Assessment of infrastructure as a component of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Republic of Moldova: the opinion of entrepreneurs

Abstract

The entrepreneurial ecosystem of the Republic of Moldova is still at the stage of formation. The observed trend of growth in the number of small and medium-sized enterprises is not accompanied by a qualitative growth of enterprises. This indicates the underdevelopment of key components of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, one of which is the infrastructure. In this study, infrastructure as a component of the entrepreneurial ecosystem is considered as a set of elements of physical infrastructure, as well as services to support entrepreneurship. The purpose of this article is to assess the state of the entrepreneurship support infrastructure in the Republic of Moldova, including based on the results of a survey of entrepreneurs, which was carried out in 2021 within the applied research project 20.80009.0807.38 „Multidimensional assessment and development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem at the national and regional level in order to boost the SME sector in the Republic of Moldova”, financed from the state budget of the Republic of Moldova. The results of the study showed that the infrastructure component of the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Moldova has mainly positive evaluations by entrepreneurs. Overall in the component, access to IT resources and services was most highly rated by entrepreneurs. The indicator with the most negative impact on the entrepreneurial ecosystem is the condition (quality) of the roads. Also, access to crisis resolution and business insolvency services is a significant obstacle for over a quarter of respondents, which reflects insufficient contribution from support organizations to overcome business insolvency issues.