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Every project supported by Gebert Rüf Stiftung is made accessible with a web presentation that informs about the core data of the project. With this public presentation, the foundation publishes the funding results achieved and contributes to the communication of science to society.

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The Emergence and Evolution of Entrepreneurship in Armenia – ASCN 2015

Editorial

Für den Inhalt der Angaben zeichnet die Projektleitung verantwortlich.

Cooperation

Dieses von der Gebert Rüf Stiftung geförderte Projekt wird von folgenden weiteren Projektpartnern mitgetragen: Interfakultäres Institut für Ost- und Ostmitteleuropa IIOOE der Universität Freiburg; CRRC Armenia

Project data

  • Project no: GRS-015/15 
  • Amount of funding: CHF 60'000 
  • Approved: 23.01.2015 
  • Duration: 04.2015 - 03.2019 
  • Area of activity:  ASCN, 2009 - 2018

Project management

Project description

This research project examines entrepreneurial dynamics in Armenia through a longitudinal study following both potential and existing entrepreneurs. 'Entrepreneurship' is defined here as a process from intention to action that may lead to the creation of an enterprise (formal or informal). Understood in this way, it should therefore be studied from an evolutionary perspective and, in consequence, should grasp the following points: 
1. How entrepreneurs move from the so-called 'unobserved' to the observed economy (the emergence of entrepreneurs);
2. The development and growth of enterprises, including micro-enterprises (the evolution of enterprises).

In order to accomplish this, the project demands sequential observations from a selected group of respondents. These participants are then asked the same questions about the visions they have, obstacles they face and the possibility of enhancing factors from which they benefit. This research proposal focuses on entrepreneurship (embedded or not embedded within enterprises) and how it interacts with institutional, economic, cultural and social environments, as it is emerging in Armenia. .

The project relies upon several partners in Armenia to collect, use and interpret the necessary data; thus involving research institutes and universities, development agencies and the private sector. Intermediate results from the first round of interviews have been produced in November 2016 at the ASCN Final Conference. A detailed analysis will be discussed in a round table organized in Mai 2017 in Yerevan with key stakeholders.

What is special about the project?

Both the object of the research and the way it will be carried out makes this project special.
1. It researches a neglected layer of the Armenian economic landscape.
(the large population active in the informal sector and own account worker which together constitutes more than half of the work force of Armenia and account to about 20% of GDP).
2. It does so with a specific methodology: longitudinal panel observation is a methodology that will shed light on dynamics of entrepreneurship.
Moreover, as a sort of «observatory of entrepreneurship» in transition countries, this project is interdisciplinary and has a great potential to build synergies with other social sciences disciplines.

Status/Results

- First Round of Interviews: March 2016
- Preliminary analysis: November 2016
- Roundtable and seminars: Mai 2017

Media

Kaukasischer Käfigtiger, Schweizer Monat, December 2015
Foreign Direct Investment in the Caucasus, CAD, March 2016

Links

Persons involved in the project

Philippe Rudaz, project coordinator, University of Friboug
Prof. Paul Dembinski, project leader, University of Fribourg)

Last update to this project presentation  17.03.2022