Women’s Entrepreneurship in the Wake of the Covid-19 Crisis The Case of Serbia
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
The subject of this paper is the evaluation of the position of women entrepreneurs in Serbia in the aftermath of COVID-19 outbreak. The research aims to shed light on the main threats and constraints which women entrepreneurs in Serbia are currently facing due to the global pandemic. We hypothesize that women entrepreneurs in Serbia are particularly affected by the negative effects of COVID-19 health crisis. With that regard the standard desk-research method - the analysis and comparison of secondary data was combined with the case study method that included ten in-depth interviews with selected women entrepreneurs in Serbia during the period January - February 2021. The main conclusions are that empowering women entrepreneurs through various support programs as well as financial assistance provided by the state should be in the focus of decision-makers in the years to come. Furthermore, women entrepreneurs in Serbia should consider regional networking as well as entering the new markets as alternative survival strategies.
Article Details
Section
Once the manuscript is accepted for publication, authors shall transfer the copyright to the publisher. If the submitted manuscript is not accepted for printing by the journal, the authors shall retain all their rights. The following rights on the manuscript are transferred to the publisher, including any supplementary materials and any parts, extracts or elements of the manuscript:
- the right to reproduce and distribute the manuscript in printed form, including print-on-demand;
- the right to print prepublications, reprints and special editions of the manuscript;
- the right to translate the manuscript into other languages;
- the right to reproduce the manuscript using photomechanical or similar means including, but not limited to photocopy, and the right to distribute these copies;
- the right to reproduce and distribute the manuscript electronically or optically using and all data carriers or storage media, and especially in machine readable/digitalized form on data carriers such as hard drive, CD-ROM, DVD, Blu-ray Disc (BD), Mini Disc, data tapes, and the right to reproduce and distribute the article via these data carriers;
- the right to store the manuscript in databases, including online databases, as well as the right to transmit the manuscript in all technical systems and modes;
- the right to make the manuscript available to the public or to closed user groups on individual demand, for use on monitors or other readers (including e-books), and in printable form for the user, either via the Internet, online service, or via internal or external networks.
Authors reserve the copyright to published articles and have the right to use the article in the same manner like third parties in accordance with the licence Attribution-Non-Commercial-Non-Derivate 4.0 International (CC BY NC ND). Thereby they must quote the basic bibliographic data of the source article published in the journal (authors, article title, journal title, volume, pagination).
References
Addico. 2020. ”The biggest 100 in Serbia 2020/21.“ Available at: https://100najvecih.rs, accessed: 09.02.2021.
Alon T., Doepke M., Olmsetad-Rumsey J. & Tertilt M. 2020. ”The Impact of COVID-19 on Gender Equality.” NBER Working Paper No. 26947.
Antonie L., Plesca M. & Teng J. 2016. ”Heterogeneity in the Gender Wage Gap in Canada. ” University of Guelph, Department of Economics and Finance, WP 1603.
Bank of England. 2020. ”The impact of Covid-19 on businesses’ expectations: evidence from the Decision Maker Panel.” Quarterly Bulletin Q3 2020.
Bartik A.W., Bertrand M., Cullen Z., Glaeser E.L., Luca M. & Stanton Ch. 2020. ”The impact of COVID-19 on small business outcomes and expectations. ” PNAS 117(30), pp. 17656-17666.
Doern R. 2016). ”Entrepreneurship and Crisis Management: The Experiences of Small Businesses during the London 2011 Riots.” International Small Business Journal, 34(3), pp. 276-302.
Doern R., Williams N. & Vorley T. 2018. ”Special issue on entrepreneurship and crises: business as usual? An introduction and review of the literature.” Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 31(1), pp. 1-13.
Domazet I., Zubović J. & Lazić M. 2018. ”Driving factors of Serbian competitiveness: Digital economy and ICT.“ Strategic Management, 23(1), pp. 20-28.
Đuričin S., Jovanović O. & Erić D. 2020 ”The role of Microfinance in Development of SMEs in Republic of Serbia.” Erenet profile, 15(2), pp. 56-66.
ECB. 2017. ”How does innovation lead to growth?” Available at: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/explainers/tell-me-more/html/growth.en.html. Accessed: 16.02.20.1.
Ernst & Young. 2020. ”Entrepreneurial Barometer.” Available at: https://www.ey.com/sr_rs/entrepreneur-of-the-year/serbian/ey-preduzetnicki-barometar-2020. Accessed: 10.02.2020.
GLION. 2020. ”What are the Impacts of COVID-19 on Entrepreneurship?” Available at: https://www.glion.edu/magazine/impacts-covid-19-on-entrepreneurship/. Accessed 10.02.2021.
Hantrais L., Allin P., Kritikos M., Sogomonjan M., Anand P.B., Livingstone S., Williams M. & Innes M. 2020. ”Covid-19 and the digital revolution.” Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21582041.2020.1833234. Accessed: 16.02.2021.
Jovanović O. & Lazić M. 2018. ”Women Entrepreneurship in Serbia – Potentials and Constraints.” Journal of Women’s Entrepreneurship and Education, 3-4, pp. 60-72.
Kuckertz A., Brandle L., Gaudig A., Hinderer S., Morales C.A., Prochotta A., Steinbrink K.M. & Berger E.S.C. 2020. ”Startups in times of crisis – A rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic.” Journal of Business Venturing Insights. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7183981/. Accessed 10.02.2021.
Lazarević-Moravčević M., Lazić M. & Kaličanin T. 2019. Primena marketing koncepta u malim preduzećima. In: †žIzazovi savremenog marketinga 2019 – Nacionalna konferencija sa međunarodnim učešćem“, pp. 242-249. Organizer: Serbian Marketing Association – SEMA, Zlatibor.
Madgavkar A., White O., Krishnan M., Mahajan D. & Azcue X. 2020. ”COVID-19 and gender equality: Countering the regressive effects.” Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/covid-19-and-gender-equality-countering-the-regressive-effects. Accessed 09.02.2021.
McKinsey. 2020. ”How COVID-19 has pushed companies over the technology tipping point—and transformed business forever.” Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/how-covid-19-has-pushed-companies-over-the-technology-tipping-point-and-transformed-business-forever, Accessed: 16.02.2021.
McKinsey. 2021. ”COVID-19: Briefing note #41.” Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/risk/our-insights/covid-19-implications-for-business, Accessed 09.02.2021.
Miković N. 2020. ”The Competitiveness Overview of Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia in 2019.” Journal of Women’s Entrepreneurship and Education, 1-2, pp. 53-71.
Nicolau Ch. 2015. ”Are SMEs still profitable in an economic crisis? Qualitative research on Romanian entrepreneurship and crisis management.” Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov, Vol. 8 (57) No. 2 – 2015.
Opportunity bank. 2020. ”Project †žWoman for 5“.” Available at: https://www.zena5.rs, Accessed 10.02.2020.
Prljić K., Mijalković J. & Prljić S. 2016. ”Innovation Analysis of the Sector of Small and Medium Enterprises and Entrepreneurs (SMEs) in the Republic of Serbia.” Economic Analysis, 49(3-4), pp. 81-96.
Statista. 2020. ”Serbia: Share of economic sectors in the gross domestic product (GDP) from 2009 to 2019.” Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/440654/share-of-economic-sectors-in-the-gdp-in-serbia/, Accessed: 16.02.2021.
Stinchcombe A.L. 2000. ”Social structure and organizations.” Available at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1016/S0742-3322(00)17019-6/full/html, Accessed: 16.02.2021.
Šafarik P.J. 2020. ”Handling Injustice - Are Women Too Sensitive?” Journal of Women’s Entrepreneurship and Education, 3-4, pp. 3-22.
Parker S.C., Congregado E. & Golpe A.A. 2012. ”Testing for Hysteresis in Entrepreneurship in 23 OECD Countries.” Applied Economics Letters 19(1), pp. 61–66.
Pavlović D., Ognjenović K. 2020. †žPerspectives on Poverty by Gender within the Republic of Serbia“. Journal of Women’s Entrepreneurship and Education, 1-2, pp. 37-52.
PWC 2021. ”COVID-19: Impacts to business.” Available at: https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/crisis-solutions/covid-19.html, Accessed 09.02.2021.
UNCTAD. 2020. ”Services sector vital to COVID-19 economic recovery.” Available at: https://unctad.org/news/services-sector-vital-covid-19-economic-recovery, Accessed: 16.02.2021.
Vasilić N., Popović-Pantić S. & Semenčenko D. 2020. ”Women Entrepreneurship in the Time of COVID-19 Pandemic – The case of Serbia.” Journal of Women’s Entrepreneurship and Education, 3-4, pp. 23-40.
Walsh G.S. & Cunningham J.A. 2016. ”Business Failure and Entrepreneurship: Emergence, Evolution and Future Research.” Foundations and Trends in Entrepreneurship. 12(3), pp. 163–285.
Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub. 2020. ”The Impact of COVID-19 on Women Entrepreneurs.” Available at: https://wekh.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/WEKH_The_Impact_of_COVID-19_on_Women_Entrepreneurs-1.pdf, Accessed 10.02.2020.
World Bank Group. 2020. ”Unmasking the Impact of COVID-19 on Businesses – Firm Level Evidence from Across the World.” WP No. 9434.