SR

Social Insurance Agency

Taxation Office

Business Licensing Office

Health Insurance Agencies

Publications of National Agency for development of SME Publications of National Agency for development of SME

Enterprises by branch (please specify which NACE code digit level is available)

X

1999

SK NACE 5 digit level

monthly

ŠÚ SR - RES SR

Availability of regional data (please specify)

X

1999

monthly

ŠÚ SR -RES SR.

According to regional breakdown by districts; aggregate data are available at the county level.

Type of ownership of enterprises (sole propriety, limited company, publically listed company, etc)

X

1999

monthly

ŠÚ SR -RES SR

Economic performance e.g.:

Turnover

X

1999

monthly

ŠÚ SR -RES SR

Exports -share

X

1999

annually

Publications of National Agency for development of SME

Employment - share

X

1999

Annually

Publications of National Agency for development of SME

Others: Share on GDP

X

  

Annually

Publications of National Agency for development of SME

Sustainability:

Number of new enterprises (start-ups) by year

X

1993

1999

Once only

Annually

Social Insurance Agency

Business Licensing Office

Publications of National Agency for development of SME

Number of discontinued enterprises, incl. bankruptcies –

X

1993

1999

Once only

Annually

Social Insurance Agency

Business Licensing Office

Publications of National Agency for development of SME

survival rate of enterprises

        

Others, specify:

        
Part-time entrepreneurs

Number of enterprises

X

1993

Once only

Social Insurance Agency

Health Insurance Agencies

Taxation Office

Enterprises by branch (please specify which NACE code digit level is available)

        

Availability of regional data (please specify)

        

Type of ownership of enterprises (sole propriety, limited company, publically listed company, etc)

        

Economic performance e.g.:

Turnover

        

Exports

        

Employment

        

Others: ___________

        

Sustainability:

Number of new enterprises (start-ups) by year

X

1993

Once only

Social Insurance Agency

Business Licensing Office

Number of discontinued enterprises, incl. bankruptcies –

X

1993

Once only

Social Insurance Agency

Business Licensing Office

Survival rate of enterprises

        

Others, specify:

        
Parallel entrepreneurs

Number of enterprises

X

1993

Once only

Business Licensing Office

Enterprises by branch (please specify which NACE code digit level is available)

X

1993

Once only

Business Licensing Office. Usually 3, max. 4 digit NACE code level is available

Availability of regional data (please specify)

X

1993

Once only

Business Licensing Office. Regional breakdown usually follows the location of regional administration, usually by counties.

Type of ownership of enterprises (sole propriety, limited company, publically listed company, etc)

        

Economic performance e.g.:

Turnover

        

Exports

        

Employment

        

Others: ___________

        

Sustainability:

Number of new enterprises (start-ups) by year

X

1993

Once only

Business Licensing Office

Number of discontinued enterprises, incl. bankruptcies –

X

1993

Once only

Business Licensing Office

survival rate of enterprises

        

Others, specify:

        
Serial entrepreneurs

Number of enterprises

X

1993

Once only

Business Licensing Office

Social Insurance Agency

Enterprises by branch (please specify which NACE code digit level is available)

X

1993

Once only

Business Licensing Office. Usually 3, max.4 digit NACE code level is available

Availability of regional data (please specify)

X

1993

Once only

Business Licensing Office. Regional breakdown usually copes the location of regional administration

Type of ownership of enterprises (sole propriety, limited company, publically listed company, etc)

        

Economic performance e.g.:

Turnover

        

Exports

        

Employment

        

Others: ___________

        

Sustainability:

Number of new enterprises (start-ups) by year

X

1993

Once only

Business Licensing Office

Social Insurance Agency

Number of discontinued enterprises, incl. bankruptcies –

X

1993

Once only

Business Licensing Office

Social Insurance Agency

survival rate of enterprises

        

Others, specify:

        
Business transfers and successions

Number of enterprises

X

  

When the change takes place

Social Insurance Agency

Business Licensing Office

Enterprises by branch (please specify which NACE code digit level is available)

        

Availability of regional data (please specify)

        

Type of ownership of enterprises (sole propriety, limited company, publically listed company, etc)

        

Economic performance e.g.:

Turnover

        

Exports

        

Employment

        

Others: ___________

        

Sustainability:

Number of new enterprises (start-ups) by year

        

Number of discontinued enterprises, incl. bankruptcies –

        

survival rate of enterprises

        

Others, specify:

        

Note: Social and Health Insurance Agencies, Business Licensing Office and Taxation Office do collect data about self-employed, but these data are not processed for the public use.

Is it possible to crosstab or merge the demographic data identifying the individual persons running any of the five forms of entrepreneurships/business activities with the company data specified in question 9 in a common database for analytical purpose?

No

Table 9: Availability of demographic statistics about the entrepreneur within the emerging forms of entrepreneurship
 

Type of data available

Indicated access to data by an ‘X’ in the first column

First published

Indicate year

Time series of data

(Biannually, annually, quarterly, monthly, once only, other)

Data source for the data
One-person enterprises/ self-employed Number of enterprises held by each entrepreneur/owner

X

1993

Once only

Business Licensing Office
Gender

X

1993

Once only

Business Licensing Office
Ethnicity        
Civic status (married, single, children)        
Age        
Geographical location

X

1993

Once only

Business Licensing Office

Educational background (last registered education)

        
Current/previous employment of entrepreneurs (business experience)

X

1999

Annually

Publications of National Agency for development of SME

Sector familiarity of the entrepreneur – branch/NACE

X

1993

Once only

Business Licensing Office
Working hours of the entrepreneur        
Income of the entrepreneur        
Other types of data (Specify):        
Part-time entrepreneurs Number of enterprises held by each entrepreneur/owner        
Gender        
Ethnicity        
Civic status (married, single, children)        
Age        
Geographical location        

Educational background (last registered education)

        
Current/previous employment of entrepreneurs (business experience)        

Sector familiarity of the entrepreneur – branch/NACE

        
Working hours of the entrepreneur        
Income of the entrepreneur        
Other types of data (Specify):        
Parallel entrepreneurs Number of enterprises held by each entrepreneur/owner        
Gender        
Ethnicity        
Civic status (married, single, children)        
Age        
Geographical location        

Educational background (last registered education)

        
Current/previous employment of entrepreneurs (business experience)        

Sector familiarity of the entrepreneur – branch/NACE

        
Working hours of the entrepreneur        
Income of the entrepreneur        
Other types of data (Specify):        
Serial entrepreneurs Number of enterprises held by each entrepreneur/owner        
Gender        
Ethnicity        
Civic status (married, single, children)        
Age        
Geographical location        

Educational background (last registered education)

        
Current/previous employment of entrepreneurs (business experience)        

Sector familiarity of the entrepreneur – branch/NACE

        
Working hours of the entrepreneur        
Income of the entrepreneur        
Other types of data (Specify):        
Business transfers and successions Number of enterprises held by each entrepreneur/owner        
Gender        
Ethnicity        
Civic status (married, single, children)        
Age        
Geographical location        

Educational background (last registered education)

        
Current/previous employment of entrepreneurs (business experience)        

Sector familiarity of the entrepreneur – branch/NACE

        
Working hours of the entrepreneur        
Income of the entrepreneur        
Other types of data (Specify):        

Note: Business Licensing Offices collect these data but they do not process them statistically for the public use.

Is the data freely accessible or does it require registration, payment and/or a special effort to access the data? Please explain the accessibility for each of the forms of entrepreneurs/business activities and datasets referred to above.

Table 10: List of statistical sources about the emerging forms of entrepreneurship

List data source/dataset

Explain the accessibility
ŠÚ SR

Some data are publicly available. Most of them are available on request for fee.
Social Insurance Agency

Data are statistically not processed for the public use. Only some information is publicly available. Statistics only on special request – might be for fee.
Business Licensing Office

Data are statistically not processed for the public use. Only some information is publicly available. Statistics only on special request – might be for fee.
Taxation Office

Data are statistically not processed for the public use. Only some information is publicly available. Statistics only on special request – might be for fee.
Publications of National Agency for development of SME (NADSME)

Accessible on the web site of NADSME.

Note: In general, data are available in compliance with the Act on a free access to information.

Part III: Research

Please describe studies and research available nationally for each of the forms of entrepreneurs/business activities.

Table 11: List of studies and research about the emerging forms of entrepreneurship
 

List the references (author’s name, title of publication etc, year of publication, organisation)

A short summary of the contents (e.g. topic covered, methodology applied)
One-person enterprises/self-employed

NADSME Annual Reports: Stav malého a stredného podnikania v Slovenskej republike (Actual state of SMEs in Slovakia) for years 1998 -2008.

Živnostníci a podnikateľské prostredie v SR (Craftsmen and business environment in Slovakia). NADSME 2006.

Barošová, M.: Vybrané aspekty podnikania žien (Selected aspects of women business), IVPR Bratislava 2009.

Provide comprehensive information about the actual state a development of the SMEs in the country.

Study is aimed at the analysis of existing potential for development of self-employment in the country. It was based on available statistics and outcomes of self-employed craftsmen opinion sample survey.

Research study is based on analysis of available statistics about actual state and development trends in women business in Slovakia. Among others, it covered also women self-employed.
Part-time entrepreneurs    
Parallel entrepreneurs    
Serial entrepreneurs    
Business transfers and successions    

Ludovit Cziria Institute for Labour and Family Research , Viola Kromerová Slovak Craft Industry Federation

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