Perception of the selected business environment aspects by service firms

Abstract

The business environment is a profound concern for the state and institutions to make it encouraging to boost entrepreneurship. Given such relevance of the business environment, this paper aims to link selected business environment aspects to business sector. The study identified the perceived differences between sectors in the Czech and Slovak Republics and then a comparison of a similar group of firms. To shape the study, survey-based research planned and conducted in two segments of firm's (service and nonservice), covered 641 enterprises. The current research adopted factor analysis and then t-test and Mann-Whitney test to determine the results. The major findings of the study reveal that the Slovak firms in the service sector scored higher in macroeconomic environment, consumers' consumption and competition factors and lower in access to finance factor, as compared to their non-service counterparts. However, another key finding indicates that the Czech entrepreneurs' perception did not statistically differ in any selected aspects of business environment between the firms operating in service and non-service sectors. In all the cases business support was found insignificant. This paper adds to the existing literature in entrepreneurship by offering a better understanding of the linkage between business sector and business environment aspects.