Fostering Entrepreneurship through the Assessment of Business Risks for SMEs in V4 countries

Abstract

SME owners and managers are intuitively aware of risks but do not make sufficient efforts to assess them realistically and implement strategies to reduce them. The relationship between SME risk perception and the consistency of this perception during the length of their business has not been investigated yet. The main aim of this article is to identify the most significant risks in the SMEs, to analyze the dependence among the degree of intensity of the observed financial, market and economic risks and the SME timeframe by selected statistical methods and tools. Building upon the empirical research implemented in 2017- 2018 and 2019-2020, it is possible to consider the market, financial and economic risks as the crucial risks negatively affecting the current business environment of the SMEs. The secondary aim of the article is to evaluate and compare the results of our research with the results of identical investigations in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. Drawing from these findings, market risks affect the SME business environment highly negatively and are considered the most significant risks in all the examined countries. SME entrepreneurs in the V4 countries should thus increasingly support the process of applying risk management to ensure higher stability, performance and resilience of their businesses. The results are valuable for SMEs and institutions providing business support to strengthen the competitiveness of entrepreneurs in the V4 countries. Concerning their impact, they are significant at the national and international level of the V4 countries and can assist SMEs in gradually moving towards the global trends in this field.