Abstract
Entrepreneurial competencies and reaction to solve business problems coming from the external macroenvironment are closely linked together. Here, we explored the individual business competencies that support export activities within a business cycle context. The aim of the chapter is to present a model, which covers a mixture of competencies and factors, which has an influence on entrepreneurial reactions. The results are based on primary research (210 respondents) in the Czech Republic. Those findings are presented in the form of “entrepreneurial” prototype models. Moreover, the study confirmed a negative relationship related to business age, business cycle and company branch. Based on these results, implications for further research on this topic, as well as implications for practitioners in the form of the competency model, are discussed.
TopBackground
The definition of entrepreneurial competencies and the stress on the entrepreneurial literacy development can be found in “Green Paper on Entrepreneurship” (EU Commission, 2003). This agenda was updated by the “Small Business Act”, published in 2008 when eight basic competencies were identified with a focus on knowledge economy building. The “New skills agenda for Europe 2020” is just going to be implemented in entrepreneurial education. The origin of the Competence model is created on the EntreComp Competency Model (Bacigalupo et al., 2016), where the main stress is put on the resources for the business and their optimization.
Entrepreneurs mirror modern present-day developments, which might be extra dynamic, mainly within the SME sector. Contrary to that, entrepreneurial abilities are considered with personality traits, abilities and know-how, and therefore can relate to the capacity of the entrepreneur to achieve success. Specifically, Man et al. (2002) distinguished six primary areas which include opportunity, relationship, conceptual, organizing, strategic, and commitment skills. The level of these competencies can influence a business surroundings evaluation by using the personal level of satisfaction. All characteristics have long-term consequences and that they have closer links to organizational performance inside current enterprise surroundings. Active support of entrepreneurial competencies goes hand in hand with business success (Bacigalupo et al., 2016, Komarkova, Conrads, and Collado, 2015, Pilková et al., 2016, 2019).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Business Competencies: A pack of abilities, skills and knowledge, which could be used for business.
Emotional Intelligence: An ability of individuals to use their emotions to adapt to changes in the external environment or to achieve goals
Business performance: Activities, closely connected with business competencies, which help the entrepreneur to achieve business goals based on key performance indicators.
Business Environment: External factors, which could affect business activity. They could cover factors from political, legal, social, technical or environmental areas.
Export: Business activity to supply goods to a foreign country.
Turbulence in Business Environment: A predictable, mostly unpredictable change in the business environment. This change affects most of entrepreneurs in a negative way. They must be flexible to react to these changes.
Archetype: A model of behaviour. It means an example of behaviour, based on research findings.