Entrepreneurship - Successes and Failures of Start-Up SMEs on Regional and International Markets

In this paper we analyse the basic characteristics of start-ups: the winner and the loser. Above 90% of new enterprises are sole-traders. The support of entrepreneurship needs research such as firms survival in the context of business demography. This information type is crucial for developing a good policy supporting the enterprise survival. Simultaneously, supplying such information is insufficient. New survey types are needed. Recently the interest in firms survival in Poland has increased significantly. To cover the need for more detailed data there was panel database used. The survey covers the five-year history of enterprises' activity and the sample covers only enterprises employing initially fewer than 50 workers. In this paper only the sample of 2349 enterprises established in 2004 was selected. In results we can point out that micro enterprises were mostly self-employed owners. With at least one worker, the survival chances were higher compared to self-employed owners. Enterprises operating on local or regional markets had lower survival chances compared to enterprises operating nationwide or internationally. Expanding outside regional and local markets offers lower liquidation risk. The effect of places of activities is stronger with time, which means that expanding activities decreases the liquidation probability, and increases the existence time. Expansion is significant with regard to number of employees. The most crucial factor was the first-year profits. First-year profits meant lower liquidation risk compared to enterprises making a loss or suspending their activity. Regarding demographic characteristics of the main owner a conclusion may be drawn, that an enterprise with a highly educated owner experienced in management had a lower liquidation risk. First-year investments increased the survival chances. The first year was the most important because at that time the main drive for being on the market was observed.