Transformations  in
Business & Economics

Barriers to Development and Institutional Support for Entrepreneurship in Poland – The Role that Higher Education Institutions Occupy in Support System
Marek Kunasz

ABSTRACT. The paper has theoretical-empirical character and it is an attempt to identify barriers to entrepreneurship development and assess institutional action taken to support entrepreneurship development in Poland, and particularly – action taken by higher education institutions to create entrepreneurial attitudes. Theoretical part of the paper presents: crux of categories of entrepreneurship, categorization of business activity barriers defined in the literature about the subject of concern, instrumentation of institutional support of entrepreneurship development in Poland and chosen issues illustrating the role that higher education institutions occupy in entrepreneurial development. The empirical analysis was performed on the basis of international research of entrepreneurship of full time students (SES-2006). The results of the survey proved that institutional and market barriers are major obstacles to conducting business activity and that institutional action taken in Poland to support entrepreneurship was assessed negatively.

KEYWORDS: entrepreneurship, institutional support, higher education, curricula, Poland.

JEL classification: M13, O1, J24, P2.