COMPARISON OF INDICATORS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY IN CROATIA AND SELECTED EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

In today's economic, business and social spaces, communities and societies around the world constantly face a set of challenges related to growing unemployment, economic development, changing market dynamics and tough business conditions amongst others. As the business environment becomes more complex and competitive, the entrepreneurs must become more creative and receptive to what is new and innovative. Keeping in mind the diversity and complexity of the phenomenon of entrepreneurship, one must in particular consider its integral relationship with economic activity and development, both of the individual and of the society at large. Entrepreneurship is a socio-economic phenomenon of great complexity, defining the market economy system. For Croatia the promotion and development of entrepreneurship were a central objective in the last decade for job creation, competitiveness growth and sustainable economic development. Regardless of the method chosen to develop a business, the entrepreneur must operate with criteria of rationality in terms of choices, decisions and performance evaluation. In economic terms, entrepreneurship is usually interpreted as the ability to creatively and innovatively solve business problems, combined with the ability to use opportunities arising from economic activity. Thus, the aim of this paper is the comparative analysis, both theoretical and empirical, of selected aspects of entrepreneurship in selected European countries and Croatia. The significance of the selected topic, most of all, results from the role and impact entrepreneurial activities have on the welfare of societies, both economically and socially.The study is based on the secondary data obtained from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. Particular emphasis was placed on assessing Croatia's situation compared to that of selected European countries.