We use the entrepreneurial ecosystem perspective to study political entrepreneurship as a form of alignment between disruptive and unproductive entrepreneurs with authorities aiming to get privileged access to resources. Political entrepreneurship (PE) has emerged as a phenomenon in transition and developing economies and may compromise the entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) objectives. Combining interview and survey data, this study provides an in-depth assessment of entrepreneurial ecosystems in a transition economy and the role that political entrepreneurs play in moderating the effect of resources on the quality of entrepreneurship. Our findings are generalizable to other transition and developing economies as we demonstrate what various configurations of factors increase stakeholders’ perception about EE and directly affect its quality. Our findings reveal that stakeholders appreciate the evolution trends towards mature and productive entrepreneurship, but the progress is slow, nonlinear, with setbacks, still seriously threatened by corruption, lack of competence, and the interference of the political factor as well as regional differences. This study offers implications on how to adopt a place-based and holistic approach to institutional reforms when policymakers aim at creating productive entrepreneurial ecosystems. This study implications are in the adoption of a place-based and holistic approach to institutional reforms when policymakers aim at creating productive entrepreneurial ecosystems. While political entrepreneurship may significantly distort an ecosystem, this study offers recommendations to managers and policymakers who plan to start a business in an environment with weak institutions and the rule of law.

The paper aims to identify the powerful forces of Generation Z’s (Gen Z) work motivations, considering four key drivers: recognition, appreciation, well-being, and skills. Four hypotheses were developed, and Gen Z-triggering motivational factors at work were analyzed using a survey approach. Using the collected data, a logistic regression model was constructed to investigate the effects on work motivation. An in-depth interview of managers from different companies was applied to identify Gen Z’s perceptions about the workplace. All four predictors proved to influence work motivation significantly. According to the answers of Gen Z’s members, wage is the primary motivator for them to increase work efficiency, with other financial and non-financial factors being less significant. Gen Z is generally not teamwork-oriented and prefers working alone to demonstrate their abilities and achieve greater efficiency. Gen Z switches jobs frequently and shows low loyalty to organizations, often prioritizing personal preferences over long-term commitment. This study explores Romanian Gen Z-triggering motivational factors and shows the motivators for increasing work efficiency. It provides unique insights into a less teamwork-oriented, low loyalty to organizations segment, filling a literature gap and offering business recommendations for connecting with this generation.

The entrepreneurial ecosystem, one of the latest trends for researchers and practitioners, has the potential to increase our understanding of entrepreneurship. Existing research was conducted mostly in developed countries. The purpose of this paper is to bring to light the particularities of entrepreneurial ecosystems in two important city-regions of Romania, which should result in a better understanding of the specific context of this transitional economy. Starting from the models of entrepreneurial ecosystems proposed in the literature, we added an element specific to most post-communist states: political entrepreneurs, underlying the impact of their presence for the evolution and sustainability of entrepreneurial ecosystems. The research design was a qualitative exploratory study. The study focused on a sample of 21 entrepreneurs from two city-regions in Romania: Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca. The interviews were based on open-ended questions prompting the respondents to engage in a storytelling approach to describe their experiences as entrepreneurs in a volatile environment, along with their perceptions. The data were analyzed based on a descriptive phenomenological approach using thematic analysis. The main findings, resulting from the qualitative interview data, are that although entrepreneurship, both in results and mentality, is well-established, seemingly over the “point of no return”, the particular context is still making things rough for entrepreneurial activity. The results suggest a strong need for coherent policies at local and national levels.

While research on institutional quality and entrepreneurship has consolidated over the last decade, the role that politically connected entrepreneurship (PE) plays in the perception of economic actors about the quality and a rate of entrepreneurial activity in their cities remains unanswered. The origin and nature of PE are heterogeneous, and it is associated with economic activity in a strong formal and informal cooperation with local and national governments to access resources in a privileged way. This study uses primary data from 1729 economics agents surveyed in 17 cities in East and Southeast Europe as well as Balkans and Central Asia. In order to better understand the consequences of PE, one should look at how it moderates the relationship between access to capital for entrepreneurs and the outcomes of entrepreneurial activity. We find that politically connected entrepreneurship may limit access to debt finance by other – non-politically economic actors, in particular in countries with a high level of corruption and market uncertainty. PE does not affect equity capital availability for entrepreneurship. Important policy implications are discussed for developing productive entrepreneurship in cities in emerging and developing economies.

Process control methods, in general, and quality, in particular, most often refer to the measures taken especially to the finished product, as well as to the technological process, in order to maintain its performance within certain statistical parameters. Genichi Taguchi is the first who developed a quality control approach, used first in Japan and later in industrialized economies, a procedure widespread in quality under the name Taguchi method. Within the Taguchi method, he imposed a key term average loss attached to a process /characteristic in case it deviates, compared to a target value/objective, considered optimal. The Taguchi methodology is especially oriented towards the design phase, different from the classic approach oriented towards the final control phase upon delivery, or towards the supervision of the processes. This new approach aims to design processes and products so that they are as insensitive as possible (robust) to the influence of external, disruptive factors of the processes. In our paper, the capability indicators of the processes and their connection with the Taguchi risk are also presented. A link is also made between the statistical measurement of uncertainty and the Taguchi risk with an example in a process from the mechanical industry.